Celebrating The 15th Annual
Placencia Lobsterfest
Placencia, Belize
It wasn’t until after I had already planned a diving trip to Placencia, Belize’s Southernmost touristy town that I stumbled upon an epic celebration of mouthwatering proportions. Every year this mostly quiet and laid back town transforms into a huge beach party to celebrate the opening of lobster season.
I had been in town for nearly a week, the streets were void of tourists and vacancy signs were commonplace. Overnight it all changed, like the flip of a light switch thousands of tourists and locals descended onto the peninsula for this 3-day event – every room in town was now rented and the tiny single road was bustling with vehicles and pedestrians.
Lobsterfest isn’t only about devouring tasty morsels of the beloved shellfish (there’s plenty of that to go around), but also for the community to come together, celebrate and share their culture. With a large raffle full of great prizes, fun contests (beer drinking, tug-o-war anyone?), and popular local musicians/DJs playing live music there was a great atmosphere of fun and entertainment all around.
Who’s Hungry for Lobster?
Even though I had been busy trying out all the local dishes in Belize (I absolutely love the jerk chicken!) I purposefully resisted ordering lobster until the start of the festival to build up some anticipation.. it was worth the wait!
I arrived with a ravenous hunger, gorged myself on all the lobster dishes my belly could handle and departed the festival having committed one of the seven deadly sins 🙂 There was fried lobster, lobster nachos, lobster prepared and cooked in literally dozens of ways.
My friends and I only had time to enjoy 2 nights of the festival as we were out diving and snorkeling during the day. Luckily, most of the activity takes places after dark. One of the highlights we did enjoy was the live music.
Playing on stage were local favorite, The Paranda Ambassadors. During their performance Stephanie, a fire dancer, came out and put on a show that dazzled everyone. Check out the video above!
As I’ve mentioned before I’m not a huge party person, but this year I’ve been to some great events that have left me with memories I won’t soon forget. Lobsterfest in Placencia was a blast and I’d recommend it to anyone planning an adventure to Belize.
Find more information about Lobsterfest at the links below:
