4 year old in Belize

[Pollyo]

Looking for an Excursion to do with the family with my 4 year old. Any ideas on what to do. would love to hear what you feel is safe and what you have seen and would not recommend. I have a 4yr old boy, and an 8 year old girl with my husband and myself. i will be traveling on the Dream in July.

[russianmom]

I took my son to Belize when he was 4. We did the boat tour up the Old belize River- looking for wildlife. It was hot and there was no shade or cover on the boat- he was very bored.

 

We then stopped at a restaurant for a Belizean lunch- which we enjoyed. Then we went to the Belize Zoo. It's not a typical zoo but one that started off as a sanctuary for animals native to Belzie- he enjoyed that as well.

 

This year he was 5 and we did the bus tour to Altun Ha. The ride is about an hour- he used his Ipod to watch a movie. He was able to run in the open space when we got there. He wanted to climb the ruins but we stupidly wore flip flops...

 

Other than Goff's Caye or Bannister there really isn't too much for a 4 year old there. Also most if not all tours start in the Tourist Village which is about a 20 min tender ride from the ship.

[PhilliePhan31]

We'll also be on the Dream in July with two sons, 3 and 10. Decided to book the Shark/Ray Alley and Caye Caulker excursion through Coral Breeze. The three year old obviously will not snorkel... but, they have it so he can be an observer... We'll just take turns snorkeling while one of us watches him either in the boat or swimming/floating in the water.

[World Gallery]

Unless your child is a good traveler, I would recommend staying on the ship and enjoying having the pool, etc, to yourself. Everything is a long ride out (at least an hour) and on top of that, you have the tender ride into Belize. That whole process alone can take about 45 minutes, depending on how long the line is just to get onto the tender and fill it with people before it takes off.

We did Caye Caulker on our last trip with kids ages 9 - 15. It was a very long process and we wouldn't do it again. It just wasn 't worth it to get there.

Unfortunately, Belize is not kid friendly in our opinion and we have tried really hard to research and find the right things for our kids (We have been 3 times with them and would probably not get off of the ship again with them.)

[2112]

I just took my 4.5 year old to Caye Caulker by water taxi a couple weeks ago. It was great. After the tender ride in we walked out the gate to the left and up a couple blocks to the Caye Caulker Water Taxi Association (by the swing bridge). Bought a ticket for me (my 4.5 year old was free) and took the water taxi to Caye Caulker (about a 45 minute trip). From there we took a right from the dock and walked down the beach and past all the docks to the end (the split). We hung around there for a while (the is a small beach) then stopped at a small playground on the walk back. I let him play for a little while then we walked down the main street until you see the police station on the left side and you turn left to get back to the docks. I enjoyed the day and so did my son. A nice thing is that once on the island it is small enough and uncrowded enough to give him a little room to run around and burn off some energy. On the ship I always felt he has to be within 2-3 feet of me (visions of him going overboard) and some other ports I felt that he could get lost and there would be no time to find him. With Caye Caulker being so small and uncrowded, I gave him more space to run than at any other time on the whole trip. I'll put some pictures up on my website in the next week and post a link here.

 

Altun Ha wouldn't be a bad choice either. Like someone else mentioned, there is a large open space there to let your 4 year old burn off some energy.

[Pollyo]

thanks for the ideas. I am going to have to think about this. I was really interested in doing the cave tubing but I am sure that is not on the list to do with a 4 year old. After reading the article about how a woman died in 2008, I dont thinkI am going let my 8 year old do it.

 

Thanks for your help

[2112]

Here are some pictures I took of my excursion to Caye Caulker with my 4 year old son. There are 2 pages of photos so be sure to click on page 2 as well:

 

http://www.pbase.com/2112/caye_caulker

[SeaPA1]

We also went to Caye Caulker via the water taxi when we were there in early January; our sons at the time were 7 & 5. We had a great day, and the boys loved it. We did about the same thing as 2112 - got off the water taxi & strolled down to the end to the bar/restaurant at the split. Nice, leisurely walk, with the boys stopping to either kick or pick up & toss some 75,000 coconuts that we came across along the way. Spent a few hours down there, had lunch & a couple of drinks; the older boy snorkeled with me some, the younger one just splashed around in the shallower water. Both of the boys, as well as my wife & I, enjoyed the day very much.