We loved the Casita and the amenities we had. Plus it was steps away from the beautiful pool. Where we were located, the Ocean Bay was very shallow and the water was quite murky but everyone still enjoyed swimming and cooling down there. Most impressive at Orchid Bay was the friendliness of the staff and other residents. You felt safe and definitely were offered to be a part of their community by attending their informal "soup night" on Monday and "pizza night" on Friday. I now understand what the meaning of "ex-pat" is ... with a strong sense of community...sharing and caring. We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to wind down and totally relax.

We spent the month of February at Orchid Bay renting a one bedroom Casita. We were a mere 25 feet from the ocean and only steps away from an infinity pool. Our goal was to get away from at least part of the Canadian winter. We used Orchid Bay as our home base for the month and travelled to various tourist locations as the mood struck us. The drive to Belize City is about 2 hours by rental car. The facilities at Orchid Bay are relatively new and the Casita we rented was pristine. It had a complete kitchen (even a dishwasher) with all appliances, pots/pans, plates etc. We prepared most of our meals in the Casita when we weren't off sightseeing. When we didn't feel like cooking there is a great little canteen / bar on site with good food and cold beer. Orchid Bay has a little convenience store so you can pick up essentials, but it is worth the trip to Corozal or Orange Town to get stocked up with meat, dairy and produce. The staff at Orchid Bay are great and they truly make you welcome. Stephen the site manager went out of his way to look after us, taking us to Saturday darts, to various restaurants and on a tour to the Lamanai Mayan ruins. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are going back in 2014 for two months!