12/26-30/05
After the last five nights in San
Ignacio, it was time to do some serious relaxing and watching sunsets. In
Belize City
we took a cab to the water taxi office and had a beer with tickets in hand for
the 50 minute ride northeast over crystal blue and green waters to the tiny
island. As soon as we landed we both had giant smiles on our faces realizing
that this was paradise!!! There are no cars on Caye Caulker and the tiny streets
are all sand. The only transportation is the occasional golf cart and bicycles.
We slowly walked down the beach towards our cabana on the beach at Tropical
Paradise! We soon found out that the entire island can
be
walked in about 20 minutes, just lots of places to eat and dive shops. We had
some lunch and margaritas then signed up for snorkeling the following day. We
read on the beach and checked out an amazing sunset before going to bed early
with a cool ocean breeze coming through the window of our cabana. Our
"uniforms" for the next several days would be bathing suits and flip
flops.
Tuesday we met up with the snorkeling company and headed out towards the Coral
Gardens first. Lots
of colorful fish and coral here including trumpet fish, tarpin, octopus, parrot
fish, lobster, sergeant majors, clown fish, barracudas, and eels. Next stop was
the Hoh Chan Marine Reserve with more cool stuff to float around and check out.
The boat took us to Ambergris Caye for lunch and we quickly found out that we
liked Caye Caulker MUCH better! The afternoon snorkeling was in the Shark and
Ray Alley. As soon as the boats pull up they are swarmed with sting rays and
nurse sharks knowing they will get chum. These were AWESOME to be swimming
around with!!! We headed back to the
island
for another night of relaxing and doing nothing. Aaahhhh, almost feel a bit
guilty for being so relaxed!
Wednesday we borrowed the Tropical Paradise sea kayak and paddled along the
island within the barrier reef. You can easily see the bottom of the ocean and
there isn't much of a current. Later we swam around "The Split" where
Hurricane Haiti split the island in half a few years ago. More food and beers
before another fantastic sunset from the back pier.
Thursday we decided to bum around the island and do a half-day snorkeling tour
to some of the same areas. We first went to South Channel where the coral splits
deep enough for large boats to go through. This was really cool seeing
down so deep with coral and fish on all sides. Next was another shark/ray alley
with even more rays then the other day!! Easily a couple dozen of them of all
shapes and sizes. One of the few sharks that showed up was easily 6ft long!!!
WOWZA! Back on the island it was the usual routine of napping, drinking Belikins,
and reading on the beach before a fantastic italian dinner at Don Corleone's.
Friday was our last day on Caye Caulker...WWWAAAHHHHH!!!!! We decided to take
the 3pm water taxi back to
Belize
City so we could make the most of the day. Easy decision of what to do....swim
around the warm water and relax! 3pm
Tropical Paradise and our Cabana: 
No cars, just small sandy streets for bikes: 
Beautiful sunsets every night: 
Snorkeling with stingrays and nurse sharks: 
