The Travelling Teacher: Belize - The Caye to a Good Time

April 8-10

Hello everyone!

After a few days on the mainland, it was time to explore the reason Belize is such a popular tourist destination: the Cayes.

Nurse sharks. Many nurse sharks.

Southern stingray

Belize has over 400 Cayes, pronounced keys. We'd had a sneak peek of a few of these from the air when flying in from Honduras. Though you can take a very quick flight from Belize City, most people travel to the major Cayes by boat.

We were staying quite close to the airport,
which made for a spectacular sundowner

Boats also go to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, and to Mexico

We were heading to Caye Caulker which, along with Ambergris Caye, is one of the more populated and visited islands. The beautiful boat ride, taking in turquoise waters, takes an hour.

Caye Caulker is red, Shark Ray Alley is in blue

The water was a lovely temperature

What struck us first upon arriving on Caye Caulker was the smell. And not in a good way. It stank. The sewage-like odour actually emanates from the sargassum that lines some of the shore at this time of year.

Sargassum is basically free-floating seaweed

The Blue Hole, made famous by Jacques Cousteau, is a 2 hour boat ride away

Luckily, this didn't permeate too far into the island. It's actually two islands, separated by a small channel called The Split. This was actually created by the same hurricane that forced the country to relocate its capital city to Belmopan in 1961.

We paddleboarded across the channel to briefly see the northern section

The beach is on the right - that green tall thing in the distance is a diving dock

Strangely, that split is where the only sandy beach exists on the southern island. If you want pristine white sand, you'd go to another island. Caye Caulker trades on being a laid-back island on which you relax and lose track of time.

We did our best to follow the rules

Can't go wrong with a rum punch here

Admittedly, there are times when you shouldn't relax here. One is on its sandy streets, which are populated by one-gear bicycles and elongated golf carts. Cycling around on a low-quality bike that struggles to keep its chain in place unless you're constantly moving can move the stress needle a tad.

Our taxi!

Driving is still bad here, even in golf carts

The other activity that does that here is arguably the main reason for visiting the Cayes. Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world. Within that, you find these…

There are approximately between 4,000 and
14,000 nurse sharks in Belizean waters

Nurse sharks, particularly these ones, are extremely docile. They are found in an area dubbed Shark Ray Alley. Hovering above the coral in the warm, tranquil waters, dozens of nurse sharks congregate to…well, eat.

Nurse sharks can grow to be over 4 metres long

Nurse sharks are bottom-dwellers, meaning that
they sometimes feed on the sea floor

Not eating humans, though we are the reason for them hanging out here. Originally, local fishermen used to come to the spot to clean their catches. This filled the water with morsels that were perfect for the nurse sharks. We had gone on a snorkeling trip with an animal-friendly company that doesn't interact with marine life; other companies feed the sharks. It's a tricky one, as the sharks wouldn't be there for us to see and swim near if they weren't getting a reliable source of food. However, it does alter the ecosystem.

Nurse sharks are fully protected under Belizean law

They are named after the sound they make when sucking up food

Sharks are not the only attraction. The water was a little bit murky, and I'm not the best snorkeler, meaning the quality of the pictures is a bit distant and limited. I didn't hear too many fish names from our guide, but we did see a beautiful spotlight parrotfish and schools of Atlantic blue tang.

A collection of blue tang

These are two spotted eagle rays, beautiful creatures

This was within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, a protected area first established almost 40 years ago. Hol Chan is Mayan for ‘little channel’, reflecting one particular zone of the reserve that has what seems to be walls of colourful coral. Sadly, it probably used to be much more colourful, and also may never be this colourful again.

The Belize Barrier Reef is the second-largest in the world

The reef hosts over 70 hard coral and 36 soft coral species

Other stops on our snorkelling tour included a shipwreck, which I think is called Amigo’s Wreck, and a spot where we found a couple of turtles. Lovely.

The Amigo's Wreck was sunk by a local dive operator

Belize hosts three types of sea turtle: Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Green

Manatees also come here at certain times of the year. Usually, the big sea cows start arriving in June, so our very optimistic boat drive to find some was just that. We did, however, spy some dolphins as we bobbed away from Caye Caulker.

A school of fish in the Coral Gardens

These are likely to be Atlantic bottlenose dolphins

The other fish you’re likely to see on Caye Caulker, and one you definitely don’t need a snorkel to find, are rays. Southern stingrays, to be precise, who congregate on the western side of the narrow island as the Sun begins to dip. One of them went right under my paddleboard. They move so serenely.

Females can be over 2 metres wide

Those rays, like the sharks seen soon after, are after a meal. They should have come ashore. The food on Caye Caulker was incredible. From cheap, calorific fryjacks to sumptuous lionfish, via a surprisingly refreshing soursop ice-cream, the island’s food scene is varied, vibrant and very good.

Fish is obviously a popular dish here

Marvellous meat at Chef Kareem's shack

Soursop ice-cream

We did occasionally have healthy food as well

Not as expensive as I feared it would be either, though you do need to remember you are on a very popular Caribbean island. Island prices are a thing with some items.

This is a soursop - it was almost $15BZD

The 1% would of course have their own boats...

I can see why Caye Caulker is popular. Laidback with lovely people, lovely food, and a beautiful place in which to recharge whilst seeing some beautiful marine life. Just as long as they’ve already had their meal…