Date of Entry: January 29th to 31st 2017
Date of Writing: June 1st 2018
First off I have to relay a tragedy here, the SD card in my imitation go pro broke before I uploaded the photos to the blog, and in Caye Caulker, all the best photos came from my snorkelling trip and sadly those are lost, but still there’s some nice photos to show the beauty of this over touristed, but still worth while option.
First off let’s talk about getting there. After spending the night in Tikal I caught an early morning bus headed to Flores but hopped off at the first junction on the highway and waited about 30 minutes for the next bus headed to the Belize border. I hopped on and a few hours later crossed the border and then hitched a ride to the small bus station. There I bought a ticket (or rather told the driver I’d be boarding when he left in about an hour for Belize City) then went across the way to grab a surprisingly delicious breakfast of steak eggs and tortillas. Then I’m on the bus for a solid 4 hours (it doesn’t go fast) and finally I’m disembarking and getting a quick taxi ride through a hectic and run down Belize city that I wish I had time to explore, instead it’s a quick ATM stop and then straight to the ferry terminal where I’m just in time to buy a ticket and hop on to the roughly 2 o’clock ferry to Caye Caulker. An ice cream bar and a bottle of coke later and I’m taking to the high seas. Caye Caulker will sadly be my only stop in Belize, but from my tasty middle of nowhere bus station breakfast I already know I’d like to return someday.
Once on the Island I head straight to Pause hostel, a really unique place where my brother has stayed about a year or 2 ago which is a hostel but also a cat shelter with almost 100 injured or sick cats. Turns out the islanders tend to not like cats and regularly abandon them, or even throw them into the sea. Pause has a small bit of a bad smell but it’s worth it, and if you have more time than I did and like cats I highly recommend staying there and volunteering with the cats. The island itself is tropical paradise and the cats need the help.
After a day just chilling I embark on a snorkelling tour for my second day which I booked with some friends I met on the ferry. There’s a lot of companies selling the same tour, we went with something a bit different and booked with Shorty, a man I honestly suspect may have ben a very active LA gangster before coming to Belize. He was just starting out on the island and he and Shane-Dawg have just a small boat but run an awesome tour to all the same places as the bigger companies and also include some spear fishing instruction to go along with snorkelling. It’s a crazy party, and a great time, and I see tons of fish, some amazing sea stars, a few other types of sharks, some sea worms and then about 1000 nurse sharks, a species I’ve never seen before.
The trip, the food, and the vibe is amazing, and provides everything I’d been hoping for. Shorty talks about all the things he left behind and how he both loves and hates the island life compared to his old life in LA. It’s an amazing trip and more than anything I loved it because I got to snorkel for about 5 hours, so naturally I come back quite exhausted and we arrive just as the sun is setting. I walk back across the narrow side of the island to my hostel and catch a stunning sunset on the private pier.
An hour or so of playing with cats later I head back out into town to meet up with everyone from the tour for dinner at a local barbecue hot spot Wish Willy’s bar and grill that is quite reasonably priced for this tourist hotspot. Along the way I notice this charming not quite franchise and wish I had a bit more time to spend on this tiny island which is packed with good if slightly pricey food options.
We enjoy some delicious seafood and steak fresh off the laid back backyard grill and talk late into the night. I walk back to Pause hostel around midnight under the light of a crescent moon, tomorrow at dawn I’m taking a ferry up to Mexico and then a bus straight to Tulum. Even though I’m full as I’m walking home, I still find myself fantasizing about Mexican food.
