Belize

Ruth and I went on 2 week trip to Belize recently. It was a wonderful trip. We did a lot of scuba diving and plenty of laying in hammocks doing nothing.
In the second week of our stay there we took a 3 day sailing trip down the coast from our island home in Caye Caulker to Placencia in the south Belize. Our plan was to head inland from Placencia and see the rain forest and the maya ruins. However, on our way there we decided we had to dive the blue hole before we left the country. Since the best way to get to the blue hole is from Caye Caulker, we had to get back there from Placencia. The quickest way is by air.
Flying in Belize is really simple. There are two main carriers, Maya Island airlines and Tropic Air. It's impressive how well connected the small cities are by air. The workhorse of the fleet is the Cessna Caravan. It's a roomy 12 or 18 seater.

The interesting feature of the airports there is the runway. Most of the airports have a narrow paved road that serves as the runway. In Placencia, the runway cuts across the main road. There's a stop sign on the road that advises vehicular traffic to stop, look around for landing and departing aircraft and proceed! Here's a picture of the aircraft lining up for takeoff from Dangriga.

One of many small islands along the coast. This one was visible as we took off from the municipal airport in Belize city.

Base leg view of the tiny airstrip on the island we lived on in Belize, Caye Caulker.


On final approach for landing in Caye Caulker. This guys come in high and fast.