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Published: November 12th 2008
Jerk Chicken
The best food ever! Englisch, dann Deutsch:
WOW, WOW, WOW! What can I say? The pictures say it all really. Welcome to Cauye Caulker, an island off the coast of Belize, like something straight out of a dream!
For the life of me, I will never figure out why the GAP tour organisers only feel the need to spend 2 nights (in effect only 1.5 days) on this Caribbean Island!? No one was ready to leave. It's the kind of place you want to stay and I found myself dreaming of living the 'Caribbean dream'- just for 6 months or so.....
We arrived on a full stomach of delicious Jerk Chicken and were promptly greeted by a dolphin swimming near the dock (I had never seen one before!)
The islands' slogan is 'GO SLOW!'....and they really mean that! Christian and I were 'told off' TWICE for walking too fast! "Slow down man, where's the fire!?" they drawled in their cool-lazy-creole way. Everyone has time to stop and chat and say hello (odd to be speaking english again -hadn't known that Belize had once been British-own Bobby, the owner of the cool bike in the pic (not the driver, that's C) was especially
Cakeman - an institution
Der Kuchenmann ist nicht irgendwer, sondern eine Institution auf der Insel. friendly and slightly eccentric. Will def search him out when we go back one day, which shouldn't be too hard as there's only one main street! The island is only 500m wide and 2km long, crazy! It was actually longer but a hurricance split it in two and you have to swim or sail across to the other part. On the first evening, we had a meal by the bbq on the coast (no beaches as such due to the reefs) cooked by a local who specialises in huge, delicious set meals: Lobster for the first time (yummy) mashed potato, garlic bread, rice, verg, rum punch x2 and a piece of cake for stupid money! 😊
The real highlight was the next day. It really was one of the best days we've had on this trip and I though I suspect I've said that before: I really, really mean it! About 10am we set off toward the reefs on a sail boat ready for our first ever snorkelling trip. It is the longest ongoing chain reef in the world, a perfect place to snorkel for the first time. We were both uncertain about it and hadn't had much luck
My new bicycle - Mein neues Rad
Look at the ingenious stearing wheel.
Seht mein Lenkrad! with the gear we'd bought back in Costa Rica to practice with. The constant inhaling and swallowing of salt water doesn't really appeal and not being able to breathe through your nose is something I still find slightly terrifying.
The sailbaot was beautiful! It had wooden decks and I was in awe at the sails themselves and the feeling of being out at sea in the sun with a lovely cool breeze. I had never understood the attraction of sailing and owning a boat etc in the past, but now we both understand! It may have had more to do with the novelty of the Caribbean sun and sea rather than sailing itself but there you go.
We were nervous putting on our flippers (I had to have child size, ha ha) and masks and then having to jump into the water but off we went. It was hard to get used to at first. It really took a long time to just calm your breathing and learn to take long slow breaths, rather than the short, panicked gasps that I seemed to be producing against my will. The first jump was a warm up one. We saw
lots of coloured fish and corals and even a sting ray laying on the reef floor. It was pretty shallow and there was lots of sunlight shining through. After I got the hang of the breathing and forced myself to stay calm, it was actually really peaceful.
The second jump was very different. We sailed for another half an hour and arrived in Shark and Ray alley. Obviously, this is where you can see nurse sharks and stingrays. Before we jumped in, the crew threw out some bait to attract them over and we observed them from the boat. The shark was much larger than I'd expected and I'm glad they showed us one before we jumped in! They are not dangerous apparently and they said the stringrays also perfectly safe. Phew. The water was much deeper here and as I jumped in, my mask dislodged due to the pressure of the water. I ended up spending at least 10 mins spluttering from breathing in water and trying to fix the mask. By the time it was sorted, most of the sharks and rays had scattered but I still saw a few rays and one shark swam right underneath
me. The others had touched a stringray that the captain was holding and seen them up close but I had been struggling to breathe at that point! Nevermind. Saw a few shoals of fish (?) swimming by like like in Nemo but nowhere near as colourful! Later I found out that C has swum away from the group and found himself swimming above 5 nurse sharks! Just as well they only eat little fish. He said there were a range of different sizes just laying around peacefully. Amazing.
After a quick lunch on board and sharing a yummy fruit bowl of watermelon, papaya, pineapple and oranges (one of the things we'll miiss when we get home is all the tropical fruit), we jumped in for our third 'dive'. This time we were swimming further out to deeper areas and so were split into three groups, each with a member of the crew with us. Christian said he found this one the most fascinating. I liked the first dive the best. His group saw barracudas, a turtle as well as different types of fish whereas we didn't in my group. We saw lost of fish and more string rays though
and I saw a funny purple and yellow fish right at the end which was cool. Luckily, I didn't have any mask problems this time.
After that, it was time to just sit back and enjoy the sun and the sail back to the island. This was the best part of the day as the creole-islanders cracked open a few, large bottles of strong rum and mixed up a punch for us all (what a load of alcoholics hey?). They cranked up the volume of the reggae and basically 'ordered' us to get boogie-ing! At first we were a bit reserved but after they pointed out how rarely you get an opportunity to drink punch and dance on a boat in the middle of the sea, we kinda forgot our inhibitions and just went for it up on the deck. Luckily, none of us ended up falling into the sea but as you can imagine, there certainly were a few hairy moments especially as they were being very generous with the portions of punch! The captain and his crew joined in, sharing the roles of steering the boat, dancing and flirting their way through the group. What a job
they have! I asked if the punch they were drinking was non-alcoholic as they had to steer the boat, ensure our safety etc. and they laughed in my face! The drinking of copious quantities of rum is apparently part of their job desciption! Crazy! There was a lush sunset, which ws beautful but also sad as we knew time was flying and no one wanted this amazing day to draw to a close. When I spotted the moon I was gutted! Sadly, we eventually had to part from the boat and say our goodbyes.
It's so hard to describe everything and do justice but what I would say is, save up and go and do it! You won't regret it I promise.
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Was soll man sagen? Die Bilder sprechen mehr als Worte: Caye Calker ist ein Traum.
Mit vollem Magen (ein Halleluja auf "Jerk Chicken") haben wir die Faehre nach Caye Calker bestiegen und wurden dort von einem bezaubernd blauen Meer und einem Delfin begruesst. Warum geschieht das nicht so oft in Croydon oder Gehren? Dumme Frage! Es fehlt die Farbe fuer das Wasser in der Badewanne.
Wie immer, haben wir den Reisenachmittag mit nichts als Faulenzen
bzw. das Erkunden der Insel verbracht. Das war aeusserst anstrengend, denn die Insel ist 500m breit und 2km lang. Wow!!! Eigentlich ist sie groesser, aber ein Hurrikan hat sie in zwei Haelften geteilt und wir haben nur die suedlichere gesehen. Da die bruetende Hitze leider nicht unseren Appetit verdorben hat ((Donikas Plan, sich vor der Reise einen Bauch anzuessen - ich war also nicht beteiligt! -, um dann fuer den Fall der Faelle vorbereitet zu sein und nicht als ganzer Stock zurueckzukehren, ist nicht aufgegangen - 200kg hihihiiiiii), waren wir bei einem beruechtigten Inselbewohner zum Abendessen: Fisch, Kartoffelbrei, Reis, Gemuese, Rumpunsch, Kuchen ... LECKER!!!
Der eigentliche Hammer war aber der naechste Tag. Um 10 Uhr ging es mit einem Segelboot auf die See hinaus in Richtung des ausgelagerten Riffs, das das laengste zusammenhaengende Riff der Welt ist. Was macht man dort? Dumme Frage! Schnorcheln.
Eigentlich nicht so unser Ding, denn ich verfalle bei dem Gedanken, aus Versehen Salzwasser zu schlucken, in rieisge Panik. Die ersten Versuche waren auch nicht so umwerfend lecker, aber man lernt ja. Der erste Schnorchelgang war eine Aufwaermung, wir sind ueber Korallen geschwommen, haben bunte Fische (aber keinen Nemo) und Rochen gesehen. Etwas ganz anderes fuer
Landratten wie uns. Der zweite Schnorchelgang war aber noch besser. Bevor es ins Wasser ging, wurden mit kleinen Fischen groessere Fisch und Haie angelockt. Nachdem diese ein bisschen satt waren, sind wir ins Wasser gestiegen und sind mit ihnen geschwommen. Unser Kapitaen ist mit uns geschwommen und hat einen Rochen in die Hand genommen. Ausserdem waren die Korallengebilde maechtig faszinierend und die Fische erst. Mit einem Male befand man sich in Mitten eines Schwarms von Tunfisch (Katzenfutter!). Wenn man sich ein wenig von der Gruppe entfernt, sieht man sogar noch mehr, denn Haie meiden Menschen und so befand ich (C) mich ploetzlich oberhalb einer Gruppe von 5 Ammenhaien (sie fressen mit ihren kleinen Muendern ja nur kleine Fische). Sie lagen so friedlich am Boden - erwachsene und junge Haie. WowWowWow.
Schwer vorstellbar, aber doch wahr. Der dritte Schnorchelgang hat die bisherigen Erfahrungen und Eindruecke noch in den Schatten gestellt. Unter Geleit durch unsere 3 Seemaenner haben wir uns in kleinen Gruppen auf den Weg in tieferes Wasser entlang des Riffs gemacht und dabei Baraccudas, Muraenen, eine gemuetlich seegrassessende Schildkroete, 2 verschiedene Sorten von Rochen und unzaehlige Fische, deren Namen ich nicht weiss, gesehen. Rochen gleiten so grazil durch das Wasser,
4
Sun+Sea+Sailboat+Rum Pucnh+Reggae= A bunch of weirdos! das ist unbeschreiblich schoen.
Voller neuer und umwerfender Eindruecke haben wir dann die Segel gehisst und uns auf den Heimweg gemacht. Fruchtsalat, grosse Mengen an Rumpunsch (schon wieder, ihr Alkoholiker!) und karibische Musik haben das Ganze dann ausarten lassen, viele von uns haben auf dem Deck getanzt (auch unsere Seemaenner, die sich mit dem Bootsteuern, Tanzen und Flirten abwechselten) und den wunderschoenen Sonnenuntergang genossen. Niemand wollte eigentlich, dass der Tag zu Ende geht. Leider tat er das und schon wieder sagten alle, das waere ein Highlight der Reise gewesen (Diese Wiederholungen sind wirklich uebel!). Es ist schwer, die Eindruecke wiederzugeben.
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