Amatique Bay

Beaches are white sanded with lush vegetation interspersed. Patches of forest and scenic sightseeing spots surrounded by a great biodiversity.

Traveling through the Amatique Bay area is an unforgettable experience. Calm waters, peacefull atmosphere, rich diversity of fauna & flora. makes of Amatique Bay a shoreline where vegetation usually melts into the water, where beaches are small and private, and the sea is a very deep blue. The landscape is marked by a wild beauty.

Amatique Bay or Bahía De Amatique is an inlet of the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea, indenting eastern Guatemala and southeastern Belize (formerly British Honduras). Extending northwestward for about 40 miles (64 km) from Santo Tomás de Castilla, Guatemala, it is some 15 miles (24 km) from northeast to southwest.

The Rio Dulce River, which drains Lake Izabal & the Sarstoon (Sarstún) River, empty into Amatique Bay. The Bay was a declared “Heritage of Humanity” site by UNESCO. Much of this Bay is surrounded by banana plantations, which is the main crop in the area of the Motagua River lower valley in Guatemala.

Some of the places you must visit are Playa Blanca, Punta de Cocoli, Punta de Palma, Punta de Manabique and El Canal Ingles (The English Channel). Beside the Amatique Bay, there are two smaller bays; Santo Thomas & La Graciosa Bay.

Another interesting place in the Amatique Bay is the River Sartun. River that forms a natural boarder between Guatemala & Belize. This river can be explored without leaving Guatemalan waters by cruising out the mouth of the Rio Dulce and then heading north along the coast to the mouth of the Sarstún.Sarstun is a Mayan word which means "healing stone". All of the Mayan natural hea

lers use these stones to heal and to communicate with spirits. The stones seem to be polished and they come in circular, oval and rectangular shapes. It is said that healing stones are not found by their owners but that the stones seek out a particular owner. Healing stones are invariably discovered in bizarre places where they could not have landed by accident. One Mayan healer in this area is 105 years old and three healing stones have come to him over the course of his lifetime.