Reason 4 – Horses? Weather? Cool Caribbean Sea?

This photo has too many reason to visit Dangriga, all in one shot – horses often run free around town, you can watch the weather and rain storms move offshore, the cool Caribbean Sea which the horse are obviously taking advantage of.

Let’s face it, the tropics can be hot. At 17° North latitude, the sun is almost always overhead; there are equal amounts of daylight and darkness year around. When it is hot in Dangriga, you can bet the rest of the country is scorching.

Dangriga has two things going for it as far as heat. First the Northeast Trade Winds hit us first. These trade winds are part of a global pattern of air movement which rises at the equator, travels towards the poles high in the atmosphere, then sinks and returns to the equator, passing over Belize. The trade winds were named by the crews of sailing ships plying trade that depended on the winds during the westward ocean crossing – they are that dependable.

These trade winds flow over the relatively cooler Caribbean Sea waters so that when they arrive at Dangriga, they are a few degrees cooler than the surrounding air, providing a natural air-conditioning.

The second advantage of Dangriga is its shoreline along the Caribbean Sea. Dangriga has very shallow shorelines, which means you can swim far offshore before finding deeper water. Sitting in the cool water will keep your core temperature down. And if you need more, just stand up while wet – the trades will cool you while drying you off – naturally.

We can learn something by watching the animals around us, these horses look very happy where they stand for the afternoon. And those rain storms? Somehow they always seem to march just offshore throughout the day, though if they did move onshore, what a relief they would provide.