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Published: August 8th 2008
Caye Caulker
We have arrived at the final destination on our trip,
Caye Caulker.
We got up Thursday morning, early, and caught the water taxi from Placencia to the mainland and then the 730am bus from Independance north to Belize City ($11us each). It took about four hours and we passed through dry pine forests, some swamps, over hills and ridges, through flat lowlands, areas surrounded by jungle and others with pastures and farms as far as you could see. It was kind of nice to do our last significant trek over this stretch because it included elements of all the landscapes that we've seen throughout the region the past three+ weeks. The last stop before Belize City was in Belmopan, and it was strange to think that only three and a half weeks ago we were on a bus going the other way through Belmopan to start our adventures. Back when we still had clean clothes! Actually, we did a big laundry trip in Antigua and some odds and ends when we hit Livingston but it still feels like we've been wearing the same clothes for 25 days. (Sadly, our clothes are probably as sick of us as we are
Caye Caulker
the palapa at the end of the Costa Maya Hotel's dockof them.)
Once we hit Belize City we caught a quick cab to the marine terminal and bought our tickets to Caye Caulker (
for interested travelers, it was $15us for a round trip ticket, 45min each way, and they seemed to take off on the hour all morning and early afternoon. We scurried into the waiting room, just beating a huge Dutch tour group that took up the rest of the boat, and caught the 12noon water taxi to Caye Caulker. The boat was by far the biggest and most secure that we've been on this trip, and we motored out of the Belize City harbor and into the Caribbean. After ten minutes or so we moved past the brown river water and into the serene aqua-marine Caribbean Sea. We passed a couple small Cayes on the way, then came to Caulker and circled around to the dock on the east side of the island.
Caye Caulker has three streets that run the length of the island, but only Front Street actually goes from end-to-end. The streets are a very white mixture of sand, crushed shells and dirt, and just about all the traffic is pedestrians and golf
On our way out into the Caribbean
When you leave the harbor at Belize City you come up to a line where the brown river water ends (or maybe just the Belize City water ends...) and the aqua Caribbean begins. carts. During our wanderings the past couple days we have found one blue truck but just about everyone gets around on foot or bicycle. When we got off the boat we hung a right on Front Street and headed down toward the Split for our hotel. The caye is about 4 miles long but was cut in half during a 1961 hurricane that cut a channel between the north and south halves. The north is very undeveloped (there aren't even boats that ferry people across) and all the food, shelter and activities are based on the south side of the split.
The first two nights here we stayed at the Costa Maya Hotel ($55us/night). Lodging is very expensive here, especially after being in Guatemala for three weeks, and we hustled in Placencia to reserve a place to stay when we arrived at Caye Caulker. Costa Maya is fronted by Tsunami Tours, and we immediately booked a snorkeling trip for Friday morning. Then, after putting our stuff down and catching our breath we headed out and got ourselves an uninspired lobster dinner that was rescued by the mojito that accompanied it. Afterwards we walked along the water on the east
side of the island toward the split, then turned with the beach and sat on a dock on the west side for an absolutely amazing sunset.
Friday morning we got up prepared for our snorkeling excursion with sunscreen and snacks. We also walked up middle street to the ATM (same bank as Placencia with the Blazers logo on the sign!) before wandering down to the boat. We kind lucked out and only had 8 people on our tour. We did the half-day trip and went to three different sites on the offshore barrier reef: one at the local reef snorkelling area, SharkRay Alley, and Coral Gardens. After about 15 minutes we came to the edge of the reef, which we found out is called the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and second in size only to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
We all hopped into the water and followed our guide around the reef as he pointed out different kinds of fish, coral and other sealife. He even did some free-diving and came up with some conch and a really strange sea crab that looked like a mix between a walking stick insect and
Our room at the Costa Maya
Where we stayed the first two nights (Thurs and Fri) a big spider. There were some very neat fish and it was a beautiful spot.
Our second snorkelling destination was SharkRay Alley, which is a sandy area about four feet deep with large groups of Rays swimming through. Our guide picked up quite a few of them, which ranged in size from 1-3 feet across, and we all had a chance to touch or hold them. They feel like wet leather, with a slight hint of old jello when it gets firm on top. Unfortunately there weren't any sharks (the nurse sharks, which are pretty safe, haven't been seen around there for over two months now). Certainly a unique experience and one that we both enjoyed a lot.
At our third snorkelling spot we were free to explore on our own. Of course, we took this opportunity to swim directly to an area with about one foot of water, effectively stranding ourselves in the middle of the reef. So that's why they give you a guide for these trips! Fortunately, neither of us got cut up by coral and we found a safe channel to make our way back to better (and deeper) snorkelling areas. After around half an hour
Our room at Mara's Place
where we stayed the past three nights in this area we all climbed back onto the boat, where we had a fresh fruit snack waiting for us (with excellent pineapple) before heading back to Caye Caulker.
We had a wonderful time but my back was a little roasty by the time we got back to our room. Evidently Sean's skin + spf30 < tropical sun. Interesting, since Lauryn's lotion was half that and she only had a light tan after floating around the reef for a couple hours. Needless to say, I had a wonderful cold shower and spent much the afternoon cooling off in front of the fan in our room.
The past three days we have taken full advantage of the dock and laid in the sun or in the hammock with a book. We had a little drizzle Sunday afternoon and a couple light rain clouds that rolled through yesterday but otherwise the weather during the day has been great all weekend. Sunny and warm with a nice, consistent breeze. It doesn't feel too terribly hot out, but yesterday afternoon the wind died down and it felt Placencia-ish for a couple hours until it picked up again. On Saturday morning we checked
our room at Mara's Place
the other side of the room. Last night the shutters were pelted with rain and the wind even sent water under the door and across the floor. We lost power and water pressure around 3am. Quite a storm! out of the Costa Maya and moved a block or so down toward the split to our new room at Mara's Place. We got a private bungalow right on the road overlooking the ocean that is spacious, clean and an excellent find ($43us/night).
For travelers: We ran into a couple at dinner last night who are enjoying their stay at the Sandy Road (or was it the Sandy Inn...) on Middle Street by the soccer field. They said it is clean and only $15/night, but we are very impressed in Mara's Place and would recommend it to anyone. Wish Willy's
Friday night, after our day of snorkelling, we wandered down the road to Wish Willy's Restaurant. We had heard about it from travel blogs and other travellers that we've met the past couple weeks and figured we'd give it a try. The restaurant is 5 or 6 tables in his sandy front yard next to the bbq with reggae blaring from the upstairs speakers. A couple signs indicate "
Go Slow" and we really weren't sure what to expect from the place, though it had a great island vibe from the moment we sat down. Maurice, the owner and Mr.
Caye Caulker - Front Street
There was Front Street (the main street), Middle Street (some stores and restaurants), and Back Street (small, not much there) Wish Willy, came by and asked what we wanted to drink. There are no menus so when you go there you should order what you want and he will tell you if he has it. When we asked what drinks were available, he named off a handful of alcohols and Belikin (of course) and said he could make just about anything we wanted. Later, when he came to ask what we wanted to eat, the options were chicken, shrimp, lobster, rock crab, beef and pork. We went with the chicken (which, it turned out, came with some terriyaki noodles and grilled vegetables) and it was phenomenal. We enjoyed hanging out with Maurice just as much as the food and were back again on Sunday night for dinner. We'd had a big lunch at Marin's (cheap but good food with quite a variety on the menu) so we had hoped to split a fish dinner at Wish Willy's. Maurice looked around and was able to find a Black Snapper that happened to be about 14in long and quite a treat. He cooked is up with some coconut rice and grilled veggies and it might have been even better than the chicken
from the other night. There were some big, dark clouds rolling in and just we got there (we were the only ones, at that point) it started to rain. Maurice made us some rum punch (very good, by the way) and was nice enough to take us upstairs to his patio under cover. We hung out up there for 15 minutes or so until the storm passed and them moved back down to a table as they put our fish on.
For our last night we went back to Wish Willy's for dinner again. I actually ran into him on the street yesterday morning and we chatted a bit before agreeing to meet up that night for dinner. When we came and sat down he smiled and said he'd put together something special for us. Special it was, as he later came up with two heaping plates that each had a lobster tail, some fish fillet and a little over a dozen sauteed shrimp along with coconut rice and vegetables. Delicious.
If you're traveling to Caye Caulker you pretty much have to go to Wish Willy's at least one night. Actually, if you go one night you'll probably go back again and again after that. The meals are cooked in front of you on the barbecue, it's ridiculously inexpensive (the chicken dinner + beer on Friday was $7us each, the huge fish that fed both of us + rum punch was $10 total, and the seafood special last night with a pitcher of rum punch was only $12 each), and he's one of the most engaging personalities we've met on our trip.
Last night, our final night of this fabulous trip, was a great conclusion to our travels and adventures. It's amazing how quickly things have gone by and looking back through our blogs and the memory cards that I've filled up with pictures it seems like Tikal was far more than just three weeks ago. Was it really only a month ago that we made our way out of Belize City and into the mountains and San Ignacio? Only two weeks ago that we were shivering under the covers at Atitlan in that frigid 65 degree weather? We've seen some amazing things, had some impressive adventures, created many wonderful memories and are even nearly fluent in Spanglish by now.
Last night there was a huge storm that hit
Caye Caulker's China Town
It's only one street, but still surprising to find a China Town here. There's the China Town Hotel, the China Town Palace, and a China Town grocery store the island and knocked out power and water pressure. The rain hitting our shutters and roof sounded like hail and did not let up all night. The wind sent the huge raindrops sideways and also shook the stilts under our bungalow. In fact, the power went out just after I turned the light on to reinforce the towel under our door that kept the rain from flowing in through the crack (the wind kept blowing the wet towel back into the middle of the room). This morning as we head to the water taxi dock on our way back to the Belize City airport the clouds on the horizon still look a bit angry but it is clearing up overhead.
This has been a really special trip and we have enjoyed sharing it with friends and family (and others in the travelblog.org community) through this blog. We hope it has helped prospective travelers with their plans and that it has offered some window into the sights, sounds, and senses that we've gained as we have traveled across Guatemala and Belize this past month. Thank you for checking in and reading our posts, and we look forward to our next travels!
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Anna M.
non-member comment
Very informative
Thank you for putting this info. online. My husband and I are about to take a trip to Belize in the next couple of weeks. We will be staying at different places, but your entries still helped me get an idea of what to expect. I loved all the pictures, it's a beautiful country!!