Advertisement
Published: March 21st 2009
Edit Blog Post
Tim version:
* Headed to Caye Caulker via Belize City, a hole of a place, and loved both the journey out to and Caye Caulker Itself.
* Got to "swim with the sharks" and the Rays, enojoyed waaay too much local rum, made some good friends, got sunburnt, got covered in sandfly bites, and thoroughly enjoyed it all!
The version thats sitting in a canoe, drifting in peace in warm carribean waters, just taking in the tropical island views:
Caye Caulker. The usual destination in Belize along with Ambergris, and for good reason! I bussed from San Ignacio after a morning reading the Lonely Planet guide to Mexico and enjoying one of the biggest fruit platters ever, to Belize City, and met a very interesting guy on the bus who had just bought a puppy for his family on Ambergris, so I got to nurse that for much of the trip. He worked for one of the airlines there and was telling me how its a perfect destination for the rich and famous as no-one bugs them there and there isn't any mad creepy press to hunt them down in their private moments, so refreshing to hear.
The incredible golf course island!
Not that you can see much from the photo... He also told me of an incredible run in he had with a rich guy when he was working at a cafe. The guy, apparently very normal looking, was filthy rich and one day while working this guy came in, had something to eat, they got talking and the rich guy explained how he was going on a helicopter tour on the weekend and had a spare seat if this other guy wanted and was free. Thankfully he was, and this little helicopter turned out to be that he hired the helicopter for the entire day, and from Ambergris they toured all around Belize, over into Guatemala, stopped at a horse ranch for a while and rode some horses, got to see unexplored caves deep in the bush, and lived very extravagantly for the day. Sometimes it would be nice to have the cash to do things like that, really going into unexplored territory and all at your own pace when you want to.
Belize City, a complete hole! Its like a decaying ghost town. It just isn't friendly, and has no personality at all. The walk was thankfully pretty short from the bus depot to the Water Taxi.
Speedboat for midgets, I want one!
I'd feel like Bond on a mission flying around in this little thing! Even then, everyone says to stick just to the one main road, and they were right. Eyes all around, watching and waiting. Not a happy place. I'm not sure how a town that was once their capital city can die quite so much, but it has managed to!
I wasn't there long before we, the mass of tourists, headed out on the water taxi to Cay Caulker, which if I remember right is about an hour ride. Its a beautiful ride out from Belize City through the masses of islands, past some incredible sites. There are houses built on stilts in the ocean in the middle of nowhere, showing how shallow the water is. There are islands as built up as one that is totally converted to a golf course, down to some that just had basic research buildings on them, and everything inbetween. Houses new, houses abandoned, shacks to mansions, its all there.The weather stayed pretty good for our ride too, making it more enjoyable for sure.
Caye Caulker itself, pretty but a little more built up than I had hoped! Still, slow paced and easy going, I found my way to a hostel called Bellas and
checked in. Turned out I knew a few of the blokes there so I just chilled and talked to them over some food and some beers. I met a German guy with the same profession as myself as well, living the dream of working various length contracts in countries all over the world to both see the country then inbetween countries travelling around a bit to find the next place to setup. He had even managed to put quite a bit away as a nest egg, always good to see as thats the risk of the travelling working life, there often isn't a backup. A guy I knew from Semuc Champey hadn't done the snorkelling yet either so we setup with Ragamuffin Tours to do the tour the next day. The difference between Raggamuffin and the rest was that they didn't go to Ambergris for lunch and instead provided it for you on the boat keeping you closer to the snorkelling, and also that instead of a little speedboat you were on a much larger sail boat! So much more relaxing, it was a perfect setup.
In the morning we setup at about 10am, a very lazy morning, and
headed out on engine power to get out there as the wind was in the opposite direction. Our boat was mostly filled with middle aged slightly over-excited American couples so no party feel like some of the others but it suited me that day. It was run by a couple of hilarious Belizean blokes anyway, so that provided all the life we needed. The 3 spots we dived included Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. The first spot is just a primer, to get people used to their gear and for me it was to prep my camera. I discovered, obvious once I realised, that it was using the flash that was fogging up my camera all the time like in Semuc Champey, and learnt just why you really want an external flash or light sometimes! You know those little moisture pouches you sometimes get when you buy bags or medication and things? Now I've finally found a really good use for them! Too bad I didn't have any heh. Inbetween spots we were given some beautiful fresh fruit, and we started joking around with one of the boat guys who called himself "Rennaisance". I discovered that the large metal
sheets that you see under the water while cruising around are to dow tih lobster catching - I was hoping they were all for research purposes but no such luck!
The second and third spots contained much more fish, some sharks, and many Rays and made for much more interesting dives as the photos will show! I couldn't do much free diving due to still being sick so missed out on a little, but really you don't need to dive as much of it is so shallow that there is no point in diving. Seeing those not used to swimming and diving showed just how easy it is to wreck the reef though. Lots of people kicking up sediment, bumping into coral, grabbing onto coral for stability or to hold themselves down, so unhealthy for the local ecology! The photos will do a better job than words for the dive.
Lunch was a wicked fish burger, and after the last dive it was punch time! Alcoholic punch that is! Many people were feeling a bit sea sick and dehydrated so didn't partake, but I found a new best friend heh. Due to being Australian and our reputation for
drinking, it started as a bit of a joke, but after a 40 minute journey back to the island I think I had consumed about my own body weight in rum and was feeling a bit more than tipsy! By the time I was back at the hostel I was well and truly gone and had a wicked night out with a few of the crew at the hostel going to a club that I can't remember the name of, and returning who knows how. Thankfully the next day I seemed to miss most of the hangover too! The next two days were just spent relaxing, a lot of the time with a Canadian girl I'd met. We paddled a canoe over to the other side of "The Split", to an area untouched by buildings and explored around and got mauled by sand flies. Just paddling around the island though, and later when we walked the uninhabited end, was so peaceful and relaxing. Occasionally you hear the music of a bar or house but its always reggae style and couldn't be better really! One night involved us lying in hammocks at a chilled reggae bar near the split for what
must have been 3 hours, a lemme tell ya, a hammock in a bar is one of the coolest damn ideas I've ever seen! Definitely something I gotta emulate at home.
Leaving Caye Caulker I decided I was leaving Belize too, and so did another border run from Caye Caulker to Belize City, up through into Mexico in the one day. I loved Belize but it certainly does cost a lot, and I was so excited about Mexico that I couldn't wait!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0385s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb