Travel. Belize. Fun.
Caye Caulker — Caribbean Island Travel Diaries
What to do and what to eat in this pocket paradise in Belize
First Impressions
Caye Caulker is such a teeny tiny island that at first glance it may fool you into thinking that it might not have much to offer. But sometimes the best things do come in small packages and this pint-sized, adorable, a little rough-around-the-edges Caribbean island quickly became my new favourite place in Belize.
We arrived by boat from nearby San Pedro. Immediately we could see that Caye Caulker was far less built up. Gone were the fancy resorts, here are wooden terraces and one-story pastel storefronts, it’s rustic and quaint and I love it.
Day One
We had a funny little roster of activities planned for our first afternoon. First, we headed to the seahorse viewing place, you’d easily miss it and walk straight past it if you didn’t know about it beforehand. It’s just a little jetty flanked by submerged fishing nets which make a perfect hiding place. They’re tiny and well camouflaged, so it’s difficult to spot one, but once you do, it’s equally difficult to drag yourself away. The little seahorses are so cute!
Our next activity was less cute. Tarpon feeding. What’s a tarpon? It’s a fish, a super-sized fish, a “that shouldn’t be allowed” sized fish.
You take the tiny fish in bait between your finger and thumb and quaking hover your flat hand above the water. Then you wait while the fish circle your hand like cultures over a dead carcass. One unhooks its cavernous black hole of a mouth and launches its enormous body out of the water towards you as you scream like you’re being murdered while your partner throws his head back in laughter, holding the camera to catch your quite frankly, ridiculous overreaction to feeding a bloody fish.
We needed a drink to recover (well I needed a drink to recover) so we headed to the best sunset spot which also luckily happened to be a bar. We wandered past proud pelicans perched on wooden stilts and hammocks hanging in the water.
We settled down with brightly coloured cocktails to enjoy the vivid golden-orange hues altering the sky behind fishing boats. Cheers!
Day Two
Our second day was spent the way you simply must on any tropical island, chilling at the beach, swimming, reading, and snoozing, one after the other, rinse and repeat.
Day Three
On our last day, we went on a scenic flight over the Blue Hole which was so incredibly special that it deserves its own story, so I will write about it in my next post!
In the afternoon, we headed to the Split. The Split is what once was a small break between two halves of the island. Hurricane Hattie ripped it open and wide apart in the 1960s so now the island is split into two pieces. (You can see our view of the other side of the island from the split in the title image)
The Split itself is a very popular hangout place for good reason. It has beautiful views, a great sunset, a sweet little swimming spot with a high platform for jumping off, loungers, and a bar blaring upbeat music and serving “lizard juice” a fluorescent green alcoholic slushie. This was where the party was at and we were just happy to be invited.
A Special Side Note On The Food!
The real party in Caye Caulker however was on the tongue or as the Spanish say “Una fiesta en mi boca” a party in my mouth. No, I’m not being rude, I’m talking about the food! The food on the island was simply unreal.
For breakfast, you simply have to try a Belizean favourite, fry jacks. There was a great, cheap hole in the wall that made just them and nothing else. You knew it was good as there was always a line to get your hands on one.
They are like pita bread, and a doughnut had a baby. These crispy, bubbly, savoury pockets are stuffed with Central America’s best breakfast items, cheese, eggs, ham, chicken, refried beans, and more cheese!
But what had us coming back every night was the seafood grills. Fresh fish and prawns to die for but the ruler of them all was the lobster.
OH MY GOD, THE LOBSTER!
I’ve only tried lobster once before in my life and I thought it was mediocre and didn’t really get what all the fuss was about. That was until now.
The BBQ grilled lobster on Caye Caulker was the kind of delicious that makes your eyes roll back in your head when you take that first bite. We had lobster every day and I could happily continue to have it every day for the rest of my damn life!
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