Belize’s Hummingbird Highway and St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park…

On our way from San Ignacio to Placencia, we made an impromptu stop at St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park. We explored a cave and swam in a swimming hole. It was glorious and all thanks to a lack of an itinerary and a desire to linger along the Hummingbird Highway.

To read about San Ignacio, click HERE.

The Hummingbird Highway

Renting a car in Belize is a great idea. Driving is the best way to explore the country. It provided us with some of my favorite experiences. My favorite part of driving through Belize was the Hummingbird Highway.

It’s a 54 mile (87 km) stretch of scenic highway–the only major road that winds through the mountains of Belize.

Driving east from San Ignacio, you take the George Price Highway for almost an hour, then turn south just outside of Belmopan to get on the Hummingbird Highway.

The winding roads, the endlessly lush forest, the little fruit stands along the road, the farmhouses and huts nearly hidden on the edge of sight–it’s a scene out of a movie: James Bond in a red convertible, wearing khaki beach shorts without a shirt, racing along with a beautiful native at his side. It wouldn’t have surprised me. The Hummingbird Highway is that picturesque.

Then we see a sign for a National Park: St. Herman’s Blue Hole. With a quick stop at the visitor’s center, we found out about St. Herman’s two major attractions: St. Herman’s Cave and the Blue Hole swimming spot. We paid our entrance fee ($4 USD per person), declined the tour, and got our headlamps ready to explore the cave.

St. Herman’s Cave

The trail to St. Herman’s Cave is accessible from the visitor center parking lot. It’s almost a mile of relatively flat walking until you reach the entrance. It looks as though the mouth of the cave is being swallowed by the jungle–a bustling beard overtaking the mouth of nomad wandering through the wilderness. You step carefully down a winding set of steep concrete steps. Once at the bottom, the cave opens into a large cavern. Darkness settles in as you proceed past the shallow pools and looming stalactites.

It’s not long before you are completely enclosed. Pitch. Blackness. Interrupted only by the sound of footsteps and the pitter patter of water drops. The cavern narrows and descends further, but you are met with a sign telling you to turn around: you need an official guide to see the rest of the cave.

Going into St. Herman’s was a refreshing contrast–the cool darkness against the bright swampy day of the jungle outside. It is also the most easily accessible cave in all of Belize, and the only one you don’t need a guide to enter.

Walking back to the car, we marvelled at the jungle greenery and listened carefully, hoping to see more of Belize’s incredible diversity of birds. Our next destination in the park: the Blue Hole.

The Blue Hole

Note: this is not to be confused with Blue Hole National Monument–the world famous diving destination along the Belize Barrier Reef.

From the visitor’s center, you drive a few miles south to the Blue Hole parking lot–it is well-marked and right off the Hummingbird Highway. The swimming hole is a brief walk along a concrete path with steps.

The Blue Hole is a magnificent turquoise color. Deep enough to swim and splash and play, with a little shallow extension offering a glimpse of the network of caves extending all the way back to St. Herman’s.

We spent our time cliff jumping and swimming as far as we could into the dark cave. The water was a refreshing contrast to the humid jungle air.

Reluctantly we got out, dried off, and hopped back in the car to continue on our way to Placencia. But once we were back on the Hummingbird Highway, all sense of urgency or destination faded away, again. Lost in thought and music, absorbed in the majesty of the jungle mountains giving way to the fertile valley.

Later on, a Mayan tour guide suggested to us that some of Hummingbird Highway foothills were not mountains at all.

They are more undiscovered Mayan ruins. No one knows for sure, but when you look at the beauty and fertility of that place…how could ancient people NOT have lived there?

With one last stop for coffee and snacks, we left the Hummingbird Highway in the rear view mirror. Turning east we headed to our next destination: the beach side town of PLACENCIA.

Happy Travels Travelers!

To read more about the National Parks in Belize, click HERE!