Inside Island Expeditions Belize Guide Training

We’re going into our 32nd year and are looking forward to our next trip season which is just around the corner. The first trip out to the cayes begins in mid-November.

A tremendous amount of work goes into preparing for the start of a new trip season. Probably the most important event of the start up is the time we get together in Belize for ‘guide sharing’ as we fondly call it. It’s a time for the directors, team managers and trip leaders to get together, welcome new staff, refresh and re-certify our first aid skills and introduce new trip activities into the line up.

Our guides and trip leaders collaborate, share ideas and learn new skills. Training focuses on kayak, paddle strokes, steering, exiting and entering the kayak from land, shallow and deep water skills, kayak sailing techniques, Stand Up Paddleboard techniques, rescues and navigation skills.

This annual event is a great forum for assessing individual skill sets, building camaraderie among the guides and creating new programming ideas. The training also builds the guides skills so they can teach safety, fun and the skills needed to paddle a kayak to our guests.

Belize Sea Kayak Training with Paddle Canada and Island Expeditions

In this video Paddle Canada Instructor Erik Osgaard instructs a group of guides, brushing up on their techniques, and certifying them as certified Level 1 sea kayak instructors! The training took place on beautiful Tobacco Caye. We stay here on our Paradise Islands and Coral Islands SUP trip and on the year-round Rainforest and Reef Explorer trip.

Our guides are the heart and soul of our trips. They will lead you to the places which you have never seen or read in any websites or books. They’re also part of the community here and you will experience a genuine interaction with the Mayan, Creole and Garifuna people of Belize.

Guide Budge heading out to paddle on Glover’s Reef

Join us in Belize and see why we’ve given our guests the trip of a lifetime.

Whether you are a regular Island Expeditions guest or yet to experience our trips, contact one of our Belize trip planners at 1.800.667.1630 or email: info@islandexpeditions.com

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