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Believe in Belize

With the latest surge in crime in Mexico, travelers are seeking an alternative this winter. One needs to look no further than the country that borders Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Belize. Best known for the longest barrier reef this side of Australia, Belize has a magical interior that should not be overlooked.  Head to San Ignacio to explore the Mountain Pine Ridge on horseback or canoe though the rainforest on the Macal River. You’ll swim under waterfalls and very likely spot toucans. This section of the country is also known for its abundance of Mayan ruins, including Caracol, site of the 140-foot high Caana (Sky Palace) and the legendary Tikal in neighboring Guatemala. Nestled amidst the Belize interior, Chaa Creek is your upscale guide to the surrounding rainforest and Mayan Ruins. The 365-acre nature preserve sits on a hillside of tall mahogany and cedar trees overlooking the Macal River. The property offers two dozen deluxe bungalows, including a treetop suite with whirlpool, new spa, and a restaurant that thrives on local fare. Yet, Chaa Creek’s real forte is guiding families deep into the jungle. Or check out Ka’ana, a new 15-room upscale boutique resort that will help set up all your adventures in Belize. 

 

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Beaune, Burgundy, Oenophiles Take Note

While we’re on the subject of France, I met a wine distributor this weekend whose specialty is wines from Burgundy. He spends more than half his year in the region. I asked him what his favorite town in Burgundy was and without hesitation, he blurted, “Beaune, by far the best.” In the middle of the Côte d’Or, Beaune is the capital of the wine region. Wine, food, and boutique stores line the cobblestone streets. To sample the region’s best wine, visit the Marché aux Vins. The “dégustation des vins” takes place in a historic church, with its stone pillars and arches forming the perfect backdrop. For 10 Euros you can taste the famous wines of the region–18 in all, with the best reds coming at the end. While in town, also check out third-generation cheese maker, Alain Hess and the chocolates and cakes at Bouché. 

 
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Follow Cruise Expert Fran Golden On Her New Blog

Working professionally as a travel writer since 1990, I’m fortunate to know the best in the business. If I want to send a client on a European skiing trip with the family, I’m calling Everett Potter for his keen insight. For a golf outing in Scotland, longtime scribe Larry Olmsted is your man. For cruise travel, I’ve always relied on the expertise of Fran Golden. In fact, I’ve quoted her for many of my cruise pieces. Golden has covered the cruise industry for more than 15 years and has personally sailed aboard more than 100 cruise ships. She’s the former travel editor of the Boston Herald and former travel news editor for AOL. Now she’s just been hired by Porthole Cruise Magazine to launch its new blog. If you want to know about the latest cruise ships and their enticing itineraries, it would be worth your while to visit this new blog on a regular basis. 

 
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Sea Kayaking the Saguenay Fjord

The first you thing you wonder when entering a sea kayak on Saguenay Fjord is where are all the boats? No motorboats, sailboats, jet skies, nothing. Our guide, Jean, tells us there are few places to dock along the 100-kilometer shoreline and even less places to find gas. The second thing you notice is that the water is the color of black ink, perhaps because it reaches a depth of some 900 meters in the middle. We were 80 kilometers down the fjord, only 20 kilometers from the mouth at the St. Lawrence River. This is a prime spot for spotting beluga whales since the federally preserved waters of Baie-Sainte-Marguerite, where belugas mate, were directly across the 2 kilometer channel from us. We paddled along the jagged shoreline lined with cliffs and oversized boulders and topped by pines that remarkably still stand after the harsh winters here. We spotted herons and cormorants but Jean tells us that the rugged shoreline is also a favorite of peregrine falcons. 

Then we crossed the channel as the tide rolled out and waited patiently. “Just listen,” said Jean “and you might hear the belugas breathing.” In the distance, we spotted a patch of white break the surface. Then we spotted it again. Jean has had curious belugas come directly to his kayak to peer up at him, but we weren’t so fortunate today. Nonetheless, the weather was perfect, under sunny skies with a slight breeze. It was wonderful to finally be paddling in the Saguenay Fjord, one of the southernmost fjords on the planet, something that has been on my wish list for quite some time.
 
In the morning, we took a 2-hour hike on the De la Statue trail at Parc National du Fjord-du-Saguenay. We spotted several massive glacial erratics before climbing atop the cliff face. Spectacular vistas of the fjord were around every bend. Whether you hike or paddle the Saguenay Fjord, it’s hard not to be impressed by the quiet beauty. 
 
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Top 5 Adventures in Florida, Biking the Shark Valley Loop, Everglades National Park

If you happen to be in Miami and crave an authentic outdoor experience away from the trendy restaurants and clubs in South Beach, take an hour-long drive on the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) to Shark Valley Visitor Center in Everglades National Park. Try to get here on the early side (before 11 am), because the parking lot fills up quick, and bring water and sandwiches for lunch. Then rent a bike and head out on the 15-mile paved Shark Valley route. Far from the deafening noise of a propeller boat, a tourist magnet in these parts, you get to bike at your own pace along canals teeming with alligators, turtles, and an extraordinary amount of large birds. It took my family of four almost an hour to bike one mile because we had to stop every 50 yards to get a photo of that gator basking in the sun next to the bike trail. Don’t worry. They could care less about you and no one’s ever been attacked on the route. Usually near the alligator was an anhinga drying its wings on a branch, and wood storks and white whooping cranes standing tall in the shallow water. There was every type of heron imaginable, from the stocky black-crowned night heron to the long-legged great blue heron. Another highlight was the pink roseate spoonbills resting in the dense sagebrush along the canal. Stop midway at the observation deck to get a good overview of the Everglades topography, a mix of sinuous waterways and tall swaying grass. This is also a good spot to have that sandwich or snack you brought before heading back. 

 
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Cape Town’s Rise to Culinary Prominence

It wasn’t so long ago that the signature dinner in Cape Town was a traditional braai, a barbecue featuring copious amounts of meat like boerewors sausages. If that didn’t satiate your carnivorous cravings, you could always stop at the local butcher for a bag of biltong, the popular South African snack of air-dried beef jerky. Then the Apartheid regime ended and the city started to embrace its diversity of cultures, especially when it came to expanding the palate at your nightly meal. The fusion of Dutch, French, Malaysian, Indian, and African cooking has melded to create an exciting new cuisine. 

The latest batch of talented chefs take full advantage of Cape Town’s melting pot and its envied locale, straddling the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as the largest city on the southernmost point of the continent. Everywhere you look is water and thankfully the fresh bounty of the sea now appears on the menu alongside the many types of meat, all washed down with South Africa’s world-class pinotage and sauvignon blanc vintages. You don’t have to step far from your hotel room to find a restaurant that scintillates the taste buds. Fine dining is sprouting up in all parts of the city like the blooming of king proteas, the national flower, at the city’s Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. So pick a neighborhood, any neighborhood. 

My entire story on the Cape Town dining scene can be found in the February/March 2017 issue of Virtuoso Traveler. 

 
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La Loma Jungle Lodge, Isla Bastimentos, Panama

I’ve had my fill of snow this winter in Boston. So now I’m dreaming about the warm weather and an upcoming trip to Jamaica. This week, I’ll delve into my favorite eco-resorts in the Caribbean and Costa Rica. The sustainable tourism movement has grown leaps and bounds in the past decade. No longer can you simply throw compost in the back of a Marriott and call it an eco-resort. To be green, destinations have to offer indigenous culture and food, encourage outdoor recreation that highlight the region, curb greenhouse gases that impact the environment, and involve the entire community in the tourism effort. Many resorts even go a step further by helping to support local school systems and food banks. These five lodgings are green in every sense of the word. 

Increasingly, the small eco-retreat design that made such an imprint in Costa Rica has slipped farther south into Panama. On an archipelago in the northwestern part of the country, a short boat ride from the town of Bocas del Toro, is a three-cabana lodge socked in the middle of the verdant jungle and surrounded by a working cocoa plantation.  All of the cabins at the Jungle Lodge were created from fallen trees and inspired by the architecture of the local Ngobe Indians. The employees are also local, including your guide through the rainforest and beach to see sloths, armadillos, small crocs called caimans, and the graceful blue morph butterfly. At dinner, lobster and conch will not be served, as the owners try to use only sustainably harvested fish like yellow jack. Rates are $110 per person a night, including three meals, the boat ride over from Bocas town, and some of the excursions.

 

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