Overnight it got a bit breezy. We could hear the wind buffeting the cabin and it kept Julie awake worrying about the ferry back to Belize City. All sorts of scenarios were blowing around her head.

The alarm was set for 6am. Just enough time for us to come around, have a shower and dressed for the taxi to the ferry terminal before 7am.

We were there in plenty of time. In fact we were the first there for the 7:30am ferry.

I didn't know what to expect. What if there was a mass exodus? What if the ferry was full? What if we had to wait for the next one? We could miss our flight!

So there we were, the first in line.

As it happened there wasn't any need to worry. There was only a dozen of us waiting. 

We all boarded and sat up on top. It was definitely a blustery day but it made no difference to the ferry boat once we got going across the sea back to the mainland. The longer the journey went the more relaxed Julie became.

Less than an hour later we pulled into the ferry terminal at Belize City. Waiting for us by the exit was our pre-booked taxi driver. He had to wait a while longer as our luggage took some time to be brought off the boat and then placed in an enclosed pen. 

Once we exchanged our numbered ticket for our rucksacks we set off for the airport.

The journey only took us 25 minutes. A lot less than I expected. We were at the airport in plenty of time.

After we printed out our own luggage tags from the self-check-in point a member of American Airlines staff then put a red tag on our bags that said "Not to be restored to passenger in the USA". It was good news because it meant we didn't have to collect our rucksacks, queue to get through immigration, and then check back in again when we transitted through Miami.

Once through security we sat down in the terminal's only cafe. We now had four hours to wait! 

We bought a drink, then a little later we ordered food. There wasn't much choice for me, only pizza. So there I was eating brunch of pizza marguerita, at 11am, washed down with a bottle of beer.

It's strange how the time becomes irrevelant in an airport.

Not wanting to outstay our welcome at the cafe we relocated nearer the gates and waited for our flight to pop up. Time passed surprisingly quickly and before we knew it we were boarding our Boeing 737.   

We took off over the lush green Belizean countryside. It's strange how Julie, despite her crippling fear, actually likes to look out of the window and enjoy the view. After that we were over the Gulf of Mexico and we didn't see much of note out the window until we reached the Florida Keys.

We flew directly over Big Pine Key. I had never heard of it before but I had heard of the Seven Mile Bridge.  It was fascinating to see how these small islands or cayes were linked by bridges all the way down to Key West.

The flight took less than two hours. I didn't realise how close Miami was to Belize.

We landed around 5:30pm, local time, so we only had two hours to transit to our connecting flight. With our luggage taken care of it was a straight forward transition from arrivals to departures without going through immigration.

We had so much time on our hands we even stopped for some supper which came in the form of burgers and fries. Plenty of time before our gate number came up for the American Airlines flight to London Heathrow at 7:30pm.

It was truly sad to bring our trip to an end. "We should have tagged a few nights here in Miami" said Julie.

It had been an epic two weeks through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize but we were now ready to go home.