Summary: for those looking for some of the best diving, snorkeling, and cave tubing in the World, guided by the nicest, kindest, most honest and skilled people you can find, that will pamper and spoil you rotten beyond anything you could expect for the price this is the place to go.
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The details:
Rather than repeating all the other positive reviews, I'm going to try and add value by covering some things that weren't covered in them, as well as address some of the negative reviews.
Let me start by the beginning: picking a Villa.
Cayo Espanto is truly unique, and the villa we picked -- Ventanas -- is unique in itself. It is definitely my heartfelt recommendation of all the villas for couples, especially if you value the fact that villa has its own ecosystem growing beneath it (more on that later). However, if you have kids or want a place to swim by/in your villa, pick another place; Ventanas may be on the water, but the water underneath and around it is a unique and wonderful fish breeding ground, that is ideal for those who, like me, enjoy simply observing the spawn (from your floor window, or from the pier in the back) and taking pictures of the thousands of fish there, especially since you won't find the spawn or the needlefish (at least not in the same numbers) by the coral. It is NOT a place to swim, not only because it would be unfortunate to hurt the breeding ground, but also because the baby jellyfish (aka sea lice) will get you good as punishment for hurting the fragile environment.
Another thing to bear in mind when booking: even though Cayo Espanto does its best to improve the Maya Island Air experience, if there's one thing I can say I regret from our trip is NOT taking the Helicopter ride from and back to the International Airport. Getting from and back to the International airport was really the only part of the trip that wasn't perfection, so the helicopter ride would have been worth every cent. How so? Well, on our way in, we encountered complete chaos trying to get to our flight (even though we had a reservation), since several US flights had arrived at the same time and dozens of people were trying to get checked in to Maya Island Air, and on our way back we had to endure torrential rains from Cayo Espanto to San Pedro Airport (on our way to International), which had us completely soaked (the Cayo Espanto folks don't really have a completely enclosed boat to take you to San Pedro). With the high humidity, and in spite of us changing clothes, we only completely dried out by the time we got back in the US, which wasn't pleasant. A Helicopter ride would have avoided the craziness in and the rain out. You have been warned.
With the beginning and end out of the way, let's talk about the stay itself...
Ventanas is, again, a special place, and unlike any other villa in Cayo Espanto, It is completely surrounded by water, facing East-Northeast. You get spectacular sunrises every day, and you can walk over to the pier on the other side of the island to enjoy a spectacular sunset. You get frequent visits from beautiful Pelicans. On the downside, a) the toilet is RV-style (which is not nearly as bad as it sounds, because it works pretty well and the wonderful maid will leave everything spotless twice a day. Se will also do all your laundry for no extra cost -- highly recommended!), and b) the cooling options are all extremely noisy (letting the Trade Winds cool the place creates noise; the ceiling fan is very noisy; and the air conditioning is extremely noisy too, and placed right above the bed which is very, very uncomfortable). The solution I found for the poor cooling options are earplugs; with earplugs on you will enjoy great sleep, but without them it will be challenging.
Food: having Patrick and Richard come by with a custom menu every day, and prepare all meals for you, as well as having David and Jesus (our amazing housemen) bring everything to you spoiled us rotten. We are foodies, so we appreciate refined foods, and we have pretty high standards; normally we frown upon all-inclusive resorts, but considering the quality of the food and drinks (amazing mixed drinks -- the Pina Colada, the Espanto Wave and the ridiculously good Margaritas should be definitely experienced often; can't believe it's all included!) it is the great food and drink that makes Cayo Espanto actually an amazing deal. Only two things to bear in mind: first, don't come here to enjoy burgers and fries; Patrick and Richard are at their best with local fare -- Grouper, Tilapia, Snapper, Lobster (oh, the gigantic lobsters!) -- in their most natural, simple, Caribbean forms. Don't ask them to cook you meat or italian food in general. You will regret it if you do. Stay away from veggies too, especially lettuce, since (as we saw) the lettuce is not brought into Cayo Espanto inside chilled containers, so it will be limp. However, one thing you can count on is amazing soups and mind-boggling chocolate-based deserts for every meal.
Activities: the location for Cayo Espanto makes it ideal for those of you looking to dive and snorkel in Hol Chan and the Shark-Ray Alley. We had zero diving experience, so after getting an amazing massage in the morning (highly recommend the great spa services, especially if you're not particularly lucky with the weather) we did a "Resort Dive" in the afternoon, which is designed for first-timers. We got far more than expected -- rather than being stuck in a tank or swimming pool, or having to be part of a group, we had the diving instructor all for ourselves, and he took us straight to Hol Chan. There are several extremely shallow parts in Hol Chan, that make it ideal for snorkeling and first-time divers, and we took full advantage of that. After about an hour of being thought the basics, and testing out the shallow waters, we were ready to go to 24 ft depth, and have learn exactly why so many people are diving addicts. Great stuff, our (private) instructor was awesome, the setting was perfect and we are so glad we did it.
Next day we did snorkeling in the Shark-Ray Alley and Hol Chan. Being that it was the Holidays the place was bumpin' but we got, again, a private guide (Alex) who knew exactly where to go and what to do to be able to feel like we were the only ones around, and see all the Sharks, Rays, Morays and dozens of other (smaller) fish.
The following day we went for the "A Day at Sea (with a little luxury)", which is quite possibly the most underrated activity. It wasn't actually our first pick; initially we planned on another dive, but since the first one was so awesome, we decided to do something different. To be quite honest, I really do not understand why neither the Cayo Espanto folks (specifically, who takes care of booking all the activities) nor the other reviewers here really rave more about that particular activity. It's truly the best thing to do on vacation ever: German and Felix (an amazing father-son team) are not only incredibly nice, they are extremely skilled. The tour starts again at the reef -- you pick the place, it's a private tour also -- where you can snorkel at your leisure. Then they will take you outside the marine reserves, to areas you can fish in. That's where German and Felix show off their skills -- each went in one direction, German equipped with a spear and Felix with a small net -- and, while you snorkel some more (away from the crowds), they will expertly catch your lunch. German caught a few fish, and Felix caught 4 -- yes, four -- lobsters. But that's not all -- you then go to another spot and snorkel some more and/or... fly fish. Yes, YOU, the guests, fly fish. Not reason to be worried if you haven't done it before. It was my very first time and I caught at least half a dozen groupers in like 15 minutes. They know where to go, and come equipped with live sardines for bait.
After all the fishing, German takes you to Blackadore Cay, another private island that is partially owned by the owner of Cayo Espanto (the other owner of Blackadore Cay is none other than Leonardo DiCaprio...). At Blackadore Cay, German and Felix will prepare you an amazing meal with all the fish and shellfish you have caught. And, even though German is not a professional chef, he actually created what ended up being the absolute best meal we had during our stay (and possibly the best fish/shellfish meal we've ever had in our entire lives). It's truly amazing the difference eating fish and lobster caught 5 minutes ago makes.
Next day was our Cave Tubing / Xunantunich trip. Once again, a private tour with a private guide, Herbie Eagan -- you can read more about that one in the Belize Cave Tubing review. Long story short, that tour also showed the commitment to privacy and excellent service that Cayo Espanto provides; during our return to the resort there was a big storm, and the Cayo Espanto folks basically kept calling everybody that was involved in our trip back from the mainland to make sure we were getting our checkpoints (Belize City airport, San Pedro Airport, San Pedro pier, etc.) on time. Great stuff.
After an amazing New Years Eve, during which David and Jesus provided us with the amazing service they spoiled us with (and a bottle of our favorite champagne, which against expectations they actually had), in our last full day, we actually ended up only going to San Pedro. You'd think, based on some of the other reviews, that San Pedro isn't nice, but it actually is a quaint little town with amazing shopping. Highly recommend a trip there to get some local stuff to bring back. Everybody is nice, friendly and honest; after having travelled all over the world, we can safely say San Pedro is the furthest thing you can be from a Tourist Trap given that it's packed with American tourists almost begging to be taken advantage of.
The moment we got back from San Pedro it basically started pouring rain and it didn't stop until we left about 18 hours later. No matter -- we needed a break anyway from our activities, and we already had some of the best time of our lives... just wish we had booked that helicopter ride back to BZE instead of taking Maya Island Air...
Oh, one final note: for those wondering, besides the fact that everybody obviously speaks English fluently (it's technically the country's official language, and even though everybody falls back to Spanish or Creole in private, there's no other country in the region where you'll get better English), all the power/outlets are 110V with US plugs, and Cayo Espanto gets the same DirecTV we get in the mainland (with a huge dish...). Having said that, do realize that given the fact that Cayo Espanto is far beyond the edge of the main reception area, even that big-huge-dish will not provide any TV if it's raining. So come prepared with some DVDs and an iPod for that rainy day... (they do have a library of CDs and DVDs, but when it's raining all the good ones get snatched quickly).
One final note: bring lots of tip money. Anybody will take US Dollars, and even though there are plenty of ATMs in San Pedro, since you're being whisked away from place to place and you really don't need any cash to pay for meals, any activities or anything at the resort, you're better off just bringing in some US dollars rather than going to San Pedro on purpose to get cash. You'll need to be prepared to tip everyone, starting with the porter at the airport, through pretty much everybody in the army of people that will be helping you, including all the tour guides. Not because you *have* to, but because you'll get such amazing service that you'll feel compelled to, and regret if you don't have the cash on you.
(as a last resort, there is a space for a tip in the credit card receipt for the final bill for the resort -- however it's just one line, so it's impersonal and difficult to assign individually to all the people that will be serving you).
Room Tip: Ventanas is the smallest villa, but for active couples it is the best option, since it will give you...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
