So much was right about the Ocean Front Bungalow for our 12-day stay in Placencia. The arrangements were easily made through AirBnB and the owner, Carolyn, responded kindly to early questions. The local host (Tricia) is friendly, knowledgeable, helpful and accommodating. The place is mod, charming, clean. The bed is big and super comfortable (plenty of pillows and lots of towels--including beach towels--too). Located towards the north end of the famed Placencia sidewalk, it is super close to everything you need and just far enough away from the busier areas to be peaceful day and night. And right on the beach. We enjoyed sunrise after sunrise, from the bed or the beautiful and large front porch. There are light blocking curtains and blinds--so if you'd rather sleep in, you're all set. There are overhead fans, which were terrific, and kept us comfortable easily without the provided A/C (it was February, so highs in the low to mid-80s). We used the kitchen a bunch, buying fresh produce from the local fruit/veggie stalls and other items (like bottled water, oil, herbs, etc.) from the grocers. There are enough pots, utensils, dishes, glasses, etc., to serve most basic cooking needs. There was also a handy device and mallet for opening coconuts--as well as an invitation to harvest whatever we liked from the trees on the property--and did we ever! The coconut water was such a welcome delight, and the opening a nice bit of a local flavor, but easy enough with the tools and once you get the hang of it. The bathroom is great--a terrific shower, plenty of water. Truly--we took pictures in order to reproduce the shower layout, which I loved, back in my very own home. And generous with towels for our stay. So appreciated that. And best of all, a household plumbing system with water you can drink and pipes that can handle Americans habits with TP (I'm embarrassed that I was really grateful for this--we travel in Mexico a lot, and I understand why and always comply, but I definitely prefer NOT to have to do the discreet wrap and trash). There's a huge rooftop patio--we're not sun bunnies, so we preferred the front lanai--and the shade it provided--during the day, but we enjoyed the rooftop at dusk and night for the views of the sunset (toward the lagoon) and the ocean at night. And even though the unit next door has one too, it feels private because the view between the two is mostly blocked by vegetation. Speaking of which, the grounds are really lovely and the landscaping is great--not only coconut trees, but many others, placed artfully, and sun chairs aplenty for the beach, and a well-used hammock already rigged to hang between two of the coconut trees. We timed our visit with the Placenica Sidewalk Art Festival, which was fun to see--I would guess 30-40 additional vendors/artists converge on the sidewalk over one weekend each February. We had two terrific foodie-worthy meals at Rumfish & Vino, a decent pizza at Chachi's, good creole at Wendy's, great seafood at Omar's, some nice lunches at De Tach, but basically fell in love with the stuffed Fry Jack and general vibe at Buba Wuba on the lagoon side, and the craft cocktails and vintage reggae/blues/zydeco playlist at Afrodite. (Our trip to Maya hotel was kind of as expected--fancy, more expensive and good, but kind of old school and not brilliant.) We went on a few excursions--to Monkey River (the best), to Laughing Bird Caye (snorkeling--okay) and on the Daytripper catamaran (great sailing/drinking experience, still okay snorkeling--gotta go to Ambergris Caye up north for better we heard). Daytripper also provided reef safe sun screen, which we couldn't find in any of the stores which was nice. We rented a tandem kayak from the beach hut by Tipsy Tuna and really enjoyed a vigorous day rowing (after the first 15 minutes of getting in sync/yelling at each other) around the bay, around the point to the lagoon side, and in the lagoon channel. This is a lot of fun, and gives you a good sense of Placencia's scope and geography. The people everywhere were friendly and great. It's culturally way more similar to the Carribean Island nations than Mexico--English is spoken everywhere and the vibe is incredibly laid back. It's not uncommon to see/smell marijuana, and you will receive multiple offers (especially walking on the beach) for providing this recreation if you wish. But it's also a working village, and there's a primary school just off the sidewalk. Everyone seems to have three jobs, most of them seem to touch on tourism and fishing. US currency is accepted easily at the exchange rate of $2B>$1US, with Belizean change given typically. The nearby ATMs worked great and issue Belizean currency, so we never had a problem. Many of the "more expensive" restaurants and several tour providers took credit cards--but those quotes were intentional, because the value here is impressive--the fancy cocktails I love (the traditional daiquiri--not that blended thing--was $6US for a drink that would easily cost me $12US in Minneapolis). We walked everywhere (except to/from the airport and one night to the Maya Hotel for dinner). Knowing Placencia was not San Pedro (the much younger skewing destination rival), I was still a little surprised with the average age of the average visitor. We are in our early 40-teens ;-), and felt surprisingly young most everywhere we went. So why only 4/5 stars? Well, I'm almost sad to say, because SO MUCH IS PERFECT about this place. But even though we were right on the beach, and even though the water was right there, we generally avoided swimming there, because for 10 of our 12 day stay, the sargasso (ocean grass) was "in" as they say. And with it comes a fish stench and a selection of the kind of plastic garbage we're all ruining the oceans with. When the wind shifts just right (strong NE or even W seemed best),...