Belize Romantic Vacation Get Away

Mediteribbean Seafood Stew, served with a romantic view....the only thing missing, is you.

Belize has long been known for its adventurous travel....Adrenalin charged Zip Lining, Waterfall Rappelling, Scuba Diving the largest Barrier Reef in the Western Hemisphere and cave tubing underground in the Mayan gateway to the underworld land and just about any type of hiking you want. But Belize is also a fantastic romantic destination. Honeymoons, weddings and anniversaries are all a great reason for planning a trip to Belize. An all inclusive vacation to Belize encompassing just the right amount of adventure and romance, which of course includes intimate dining, are pretty easily attainable and can be customized to your interests. I recently had a couple married for 25 years coming for their anniversary. Both were avid birders and i was able to put together 10 perfect days that included 3 different types of birding days, romantic meals on our dock, a sunset river cruise / wine tasting and then to Anderson Lagoon to observe the phosphorescent plankton and some night birds as well. We added in a couples massage and a trip to the Mystical Xunantunich ruins coupled with all transports and meals which left a very stress free couple ecstatic and planning a return in 2015 already.

Beaches and Dreams is still that little intimate place where we as owners, interact with guests daily and the favorite part of my job is corresponding with people before the trip down to see just what it is that they want to achieve from the trip.

There is nothing like an 8 course tapas tasting dinner coupled with wine and served on our dock or a beach picnic with shrimp cocktail, smokey chicken pasta salad and crunchy sourdough bread to make memories that will last forever.

Just take a look at all of the fantastic things there are to do right from our centrally located little beach spot in Hopkins, Belize.

Your 10 day all inclusive Belize Romantic vacation:
Day one:
Transfer from Belize International Airport to Dangriga by plane (15 minute flight) and a half hour ride to Beaches and Dreams Seafront Inn for  welcoming cocktail and room sign in.

Dinner at the Barracuda Bar and Grill./  Mediteribbean Seafood Stew, all our fresh seafood served in a seafood, wine and tomato herb broth with linguini  marinara. Or  Tuscan Beef Tenderloin Bruchetta, 2 medallions of beef tenderloin with tuscan spice crust served over garlic Crostini and topped with ripe tomatoes and basil in olive oil, served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes. You won't be able to choose any one of Angela's fabulous dessert so she will agree to make you a dessert sampler for 2.

Day 2...Decompress with a couples massage out on our deck. Hang out by the pool and have a lunch of Seafood salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio. Take a long walk on our perfect beach and browse a few gift shops. Back for another extraordinary dinner.

Day 3 Take a private boat with just you and a captain/ guide to explore the reef while snorkeling along the barrier islands. Enjoy a cozy picnic lunch in the sand at Bread  and Butter Caye and a little more snorkeling before returning and enjoying a little more beach time before your 8 course tapas tasting dock dinner.

Day 4 . Rise early to make the drive to the Ruins of Xunantunich where you will have a guided tour of the ruins, then lunch at one of the local hotspots and shop for Mayan carvings and handicrafts. Stop at the Blue Hole national park on the way home, getting back in time to shower and another award winning meal that Barracuda Bar and Grill

Day 5- Down day to explore the quaint village of Hopkins on bikes or kayak around the point of Sittee To see if you can spot some manatees. Visit some of the many local artisan shops in the village and have beer at the local watering holes. An early dinner and a champagne sunset cruise on the Sittee river, then spot crocodiles and night life by spot life as the nocturnal creatures awake for the evening.Cruise through the cut from the River to Anderson Lagoon to see the mysterious "Burn Water", a bio luminescent glow given off by plankton when they are disturbed. Back for dessert after the cruise and enjoy a glss of wine on our deck while you watch the moon over the waves abnd the whispering of the wind through the palms.


 Day 6-Culinary Day...You will leave at 10 am to visit Miss Emma's Farm for a fram tour that will show you more varieties of fruit in one location than anywhere in Belize. Miss Emma herself will show you her orchard and botanical gardens that are the envy of any gardener. she will personally explain the variety of fruits, many imported from her native Philippines, then make you an astounding lunch from her farm made products. Then on to visit a working Spice Farm and  you will excite the olfactory senses as you smell and taste an amazing varieties of native Belizean spices as well as Indian spices brought here by the East Indian developers of this property.  Back to the beach to enjoy the rest of the evening and a roof top 3rd story appetizer and wine tasting while we watch the sun set over the mystic Mayan Mountains and Victoria's Peak. Visit and enjoy each others company, then enjoy another fabulous gourmet feast.

Day 7-Open day to do as you wish or get caught up on some afternoon naps in the hammock. Go to the Marina and rent some kayaks to check out the Sittee river during the day if you like.

Day 8-Catamaran Sailing- we've signed you up for a full day trip to snorkel or just relax aboard the luxury Catamaran Utopia for a day of cruising, lunching and cocktailing. Another great meal and late night walk on the beach.

Day 9- A guided waterfall hike to one of the waterfalls at Cockscomb Basin jaguar preserve and ajungle picnic lunch followed by a leisurely half hour tube float while you cool off .Back for another best of Belize dinner at the Barracuda Bar and Grill and then maybe an evening swim.

Day 10- Start planning your return trip to Hopkins Belize, the perfect destination for a romantic getaway......you'd better Belize it!

 

A sunset stroll on the beach in Hopkins , Belize   www.beachesanddreams.com

 

A Day on your Belize Vacation at Beaches and Dreams, Hopkins

Get up and grab a cup of fresh coffee, always ready at sunrise, and head out to the dock for a beautiful sunrise

Watch the The Morning fisherman as he heads out to catch the days fish for the villagers

First he'll catch some bait

Then back up to beaches and Dreams Outdoor dining Deck for a Great Breakfast.....of

Angela's Fresh Baked Banana Bread........

....Fresh Fruit

And Frittata

And off to Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve for an early morning hike.

To a fantastic Waterfall

Where you can take a refreshing dip

And see some wild life like this black faced Howler Monkey

                  ..................................... AND LOTS OF BIRDS

THEN BACK TO HOPKINS

Just in time for the kids to go home from school for lunch

So you stop at Innies for a great local lunch yourself

Then back to Beaches and Dreams

For some quality hammock time

while absorbing the acquiescence of a Belizean Afternoon

Still some time for a little kayak

And see that the other guests have been successfully fishing

And play with Ruger for a little while

 

So you ask tony to book your own boat for tomorrow morning

Then its time for Happy Hour and a Shrimp Cocktail at the Barracuda Bar and Grill

Followed by a Seafood Sampler Platter

Or Surf and Turf

And Chocolate Mousse torte for Dessert

And after a fabulous sunset

You can retire to your room

And then, up the next morning to see what the new day will bring.......

You'd better Belize it!

Now offering sizzling summer features from June to November, stay for a week with breakfast for $550 for 2 persons or stay in our new deluxe Beachfront Boutique Hotel rooms for $699 per week with breakfast.

Summer Vacations in Belize

Chasing the Rainbow
This summer was the normal routine as June and July brought pretty dry weather and a busy tourist season at Beaches and Dreams in our little corner of the Universe. August brought a lot of night rains but spectacular weather during the day. The very hot, humid weather of summers past really didn't happen and it was good because our place stayed pretty darn busy, about perfect for Angela and I to be able to visit and plan with guests and not be overwhelmed with super busy nights at the Barracuda Bar and Grill. All in all , it was a great time to be a tourist at our place as we had the time to spend with each guest and be sure they got the trip they wanted.

Fishing was fantastic, 

With great catches of just about all specie, Snapper, Grouper, lots of Barracuda and the usual suspects all making for lots of coolers full of fish. Families were abundant this year and there is nothing like taking a child out to catch their first fish in life, something I've always cherished doing. It is like lighting a lifelong fire in them, not a bad thing. Trips went steadily to the new Zip Line at Mama Noots, our sister resort that we now do complete Jungle and Sea packages with. Only 12 miles away, it offers luxury stays in the jungle with an amazing array of activities, howler monkeys keeping you awake at night and a great onsite restaurant. A 3 night stay there and a 7 night stay here at Beaches and Dreams was a popular choice for couples and families alike. The completely off grid Eco Resort is in the Heart of Mayflower Bocawina National park, which boasts over 7000 acres, a birdwatchers paradise, as well as 5 waterfalls with in hiking distance. 
contact us at www.beachesanddreamns.com for a quote on your perfect all inclusive Belize vacation. Trips to the Mayan ruins, food tours to farms and orchards, Jungle horseback riding, and of course trips to the barrier reef to dive and snorkel all went unhindered this summer.

Magnificent sunsets over Victoria's Peak,

Belize's highest peak, could be viewed as the clouds moved in for the evening, offering a spectacular and unending variety of nightly views. A bike ride along the Sittee River Road at dusk let people take in the Savannah to see the Mayan Mountains as well as watch all of the many birds come to roost for the evening in the palmettos that line the wetlands of the Savannah.

The Barracuda Bar and Grill

was able to offer our usual plethora of Denizens of the deep as well as our house specialties like Belizean Paella or this Seafood Sampler featuring Lobster, Jumbo Shrimp and Fresh Snook filet in fresh herb and lemon sauce, all brought in fresh by the local fishermen. Another popular item offered on a regular basis was our Osso Bucco of Wild Boar. Fork tender and cooked in a Red wine and Herb sauce, served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and finished off with one of Angela's astounding desserts, the Barracuda Bar and Grill has truly become the Foodies place. Previous years has seen us close the restaurant from June to October, but this year the only closed month was September and I think that that will become the norm. We normally don't do lunch at the Barracuda , but on one occasion, we had some vegetarian guests and it was a rainy day.The guests, who had been enjoying a different vegetarian selection every evening at our place, displayed their dismay at the lack of selection for vegetarians at the other beach side resort restaurants in walking distance so I made them a little vegetarian Balck Bean Chili for lunch and we joined them in our outdoor venue as the rain pummeled the metal roof of our deck,

Veggie Black Bean Chili simmering

and we turned lemons into lemonade. 









All in all a fantastic summer it was.

Even Ruger 

Got his fill of extra attention as quests were eager to play with him and throw his Frisbee off the dock in an endless game of fetch. One guest even made a great video of him and girls came from up and down the beach to be photographed with him for his Facebook page.

  

You can see his video, 

and "like" him here  https://www.facebook.com/RugerTheBelizeBeachDog



For now, we move into another great season of offering the best that Belize has to offer at Beaches and Dreams Seafront Inn and the Barracuda Bar and Grill....You'd better Belize it!

Delicious Caribbean Menus

The plethora of fresh fish we've been getting at the Barracuda Bar and Grill at Beaches and Dreams has been great this year with regular catches of giant prawns, calamari and a great variety of Caribbean fish, including this mornings catch of Spanish Mackerel , which are running right here in the bight which paints the beachfront here in Hopkins, Belize with all of the colors from the palette every morning. I saw Old Man Nunez just as the sun came up casting his net to catch sprat to use for bait for the abundant Mackerel.

The changing colors of a Beaches and Dreams morning

                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                    

1 cast from Mr. Nunez and he has all the bait he'll need to catch a boatload of Spanish Mackerel

" Buiti Bunafi" (pronounced Bweety Boon-ah-fee) I bid him in Garifuna, acknowledged by a nod from him as he paddled by, eyes scanning  below the surface with barely enough light to see the telltale silver flash that tells him he is on the sprat. He readies his net and in one throw he brings up enough sprat to catch a boatload of the Spanish Mackerel.  I order 10 pounds of filets from him and he is on his way.

The Mackerel have a high content of oil and this makes for perfect smoking. I'll brine them overnight with brown sugar and salt, the way the Athabascans taught me in Alaska with a slow smoldering fire far away from the fish. I'll be able to give the fish a good 8 hour smoke. It will make a fabulous appetizer with pickled onions in sour cream. I'll also mix some of the crumbly smoky goodness with some cream cheese and bread crumbs for a great stuffing for snapper, topped with a delicate Champagne sauce. The smoked  fish will also make add  flavor and texture to our Belizean Paella which is one of the stars of our menu when lobsters are not in season.

Ready for some smoke after a 12 hour brine

Ready to close the lid and let benign neglect take over

 For the Paella, we take our smoked chicken and pork tenderloin and toss it in a pan with extra virgin olive oil, I'll add the mackerel then too. I let these products get hot and flavor the oil with their smokey goodness before adding raw giant prawns and whatever fresh fish and seafood we have that day. To this we add a rich saffron broth and some half cooked short grain rice, garlic and herbs round out the flavor platform and once the rice is done, the Paella is served with fresh roasted vegetables, and, if its for me, a glass of Bolla Pinot Grigio..

The Appetizer of Smoked Mackerel with pickled onions and sour cream will have the pleasure of being accompanied by our signature Sourdough Ciabatta Bread, lightly crisped in the oven. this airy crusty bread is made with a Sourdough Starter I started in Alaska 25 years ago. I brought it down and every time I bake the fresh bread, I take little out and add it to more flour and water and in 3 days, have a new bubbling batch that make finished product chewy and slightly sour.

A fresh batch of Sourdough Starter bubbles with the original sourdough brought from my Alaskan 25 year old starter

 Its just another day in culinary Paradise here in Belize. We meld the past with the present, culturally and gastronomically, borrowing from all cultures to produce some great food right on our little stretch of beach...........You'd Better Believe it!