Page 284 - Central America

Placencia’s airport is about 1 mile north of the village; 6 miles be-
yond that is the Maya Beach. Between the village and the airport
lie an increasing number of accommodations, including some of
the swankiest in Belize and a growing number of luxury housing
units. High season in Placencia begins the week before Christmas
and lasts until late April. During the full moons of May and June
the town hops as whale sharks come to spawn in the nearby wa-
ters. Bargain hunters should be able to get discounted rates when
the mercury rises.
About a hundred miles south of Belize City lies the coastlines of the
Placencia Peninsula, where the local claim to have the best beaches
in the country. Formally Inhabited by Mayan fishermen and English
Buccaneers, Placencia is now a small laid-back creole fishing village,
where the locals go out of their way to ensure that visitors enjoy
their stay. Known for having the “World’s narrowest main street” as
recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. The main street
is a mile long four-feet-wide walkway that runs through the center
of the village connecting to Residences, small Placencia Hotels, Res-
taurant, Bars, Gift Shops and local Businesses. Further north of the
village are a hand full of newer luxury resorts and inns designed to
make it easy to settle into the laid-back setting of what is Placencia.
Down here, the Barrier Reef separates from the main land to create
an Inner-Lagoon sprinkled with hundreds of cayes (small islands),
coral reef, and miniature atolls, which makes for superb diving and
snorkeling, and hundreds of square miles of flats that offers the Best
in Belize Fishing.
Placencia is a springboard to many of Belize’s top diving and snor-
keling sites, offering some of the most pristine dive and snorkel sites
in the country. Also, about twenty nine miles from Placencia’s coast
is Gladden Spit, a hot spot for Whale Shark Encounters. Because