Sightseeing at 35,000 Feet - Miami to Belize City

A few months ago, you have may noticed a post by the same name, where I tried to convey the unique views of landscapes from a moving airplane.  Even a familiar place can look very different when you're looking at it from a bird's-eye view.  I've decided to make this a semi-regular series to showcase the various landscapes I see while flying, especially since it's a lot easier to take photos on planes with the electronics restrictions now a thing of the past.  I'll start off with some beautiful shots of the Caribbean on our trip to Belize in October.  In case you're wondering why we flew from Miami, the nonstop flight from Dallas to Belize City was canceled a few months before we went, and we were re-routed through Miami.  I would normally complain, but a bank error in our favor got us upgraded to business class on the way back without us having to pay for it, so I'm willing to call things even.

First up - a fleeting view of the Miami skyline as we prepared for take-off at Miami International Airport (this was technically taken prior to the electronics restrictions being lifted, so I had to be careful not to attract attention).

Next up was a view of Biscayne Bay; in the second photo, I believe the thin island is Elliott Key.

We then passed over the Florida Keys.  This is Key Largo, and the highway is the Overseas Highway (Highway 1) to Key West.  If you have time, definitely make the trip along the Overseas Highway all the way to Key West.

Then it was on to Cuba.  These photos are fairly unremarkable - except that they're photos of the north coast of Cuba.  The reef looks spectacular; I hope to visit one day if the political situation is ever resolved.

About half an hour later, we got a glimpse of the white sand beaches of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.

It's not a very long flight from Miami to Belize City, so we soon began our descent as the north coast of Belize came in to view.  The reef off of this portion of the coast is spectacular - scuba divers and snorkelers take note.

This then transitioned to a marshy, green lagoon with some small islands in the area.

Finally, Belize City came in to view, and we landed at Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport shortly thereafter.  If you don't feel like driving in Belize like we did, you'll get to fly in a single engine prop like the one in the last photo to get to other parts of the country.

Photos on the return to Dallas were hard to come by due to the weather - a cloud deck obscured views of the land below about 45 minutes into our flight - but I did get a couple of good photos of the Belize coast before getting into the clouds.