Caye Caulker

Belize has the second longest barrier reef in the world, so, the diving is incredible and many, many tourists come to Belize just for that. We didn’t. We came for the ruins and for the forest gardens, but it seemed crazy to be in Belize and not see the reef. So, we spent three nights (four days) with Ben and Rachel in Caye Caukler, a tiny island right next to the reef. (BTW, Caye is pronounced key, as in Key West.) The plan was to spend a day arriving, a day departing, and two days in the water. It didn’t quite work out that way. The first day, we had rain. The second day, we had sun briefly in the morning, and then rain. The third day, we got to snorkel on the reef. The fourth day, we left.

Ben reminds me that, at some point, probably on the second day, I said that, if I got three hours in the water I’d be happy. Well, I got three hours in the water and I was very happy for those three hours, but very unhappy most of the rest of the time. That was probably due to a variety of circumstances.

• I was past ready to go home.
• We were in rooms that were dark and uncomfortable. Our room had an air conditioner, but to use the air conditioner you had to close the windows. Since the windows were louvers and the louvers were opaque, not glass, closing the louvers meant plunging the room into darkness. Yes, there were lights in the room, but, since the only electricity on the island was from a generator and therefore expensive, the lights in the room were a) few and b) weak.
• There was sand everywhere.
• The first day especially, there were small, vicious, flying, biting bugs everywhere.
• When we couldn’t snorkel, there was nothing else to do. The first afternoon we were there, we walked around the island. The next day, we walked around the island again. There’s just not very much island to walk around. The street facing the dock is Front Street, the next street over is Middle Street, and the street after that is Back Street. End of island. There are a few cross streets and that’s it. So we couldn’t be inside because it was dark and uncomfortable. We couldn’t sit outside because we’d get eaten by mosquitoes. We could walk, but we’d already walked everywhere.

So I was grumpy.

On the other hand, there were good things.

• There were few cars on the island, so everyone walked or rode bikes or drove golf carts.
• Almost everything happened on Front Street, so, walking up and back on Front Street we ran into various people whom we had met in other places and who wound up on Caye Caulker at the same time we did.
• The vibe was all Creole and Rasta, very different from San Ignacio.
• We got some good food, although at US prices.
• Ben and Rachel were with us.
• The snorkeling was awesome.

I don’t know what to say more about the snorkeling. We got driven out to the reef. The boat stopped. We jumped in the water with our guide. He led us in a big circle through the reef and back to the boat. Then we did it again in another spot. Then he took us to a spot where he through bait in the water to attract s swarm of rays and nurse sharks and we got to swim with the rays and sharks. Awesome.

The day we went – the day after a storm – the waves on the other side of the reef were fairly high and the currents on our side were fairly strong. Swimming or even staying in one place was a challenge.

I didn’t dive. I swam or just hung in the water, breathing through my snorkel, watching. The view was awesome, amazing, spectacular. Corals I can’t describe. Fish I can’t describe. Urchins and other creatures I can’t name or describe. It was like an Imax movie, only it wasn’t a movie. I lack words. I got my three hours and, even though I hated Caye Caulker, I’m glad we went.