San Pedro, Belize: Spend an amazing week in scuba diving, snorkeling, and checking out the town

Travel to San Pedro, Belize and get situated into your hotel or hostel

Depending on where your initial flight departs from, getting to San Pedro, Belize will likely be an all-day endeavor. Many of the flights into Belize City arrive in the early afternoon. After you arrive in Belize City, your journey has just begun. Once you finally get through a fairly disorganized customs process that takes a while, you will need to grab a taxi outside of the airport to take you to one of the water taxi companies that provides transportation to San Pedro.

The water taxis run every couple of hours, so if you just miss one, you will have a while to wait before the next trip to San Pedro. I used Caribbean Sprinter for my water taxi, which is supposed to be a little faster than the other water taxi and was recommended by my shuttle driver. I’m sure this is because he makes commissions driving people to Caribbean Sprinter, so the other water taxi service is probably good as well. Since the sun sets relatively early in Belize, you will probably arrive at your accommodations after dark. Use this evening to grab some food, unwind, and get to sleep so you can wake up rested and ready to experience what San Pedro has to offer.

Go scuba diving on the outer reefs of Belize

One of my main reasons for visiting San Pedro, Belize was that I heard the scuba diving off the coast of Belize is amazing. On my first full day in Belize, I checked in with a couple of diving shops to book some dives. I quickly found out that it is a good idea to book your diving prior to arriving in Belize, as several of the shops already had full tours for the next day. I was eventually able to find an opening the next day at Belize Scuba School and two different dive shops the following two days. As soon as I arrived at our first dive site, I could tell diving in Belize was going to be amazing.

We tied into a buoy that was anchored at a site that began at 60 feet deep, and you could see the coral below you from the boat. The coral on the outer reefs is beautiful and forms a bunch of finger shaped reefs where the depths between the coral is over 80 feet deep and the upper coral reefs around 40-60 feet deep. This makes for a great, natural multi-profile dive. On almost every one of my seven dives in Belize, I saw reef sharks, nurse sharks, sea turtles, moray eels, lionfish, and beautiful coral formations with many natural swim throughs. The coral is definitely showing signs of bleaching and loss of vibrancy, which is extremely sad, but the reef is still much healthier than some of the other places I have dove.

Of the three dive shops I dove with, I would say that Belize Scuba School was focused a bit more on safety and proper diving protocols, so I would absolutely recommend checking them out for your diving trip. They were also slightly less expensive than the other shops too, so that is an extra perk to booking through them. To view dive options and get in contact with Belize Scuba School, click here. I unfortunately did not have a camera that could take underwater images at the time but believe me when I say diving in Belize is incredible and I did not even dive the famous Blue Hole.

Go snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley

On the day that I dove with Belize Scuba School, I also booked a third dive with them to go to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and then a snorkel tour at Shark Ray Alley. The dive at Hol Chan Marine Reserve was really exceptional. We saw a sea turtle almost immediately, then a sting ray, lots of schools of fish, as well as multiple moray eels. After our dive, we took the boat over to Shark Ray Alley where you get to snorkel amongst a bunch of nurse sharks and stingrays.

One of the nice things about Belize Scuba School is that they do not feed the sharks and rays to keep them around like some of the other companies in the area do. With so many nurse sharks swimming around, it was funny seeing who would be first to get out of our boat and into the water. Once you get into the water, it is pretty special just seeing all of the sharks and rays swimming around you. Even if you do not scuba dive, I would recommend taking a snorkeling trip to Hol Chan Marine Reserve as well as to Shark Ray Alley. You can check with Belize Scuba School for the days they visit these sites or book a trip in advance through Tripadvisor here.

Chill out drinking beers or cocktails on an inner tube at Palapa Bar

Once your diving or snorkeling day is over, head over to Palapa Bar to hang out in the inner tubes that are tied off to the back of the restaurant. You can hang out in these inner tubes drinking a beer or cocktail and spotting lots of marine life through the crystal-clear water. If you are hanging out in the inner tubes, you can even request bucket service for beers, and they will attach a bucket to a rope on a pulley system and deliver your bucket to you in the water. The amount of marine life you can see from the inner tubes or the back patio at Palapa Bar is also incredible. I saw many eagle rays, several other sting rays, lots of tarpon, a couple sea turtles, and a few lionfish.

Go to the Nauti Crab for the hermit crab races

One of the neat things you can do on an evening in San Pedro, Belize is attend the hermit crab races at the Nauti Crab. These races allow you to bet on a hermit crab with a number on its shell to see which crab will escape an obstacle course first. If your crab wins, you get a portion of the bets. The rest of the bets collected go to help local schools and children in Belize, so it is also a great way to help out the local community and have some fun. Please do note, the MC that runs the event is absolutely hysterical, but the humor might not necessarily be friendly for young children at all times. The races are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00 pm, so you have multiple options to check out the fun on your trip to San Pedro.

If you go to San Pedro Belize:

If you plan to visit San Pedro, Belize, and are travelling on a low budget, I recommend staying at Sandbar Beachfront Hostel. This hostel provides almost immediate access to multiple dive shops and is a short walk to many other restaurants, bars, and cafes in San Pedro. The hostel also features its own restaurant and bar, and their food is so good that they deliver it all over the town. The bar at the hostel is also a popular hangout with many of the locals and tourists, so you are almost assured of the ability to strike up a conversation with those around you.

The hostel features shared dorms as well as individual rooms with their own private bathrooms. I stayed in a shared dorm, which had comfortable beds and locking storage areas for your luggage. The shared rooms were a bit on the warm side, so a personal travel fan would be a good item to pack. If you stay in the private rooms, you will still have access to the restaurant and bar to hang out at night and make some new friends. You can view rates and availability at Sandbar Beachfront Hostel here. If you do not want to stay in a hostel, San Pedro also offers numerous other beautiful resorts and hotel properties. You can find more deals for those places on Tripadvisor here.