CAYE CAULKER

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Sunday 29th August

We passed through Bacalar Lagoon and Chetumal and our decision to miss them out was a wise one as these two towns are a bit run down. dont get me wrong we could stay here but caye caulker sounds more appealing and we just want to have a good long stay in one location.
So we arrive at the ferry port in Chetumal and once we got passed the sniffer dogs and military security we were on our way across chetumal bay in a really quick water taxi. There were about 30 of us on this 25 ft boat which had three 250hp outboard motors. Most of the passengers were people that lived on the islands. we were told they use the boat to go to the larger supermarkets on the mainland to stock up on household goods etc. So we're off and flying and 2 hours later we arrive at san pedro which is on a bigger island north of Caye Caulker. Immigration stamps and a half hour wait we reboarded the same boat to head for Caye caulker. The sun has now dipped away on the horizon in a matter of minutes and there was lovely red clouds all around us. There were only 6 of us heading to caye caulker by now and we got to sit up with the, 'captain' if you want to call him that. 5 minutes out and its pitch dark and were somewhere in the carribean sea heading south. The stars in the sky could be seen in all direction as it was a cloudless night, it was great, so peaceful with the wind in our hair...well jills hair anyway!!
We jumped off the boat onto the wooden jetty and were greeted by rasta's who were so helpful and spoke in creole. There are no cars on the island only bikes and golf buggies. The taxi driver, whose name was lolo,took us to our condo but it was closed as it was about 8 pm by now and the office was closed, no worries tho we stayed at another place just half mile away. lolo gave us a wee tour and showed us where the bank was for in the morning.
Wow! what a culture shock, everyone's so friendly. restaurants, cafe's, bars and food stalls are in abundance on the main road. As lolo says 'there are three roads here, front street, middle street and back street'. He wasn't wrong either. Caye caulker's population is 1400. four policemen (the police golf buggy had to be seen to be believed) funny as hell..oh, and no hospitals!
Ahhhh great, our room is nice and cool. we dumped the bags and went for a well deserved beer!! its been a tough day. bus, taxi,boat, then golf buggy!
We ended up in the bamboo bar on the water front and ended up with two nice men from belize with whom we shared jokes and stories. £1.50 a beer and we're pretty pooped by the end of it all. It was like a fridge in our room when we got back. I never thought i'd say it but cold is good!!

Monday 30th August

That was the best sleep for a few days. We felt fresh in the morning and ready to move to our original condo. The lady that owns our place is a lovely american lady called barbara who let us shift our booking back a day. We are totally pinching ourselves at the beauty of this island. once we are settled in our room we are spoiled by the fact we have our own kitchen and living room with tv!! the views are postcard material!! turquoise seas, white sands, boats and wooden pontoons stretching out to sea. Welcome to Belize!!
We chilled the rest of the day in our room and hauled out for dinner too wish willys which was recommended to us by a nice couple (nat and hannah)that are staying beside us in the condo's. They are on their last week of a 5 week honeymoon after getting married on a mayan temple on the mainland of Belize. Respect!
The guy that owns wish willys is called Maurice. An afro carribean with dreads n all who spoke superb english and was the host of all host's. he made us so welcome and sat with us for a few minutes in between sparking up the bbq, chopping the veggies, serving beer, having a ciggie, having the odd lie on his hammock whilst occasionally checking the bbq and welcoming new guests!. How cool is that?! All main courses are 4 pounds and theres no menu, maurice will tell you what he has to offer as this is his home as well as a food stop.
Lobster season is ripe just now so i had lobster whilst jill had chicken. The food was out of this world. I got four lobster tails with a wee bit of cucumber and pasta on the side. Jills bbq chicken was outstanding too. we had 4 beers and 2 cokes. the bill? 15 pounds. The atmosphere was great, maybe 15/16 people eating here at this time...we're only 100 metres from our condo so not far to waddle off home with full bellies!!

Tuesday 31st August

Breakfast consisted of waffles and fruit, jill had a cheese toastie. We have our own bikes that barbara let us use and they are a challenge at first as they have no brakes. If you want to stop you just peddle backwards and the bike slows down. Take's a little bit of practice at first but the only thing you'll need to brake for here are crabs that will creep ashore for a free meal!! Haha, there is the odd unlucky crab here n there lying on the road. There's lots of tiny little hermit crabs running about if you look for them.
To our left is the 'split'. here is the islands most northerly point. theres 50 metres of water then another inhabited island, almost lagoon like. The water is clean and many fish are easy to see with a lazy swim with goggles. We took the bikes for a trip around the island and within a hour we had done full circle passing the airstrip, schools, graveyard and local residence. The airstrip has a one plane an hour to various other islands and looked like something out of a movie..cool!
The heat is hardcore today. about 38oC. Nice to have a bit of exercise on the bikes though. I nearly ran over a 3ft iguana who was having a game of chicken with me. nutter!! As usual we got lost but its not hard to get back on track.
We have our own pool back at home and it was inviting when we got back. sploosh!! ahhh, you cant beat it! Nat and hannah were poolside and we learned that they did a very similar journey like we are doing just 5 years ago. The conversations went on most of the day and we learned so much from them that we count our blessings for meeting such a nice couple. It helped we were all the same age, plenty to talk about and experiences to share im sure in the years to come i hope. thanks guys.
I nipped out to the supermarket and grabbed some supplies for dinner. I also cycled in past the diving shop to book our snorkelling trip for tomorrow. Everyone speaks to you where ever you go here. 'Hi, whats up man, hey, yo man, hows it going. peace,take it easy'. loving it!!
It felt good to be cooking as its been so long. Im learning lots of great stuff in regards food stuff! T.v in bed...Ahhh just like being at home...we have carribbean fever, any more laid back and we'll be in reverse!

Wednesday 1st September

Breakfast at the juice bar. Here you can choose what you want by basically picking any of the fruits on view. Pineapple, orange and papaya times two please. yummy!! We sunbathed for about a hour and cooled off in the pool with Nat and Hannah until it was time to go snorkelling out on the reef!
Jill and I plus the boat driver took off in his boat to the reef which was about 5 minutes off the shore. No mucking about, snorkels on, goggles on and over the side we go. I had a wee bit of 'hold on a minute' theres big manta rays passing we have to watch them pass. nah nah, the manta's are here for us!! In we go. There are manta rays about 18 to 24 inches wide just swimming around us and occasionally bumping into us. The boat driver had already tied the boat up and was in with us with his little bits of fish bait....we could touch the bottom, just! my mouth was above the water when standing upright and the water was warm. The boat driver calls us over about ten meters away from the boat and is pointing that way with his arm...go under, go under. I shit myself. three feet away from me was this barracuda staring straight at me with his sharp teeth. he was almost smiling at me...haha. i got off about three photo's with my water cam. The manta's are really swarming around us now, they are lovely and soft when they brush past your legs. It's a bit unnerving as they've gone from being knee height to almost waist height. You try keep your cool when a two footer comes right at you wanting a wee bit of food!!! Ace!! The barricuda fish is almost dog like as he is staying still waiting for his tit bit before he shows off by darting about around us!! he looks like a pike and you know how fierce they look!! 30 minutes of this and then we're off to stop number two, the barrier reef!
I cant describe the feeling of swimming 2 miles off the coast in coral reefs with so many types of fish and colourful corals...the shark feeling came and went as i was past caring at this point. We swam with our guide for about 1/2 a kilometer in a circle around the reefs and corals whilst observing the abundance of marine life on offer. I would guess at seeing over two dozen different types of fish and that was the ones i could see as sometimes camoflaged fish would appear out of nowhere.
Back on the boat now and we head for our last stop which was the next reef about 1 km further out. Much and such the same stuff out here but we were on the edge of deep sea and there were slightly bigger fish to be seen and larger schools of grouper fish. the eyes and mouth were hurting now as we'd been in sea water almost 2 hours now. Screaming out for dry land!!
we got home and treated ourselves to an italian meal and watched tv till we dozed off. what a another great had by all although the fish in the sea would disagree after seeing a white boy and a red girl swimming about!!

Thursday 2nd September

I had a long lie while jill was up and about getting milk from the shop and dropping off the laundry.
We met up with Nat and Hannah and went for fruit juice at the deals on wheels juice bar. It was lush. We then went for lunch at a hole in the wall chinese cuisine stop. Chow mein all round for lunch. It was delicious. Afternoon consisted of getting bags repacked with fresh, clean clothes and swimming in our pool with our chums!
One last visit to see maurice at wish willys for dinner and we stayed there until the inevitable scary rums were being poured free of charge!! taxi! or buggy should i say!! We're off to belize in the morning to carry on our adventure. We will miss caye caulker but im pretty sure we will return!!

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Photos

the 5 of us
hannah - jill - maurice - nat - me