From Belize To Honduras
The border crossing from Belize to Honduras needs to be done by boat. The boat goes once a week on Fridays from Placencia, it stops at Big Creek for an hour or so - where they do the passport control - and then makes the crossing which takes two to three hours depending on the weather. The boat can be extremely rocky and there isn't much shelter. Sitting on the right hand side and towards the back (but still inside) is your best bet for a (more) comfortable trip
We were pretty hungry already by this point and I jumped off the boat to see if there were any shops. Unfortunately there was only a woman selling a few things so I bought some popcorn. Eventually an immigration officer jumped on the boat and requested a very large space. We moved over and he looked around saying "bigger, bigger" until there was a massive space and we were all rather squished. He took a seat and laid his papers out, then he took a look at the passenger list and went though each one by one and did our exit stamp. We had to pay 7.50BZD exit tax, which I believe is a lot cheaper than leaving by land or air!
We stopped at Big Creek for a very long time and didn't leave until 11am. We then headed out in to the open sea where the waves slowly got bigger and bigger. The boat was indeed extremely rocky and those on the port (lefthand) side of the boat were having to deal with a lot of water coming through the windows. We, on the right, got a bit of water but at least we could keep the windows open for some breeze. It felt a little as though we were on an illegal boat, cramped up with all our belongings. Several times the boat rocked violently and people and things went flying. At the back of the boat was one of the crew checking up on the engines, he was wearing a very light rain jacket and getting hit every couple of seconds by a gigantic wave. He was absolutely drenched, but didn't seem to mind. I wasn't sure that jeans were the best choice of trousers for him.
The boat trip was extremely slow going and it was about 2:30pm by the time we arrived in Porto Cortez. Several people had been sick along the way and had had to sit at the back of the boat getting absolutely soaked. Not a very pleasant journey for them! We had just about held on by keeping our eyes fixed on the horizon and doing our best to avoid moving at all costs. Everyone was very relieved when the waves began to decrease. We pulled in to the port of Porto Cortez which was an ugly port with lots of huge container ships. The dock for our boat was all the way into the port and at the beginning of town.
People couldn't wait to get off the boat, partly to get a jump on immigration and also just because they never wanted to see that boat again. I personally didn't think it was a terrible journey, but agreed I wouldn't rush to do it again. As we got off the boats we were asked to handover our passports to someone who was putting them all in a bag, I watched a few other people do it first before chucking mine in as well. We were pretty confused by what to do and where to go but borders are often rife with scams and crime so we were cautious.
We joined the back of the queue for immigration and chatted to a few of the other travellers about our options for getting to La Ceiba. Taxi drivers were offering a rate of 35USD each for a taxi of four people direct to our hostel in La Ceiba. It was very tempting as the only other way was to get a public bus all the way to San Pedro, and then another bus to La Ceiba. It was already going 3pm by the time we were getting to the front of the queue. Add the hassle of taxis at each end and not knowing where we were going exactly the taxi was sounding like a very viable option. Eventually we reached the front of the queue, only to find that they were doing Belizean and Honduran citizens first so we had to wait another fifteen minutes. When we went into immigration we had to pay 5USD each and answer the standard questions. It turned out that the time you are given for entering Honduras needs to include the time you want to use in Nicaragua too. We asked for forty days which would be more than enough and then we were officially in Honduras. High Five!
We had a quick discussion with a couple of other guys we had met on the boat and decided to take the taxi. We needed to get to La Ceiba tonight in order to get the ferry to Utila the next day. We were short on time and so we had to pay on price. We went for the taxi and a few minutes later we were in the taxi and stopping for cash, and food. The food was from a very, very interesting looking fried chicken shop. The sort that is a rip off, of a rip off, of a rip off. Not quite KFC, not quite Chicken Cottage, more like Chicken Collage!
Soon we were on the road and making good time. The downside to the taxi with four passengers with luggage however was space; We were very cramped indeed. It ended up being almost four hours before we made it to La Ceiba and I'm pretty sure we were over the speed limit the whole time. So we had made good progress. The other advantage with going by taxi was that we didn't have to go all the way in to San Pedro to change buses, so we would have saved time there too. Either way we still got into La Ceiba after dark so we were very glad of getting dropped at the door. We paid for the taxi in Limperia's (yet another currency!) instead of dollars and it was 820L each.
Top Tips
Belize
- The boat is run by D-Express
- Our tickets were 35USD each from Barefoot Bar
- The boat leaves at 9am from Placencia, arrives at Big Creek shortly afterwards where immigration happens and takes about an hour and a half. The crossing takes about 3 hours and arrives in Porto Cortez (Honduras) around 2:30pm
- The boat is pretty rocky and wet, sit towards the back to lessen the rocking, and inside to avoid the wet (the right hand side is better as the waves come from offshore).
- We paid a 7.50BZD exit tax - which seems a lot cheaper than overland!
Honduras
- We had to pay 5USD to enter Honduras
- As we got so late in to Porto Cortez and wanted to get to La Ceiba we ended up getting a taxi with 2 other guys for 35USD each.
- The taxi got us in around 7ish.
Journal
We boarded the boat just before 9am and took our seats towards the back right of the boat, just inside so we wouldn't get hit by the spray and far enough back to mitigate sea sickness - we'd read that the crossing could be extremely choppy! The boat filled up with all manner of things which were piled at the front of the boat. Our rucksacks, bags of rice and strangely a mattress. The boat set off and it was a calm fifteen minute journey to the port of Big Creek where the boat was loaded up with more people and things and we had to do our immigration documentsWe were pretty hungry already by this point and I jumped off the boat to see if there were any shops. Unfortunately there was only a woman selling a few things so I bought some popcorn. Eventually an immigration officer jumped on the boat and requested a very large space. We moved over and he looked around saying "bigger, bigger" until there was a massive space and we were all rather squished. He took a seat and laid his papers out, then he took a look at the passenger list and went though each one by one and did our exit stamp. We had to pay 7.50BZD exit tax, which I believe is a lot cheaper than leaving by land or air!
We stopped at Big Creek for a very long time and didn't leave until 11am. We then headed out in to the open sea where the waves slowly got bigger and bigger. The boat was indeed extremely rocky and those on the port (lefthand) side of the boat were having to deal with a lot of water coming through the windows. We, on the right, got a bit of water but at least we could keep the windows open for some breeze. It felt a little as though we were on an illegal boat, cramped up with all our belongings. Several times the boat rocked violently and people and things went flying. At the back of the boat was one of the crew checking up on the engines, he was wearing a very light rain jacket and getting hit every couple of seconds by a gigantic wave. He was absolutely drenched, but didn't seem to mind. I wasn't sure that jeans were the best choice of trousers for him.
The boat trip was extremely slow going and it was about 2:30pm by the time we arrived in Porto Cortez. Several people had been sick along the way and had had to sit at the back of the boat getting absolutely soaked. Not a very pleasant journey for them! We had just about held on by keeping our eyes fixed on the horizon and doing our best to avoid moving at all costs. Everyone was very relieved when the waves began to decrease. We pulled in to the port of Porto Cortez which was an ugly port with lots of huge container ships. The dock for our boat was all the way into the port and at the beginning of town.
People couldn't wait to get off the boat, partly to get a jump on immigration and also just because they never wanted to see that boat again. I personally didn't think it was a terrible journey, but agreed I wouldn't rush to do it again. As we got off the boats we were asked to handover our passports to someone who was putting them all in a bag, I watched a few other people do it first before chucking mine in as well. We were pretty confused by what to do and where to go but borders are often rife with scams and crime so we were cautious.
We joined the back of the queue for immigration and chatted to a few of the other travellers about our options for getting to La Ceiba. Taxi drivers were offering a rate of 35USD each for a taxi of four people direct to our hostel in La Ceiba. It was very tempting as the only other way was to get a public bus all the way to San Pedro, and then another bus to La Ceiba. It was already going 3pm by the time we were getting to the front of the queue. Add the hassle of taxis at each end and not knowing where we were going exactly the taxi was sounding like a very viable option. Eventually we reached the front of the queue, only to find that they were doing Belizean and Honduran citizens first so we had to wait another fifteen minutes. When we went into immigration we had to pay 5USD each and answer the standard questions. It turned out that the time you are given for entering Honduras needs to include the time you want to use in Nicaragua too. We asked for forty days which would be more than enough and then we were officially in Honduras. High Five!
We had a quick discussion with a couple of other guys we had met on the boat and decided to take the taxi. We needed to get to La Ceiba tonight in order to get the ferry to Utila the next day. We were short on time and so we had to pay on price. We went for the taxi and a few minutes later we were in the taxi and stopping for cash, and food. The food was from a very, very interesting looking fried chicken shop. The sort that is a rip off, of a rip off, of a rip off. Not quite KFC, not quite Chicken Cottage, more like Chicken Collage!
Soon we were on the road and making good time. The downside to the taxi with four passengers with luggage however was space; We were very cramped indeed. It ended up being almost four hours before we made it to La Ceiba and I'm pretty sure we were over the speed limit the whole time. So we had made good progress. The other advantage with going by taxi was that we didn't have to go all the way in to San Pedro to change buses, so we would have saved time there too. Either way we still got into La Ceiba after dark so we were very glad of getting dropped at the door. We paid for the taxi in Limperia's (yet another currency!) instead of dollars and it was 820L each.
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