Secret Bars We Love: Big Dock Bar

Location

Big Dock Bar. Photo credit The Belize Collection

The Lodge at Jaguar Reef by The Belize Collection 

100 Sittee River Road, False Sittee Point, Hopkins, Belize

Big Dock Bar is a two-story ceviche and cocktail bar inside a hut that is perched directly over the water. It’s part of The Lodge at Jaguar Reef, a beachfront resort on the central coast of Belize, and is one of the country’s most transportive and unexpected drinking spots.

Inside Big Dock Bar

The first thing I notice after checking into my oceanfront room at The Lodge at Jaguar Reef (well, aside from the incredible view) is a multi-level wooden structure sitting 80 feet from the shoreline, perched on stilts and covered by a thatched roof. From the resort, it almost looks like it’s floating, blurring the line between land and sea. I can make out some guests lounging on the lower level and others clutching a rope swing before splashing into the water.

I’m obsessed with beach bars — I can never resist the draw of sipping deceptively strong frozen tropical tipples in my bathing suit, with sandy toes, salt-tinged-hair-don’t-care, and the waves lapping a mere few feet away. It doesn’t get much better than that. So I quickly grab my flip-flops and head to check it out. After all, it is happy hour, and the slowly fading sun looks like it’s going to put on quite a show.

I walk across the wooden dock that connects the buildings to the mainland, and come upon a smaller structure that turns out to be a ceviche bar, where the chef is tossing fresh mahi mahi, shrimp, and conch with red onion, cilantro, and lime, accompanied by long strips of crispy plantains in woven baskets. On the lower level of the larger building, wicker lamps hang from the wooden ceiling, and a group of friends are sprawled out on shaded mesh daybeds strewn with throw pillows.

Ceviche at Big Dock Bar. Photo credit The Belize Collection

Upstairs, one sun-seeking couple is lying on one of the daybeds suspended over the sea, while another lazily drifts on a swing that doubles as bar seats, sipping rum punch. A few other guests are sitting on patio sofas or hanging out near the edge, waiting for the mother manatee and her calves who appear every afternoon. They’re also coaxing the people who are braving the rope swing or jumping into the sea from the top level (neither of which I will be attempting). The mood is breezy and laid back, yet theatrical — definitely the coolest oceanfront spot I’ve ever been to. (Staff later told me the bar was a favorite of Prince William and Princess Catherine when they visited a few years ago, when the future monarch jokingly admitted he may have overindulged in the local rum.)

Big Dock Bar is absolutely a whole vibe, although Lucas Santos, who’s been a bartender here for more than three years, is quick to point out it’s also much more. “Big Dock Bar is made to be enjoyed, not staged,” he told me. “We keep things thoughtful and relaxed, with cocktails that pair naturally with ceviche and long afternoons by the water.”

A daybed suspended over the water. Photo credit The Belize Collection

Jaguar Reef, a boutique beachfront resort on Belize’s central coast near the fishing village of Hopkins, was the first development in the area after the arrival of electricity in 1992, and has been a local favorite for more than twenty years. The bar opened in 2018 as a way to introduce a unique immersive drinking and dining experience, where guests can soak up the sun or linger long after it sets.

“The vision was to create a relaxed, social space that brings people closer to the Caribbean Sea,” says Julie Kee, Director of Sales and Marketing at The Belize Collection, a portfolio of resorts that includes The Lodge at Jaguar Reef. “The over-the-water setting provides guests and locals with consistent, easy access to the sea — offering a place to swim, unwind, and connect, regardless of seasonal changes.”

The Drinks

The signature Big Dock cocktail. Photo credit The Belize Collection

Drinks are written on chalkboards and lean into indigenous ingredients including Nanche, a liqueur that blends rum with a rare Central American grape, which is shaken in Jaguar’s Aphrodisiac, a riff on the Daiquiri. Soursop, a spiky green tropical fruit that tastes like a cross between pineapple, banana, and citrus, goes into the bar’s eponymous cocktail along with aged rum, coconut rum, and local spices. Tepache, a lightly fermented beverage made from pineapple, adds tanginess to the Belizean Mule. The housemade orgeat for the bar’s Mai Tai uses roasted peanuts, and the vibrant ruby-hued Jamaican sorrel (also known as flor de Jamaica) lends a tart, cranberry-like taste to the rum-based Hopkins Village. As Santos puts it, “Big Dock is about balance and freshness, clean rum, crisp flavor, and drinks that feel right in the sun.” Preach.

The bar welcomes everyone: resort guests, those staying at other properties dotting the beach, and locals. I’m not going to lie: I returned every day during my stay. I mean, who wouldn’t? Since it’s surrounded by the elements, the feeling was distinctive each time. While it was great to lounge on the mesh under the glorious Caribbean sun, it was equally atmospheric to duck out of a rainstorm at the bar, where I tossed back a few cold bottles of Belikin, the popular Belizean beer.

Big Dock can accommodate up to 45 guests, and regularly hosts curated experiences like its Sunset Sessions, where a DJ spins lounge-tempo music as the sun says adiós for the day. You can also rent it out for private celebrations and special events (hello, girls’/guys’ trip or milestone birthday), and it also hosts gatherings, including the annual Belize Songwriter Festival.

But even if you unexpectedly stumble upon it, as I did, Big Dock Ceviche Bar is an escapist, unfussy, easygoing, must-do Belizean experience.