Secret Islands: South Water Caye, Belize

Filed in archive Hidden Gems on April 26, 2010

© Meg Stewart


Whether you think of Gilligan and Mary Ann or about Robison Crusoe, everybody loves a deserted (or nearly deserted) island. Maybe it's the privacy. Maybe seclusion pays off in something more like communion with nature, with the sea. Maybe it's just that the absence of distractions and irritations, so that nothing keeps you from fully enjoying the sensual experience of sand in your toes and a beer in your hand.

South Water Caye in Belize is just one of a number of secret (as in undiscovered by the tourism industry) islands around the world. From the south end of the island you can snorkel the Western Hemisphere's oldest barrier reefs.

A cottage on the beach provides the stereotypical desert island experience. In the words of Travel & Leisure, entertainment here is "of your own making..."