Placencia is Pretty Cool 

The Belize Tourism Expo is officially in full swing. After a morning meeting at the Radisson, we boarded our Tropic Air flight and headed to the village of Placencia. Life is tough on the beach.

We started our morning meetings with suppliers at The Inn at Robert's Grove. We are very excited about the Placencia area because there is a new international airport being built and it is about to become very popular. We were specifically looking for Patty with Splash Dive Shop to talk about bringing a dive or snorkel group to see the Whale Sharks in 2011. If you are a diver or snorkeler, dates are to follow.

We also met with Chris at Cotton Tree Lodge about taking you to the Toledo District for some cultural activities like Maya chocolate making. Speaking of chocolate, I have acquired the first of several chocolate bars that we've been looking for. These are chocolates made by the local area cacao farmers. When we gather them up, we're going to taste test them.

Next we had a lunch and a hotel site inspection at The Placencia Hotel & Residences. This was our first time to see the Placencia and it was really nice. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch out on their dock and then right back to work.

We worked very hard hopping into the dive boat and heading out to Laughing Bird Caye for a snorkel. Laughing Bird Caye is a very small island that took us about 45 minutes to reach from The Placencia Hotel. I don't know my fish very well but we saw lots of cool stuff like conchs, sea urchins, barracuda, lobster, and many beautiful and colorful fish. I'm sure that one of them was called a rainbow something...

Promptly after seeing that lobster in the water, I started thinking about dinner. It is lobster season you know! The Annual Placencia Lobsterfest starts Friday.

Our dinner was provided by The Inn at Robert's Grove and it was fabulous. I had conch fritters as an appetizer and coconut curry lobster for dinner. Dessert was banana gelato. The lobster dish was quite possibly among the best I've ever had, and you know that I do love to eat!

Tonight we are staying in a 2 bedroom beachfront villa at Chabil Mar Villas. The owners and staff are very friendly and the villas are very laid back and comfortable. I would love to stay here for my vacation. The beach is good, the staff is happy, and the people staying here have smiles on their faces. If you dive with us, this is likely going to be your home during your trip. You can even walk right up the beach into town from here. It's perfect, I tell you!

Overall, a very productive day. Off to get some rest because we're going to the rainforest in Cayo bright and early tomorrow morning . And I do mean early.