Secret Beach

7 photos · 2022

7 photographs tagged Secret Beach, 2022.

The Blue Bayou Bar at Secret Beach, Belize, features thatched roofs and wooden structures over calm waters at dusk. — Blue Bayou Bar and Grill stands on the water at Secret Beach on Ambergris Caye, Belize. The open-air bar and restaurant is built with thatched roofs and wooden platforms extending over the shallow shoreline.

Submerged wooden structures and thatched umbrellas at Secret Beach, Ambergris Caye, Belize at dusk. — Secret Beach on Ambergris Caye, Belize, is shown at dusk with shallow water, small thatched shade structures, and wooden benches or tables standing in the lagoon. A low, distant sandbar or small island is visible on the horizon.

Palapas and picnic tables submerged in shallow water at Secret Beach, Ambergris Caye, Belize, during sunset. — Palapas and submerged picnic tables at Secret Beach on Ambergris Caye, Belize, stand in shallow water at the edge of Ambergris Bay. The open-sided shade structures and seating are part of a popular beach area on the island’s west coast.

Pirates at Secret Beach bar in Ambergris Caye, Belize, with colorful wood structures and liquor bottles on counter. — Pirates is a beach bar on the west side of Ambergris Caye known locally as Secret Beach, a shallow stretch of shoreline that developed rapidly into a popular gathering spot over the past decade. The area sits along the island's undeveloped western coast, reachable primarily by golf cart or boat rather than the paved roads that serve San Pedro Town. Bars and restaurants like this one operate mostly outdoors, built on wooden platforms with open-air seating close to the water. Rum, tequila, and local Belikin beer make up much of the stock behind these bars, catering to day-trippers who come out from San Pedro for the swimming and the sunset views.

Rose Spa pier extends over shallow waters at Secret Beach, Ambergris Caye, Belize. — Rose Spa operates from a wooden pier over the shallow waters of Secret Beach, on the northwestern side of Ambergris Caye. The business offers massage and spa treatments in curtained, open-air cabanas built above the lagoon. Secret Beach developed over the past decade into one of the island's most popular gathering spots, drawing visitors and locals to its calm, shallow waters despite having no natural sand beach. Ambergris Caye, Belize's largest island, sits along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second-longest coral reef in the world.

Colorful "Secret Beach" welcome sign on sandy shore in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. — Secret Beach sits on the northwest coast of Ambergris Caye, roughly a 20-minute golf cart ride from San Pedro Town across the island's interior. The area takes its name from its early years as a little-known swimming spot, before social media and travel blogs turned it into one of Belize's most-visited beach destinations after 2015. Its shallow, waist-deep lagoon is protected from open-sea currents by the barrier reef offshore, making it popular for wading and swimming rather than surfing. A cluster of beach bars and restaurants, including long-running operations like the Blue Bar, line the shoreline and draw both day-trippers from San Pedro and visitors staying on the island's west side. Ambergris Caye itself is Belize's largest island and sits adjacent to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second-longest coral reef in the world.

A directional sign pointing to Secret Beach stands among mangroves on Ambergris Caye, Belize. — Secret Beach sits on the western side of Ambergris Caye, Belize's largest island, facing the mainland lagoon rather than the open Caribbean. The spot rose to popularity around 2015 as beach bars and restaurants such as The Truck Stop and Blue Bayou opened along its shallow, calm waters, drawing day-trippers from nearby San Pedro town. Belize's Tourism Board maintains directional markers along the access roads leading there, since much of the route crosses undeveloped scrubland and mangrove before reaching the shoreline.

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