The last day of our stay at CC is coming to an end. I will write the summary of our stay first outlining the practicalities that potential visitors might find useful, followed by our favourite memories of the place:

- getting to CC is cheaper if flying to Cancun (Mexico) and then taking the overnight bus to Belize City. The port is a short taxi ride away, where the company San Pedro Belize Water Taxi offers frequent 45-mins trips to the island. The other option is taking the bus from Cancun to Chetumal (Mexico) and from there the water taxi (with the same company) to CC. The boat journey is only 90 mins long, but there are stopovers at the immigration, so it is not necessarily quicker. This is not the only water taxi company, but they seem to be the biggest one.

- there are a lot of restaurants on the island and the food is not really expensive (a grilled lobster is 12.5 USD), but if you are travelling on a lower budget like us, than Aunties Take Out food is the place to go to. Like other Chinese people (that hold the monopoly over supermarkets and cheaper places to eat), they offer a range of cooked food:from noodles to burgers and the Belizean food such as typically stew chicken served with rice and beans.

- Belizean beer is called Belikin and there isn't a big gap between the price at the shops and the bars/restaurants. The shops seem to have some kind of sliding scale policy when it comes to beer, with the same shop selling the bottle for 2 USD and coming down to 1.5 USD by the end of our stay!

- they use rainwater, so the drinking water needs to be purchased for 1USD per litre.

- I went for the snorkelling trip with Carlos tours and would highly recommend them.

And now, a less useful but nevertheless important details that made our fond memories of this place:

- street vendors selling fresh coconut, exotic fruit juices and salads, coconut bread, cinnamon buns, pies and banana cake...we tried them all, home made and always warm (baked food)

- one of the street vendors opening Semir's beer bottle with his teeth!

- all dogs, as well as cats and dogs on the island getting on really well with each other :)

- all locals from around the age of 3 up cycle...wonderful to see the school children in their uniforms and all of them on the bikes

- stingrays (that would be me), I was amazed to learn how gentle and interested in people they were

- everything is SLOW and relaxed

- there is a wonderful "clean" feeling on the island (a minimal motorised traffic helps)

We bought the minibus ticket for Flores (guatemala) at one of the local tourist agencies and we are taking the boat tomorrow and 8 and the bus at 10 from the port in Belize City. We hope to get there by 3ish pm.

Good bye Belize!