Private Island Resort with Caribbean Sea Activities
Since buying Isla Marisol in the 1940s, the Usher family has preserved the tropical landscape and wildlife so visitors today can experience the atoll as it looked and felt generations ago. Catch-and-release fishing policies ensure that shoals of colorful parrotfish can still be spotted along the pier. Abundant coconut palms give the seagoing hawks plenty of places to nest and gather ingredients for piña coladas. And because it's still privately owned, Isla Marisol Resort maintains an intimate ambiance—there are just five all-wood cabins and 11 cabanas dotting the island.
The resort limits its occupancy to 36 guests at any time, and visitors all have access to the entire island, from 2 miles of jungle to soft sand beaches studded with conch shells. Vacation packages come with all-inclusive meals served in the laid-back restaurant. Isla Marisol’s chefs prepare dishes with locally sourced conch and lobster and cook with seasonal produce shipped in from family farms and gardens around Belize.
Adventure Tours in Glover’s Reef
Isla Marisol lies about 35 miles southeast of mainland Belize and is the smallest of three coral atolls in the region. Just offshore, Glover’s Reef abounds with marine life and supports recreational activities such as snorkeling and fly-fishing.
Diving adventure packages include three dives per day, one night dive, and all diving equipment. A PADI-certified dive master leads each 45-minute excursion, so even noncertified divers can explore sections of the Belize Barrier Reef system, the second-largest in the world. At the popular Pinnacles dive site, stunning reefs flower up from the ocean floor; other dive sites are characterized by subterranean structures such as sheer vertical walls, deep canyons, and grottos.
Much of the coral around the island flourishes near the surface, yielding prime snorkeling spots. Guest can head out on their own as much as they like, and two guided trips per day are included in the snorkeling package. After a short boat ride across the calm Caribbean waters, surface divers will have a chance to view ocean floors at up to 40-foot depths, thanks to the water clarity, where garden eels and barracudas tango beneath the waves.
Healthy bonefish populations around Isla Marisol make for lively fishing. Though the resort has a private lagoon where guests can fish whenever they like, both fishing packages include guided offshore fishing trips where anglers might troll for wahoo, kingfish, and tuna. On the inshore flats, fly-fishers can perfect their cast while pursuing permit and behemoth tarpons. The resort provides necessary tackle, but guests are responsible for bringing their own fly rods and waterproof copies of Moby Dick.
Deal Terms
Book by 8/1/12; finish travel by 9/29/12. Not valid 2/18-2/29, 3/11-3/17, 4/14-4/21, 5/5-5/12, 6/6-6/13. 1/person, 1 as gift. 1/visit. Valid for option bought. Cancel 90+ days in advance & $400 fee applies; 89-60 days & $800 fee; 59-31 days & 1/2 Groupon price; 30 days or less & fee up to Groupon price. 18+ to check in. May book flights w/in Belize thru resort. Transfer to/from island Wed & Sat from Dangriga; extra fee 1-way for other days. 12.5% tax, $15 park fee/person/stay, & airfare not included.
