BELIZE – CAYE CAULKER

December 17-22, 2023

We arrived in Belize City and were taken directly to the Belize Express Water Taxi which we took for the one hour boat ride to Caye Caulker island. It was $50 for a return ticket, which is valid for 3 months. When we got to the island, a lot of golf cart taxis were happy to take us to our guesthouse. It is a very small island, and it wasn’t far from the pier, but we didn’t want to struggle with our backpacks looking.

Hilda, our hostess, was very good. She had a map of the island and showed us where all the best places for things to see and do, eat and buy. The suite was a one room affair, with the kitchen, eating area and bed all in the same room. The bathroom was separate. The two burner propane stove is on steroids. As soon as we turn the switch, the flames jump up about 6-8 inches.

We had a front and back door, with the backdoor opening into a patio. She had some workers come in one day to install a sump pump in our room, so we sat on the patio. Her brother sat down and, at first, was nice to chat with. He quickly got on our nerves. He did not take the many hints that we no longer were enjoying his company. However, he did say that Pierre has a voice like thunder and if he were Osama bin Laden his voice would have given him away immediately. LOL

The sump pump: As the town builds up the street, the road is now higher than the house. Every time it rains, the water seeps into the house that is lower than the road. She wanted a sump pump installed to remove the water. The guys hammered out the tile in a corner of the room to a depth of about 4 inches and sat the pump directly on the dirt (no gravel). They attached a badly kinked garden hose to the pump and had it drain right outside the front door. Problem solved….I think not!

The island is small and therefore the town is small. It has dirt roads and no cars, only golf carts and bicycles. It is so laid back, it was wonderful. It took us 15 minutes to casually walk to the end of the island, to what is known as The Split.

Apparently, it used to be one bigger island, but a hurricane ripped a trench in the middle. As time and tides went by, the small trench has now become several meters wide.

The northern part has only 2 streets and not much development. Hilda lamented that the tourist industry is growing so fast the infrastructure has not been able to keep up and eventually she sees the other island (and this one) building more hotels and resorts.

Everything has to be boated in and boated out, and that includes garbage. We walked past crates and crates of empty bottles, both plastic and glass. It was apparent that it was being prepared for transport to the mainland. Sadly, there was a lot of regular garbage laying about, even though there was trash cans and garbage trucks. There were signs all over the place reminding tourists to maintain the beauty of the island and to use the rubbish bins. It was not tourist not using the bins, it was the locals. Heaps of rubbish were “hidden” behind buildings, in tree lines, and other obscure places.

As we wandered along we noticed that when we stood on any street corner and looked to the left we could see the ocean. When we turned to the right, from the same spot, we could see the ocean. The entire island was less than a quarter mile wide (400 metres).

We enjoyed some street jerk chicken and some ceviche from another.

For the most part, there was nothing to do, and we loved it. We did notice that the popular pass time was to sit around and drink. That said, we did sit on the dock at the Sip & Dip and enjoyed a few mojitos and margaritas.

Although there was a big sign on the police station stating that all drugs were illegal, we suspected that a lot of the weaving people were not drunk, but high. We were also approached several times asking if we wanted some weed. 

I went diving one day. I only went on two dives, as it was ridiculously expensive – $100 per dive. We went to Tackle Box and Esmerelda. Both dives were easy 18-24 metre canyon & drift dive. Neither were spectacular dives, but the highlight was a reef shark that kept circling us and a nurse shark. Both came VERY close to us. This made up for the lack of colourful coral and variety of fish. SIDE NOTE: My gel nails all started to come off after my dives.

One day we decided to catch the water taxi to San Pedro island, a half hour away.

As soon as we left the dock we knew it was not as nice as Caye Caulker. Although the streets were paved, they were narrower and MUCH busier. There were a few cars and trucks, but mostly golf carts; bumper to bumper and driving fast. I stepped out of a shop and nearly got run over by a cart driving inches away from the door.

There were shop after shop of used clothing. I suspect it was clothing left behind in the hotels and guesthouses. Pierre was wanting to buy 2 pairs of shorts. When we did the conversion, we realized the wanted $40 for the two pair. Way too much for used clothing. As Pierre was changing back into his own shorts, she suddenly dropped the price in half.

While on the water taxi, a young lady suggested we go to the chocolate store. She said it was the best chocolate in the world. Although we didn’t seek it out, we happened across it. One small chocolate piece was $3.50. I bought 2 pieces. As I took a small bite out of one, a crumb fell down my shirt. Pierre caught it and said for that price it was like dropping a fleck of gold. LOL

It had begun to rain quite hard. We were not enjoying our day trip with the crowded streets filled with crazy golf cart drivers. The rain was the clincher to catch the next water taxi back to our island, where sit had not rained a drop.

We were told if we went to the Iguana Reef Inn at sunset we could see the stingrays in the water. It turns out the Inn feeds the stingrays every evening and that is why they show up. It is a good marketing ploy, as many people stay for a drink at the bar afterwards. Whatever the reason, it was pretty cool to have these graceful creature skimming over our feet as we stood in the shallow water. It was like being graced by some alien from another world. There were also seahorses, but were very difficult to see.

Shark fishing is illegal, so I could not understand how they could be selling shark oil. However, conch were served on just about every menu on the island. Hence, there were conch shells for sale everywhere.

Since it was our last day on the island, we decided to do laundry. We went to one of the many laundry places. To wash was $5 Belize dollars, to dry was another $5. OK, about $6.50 CDN. But we were not allowed to use our own soap. Add another $3. And we were not allowed to operate the machines ourselves. Add another $5. Sweet little scam she had going. She managed to squeeze another $5.25 from us. It was still a decent price for laundry, but the way she went about it was sneaky.

The next day we caught the water taxi back to Belize City. After taking a taxi to the bus terminal, we were glad we had not stayed in Belize City. It was pretty run down and very crowded. So far, we cannot see the attraction of Belize. It is double the price of Guatemala with no increase in quality. The only thing we can figure out is Belize takes US dollars and they speak English.

We got to the bus station and caught, what our guesthouse hostess told us was the “posh” bus. In reality it was an old school bus with rusty head racks.

But it was only $30 Belize dollars ($19.75 CDN) for the both of us, so no problem. 3 hours and many roadside stops later along the Hummingbird highway, we reached Dangriga.