“Sustainable seaweed farming, reef restoration, invasive lion fish initiatives and beach plastic recycling bins… during Covid, these community conservation efforts in Placencia really took off,” explains Patricia Ramirez, aka Miss Patty, founder and co-owner of Splash Dive Centre (splashbelize.com), a banker-turned-diver and watersports legend in Belize.
After a morning snorkelling in Belize’s famed Laughing Bird Caye National Park with Fragments Of Hope (fragments of hope.org), a coral restoration project with propagation nurseries around the Placencia Peninsula, Miss Patty is walking me around the village of Placencia. This charming Creole beach town in southern Belize has magically retained its bohemian vibe despite an influx of wealthy Canadian and American retirees and the development of some upscale hotels — the nicest being film director Francis Ford Coppola’s long-established and eco-minded Turtle Inn (thefamilycoppolahideaways.com).
