# Belize Pulse

> Independent local website for San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize: live island weather and a rain nowcast, power outages and local news, plus short, sourced guides to how Belize works.

Belize Pulse is independent and non-commercial, run from San Pedro and operated by Forward Mobility, Inc. It is not a government site, and nothing here is an official warning: for weather warnings follow the National Meteorological Service of Belize and NEMO. Every guide page names its sources and the date its facts were last checked. Times are Belize local (UTC−6, no daylight saving).

## Belize Basics

A short guide to the country for newcomers, long-stay visitors and locals.

- [Belize Basics](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics): The basics of the country we live in, in nine short reads. For newcomers, long-stay visitors and anyone who has lived here for years and never had it explained. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [A short history of Belize](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/history): From the Maya to the Baymen, British Honduras, independence in 1981 and the Guatemala claim now headed for hearings at the International Court of Justice. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [How Belize is governed](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/government): A King in London, a Governor-General in Belmopan, a Prime Minister and Cabinet, a 31-seat House, a 13-member Senate, the courts, and the Town Council down the road. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [San Pedro Town Council](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/town-council): The mayor, the six councillors and what each one covers, plus how to get a cart permit, bridge pass, building permit, trade or liquor licence, pay property tax or report garbage. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [The economy](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/economy): What visitors spend and the taxes they pay; sugar, bananas, citrus, fish and call centres; a dollar fixed at two to one for fifty years; a 12.5% sales tax; the government's books; and an island that lives on visitors. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [Belize and the US, per person](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/per-person): Electricity, water, rubbish, carbon, income and health spending, per person, side by side. The average American uses several times what the average Belizean does, and spends more than forty times as much on health care. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [Who pays for the roads? Belize's foreign loans and grants](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/foreign-funding): Belize owes US$1.49 billion abroad, three-quarters of it to development banks and foreign governments. But most of the government's building budget is paid from local money; foreign loans and grants cover about a fifth. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [People, languages and culture](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/people): Who Belizeans are, by the 2022 census; the three languages you hear every day; faith; holidays; and what's on the plate. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [The land, the reef and the weather](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/land-and-weather): A barrier reef, hundreds of cayes, a wet south and a drier north, two seasons, and a hurricane season from June to November. How to read the year, and how to get ready for a storm. (facts checked 2026-09-23)
- [Practical basics](https://belizepulse.com/belize-basics/practical): Money, phones, doctors, staying safe, getting around, and the laws visitors most often trip over, from cannabis to conch season. (facts checked 2026-09-23)

## Events and holidays

- [Events & holidays](https://belizepulse.com/events): Belize public and bank holidays and San Pedro festivals. A date is shown as confirmed only when the government or the organiser has published it; otherwise only the usual month. (checked 2026-09-23)

## Explainers

The long version of how the island works.

- [Two companies, one pension fund, and the satellite they'd rather you didn't have](https://belizepulse.com/blog/two-companies-one-pension-fund): How Belize's phone company tried to buy its only rival, why both of them and the national pension fund asked the regulator to keep Starlink out, and what an islander can actually buy today. (published 2026-09-13)
- [Why does Belize lose power?](https://belizepulse.com/blog/why-does-belize-lose-power): A short history of the grid, why the lights go out on Ambergris Caye, what is actually being built to fix it, and how to read a load-shedding notice. (published 2026-09-12)
- [Why the seaweed keeps coming](https://belizepulse.com/blog/why-the-seaweed-keeps-coming): Sargassum is not a bad year, it is a new ocean feature. Where it comes from, why the east beach gets it and Secret Beach doesn't, what $25 million has bought, and how to know before you walk to the water. (published 2026-09-12)
- [Where San Pedro's water comes from](https://belizepulse.com/blog/where-san-pedros-water-comes-from): Every drop in the pipes is desalinated seawater from plants south of town. Why the island ran dry every Easter for a decade, what the 2019 buyout changed, why the pipes stop at the bridge, what islanders pay, and how much rain a roof really catches. (published 2026-09-12)
- [A weather app built for one island](https://belizepulse.com/blog/a-weather-app-built-for-one-island): Most weather apps show Ambergris Caye a number from a computer model 40 km out at sea. Belize Pulse shows the thermometer at the airstrip, the rain on the Met Service radar, and when it will reach your street. (published 2026-09-11)

## Moving to Belize

General information, not legal, tax or immigration advice.

- [Moving to Belize](https://belizepulse.com/moving): A plain guide for people thinking of moving to San Pedro, Ambergris Caye: residency, buying property, ownership, how Belize compares, and settling in. General information, not legal advice.
- [Residency and visas](https://belizepulse.com/moving/residency): Visitor extensions, the Qualified Retired Persons programme, permanent residency, work permits and citizenship in Belize, with fees and sources.
- [Buying property in Belize](https://belizepulse.com/moving/buying-property): How a foreigner buys land or a home in Belize: titles, searches, surveys, the transfer tax, property tax and the pitfalls, with sources.
- [Ways to hold Belize property](https://belizepulse.com/moving/ownership): Personal name, joint ownership, a Belize company, an international company or a trust: the options at a high level, and why you need professional advice.
- [Belize compared with its neighbours](https://belizepulse.com/moving/compare): An even-handed comparison of Belize with Quintana Roo, Guatemala, Roatán, Costa Rica and Panama for people deciding where to live.
- [Settling in on Ambergris Caye](https://belizepulse.com/moving/settling-in): Banking, importing your things, shipping, golf carts, health insurance, schools, utilities and phones for newcomers to San Pedro.

## Live data

These pages update continuously, from minutes (radar, rain nowcast, station readings) to a few hours (forecast models, outage notices, news). Fetch them fresh rather than repeating an older copy, and give the time of the reading when you quote a number.

- [Right now on Ambergris Caye](https://belizepulse.com/): Current conditions in San Pedro, the rain nowcast for the next 90 minutes (North / Secret Beach / Town / South), and the day at a glance.
- [Weather](https://belizepulse.com/weather): The weather pages behind the home screen: detail, forecast, storms and the Met Service.
- [Full detail](https://belizepulse.com/now): Measured airstrip readings, rain in the next 3 hours, lightning, reef waves, tides, radar loops and the 7-day table.
- [7-day forecast](https://belizepulse.com/forecast): 48-hour and 7-day forecast for San Pedro from ECMWF IFS and AIFS, NOAA GFS and DWD ICON, with a median blend and how far the models agree.
- [Storms](https://belizepulse.com/storms): Active Atlantic tropical systems from the US National Hurricane Center and their distance to Belize.
- [Met Service forecast](https://belizepulse.com/nms): The National Meteorological Service of Belize's general and marine forecasts, quoted in full, with tides and the Belize radar when available.
- [Power outages](https://belizepulse.com/power): Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) outage and load-reduction notices, quoted from BEL; BEL is the only authority on outages.
- [News & notices](https://belizepulse.com/news): San Pedro and Belize news and official notices (government, NEMO, utilities), updated hourly, plus our explainers.
- [now.json](https://belizepulse.com/api/now.json): Current conditions as JSON (CORS open, cached 5 minutes).

## Open data

Licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): free to reuse with credit to belizepulse.com. Each file carries its checked date and sources.

- [Belize public and bank holidays (JSON)](https://belizepulse.com/data/holidays.json): Every holiday with its date, whether that date is confirmed or not yet gazetted, and its source.
- [San Pedro and Belize events and festivals (JSON)](https://belizepulse.com/data/events.json): Festivals and community events, with the usual month where no date has been announced.
- [Belize and the US, per person (JSON)](https://belizepulse.com/data/belize-us-per-person.json): Electricity, water, waste, CO₂, income and health spending per person, with years.
- [Belize and the US, per person (CSV)](https://belizepulse.com/data/belize-us-per-person.csv): The same table as CSV.

## About

- [About Belize Pulse](https://belizepulse.com/about): What the site is, who runs it, where every number comes from, and how to reach us.
- Contact: hello@belizepulse.com

## Optional

- [Full text](https://belizepulse.com/llms-full.txt): Every guide page, explainer and the About page in one plain-text file.
- [Sitemap](https://belizepulse.com/sitemap.xml): Every public URL, with the date each page's facts were last checked.