After many trips to various Sandals Resorts, we decided we wanted something more private and upscale. After searching the internet for various private luxury resorts, we found Cayo Espanto in Belize. Cayo Espanto is a five-star world class resort with only seven villas on the island, one of which is over the water. The island is only 4 acres in size and only a foot or two above the surrounding sea. It has a boat dock and helicopter landing pad too!
We decided to charter a helicopter to take us straight from Belize City to the island. This is an option that Cayo Espanto can arrange at the time of booking. The other option would have been a short flight to San Pedro followed by a 15-20 minute boat ride. After we got our luggage and went quickly through immigration, we were taken outside to meet our helicopter. The pilot was there to greet us and after a short safety briefing asked if one of us would like to sit in the front for the flight. I quickly said yes, then turned to my wife and asked if that was OK. She laughed and said it would be fine. She knew I was excited since I said yes before even talking with her. I felt like a copilot ready to take the controls. The helicopter flight takes you over the reef to view sights like Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. As we approach the snorkel site, the pilot does a hard bank 360 turn around the snorkelers who must be super impressed because I know I was. As they waved to us from the water, we continue our flight to our destination.
As we come in for a landing, we can see the staff members lined up waiting for us. We get off the helicopter and are greeted with Cayo Espanto’s signature drink, the Espanto Wave. This vacation is definitely starting out on the right foot. We are then introduced to the staff, specifically our houseman. The houseman is the person that will bring your food and drinks, facilitate any water sports or activities, basically anything you need or want. Rick, our houseman, shows us to Casa Solana, the room we chose for our stay.
As we walked up to the deck, a table was set for lunch with the food waiting for us. Fish tacos and vegetable quesadillas were already prepared. I should mention, before you arrive at Cayo, they have you fill out a preference sheet and list the types of foods you like or don’t like among other things. This was similar to the Sandals Butler preference sheets we had filled out in the past, but Cayo Espanto pays attention to the details you list. We felt like the Sandals sheet was sometimes never even looked at.
The food at Cayo Espanto was amazing. Throughout our travels, we have had the opportunity to experience some very good cuisine. This turned us into foodies in a way, always looking forward to what the next meal might bring. Cayo Espanto provides you with a menu each day for lunch and dinner. It includes three options to choose from that are somewhat based on your preference sheet. If you don’t prefer any of the options, just ask for something else and they will prepare it. We never saw a menu with something we didn’t want to have, and most of the time it was hard to choose between the options listed. And the desserts, wow. I still want to return for the apple crumble, one of my all time favorites.
Every morning as I would shower in the open air bathroom, I would hear a splashing sound of several pelicans fishing for their breakfast. The sun rose behind us so it made for perfect lighting to take some pictures. I was using a Nikon D5600 with 18-140mm lens. There were a few other birds spotted too, such as Grackles, Yellow-throated Warblers, and Green Herons to name a few.
The time has come for our trip to be over. We had an amazing time at Cayo Espanto and will absolutely be returning in the future. Another couple was also leaving via helicopter this morning. We didn’t expect there was room for two to land at the same time, but sure enough our helicopter landed perfectly next to it. We got on board and off we went back to Belize City. All of the staff had lined up once again to wish us farewell and wave. The helicopter pulled back off the pad and circled the island before the straight shot back to the airport.
Here are some more photos.
Numerous excursion are offered at Cayo Espanto. While on the island we went on two of them, one was a snorkel trip to Hol Chan and Shark Alley and the other was to Lamanai, ancient Mayan ruins.