Letter to the Editor: Undesirable Land Conditions in Ambergris Caye

To the editor of the San Pedro Sun:
While talking to resort management we learned that tourist complains are up and we can write a letter for the better of the island.
Unfortunately Ambergris Caye is not blessed with top quality wide beaches and easy ocean access from beaches, an unfortunate fact given by nature. That’s already difficult by itself for tourism. Luckily we found a strip at a neighboring resort where we could walk into the ocean safely without sinking in ocean swamp as present in most beaches on the island.
But more importantly we thought, that an island that disadvantaged would see it as a priority to offer best on-land conditions in order to stay competitive. But no, on land it was clearly worse. The island’s vehicle traffic is beyond what we as tourists are willing to endure.
We encountered caravans of heavy trucks with stinking exhaust, too many dilapidated cars and unsafe traffic. Several times we got nauseous from black smoke and stinking car exhaust. There was a nearly permanent dust development from speeding and too many cars on roads even in town. San Pedro town was not any special or worthwhile to visit either.
As stated, if an island can’t compete with top beach and ocean conditions, the more important it would be to offer top quality conditions on land, town and roads. “Unfortunately Ambergris Caye offers neither”.
A return vacation or purchase of real estate on the island, as we had considered is now very far away in our thoughts. We left rather disappointed.
Thank you for listening,
/s/
Mark and Karyn,
Portland, Oregon, USA