By: Taylor Raquel | www.taystastytravels.com
I recently returned from Caye Caulker, Belize, and I had an amazing time! Caye Caulker is a small 5 mile long island off the coast of Belize. Their motto is “go slow”. The island is quiet, small and relaxed. They only drive golf carts, ride bikes or walk everywhere. We flew with Southwest Airlines and arrived in Belize City, Belize, which was only about a two hour flight. We arrived at the airport and had a car waiting to take us to the water taxi. Checked in our bags and paid for round trip tickets for the water taxi. The roundtrip ticket was 50 BZD, which was $25 USD; so $2 BZD is equal to $1USD. The water taxi was an hour and 15 minutes long, and hot. Once we arrived to the island, we were escorted on a golf cart to our AirBnb and our host, Bobbi was waiting for us outside. We stayed at La Vida Perazosa, a four story house which was absolutely amazing, with an even more amazing view! Bobbi was an amazing host and helped set up the car at the airport and the golf cart on the island.
The first day, we took it pretty easy and just settled in to our temporary home and then searched for something to eat. We found that we were close to everything and decided to walk our entire stay because everything was so close and the golf carts were over priced. The first place we went to was called Enjoy Bar, they had good prices and wifi, so we were sold. We ordered the James special which included a meal and a rum punch. I ordered the jerk flavored seafood combo platter. It was also happy hour, so rum punch was 2 for $7 which came out to $3.50 USD. I payed about $10 US for a huge plate of lobster, snapper, and shrimp with two sides and toast. Ten dollars. After everyone was full off of lobster, rum punch, and such, we decided to find something to do. Walking around, everyone was super friendly and gave us suggestions on what to do. One guy told us about another little island that was only about 15 min free water taxi ride.
It was called KoKo King, and it was a cool little spot with a nice bar, live music and free chairs, and cabanas along the beach. You could tube in the water or play drinking games during happy hour in order to win free drinks. We didn’t stay very long, but it was a cool little beach and the taxi came every 30 min. After a couple of hours we left and headed back to the house to dip in the pool. The time went by so slow, Belize is an hour behind Houston, but it seemed longer. A few of us got hungry later that night and set out to find another place to eat.
The food was pretty good, but not better than Enjoy. In the morning, we got up early and walked to a spot called Happy Lobster for breakfast that was really good. We then set out on our first excursion. Our guides, were pretty cool, set us up with a couple gallons of rum punch for the day of fishing and snorkeling. Out on the water, we went fishing and caught about 10 or 11 variations of small fish. Then when we got to where we could snorkel, one of the guides went down and caught us a few lobster to go with our fish. We had a pretty good time,and when we got back we fired up the grill and cooked everything, which was pretty good if I say so myself! The next morning we went to Happy Lobster again, and then met Keith and his crew for another snorkeling adventure on the Hol Chan tour. If you visit Caye Caulker you should visit Stressless tours for a great experience! They were really great and took us to a few stops in the ocean. We saw more coral and many more fish than before, along with nurse sharks, sting rays and even manatees.
We also stopped to see tarpin fish and some small seahorses. Once we got back to the island we visited the split. The split is where the island is rumored to have been separated by a devastating hurricane years ago. Some say its true, others say its man-made. It’s just a cool hangout spot with games, a bar, and you can also climb the stairs to a platform to jump off into the water. I finally tried the famous Belize Belikin beer, which was actually pretty good. Unfortunately, we got some rain from the tropical storm that was heading to the Gulf, so we took cover in a restaurant to have our last dinner in Belize. We spent the rest of the night playing games and just enjoying each others company. The morning came, and since we booked a midday flight and had to take another water taxi to the mainland we didn’t do much but eat and walk around the island for a while. The entire trip was amazing and I had so much fun.
If you ever get a chance to go, don’t hesitate because its worth it! It’s pretty cheap out there, there is a lot to do, other islands you can travel to. I would suggest brining cash before you leave the states, and in small bills, because they will give you change in their currency. Not everywhere will take card, and bring sunscreen and lots of mosquito spray! I have mosquito bites everywhere, even though I used OFF!, it wasn’t much help but maybe spray or those repellent bands may help also. Watch the video to see what went down out there!
