We took our shoes off on Saturday and put them on the next Saturday, other then the FLYING JAWS (no seeums/sand flea s,(a tip for future guests, Clear Preperation H works extremely well in stopping the itch and reducing the swelling, Denny will attest to that) (not enough ice for drinks) Isla Marisol will be remembered as one of our favorite vacation spots.As we enjoy traveling to new spots we seldom return to the same locations, Isla Marisol may indeed change that phylosphy !

The staff, from Mora on, were wonderful,and really made Mar & I feel at home! The cabanas were simple, clean, functional and comfortable, (we thank you for # 4, it was the best location), food was very good, not gourmet, but extremely tasty, fresh, and the baked food and juices were excellent! Our kudos to Feliciano & EzraG & staff for there hard work and tasty food.

The divemasters Eric and Blinky (we did not dive with Chad) and Eddie were top notch! The boat Captains, George and Ashton got us there, expertly and safely, they made us feel comfortable in some rough waters!

The diving was very good, vis almost forever, sea life plentifiul and varied, close dive sites, roomy dive boats, good air, nitrox available (which we did not know beforehand) gear well taken care of and set up for each dive, all very organized and appreciated.

All in all we would highly recommend Isla Marisol as a great place to relax and dive!

Mar & Denny Morrill
Long Beach, Ca.

Date: March 10-17, 2007

My husband and I spent a week at Isla Marisol, with our three children, 11, 14 and 18 years old. I would encourage bringing any kids older than 10. We had gorgeous scenery, a relaxed pace, great service and accommodations and delicious food all located on a remote island. We experienced our dream vacation.

Our cooks, Ezra and Feliciana, went out of their way for our youngest child, who is a very picky eater, to make sure there was enough food that he liked and would eat. I would classify myself as a semi-picky eater, but I loved almost everything served to us. Always had fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, and a wide variety of excellent food at every meal (the seafood was very good).

We signed up for the snorkeling/kayak package and were taken out in a boat twice a day for snorkeling to various coral patches. Each trip involved about two hours of snorkeling with our guide Aston. The snorkeling was amazing and so was our guide Aston. Aston knew where all the fish lived, dove down to point them all out to us, and knew the names of all the sea life. We saw sharks, stingrays, lobsters, a turtle, huge barracudas, tarpon, jellyfish, squids, conch, and fish of every color, size and shape. I didn’t need to worry about my youngest child being lost at sea because our guide always stayed right with him so I could enjoy my snorkeling experience.

Instead of snorkeling one morning, we took a kayak trip. They loaded the kayaks up in a boat and motored us up to Middle Caye so we could paddle the 3 miles back with the current following the coral reef. Our guide Aston was with us and we stopped halfway back to snorkel. We saw lots of nurse sharks and explored the reef. The kayak trip was enjoyable and relaxing.

Our accommodations were very nice. We were in a cabana next to our kids’ cabana. Flush toilets, hot showers, and comfy beds were all we needed. There is AC but we never needed to turn it on as we had perfect weather (79 for a low, mostly sunny and breezy) all week. Many naps were taken in our hammock on the porch. The cabanas could use some decorations on the walls. Everything was clean, and there was daily housekeeping. The beach was cleaned daily. I got chewed up by no-see-ums because I spent a lot of time on the sand without bug spray. The rest of my family had minimal bites.

The bar is the social hang out. Great place to meet other guests, folks from the other two islands and just hang out with the staff including the laid back owner, Eddie Usher. Play a game of chess or dominos or just watch the fish and stingrays swim by. Our oldest hooked a stingray and a barracuda right off the bar. Our last night there we were entertained by a Garafuna drumming ceremony.

The boat ride back to the mainland was pretty rough due to high waves and most on the boat got soaked.

I would return to Isla Marisol in a heartbeat. Our expectations of our vacation on the island were met and exceeded and everyday was an adventure.

My wife and I spent last week at Isla Marisol on Glover's Atoll. We had a glorious time. We are mostly fly fisherman and snorklers. Both were excellent at Isla Marisol. I was actually able to cast to cruising bonefish from the deck of our cabana. The food was great and different at every meal. The daily raking of the tide/beach debris was impressive, the staff were all very professional, fun and eager to please. Cabana’s with AC, private bathrooms with flush toilets, fresh water showers - pretty nice accommodations considering the remoteness of the locale. More expensive than some of the other options in the area but to me well worth the extra money if you can swing it (at least compared to Glovers Atoll Resort, I have not stayed at Off the Wall). They have their own bar too out over the water with a fairly complete stock of beverage options. The Belikens were only $3 US which seemed very reasonable to me given the remoteness of the resort. Daily maid service, fresh towels. I highly recommend Isla Marisol.

My wife and I just returned from Isla Marisol in Belize. The resort is located on Southwest Caye in Glover's Reef. Glover's Reef is a coral atoll (one of four in the western hemisphere) located about 38 miles offshore east of Dangriga. The resort is run by a wonderful young man, Eddie Usher, whose family has owned the 18 acre island for decades. We absolutley loved it.

We flew into Belize City and transferred to Dangriga via Maya Air. Eddie's cousin picked us up at the airport in Dangriga and we took a one hour boat ride to Glover's reef. The flight to Dangriga and the boat ride were fun and beautiful.

The cabana we stayed in was perfect. They aren't air conditioned (but will be by this summer according to Eddie) which was fine - a breeze, often brisk, blows in from the ocean 24 hours a day and we were very comfortable. We came in mid February and were surprised to find that some days were cool - upper 60's to low 70's. The majority of days were in the upper 70's to low 80's. Perfect! The cabanas are simple, well built, and the bed was very comfortable. There is daily maid service and our sheets were changed every other day. The bathroom is small but adequate. The shower heads contain electric heaters which work suprisingly well. The water is potable and tastes great. We didn't have any problem with sand flies except for one windless day - insect repellant kept them at bay that day. The island is gorgeous - windswept palms, mangroves, coconut trees galore, sea pines, egrets, parakeets (escapees from another resort on a small island north of Isla Marisol), frigate birds, a pair of breeding ospreys, geckos, and iguanas.

Stays at Isla Marisol include breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ms. Fel was our cook, and we loved the food. All meals are accompanied with fresh fruit juices and fresh fruit (Eddie has a farm on the mainland). The meals were simple and delicious. We had fresh fish most nights, chicken several nights, and lobster one evening. Ms. Fel cooks in a traditional Belize style, and the meals were authentic and wonderful. We really enjoyed every meal.

Mealtimes, especially breakfast, were times for planning the day. We really loved the flexibility that we had at Isla Marisol. In the mornings, Eddie and the other resort employees (Chad the dive instructor and divemaster, Blinky the divemaster, and Ashton the boat captain and snorkel guide) would eat breakfast with us and help us to plan out our day. Possible activities included fishing, snorkeling, scuba, boat rides, sea kayaking, sailing, and doing absolutely nothing. We did a little of all....

My wife and I got PADI scuba certified on this trip. Neither of us had ever done scuba before, and Chad Kat (our dive instructor and sometime bartender) was an incredible teacher and made us feel safe and confident. The underwater world here is unbelievable - so beautiful, so colorful, so clean. We saw black-tipped reef sharks, nurse sharks, pufferfish, loads of Hawksbill turtles, sea cucumbers, coral formations too beautiful to describe, and thousands of colorful fish. The reef is surrounded by deep ocean, and we did numerous wall dives on the perimeter of the reef where we were on the edge of a wall that went nearly vertically from 40-70 feet to 2000 feet. It's almost enough to give you underwater vertigo. Snorkeling was equally awesome, and there were incredible stands of coral just offshore from our cabana. You can kayak out to other coral formations, screw in a sand anchor, and snorkel to your heart's desire.

The overwater bar is a gathering place after dinner, and the sunsets must be seen to be believed. We had fun hanging out with local fishermen, Isla Marisol employees, Tim & Lisa from Alaska (the only other guests on the island!), and biologists from the marine reserve (which encompasses about one third of Glover's reef). Belikin beers are excellent, and the bar has a full compliment of liquors and liquers.

I didn't fish, but my friend Tim (a guest from Alaska) fished everyday and caught bonefish and barracuda right in front of our cabanas. One evening while we were relaxing at the bar, Tim noticed a school of tarpon around the bar. He went back to his cabana, grabbed his fly rod, and caught a 3-4 foot tarpon right from the bar deck. Incredible!

This was a great place, a great vacation, and a place to which we will return, hopefully every year. Eddie is intelligent, well-spoken, hard working, and has done a wonderful job at Isla Marisol. Chad, Ms. Fel, Blinky, Ashton and the rest of the staff are friendly and go out of their way to make you feel at home. Also, we found the Belize people to be the friendliest people that we've ever met, inside our outside the US. This is a tropical paradise in every sense of the word.