• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Panama
      • Portugal
      • Colombia
      • Northern Cyprus
      • Belize
      • Spain
      • Mexico
      • France
      • Indonesia
      • Vietnam
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Panama
      • Portugal
      • Colombia
      • Northern Cyprus
      • Belize
      • Spain
      • Mexico
      • France
      • Indonesia
      • Vietnam
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result
Home Countries Belize

Find Out Why Ambergris Caye Is The Friendliest Spot In Belize

The Friendliest Spot In The Caribbean

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Sep 26, 2022
in Belize, Lifestyle, Retirement/Living
0 0
0
Relaxing on chair on the beach with palm and yacht on background

Adobe Stock/Hladchenko Viktor

288
SHARES
3.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The friendliest spot in Belize? If you ask me, that’s Ambergris Caye, the little island just offshore from where we’re sitting right now in Belize City.

Ambergris Caye is about 26 miles long and about 1 mile wide at its widest point. You get there from the mainland by puddle jumper (that is, little airplane) or water taxi.

The heart of Ambergris Caye is San Pedro. This is where the expat community is based. It’s a quirky, comfortable little beachside town with open-air bars and restaurants, art galleries, wine shops, bakeries… a lot of infrastructure that has developed over the past 10 years or so, specifically as a result of the big North American presence. More on this in a minute.

Really, San Pedro is three long blocks: Front Street (along the beach), Middle Street (between the other two), and Back Street (along the lagoon). Simple and easy, like everything on this fun little Caribbean outpost that has been ranked the number-one island in the world by TripAdvisor.

Ambergris Caye appeals to the retiree who wants the Caribbean and who appreciates that this classically Caribbean spot is also affordable. But maybe the biggest appeal of this little island is the community that has taken hold here. About 15,000 people live on Ambergris full-time, including about 3,000 expats.

Among those 3,000 are Caroline and Ed, a couple of retirees who, in 2011, purchased a condo, pre-construction, in San Pedro at Grand Baymen Gardens. In 2013, when their condo was finished, the couple moved from their home in Michigan to live on Ambergris full-time. I assumed, when I met Caroline and she explained where she’d come from in the States, that she and Ed had made the move because of the weather. I figured they’d come to Ambergris to escape the cold back in Michigan. But that wasn’t the case.

What Convinced Caroline And Ed To MoveTo Ambergris

Caroline told me that what convinced her and her husband to leave Michigan and start over on Ambergris was the experience they had on their first visit to the island. They came for a vacation with no thought of anything beyond that. But during that brief visit, they were won over completely by the people they met. They chatted with the locals and were invited to participate in local events and even to attend services at a local church.

They were so impressed by the openness and hospitality they encountered that they decided this was a place they’d like to call home. The sense of community they found on Ambergris was unlike anything they’d known in Michigan, where they’d grown up. They were so taken by the idea of becoming part of that community that they decided to move. What a thing!

Today they couldn’t be happier. Caroline knows everyone and everything that goes on on Ambergris. She’s a great lady to have around, a great friend. And she’s a great example of the kind of person you meet on this island.

Get ​Your Free ​Belize Report Today!

Simply enter your email address below and we'll send you our ​FREE REPORT – ​​Discover Belize: Reef, Ruins, Rivers, And Rain Forest… Plus Easy Residency And Tax-Free Living

Your Whole Life’s A Day At The Beach

What do Caroline and Ed and all the other expats living on Ambergris do with themselves?

Small tropical island in Belize
Adobe Stock/Simon Dannhauer

They play in the water. This is the Caribbean, after all, and the diving is phenomenal, some of the best in the world. The barrier reef that lies offshore from mainland Belize parallels Ambergris about a quarter-mile out, creating hundreds of great dive sites.

If you’re not a diver, try the snorkeling. If you’re not interested in getting wet, take a tour of Belize’s famous Blue Hole from above; TropicAir offers two-hour aerial tours. Or take a boat out for some fishing; again, it’s among the best in the world.

If you prefer to stay on land, you’ll still have plenty to do. The big year-round expat community means lots of pot-luck lunches and dinners, happy hours, wine tastings, etc. Beach resorts bring in local musicians and organize horseshoe tournaments and other events. There are constant opportunities to come to the beach and hang out for a while to get to know your neighbors.

The wine shop Wine De Vine sponsors wine and cheese pairings.

A boardwalk has opened on the back side of the island, and there are lots of great restaurants—Thai, Italian, French, and, of course, lots of seafood choices.

About 15 minutes from Ambergris by water taxi is Caye Chapel, a smaller island that is dedicated entirely to golf. You can take the water taxi over in the morning, golf for the day, and then return to your home on Ambergris Caye in time for cocktails at sunset.

The island life isn’t for everyone, but if it’s what you think you’re after, I strongly recommend you give Ambergris a good look. Come on down and visit. You’ll be most welcome.

Rachel Jensen
Full-Time Belize Expat

Tags: 'Belize'ambergris cayeexpatsExpats in Ambergris CayeExpats in Belizelive overseasmove overseasMove to Belize
Share133Tweet65
Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Aerial view of Portuguese town Tavira
Retirement/Living

The 5 Safest Places To Retire In 2023

by Sophia Titley
February 6, 2023
0

Your motivations for an overseas move are likely as individual as you are but one universal desire shared by all...

Read more
Tavira in Portugal

The 5 Best Places To Live Overseas In 2023

February 2, 2023
Small fisherman boats at the bay and the houses in El Rompio village near town of Chitre in Panama

Where To Retire Abroad In 2023

January 30, 2023
Cyprus: Better Than Your Neighbor’s Retirement To Florida

Life On Cyprus: The Secret Brits Don’t Want Americans To Know

January 26, 2023
Cyprus: Better Than Your Neighbor’s Retirement To Florida

Why So Many Expats Are Moving To Belize

January 25, 2023
Cyprus: Better Than Your Neighbor’s Retirement To Florida

A Retire Overseas Challenge No One Talks About

January 24, 2023
A beach in Los Islotes, Panama

Los Islotes In Panama’s Pacific Coast—A Unique Community In One Of The Safest Havens

January 23, 2023

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.







Get ​Your Free ​Belize Report Today!
 

​Simply enter your email address below and we'll send you our ​FREE REPORT – ​​Discover Belize: Reef, Ruins, Rivers, And Rain Forest… Plus Easy Residency And Tax-Free Living
 

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2023

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2023 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2023 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

The World’s Best Places To Be In 2023?

Discover Them Here…

Sign up for FREE and learn how to live the good life on a modest budget, find bargain property, and more. Plus, check out our free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE.

RETIRE OVERSEAS AND LIVE LIKE ROYALTY

Get Your Free ​​Belize Report Today!
 

​​Learn more about ​​BELIZE and other countries in our free, daily Overseas Opportunity Letter​​, as well as our ​In Focus: Belize ​newsletter​​​​​​. Simply enter your email address below and we’ll send you our FREE REPORT – ​​Discover Belize: Reef, Ruins, Rivers, And Rain Forest… Plus Easy Residency And Tax-Free Living