Island Hopping: Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye

04/10/09-10/10/09

We happily left Belize City to head for the small island of Caye Caulker, where we had originally planned to spend a few relaxing days, but where we ended up spending a full week. It is by far the best place we have been to in Belize, and where we have had some of our best experiences, but more than anything this was due to the fact that we met a wonderful group of people, who we spent the majority of our stay with. We were all staying in the same hotel, which made it very easy to organise getting together, and although we sometimes (albeit rarely) did our own things during the day, we ate dinner together every night without fail and spent some great days together too! Our hotel was also beautiful (not 5* luxury or anything like that, but one of the nicest we have been in), complete with balcony with a partially-obscured view of the beach, but a view nonetheless :) And surprisingly, it was quite reasonably priced as well, so we were very happy!

Our lovely group of friends included Tim and Meg, a married couple from Sydney, who have invited us to stay with them if we ever make it to Australia, Catrina and Aisling, secondary school teachers from Ireland, who are taking a year out to explore the world, Richard from Wales, who is an internet whizz, Bruce from up North (England), who has previously worked in IT but is not sure what he will do once he goes back home (like us he is searching for some clarity on his travels) and last, but by no means least, Lisa from Switzerland, who had actually come on holiday to Guatemala, but had found herself visiting all these other countries that she hadn't expected to see. After spending some time back home, I think she has it in mind to visit Catrina and Aisling in Australia in the New Year, so I hope that all works out. It was such a pleasure getting to know them all and spending those few days together made our Caye Caulker experience so much better!

Caye Caulker itself is a tiny island, which can be explored easily on foot. The only vehicles you see on the island are bicycles, golf buggies and quad bikes. There is not a real beach, just a thin line of sand on the coast, but it´s enough to line up a few sunbeds, and you can swim pretty much anywhere off of the various piers. The best place to swim, however, is at The Split, a narrow gap which divides the island into two parts, and which was created by Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The attitude of the island is very laid back, almost to the point of laziness, and you often feel like you are on the set of a Malibu advert...you know the saying: "If people in the Carribean took life seriously as this, they would never have invented Malibu" hahaha! Of course, we undoubtedly came across a few hustlers who would really push for a sale (especially as we were there during the quiet season), but we quickly adapted to the norm and didn´t allow ourselves to be rushed into making any decisions :)

When we were not out and about doing things, we would relax on the 'beach' with a book or at one of the many beachside bars having a drink or a bite to eat. On our first day 'out', we headed for the neighbouring island of Ambergris Caye, where we rented a couple of golf buggies for a few hours. It was a lot of fun driving up and down, at times not knowing in which direction to turn, or where the road would lead, and it was a great way of seeing the majority of the island in a short space of time. Ambergris Caye is a lot bigger and busier than Caye Caulker, and we all agreed that we preferred the tranquility and charm of the latter of the two, but it was good to see something different. Driving along the coast, we were always on the look out for a good spot of beach to go for a swim, and we eventually found the perfect spot and hurled ourselves into the water, leaving the buggies under a couple of palm trees :) Before Bruce and Tim took the buggies back, they dropped us off at a lovely restaurant on the waterfront, which we later realized had won first prize in a national food competition this year. The food was exceptional and the service was also very good. The restaurant also had a feeding station next door, and they let us all have a go at feeding these huge fish (I think they were called tarpin fish), that were obviously very hungry, as they lunged for the food as soon as it hit the water. One of them gave Meg a huge fright when she hesitated a bit before throwing the food in, prompting the fish to jump out of the water to grab it from her hand. A couple of us caught her hilarious reaction on camera and I hope to be able to upload it soon!

Another great day out, although we were missing Tim and Meg, was a snorkel trip that took us out for the majority of the day, with the opportunity to snorkel in three different spots. Tim and Meg had done the same trip the day before us and had thoroughly recommended it, so the rest of us decided it was not to be missed...and we were not disappointed! Each of the snorkel spots had its own highlight, although for me, the second stop was by far the best, just for the amount of fish that we saw and how close they were. When we stopped the boat, our guides started throwing food into the water, obviously attracting hundreds of fish, and up to thirty nurse sharks, who are apparently harmless (the name nurse shark certainly doesn't bring anything sinister to mind). While they were throwing the food in, they told us all to get in the water as quick as we could, because the nurse sharks would disappear as soon as the food was gone. There were only a few of them left by the time I got in, but it was amazing to see them nevertheless, and there were still plenty of fish swimming around, plus a stingray, which our guide picked up several times, to allow us to stroke it :) The third stop was also interesting, as our guides split us into two groups and took us on a guided tour, pointing things out to us and explaining what we were looking at. It was a brilliant trip and great value for money! Definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip!

Our final night together was a great one and we spent it having a second attempt at the regular quiz night at one of the beachside bars. We had first had a go two days earlier, under the name of 'Gringos in Belize' ('gringo' being the term used by the locals for Americans, but which also works just as well for the British, Australians, Kiwis etc.). That time we came a disappointing fourth, and we were determined to better our performance this time around, and to make our final night a glorious one! We named ourselves 'Gringos' Revenge', and it paid off, because we came first out of about 10 teams! We were over the moon! The prize was 50 Belizean dollars off of our bill (the equivalent of US$25). It was the perfect end to what had been a wonderful week!

The next morning we got up early to have a final breakfast with Tim and Meg, who were going on a three day sailing cruise to Placencia, on the south-east coast of Belize, from where they would be heading back to Guatemala to catch a flight to Peru (if my memory serves me correctly). Lisa and Bruce also left on an early boat back to Belize City, with Lisa heading towards Mexico, and Bruce heading south to see more of Belize. We were the next to leave, and Catrina, Aisling and Richard came to see us off at the pier :) They would catch the later boat back and go their separate ways: Catrina and Aisling would take an afternoon flight to Costa Rica and Richard would make his way to Mexico, where he would later take a flight to Cuba! We still had more places in Belize to see, so once we got to Belize City, we got straight on a bus to San Ignacio, on the other side of the country. Belize being small though, it was only a 2 hour journey and on the way we passed through Belmopan, the capital city, which apparently doesn't resemble a capital in the slightest. Time will tell as we are planning to spend a few hours there on the way back east from San Ignacio in a few days' time.