After a full-on two weeks in Guatemala, I crossed the border via bus. Once into Belize city, I got straight on a water-taxi aka a boat and cruised for an hour to the popular tourist destination, Caye Caulker.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect here although other travelers had told me you could snorkel with manatee, dolphins, stingrays, nurse sharks, turtles, and huge fish. The signs seemed good.
My plan was pretty much to have a chill week before heading on my week-long trip working on a Royal Caribbean cruise as a content creator.
Once I arrived on Caye Caulker, I quickly realized the island wasn’t big at all. In fact, it was only five blocks wide. I could see the ocean in both directions.
It is notoriously a bit expensive. However, like the good backpacker I am, I found a hostel for $12 a night where I stayed for five nights. It was called Travellers Palm Backpacker Hotel. The hostel/hotel offered free kayak and snorkel gear. That was huge and I utilized both.
The snorkeling trips that take you to see all of the wildlife weren’t cheap. I was quoted $70 USD, $50 USD and everything in between. I decided I wasn’t going to pay that much to snorkel with the wildlife in the area. I have snorkeled with whale sharks in the Philippines for $20 and 5-meter Manta Rays in Indonesia on a full day snorkel for $20. $70 seemed a bit pricey to swim with turtles, stingrays, and harmless nurse sharks. Had the sharks been capable of killing me I would have been quicker to reach into my pocket!
So what do you do on Caye Caulker if you don’t snorkel? I found cheap ways to keep myself busy and see quite a bit of the island and its wildlife. On the west side of the island, Tarpan fish congregate. They are huge two-meter long fish or even bigger, which are intrigued by kayaks. A group of twenty followed me for almost five minutes. I also kayaked with huge stingrays who were equally as curious.
A number of reggae bars pump out the classic Marley tunes during the day. I pulled up and took in the hot Belize sun. One of the bars by the ‘split’ even opened a 5-meter diving board while I was there so you know I was on that.
The highlight of the week was playing soccer each night with the locals. They take their soccer/football pretty serious on Caye Caulker. Training, which is an organized game with small goals, happens on Tuesday through Thursday. On Sunday the men play organized full-size games. I started to get waves on the street by the guys during the day and picked up the nickname ‘Jesus’.
I decided to chill out this week and didn’t take any photos. Except one as I left the dock on the taxi out of Caye Caulker. It was stormy and doesn’t sum up the awesome week of weather and adventures I had on the island. It truly is a cool and very picturesque place but I wanted to break from creating content and that’s why this weekly has no photos.
I am currently writing this from my cabin on the 14th floor of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship. This week I’m taking tons of photo and video as we sail through the Caribbean to St. Maarten, Haiti and Puerto Rico.
Hope you all had a great week!