Wow! Staying at Mike's Place is like finding hidden treasure! The location features not only the lodging, but Sucely's Restaurant, Barton Creek Cave (the largest river cave in Belize), a zip-line, and is the launch point for other adventure activities.
Mike communicates well with his guests. We arrived a little late in the day, but he had his restaurant staff stay several hours after their normal 4pm closing time on the off chance that we'd be hungry and need a meal. [If you stay at Mike's Place, you need to try the Coconut Fish...mouthwatering deliciousness, the fried chicken, and the burritos!] Mike came over to meet and greet us within a short time after our arrival. He has such an outgoing, laid-back, personable personality, and was a wealth of information about local attractions and the services he offers. Our accommodations were very comfortable, clean, and nice. We awakened to the sound of howler monkeys each morning.
We arranged to do the Extended (Extreme) Cave Tour the next day and the Caracol tour the day after that. Barton Creek Cave was just a few hundred feet from our villa. We canoed in for over an hour, then we tied off the canoes, climbed over, slithered and squeezed through, and slid down various rock collapses, tunnels, cracks, and drops for another couple hours, sat/stood/talked in complete darkness for about 30 minutes (our guide wanted us to get to the point where our minds "made up" lights that weren't there), then waded/swam through the underground river in water that was even at one point over my husband's head (he's 6'5") to get back to the canoes. On the canoe trip back out, the guide stopped and he and my son did a fairly short--but very steep--ascent to get to a ledge where they could view human remains and artifacts from Mayan sacrifices. In all, it was around 6 hours of absolutely amazing adventure! It kicked our butts physically, but it was so worth it! We are already planning a return trip for next year.