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BACKPACK AND SNORKEL TRAVEL GUIDE FOR Caye Caulker - Caye Caulker PURPLE GUIDE
This Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guide (Caye Caulker Purple Guide) provides information about the best things to do in Caye Caulker and ensures that you will be Making Memorable Moments on a relaxing vacation in Caye Caulker.
Caye Caulker was easily our favorite destination in Belize due to its laid back lifestyle.
The island lies about 20 miles (32km) from Belize City and can easily be reached by high-speed water taxi from Belize City called “Ocean Ferry Belize”.
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For our trip to Caye Caulker, we asked the hotel to call a cab to bring us to the water taxis. It took about 10min for the cab to arrive and the drive to the water taxis was about 15min and cost US$7.50. US dollar bills are accepted everywhere but no coins. Change is given in Belize currency. There are porters in green shirts at the water taxi entrance. They take your suitcase(s) and give you luggage receipt(s). The luggage is brought to your final destination (Caye Caulker or Ambergris Caye) by separate boat and your luggage will wait there at the end of the pier for you. You return the luggage receipt(s) and take possession of your bags.
You can buy your tickets at the end of the pier (last office at right) in Belize City. Don't forget to have your tickets stamped at the next window. There are 2 lines to get on the water taxi. The line on the left is for Ambergris Caye and the line on the right for Caye Caulker. I don't know why they do that as the same water taxi is boarded from both lines.
Caye Caulker is a small island with a length of 5 miles (8km) in north-south direction and at its widest point (in east-west direction) less than 1 mile (1.6 km). It is home to about 2,000 people and an ever growing number of tourists who produce the number 1 income for the islanders.
Caye Caulker itself is made of compacted sand and crushed sea shells over a limestone shelf. It used to be one island, but when hurricane Hattie flooded and severely damaged the island in 1961, it also opened a passage which was a few inches deep. Locals realized that this could be a good opportunity to create a waterway for small canoes to connect the east and west-end of the island. So, they started to drench a small canal by hand. Unfortunately, strong tidal currents kept eroding the soft sand and formed the canal that you see today, which is 100ft (30m) wide. This area is now called “The Split”. Unfortunately, The Split keeps getting wider and is now endangering nearby infrastructure.
As you will soon notice, Caye Caulker as almost the entire coastline of Belize with the exception of the Placencia area, has lots of sea grass right off the shore and beaches. This is important as it plays a vital role in stabilizing the coastline, but it is bad news for people who like to swim. The Split is the only location in Caye Caulker where you can easily swim as there is no sea grass (yet).
Once you get to Caye Caulker or Ambergris Caye, you will also notice that people have built long docks that go out quite a bit into the ocean beyond the sea grass barrier. So, this is another option to reach swimmable waters.
A few more things:
- Caye Caulker is covered by compacted sand and sea shells, which give it the beautiful white color. But it is hard. So, most people will sunbathe on beach chairs or on benches.
- There are almost no cars on the island. Transportation is by gas powered or electrical golf cars, bicycles are on foot. The island is small enough that you can walk everywhere. The roads as every other surface is made from compacted sand and sea shells which makes walking longer distances a little hard as the sand tends to get everywhere in your shoes/sandals and the coaster wheels of your suitcases.
- We stayed in two hotels while in Caye Caulker. This is only due to the fact that I had to move our vacation last minute by two days and our original hotel did not have a vacancy for the last two days.
The best things to see and do in Caye Caulker:
- Relax. Explore the downtown area on foot and take it slow. The photos below will show you what you can expect to see here. Go swimming at the Split
- Go snorkeling
What do you want to explore now?
Our Belize & Tikal Travel Guide has detailed information about the individual destinations, links to their locations in google maps, reviews and websites (if available).
Please see the Backpack & Snorkel Travel Store for more information.
Snorkeling at Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Shark Ray Alley and Coral Gardens
We booked the Full Day snorkeling trip with Caveman Snorkeling Tours and could not be happier. Coincidently, they are located right across the street from our hotel.
Before the trip, the owner (the caveman himself) gave a speech about his vision of his company, with the key points being safety and respect (for nature and people/customers). I loved that and his crew certainly lived up to his vision. We left 20min late shortly before 11am as some of the 14 customers were running late. To compensate for the late start, we stayed late and came back at around 5pm.
The first stop was right after the spilt where we saw 2 manatees from far away. Then came 3 snorkeling stops at Shark Ray Alley, Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Coral Gardens.
Snorkeling was good, but not much different than in other places in the Caribbean. We say plenty of fish, nurse sharks, quite a few rays (eagle rays and others) and some turtles. Being in the water with nurse sharks at Shark Ray Alley was quite exciting. The corals are sparser and not as impressive as e.g. in the Bahamas, but definitely still worth seeing and the same thing is true for the number and diversity of the tropical fish. Our tour guides were super friendly and knowledgeable. In several occasions, they swam down to the sea floor and showed us different animals, e.g. a moray eel. After almost every snorkeling they provided water melon and pineapple slices (once also banana slices) to eat. Lunch was ordered ahead (burgers) and carried on the boat. My beef burger had a thin dry patty and was fairly tasteless. This is the only part of the trip that I believe could (should) be improved. Everyone got 1 bottle of soda (Coke, Fanta, Sprite) with the meal.
Before the trip, everyone is asked to bring a water bottle with them. The crew has a 5 gallon water bottle with a pump on the boat, so there is always a free water refill.
As it started raining and the wind picked up, we skipped the ship wreck and went to 2 extra stops.
At one of those extra stops, the tarpon feeding spot, the crew handed out some fish and asked us to hold it over the water surface.
To see what happened, watch this short video:
At another stop, we got off the boat on dry land to look for sea horses in a specially marked area.
Check out this short video too:
Long story short: I totally recommend Caveman Snorkeling tours. We have done many snorkeling trips all over the world, but during this trip we probably spent the longest time in the water and snorkeling.
Hol Chan Marine Reserve
The Hol Chan Marine Reserve covers 4,448 acres (18km2) of reef between Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker. Hol Chan is Mayan and means "little channel", because there is a natural break in the reef which is about 75ft (23m) wide and between 5fy (1.5m) and 30ft (9m) deep and it is rich in marine life.
Shark Ray Alley
Shark Ray Alley is a shallow sandy area within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve which was traditionally used by fishermen to clean their nets before returning to port and this has made it a gathering place for sharks and stingrays. Nowadays, this has developed into a tourist attraction and tour guides actively feed these creatures so that you can swim and snorkel with sharks and sting rays in the shallow clear waters of Shark Ray Alley.
Coral Gardens
The ocean floor at Hol Chan Marine Reserve is littered with sea shells that fishers use to attract fish, Coral Gardens is a small outcrop of corals which are about 7-9ft (2-3m) under water and home to colorful fish.
Blue Wave Guest House
The location can't be beat. This hotel is a short 5-10min walk (approx. 5 blocks) from the water taxi pier and it is located on the main street in town on Caye Caulker. Within 300ft you can find several restaurants, a small supermarket, a beach where you can sometimes see people swim, souvenir stores and Ragamuffin and Caveman tours, the two main tour companies on the island. It is about a 10min walk to The Split where you can swim. Even though the hotel is in the touristy heart of Caye Caulker, it is real quiet.
We had room 1 which was on the 2nd floor and had a partial ocean view. The room was small but clean. A small TV (smaller than my computer monitor at home) was hanging on the wall. Except for 2 soap bars, no shampoo or lotions were provided. The room had a queen size bed, no fridge, but a cooler (ice box) was provided. The room had an A/C and a standing fan, a small table and 1 night stand. Instead of a closet, a clothes hanger bar with hangers and a shelf board are provided. You definitely pay for the location.
The hotel has free wifi, but the owner does not share the password, so you need to bring your devices to him and he will enter the password.
The hotel office is also an electronics store where you can find the owner during the day.
Long story short: This is a rustic hotel in a perfect location. I would definitely stay here again.
Hummingbirds Cabins (book)
Hummingbirds Cabins are located in a residential area in the southern part of Caye Caulker, close to the airstrip which only has a handful of flights per day in tiny aircrafts. To get there, you can either take a 25-30min walk from the water taxi pier or a taxi cab for US$2.50 per person.
Several blocks away are a grocery store and a restaurant, but you need to ask someone to tell you the way. That's it - nothing else is really close to the cabins.
The good thing is that bicycles are provided free of charge. With the bikes, it is only a 5-10min ride into town to the restaurants and supermarkets.
The residential neighborhood has a lot of vegetation and trees and thus mosquitoes. When we walked to the cabins at dusk on the first day, the mosquitoes ate my wife alive. Always have DEET with you. Also put it on at night when you stay in the cabins.
The kitchen is well equipped with a gas-stove, fridge, microwave, water heater, coffee maker, full 5 gal water bottle, toaster, plates, a bowl, utensils, glasses, cups, liquid dish soap, coffee powder, coffee filters, salt, pepper, seasoning, sugar. In the kitchen is a small library with books (fiction, cook books), DVDs (some are missing), a puzzle and some journals.
The A/C in the bedrooms is incapable of cooling down the other rooms. During the day, the bathroom and kitchen will get hot, even with the window shades closed.
In case you need anything, there is a groundskeeper present during part of the day and a cell phone loaded with Belize$5 so you can call Bobbi, a cab, etc. The A/C in the bedrooms is quiet and efficient.
To cool down, you can jump in the pool which I believe is cleaned daily. It is L-shaped and not big, but big enough to have a good time.
Our Belize & Tikal Travel Guide has detailed information about the individual destinations, links to their locations in google maps, reviews and websites (if available).
Please see the Backpack & Snorkel Travel Store for more information.
