Island Expeditions does a great job on its website with information to prepare you for its tours. If you’re going on the Ultimate Adventure tour it will help to read everything the company provides.

I canvassed the group we travelled with and together, we’ve come up with a list of additional things to keep in mind based on our experience.

What to Expect

  • If you arrive early on day zero of the tour, you will spend the afternoon at the Biltmore Best Western. Pack your swimsuit, sunscreen, and toiletries in your carry-on so that you will have easy access for an afternoon by the pool. The shuttle will keep your large bag strapped to the top of the van for transport later in the afternoon for your night’s stay at the Tropical Education Center.
  • Food and beverages are available poolside at the Biltmore. There are separate menus for the inside dining room and for the poolside bar. Note that the discount voucher for food that you get as part of the tour is good only for the dining room.
  • If you are tech dependent, know that there is limited wifi on this tour. The Biltmore has free wifi but we found it a bit flaky. The Tropical Education Centre also has wifi but only in the central area (we didn’t use it so can’t comment on quality). Tobacco Caye has for-pay wifi (about $4 USD/day/cabin). The Lodge at Big Falls has solid, free wifi. We purchased SIM cards for our unlocked iPhones. There is a DigiCel store directly across from the airport and the service there was great. It cost $25 USD for 1 GB of data for 30 days. Note you will not get cell reception on the islands or in the jungle. We used it mostly in the van as we were being transported from place to place and when wifi strength was poor. Reception on the main highways is spotty.
  • Don’t wait to use DEET. Mosquitos and flies will bite before you know it. Glover’s Reef was particularly bad for sand flies. I let my guard down when spending the day in Belize City the day of our departure and came home with a few bug bites as well.
  • Don’t take anything that you can’t attach to your or the inflatable canoes on the Moho River portion of the trip. The currents are strong, you’re going to capsize at some point and two people on our tour lost their sunglasses. They weren’t wearing them, but they had sport bands attached. They had them hanging around their necks on the inside of their water vests. You might be better off skipping sunglasses and just using a baseball cap under your helmet with generous brim to provide shade. I found this worked well.

What and how to Pack

  • I think the IE packing list is a bit off on the number of shorts and pants to take. It rained a lot on our trip. Especially on the river portion of our tour, it would have been nice to have a couple more items of dry clothing. So I’d say take 3-4 pairs of lightweight pants and four pairs of shorts. Take shoes with socks as well, your waterlogged feet will love you for it once you hit the campsite.
  • Speaking of waterlogged, take lots of large Ziploc bags and garbage bags to keep your clothing and other items dry for the river trip. IE provides large dry bags to carry all your stuff, but there are small leaks in some of the seams and if you capsize a lot like us, your stuff will be submersed under water many times.
  • Also related to the river trip, you will get one large dry bag per couple. To make your camping life easier, pack your things separately from each other in different coloured waterproof bags or dry sacks. We always pack with cubes so we were able to find our things easily as we sorted ourselves out in the tent.
  • Invest in a quick-dry camp towel. Steve had one, I didn’t. I brought a thin regular towel and it NEVER dried. Steve’s dried in a snap.
  • The water bottle you take should have a clip on it so that it can attach to the boat on the river trip. Without it, you’re forced to store it in your dry day pack and going in and out of that while you’re paddling is a pain.
  • IE recommends taking long underwear to snorkel in. We thought this sounded nuts, but we took a couple pairs along. Steve used them after our first day of snorkeling as he found he got cold after about 20 minutes. They did the trick. I also loved having mine to sleep in at camp.
  • This is what I would take for footwear next time: light hiking boots or running shoes that can get wet, close-toed sport sandals, aqua socks with good sole. My sport sandals are designed like a flip-flop but with a rugged sole. They were okay, but at camp, if I had a close-toed sandal I could have worn socks (nice on feet that have been wet all day).
  • There are some optional activities that you should consider taking extra cash for. There is morning yoga at Glover’s Reef (no charge but tips are welcome upon departure from island) and an artisan market en route to the river trip. IE mentions spending opportunities on the site, but the info can be easy to miss.

If you’ve been on this trip and have something to add, please do so in the comments.