Placencia

Placencia occupies the end of a long thin peninsula in southern Belize, with the Caribbean on one side and a lagoon on the other, and it has the best beaches on the Belizean mainland, which is a lower bar than it sounds since most of the coast is mangrove. The village at the tip is a Creole fishing settlement that grew into a low-key resort town, and its main thoroughfare is a concrete footpath about a metre wide running behind the beach, once listed as the narrowest main street in the world. Boats run out to the cayes and to Laughing Bird Caye, and whale sharks gather off Gladden Spit in spring.

History

Before the Europeans came, the Maya lived on the peninsula and, archaeology suggests, produced salt here and traded it along the coast. In the 17th century English Puritans, among them settlers from Providence Island, made a settlement that died out in the 1820s, and the Spaniards sailing this coast gave the place its name, Placentia, with the point called Punta Placentia, Pleasant Point; several families resettled the peninsula in the late 1800s, the village lived from the sea and became a tourist destination late in the 20th century, and on 8 October 2001 Hurricane Iris damaged nearly 95% of its buildings (Wikipedia, Placencia).

The landscape

• The Sidewalk - the metre-wide footpath through the village.
• The beaches - the best on the Belizean mainland.
• Laughing Bird Caye - a national park caye a short boat ride offshore.
• Whale sharks at Gladden Spit - gathering around the spring full moons.

When to go

December to April is the dry season. Whale sharks appear off Gladden Spit around the full moons of March to June, when snappers spawn, though numbers have declined markedly in recent years. The lobster festival is in June.

Things to know

Whale shark numbers at Gladden Spit have fallen sharply and many trips now see none; operators still sell them, so ask about recent sightings before booking. Sandflies on the beaches at dawn and dusk are severe. Development along the peninsula has accelerated. The road down is long and the last stretch was only paved recently.

Nearby

Hopkins is an hour north; the cayes and reef are offshore.