Both are great inns. Oct is usually a nice month, breezes, comfortable temps, some sporadic showers. You might want to add ATM cave to your list of things to do at BL. Both places offer Thai massage, save time for that.

Hi - we just returned from Belize. We were in the Cayo area for 5 days and 5 days in San Pedro.

Essentionally, the Barton Creek cave canoeing and the cave tubing are the same thing, just the method of transportation differs. We did both. Without hesitation, there is more to see/do on the tubing excursion than the canoeing trip. The canoe trip lasted less than 1 hour with the typical speech on stalagtites versus stalagmites. We floated for at least 2.5 hours down the creek at Jaguar Paw through the caves and saw the same type of bats, etc. Even our teen age son (who barely cracked a smile the entire time) liked the tubing best. The best part is that you can get out of the tubes and walk back into the caves and explore a bit. You may want to bring your own head torch (flashlight that mounts on your head with a band). The tour company's constantly blipped out on us causing very irritating adjustments throughout both trips.

If you like horseback riding through the jungle - Mountain Equestrian Trails will take you on a 3 hour ride. They also offer a horseback ride to the Barton Creek area. They have a website with their excursions listed.

Bring bug spray for yourself and your room. There's no escaping the bugs. If you can, get the shoes that allow you to walk in terrain and through water (Trek?). You will save yourself a lot of misery walking in wet trainers. When it rains, there is a lot of mud. The all-terrain shoes makes cleaning up at the end of the day a lot easier. Just hose off and set out. They are dry by the next morning. Also, pack a minor first aid kit for cuts, bites, diaherra, etc., and a wide brimmed hat for sun. The sun is very intense there. Even with SPF 50, we burned enough to resemble lobsters. The town of San Ignacio doesn't have any of our American over-the-counter remedies that I can recall, and if they did, they were 3-5 times the cost to buy there (honest, a box of Quaker Instant Oatmeal was $9.00 US!). Don't expect any clothing to dry overnight unless there is a fan going in the room. We hung bathing suits up at night only to find them just as wet in the morning.

Beware of allotting too much time to the city of San Ignacio. The place is worse than Tijuana Mexico on a bad day. Trash is everywhere, including uneaten food just lying in the street. Of course, there are 1000's of stray dogs with serious cases of mange running about, so avoid them too. The city stinks, literally. There wasn't anything in the way of trinkets, etc., that interested us in San Ignacio.

5 days was just perfect for us in the Cayo area. We were all anxiously ready for the break at the beach. We had a lot of fun in San Pedro snorkeling. The all-day manatee/snorkel with the sharks, bat rays, lunch on a private island was the highlight of our trip. Our only complaint is that the SPF 50 sunblock didn't work. Strongly suggest that you bring lightweight clothing to wear during any boat rides and a t-shirt to swim in. Your skin with thank you and you won't lose down time the following day from a sunburn.

Above all else, watch your backpacks, camera bags, etc. Opportunists are everywhere and very quick. Our daughter's camera was lifted out of an open back pack while walking down town.

As to the weather - it ranged from 85-87 degrees in March with a couple of rainy periods lasting no longer than 20 minutes. There is humidity, but it is not as intense as what you would experience in Hawaii.

A final word - check out some of the web sites for the local tour companies for tour prices or check out the .org Belize travel site that list licensed tour operators in the area. Blancaneaux lodge contracts with their own tour guides, but they can charge substantially more than what's being charged by someone else for the same exact tour. Also, cash is king. The tour operators were pleased to negotiate their prices when they learned we were going to pay in green dollars versus credit card or traveler's checks. Maybe bring enough cash to cover the more expensive trips, while placing the less expensive ones on the card. Exchange rate is 2 dollars Belize to 1 dollar US. That's a set conversion. It doesn't fluctuate like in Europe/Canada.

Once again I feel I have to jump to the defense of San Ignacio. We were only there a couple of days, but we enjoyed our stay immensely. The Saturday morning market was awesome. Everything from orchids, to fish, to furniture (made by the Mennonites). Not to mention the wonderful variety of food being cooked right there.

Good restaurants, had very good curry at a Sri Lankin restaurant there. Loved sitting outside Eva's and watch the world go by. It's not a cleaned up tourist town, but great fun.