Sharks, stingrays and green turtles


Advertisement
Published: February 20th 2022
Edit Blog Post

The view from our two-storey cabin is of Caribbean blue sea and a few moored boats; on the shore are palms and mangrove trees. We've been woken by the great-tailed grackles who roost in these trees and like to sing and quark soon after sunrise. It is hard to be upset by their calls, the morning air is pleasantly cool and we will breakfast on the first floor terrace and take in that view.







Getting to the island of Caye Caulker meant a 50 minute high speed ferry ride from Belize City passing many smaller islands. Most are uninhabited sandbars, covered in mangroves which hold the island's soil together – you now need a license to remove mangroves, so essential are they to the islands' existence. A few are privately owned and beautifully manicured – there are advertisements in every estate agent's window with islands for sale.



Caye Caulker (bought for almost nothing in 1870) was once a five mile long island but it is now two islands. In 1961, Hurricane Hattie turned a central marshy area into a waterway that split the island and the villagers enlarged the new split so that they could get around more easily in their canoes. Sixty years of tides has enlarged the gap and now “The Split” has to be crossed by ferry.



The islands have no cars. The streets of packed sand are home to just people, bikes and golf carts (and you can take your bike on the ferry for free). Just 2000 people live here but there are lots more visitors – the cayes became popular with budget tourists and divers in the 1960s and never looked back. Today it is a laid-back sort of place with a few bars and restaurants, dive and snorkelling tours and a lot of bicycle repairmen.



We cycle on both islands on ancient bikes that weigh a ton but the islands are practically flat. The bikes have no brakes, just a fixed wheel so we are not always in total control – it is a good thing there are no cars! There are few signs which means everything has to be found by trial and error or luck: the good bakery is hidden behind a tropical garden, the best snorkelling trip down a dead end that leads to a jetty. Actually, there are jetties everywhere. Boat is still the easiest and fastest way to get around so, if you build a beachfront house or run a hotel, you have a jetty – preferably with a couple of shaded chairs at the end.



On our final day we take a catamaran out to the reef; there is a fine breeze and we do the whole trip under sail. The reef here is just one mile off shore and full of many different multi-coloured corals including delicate fans, stag-horns and domed “brains”, The colours are bright as the sun shines through the clear water – luminous greens, reds and purples. Around the reef swim equally brightly coloured fish including parrot fish and neons. All 180 miles of Belize's reef (only the Great Barrier Reef is longer) is protected in one way or another, this large area is in a national park, and the reef is still in very good condition.



At the second mooring, snorkellers are immediately surrounded by sharks and a few southern stingrays. The fish are accustomed to being fed scraps of fish by the boats and so gather quickly. To those of us brought up with “Jaws” and similar tales, sharks and snokellers swimming together seems totally wrong but these are nursing sharks and quite harmless.



The third anchorage is over a bed of sea grass, home to both fish and green turtles. The turtles are hard to spot when in the grass but easy to see when they cross the sand beds. They also pop up to the surface periodically, their necks straining out of the water and turning this way and that like a periscope. They seem not at all worried by the snokellers and one pops up just next to Gill and looks her straight in the eye before diving into the sea grass once again. What an amzing day, to swim with stingrays, sharks and turtles.



Today we start our journey home, first Belize City and a Covid test then on to Miami and Heathrow. It has been a wonderful trip, we are amazed by the variety of places in such a small country. We've loved the wildlife, the people and the lovely warm sunshine.


Additional photos below
Photos: 14, Displayed: 14


Advertisement




Tot: 0.248s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 40; qc: 144; dbt: 0.1635s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb