After the horrible journey endured in getting to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye we opted for the other of two boat companies – Belize Water Taxi as opposed to San Pedro Water Taxis. Thankfully, much to Hayley’s delight their boat was a lot smoother and also cheaper. So if you ever happen to be in Belize, use them. The journey was swift and painless so within the hour we were disembarking onto one of the many piers situated along Caye Caulkers eastern shoreline. We were greeted by more friendly locals who worked for the company and advised us to ‘Go Slow’ which as soon became apparent is the tiny islands motto. This piece of advise was accompanied with ‘Remember my friend, we have no hospital but two cemeteries’ and a chuckle, finished off with a huge grin and ‘Welcome to paradise’. It’s extremely refreshing, when travelling, to see that almost, if not everyone, loves their country and takes pride in the fact that they are locals, all eager to share what they feel is the greatest place on earth.

As Caye Caulker island is so small (you can walk all the way round in less than two hours) we opted to refuse the kind offer of a golf cart taxi to our hotel and walk. Some of you may be confused when we say golf cart taxi, but this is the only four wheeled form of transportation on that island. It’s either walk, scooter, golf cart or boat and it is a welcome break from the usual hustle and bustle of daily modern life. Upon checking into our hotel mid afternoon we headed to the ‘it’ spot of the island. This is situated at The Split, named this because it literally is a split in the middle of Caye Caulker. It used to be one larger island but thanks to a hurricane named Hattie a few years back it has been separated into two sections. The north is mostly uninhabited and now only accessible by boat, part of it has even been named a nature reserve. On the way here we were stopped by a local guy who tried his best sales pitch on us for a snorkel tour with his company named ‘Rasta Turtle Tours’, unfortunately for him we already had our hearts set on a different company thanks to the beauty of trip advisor. We went to visit ‘Caveman tours’, the number one on trip advisor and after a quick chat with Caveman himself (and much to Jonny’s amusement, played with his dog, aptly named Cave girl, who chases coconuts into the sea and fetches them back, much more impressive than both of our relatively simple minded hounds at home) we had put our names down for tomorrows all day snorkel trip. When arriving at the split and the bar located there named Lazy Lizard, which contained the highest percentage of travellers so far on our relatively short journey, we grabbed a beer and water, the usual drinks order on the trip, and lay down in the sun. You can actually swim in the split which has quite a strong current but nothing dangerous but as it was late we decided against it and went for a walk instead. We walked round the whole town in no more than an hour or so, spotting the local football pitch and donating a small amount to a local charity to help maintain said pitch for the local kids. We also made it across to Caye Caulkers less commercial western side and caught some amazing views just before the sun set for the day.

 

Next morning feeling refreshed and ready we headed down to Caveman Tours for 10am and geared up for the day. Caveman and our guide Ronnie, who was awesome on his first tour for the company, were very honest about the prospect of seeing a Manatee, they hadn’t for the past seven days. We were also told that if we didn’t spot one today they would stop advertising them as the season had passed. We had a quick brief and were on our way. Heading out towards the Belize Barrier Reef (the second largest in the world, behind Australia’s) within 10 minutes Ronnie announced he had spotted the elusive Manatee. He quickly circled the boat around and instructed us to get in. Apprehensively, we jumped into the pleasantly warm, clear water and ducked underneath. What we saw was amazing, this humongous, docile creature peacefully making its way through the water, totally unresponsive to the fact that four strange humans (thats us and the two Spanish guys on our tour) were staring at it in amazement. Hayley had a bit of a panic and after that sported a fetching life jacket for the rest of the day but made it back into the water to stare at the sea cow. Ronnie informed us, when it became still that it was actually asleep, which we found even more amazing, as it floated, perfectly still a few feet below the surface of the ocean.

 
The sea was quite rough here and gave us all a small dose of seasickness, which neither of us usually suffer from, so we left our new friend catching some z’s and moved on. Next stop, a ship wreck just under the surface of the water that Ronnie, again knowledgable, informed us had been there for around 15 years. Here there was numerous types of coral, all colourful and spectacular in their own right but overpowered by the presence of giant Stingrays, which instantly caught our eye.

  
The next stop of the tour was our favourite. We anchored at a part of the reef that is known for Turtles. As we jumped in this time Ronnie pointed in the direction he thought the Turtles would be and within 5 minutes we were happily swimming alongside one. Again, unfazed by the human presence around, the turtle swam happily along, nibbling at the sea grass without a care in the world. It really is fascinating watching these creatures in the wild but also so used to the tourists buzzing around it. Not wanting the miss out Jonny grabbed the GoPro and got as close as he dared, filming and snapping pictures. After a few minutes the turtle needs to come up for air, this is called a surface breach, and its an awesome experience to do this at the same time as them. As everyone knows, we are huge turtle fans, so Ronnie had to call us back to the boat or we would of spent all day with this guy.

 
Next stop, Shark and Ray Alley!!! Just the name of this struck fear through us both and the Spanish guys also on the boat. Ronnie laughed and explained that these were Nurse sharks, who don’t ‘usually’ attack humans. Even more comforting was the fact he told us that they rarely take chunks out of things (we clearly pictured these things being our legs) but they have very small, sharp teeth that they lock onto animals with and then suck blood. Great! The colour drained from Hayley’s face as we set off towards the alley. As soon as we arrived we could spot sharks circling around already. Apparently, they are used to the sound of the engine and are attracted to it as they know they get fed from the boats. A mass soon formed and we were instructed to jump in, like it was a casual everyday thing to just ‘jump in’ the sea with sharks, especially when some were bigger than us. Food was thrown from one side and very hesitantly we lowered ourselves into the water on the other. Breathing heavily we slowly made our way as close as we dared to the terrifying beasts swimming within metres of us. GoPro outstretched to get the best shots we swam around the boat, quickly and a bit frantically. Hayley is adamant that a huge shark swam right underneath her as we all focused on the others still munching away on their lunch. No more than five minutes passed and we all scrambled back into the boat as the food ran out, eager not to be the next item on the menu. Absolutely thrilled we’d managed not to be eaten and just at the sheer fact that we’d swam with sharks we were all smiles afterwards. Truth be told, the sharks were never interested in us in the slightest but the drama of it sounds much better and at the time the fear was real.

  
Once again we headed back off and this time to Hol Chan nature reserve, which is protected by law due to the array of coral and animal species here. Ronnie lead us on a guided tour around here, pointing out and impressively naming basically every type of fish/coral species we passed. There were more stingrays and sharks here but being pros by now we weren’t phased. Hayley, still sporting the fetching life jacket and clinging to the flotation ring that Ronnie ever so kindly pulled around for her, was loving her luxurious tour while the rest of us battled with the waves and tiredness. There was a small cave here around 10 metres down that we were told we could swim through if we could hold our breath but we opted out of this and to just watch as our guide made it look easy.

The tour ended with a trip round to the west side of the island where Ronnie hopped out of the boat, disappeared into the mangroves with a bowl and returned with two tiny sea horses for us to admire. They really were miniature, hence why the bowl was used so not to harm them. After this we moved a few hundred metres up the coast where shoals of fish began congregating around the boat. We were told these fish could be fed by holding up smaller fish just above the water where they would spring out of the water and take it from your hands. Sceptical as we were, equally we were intrigued. Ronnie showed us first and it was quite scary to see these huge fish spring numerous feet out of the water and swallow the sardine, and nearly Ronnie’s hand at the same time. We all braved a go and admist the screams of Hayley each time, enjoyed it.

The tour ended as it was getting close to darkness and we headed back. Caveman was waiting and was extremely interested in how it had gone and our feedback on the tour and Ronnie. We told him of all the amazing things we’d seen and how happy we were with the trip and our guide. It’s a nice touch that he is so interested and it really matters to him how your day was. Maybe that’s why he’s number one on trip advisor! Back in the room we realised how ridiculously burnt we had got from the day. Not realising the heat and how much your back catches the sun when snorkelling all day is very easy during this trip so if you do end up there, don’t forget the suncream.

That evening was our last in Belize and on Caye Caulker so we treated ourselves to some excellent seafood. Jonny had a lobster, hand picked and freshly caught that day, and Hayley opted for a fresh, again caught that day, Snapper fillet. Both these were BBQ’ed right in front of us by the self proclaimed ‘Best Griller on the Island’ and along with the free rum punch and yellow cake for dessert we were very satisfied with our day. The best day yet we both agreed.

  

That brought an end to our time in Belize, an amazing, diverse country that we loved visiting. Next up is Guatemala, check out our next few blog posts to read about more amazing Mayan ruins, breath taking lake views and beautiful colonial towns 

Jonny and Hayley 🙂