LUNA SEA

See the real Belize!

Art Director

If you're reading this and considering booking, perhaps you had the same concerns as me (at least if you are inexperienced with this sort of thing as I was). Being my first charter booking, and of course doing most of my research online, my biggest concern was with making sure what was advertised and represented was in fact what we'd get as an experience. Happily, I can say that this was in fact the case down to every detail.

A few other major concerns in booking the catamaran was the quality of the boat, and who would crew it.. We got photos of the boat in advance, and knew what we were choosing to pay for. We wanted to be sure we were crewed with a professional staff that would be aware of the context of this trip. It was just my wife and I, and stay on the catamaran was part of our honeymoon plans. We knew there would be two crew (captain and chef), and then just us, so it was extremely important that we got GOOD people, who we could interact with/get along with, and who knew how to be professional.

Suffice to say, we got that, and much more. Our crew were Daniel and Ellen, and both were absolute professionals, and extremely humble, down-to-earth people. Technically, we just paid for a crewed boat, but in actuality we got people we could sit down and eat with, and laugh with, and go out on adventures with, and get to know as new friends - so much so that we would definitely come back, and having the same crew would be a large reason why.

I had a lot of questions about the boat, and my wife wanted to know all about the local areas and different cayes. One important thing to note - both Daniel and Ellen are locals, born-and-raised in Belize. This may not sound like a big deal, but it really makes the trip that much more interesting and comfortable, because there isn't anything they don't know how to do or to take care of, and they know all the right people in all the right places. At one point, I'd realized I had a set of car keys that needed to get all the way back to the resort hotel (Las Terrazas) where we got married. Imagine, there we are out in the middle of the water on a boat, and I've got car keys that need to go 30 miles back up the coast. Daniel took care of it - he took the dinghy into San Pedro early the next morning and had his own brother figure out how to get the keys back to my father-in-law!

Daniel is an expert captain, and knows the entire coastline like the back of his hand. We stayed in a different spot each night, and never bothered with the marinas - everything we needed was right on the boat, and we just spent our time hanging out and reading on the trampoline at night, listening to the water lap up against the boat hull, and enjoying the breeze. We stayed in the mangroves and saw the dolphins and manatee swim right up to the boat, we visited several cayes, and basically just got to see all of the coast. We even went to shore to see a local aquarium and also checked out the town of Caye Caulker.

I wanted to fish, and turns out Dan likes to fish too. He knew all the spots to fish with rod and reel, but also taught me how to spearfish, which was easily the highlight of the trip for me (if you know how to snorkel, and you know how to follow directions, he'll take you. If you do go, listen up to what he says and follow instructions, he's an expert and you'll be catching dinner before you know it!)

The food and service was amazing - Ellen is a professional chef, and presented us with local fare and different dishes (including fish/lobster that I (ahem, I mean Dan) would catch that day:)! Preparing meals that were at the level of quality we had takes time, and Ellen knew how to work in the kitchen, and was pleasant and approachable the entire time.

Really cannot say enough about this crew - it's simple for us - put us around people that have some class, and know how to be down-to-earth, and kind, and we'll enjoy it. And Dan and Ellen absolutely knocked it out of the park. If you book, request them and you won't go wrong. Handing those guys a cash tip at the end of our trip for all of their efforts was some of the best money I've ever spent.