Get in
Water Taxi
Catch a Water Taxi from the Marine Terminal in Belize City. Water taxis (speedboats) leave for Caye Caulker ($20Bz one-way, or $35Bz round-trip) every one to two hours during the day. The ride takes about 45 minutes, and then continues on to San Pedro. On windy days the trip can be a little rough, but most times is smooth. Sit towards the back of the boat for a smoother ride.
Airplane
There is a local airstrip on the southern end of Caye Caulker. Local flights from the international (Philip Goldson International Airport - BZE) and domestic airports (Municipal Airport - TZA) in Belize City land here. Cost is about $54US one-way. Compared with a $20Bz taxi ride from the airport to the Marine Terminal, plus a $10US water taxi ticket to Caye Caulker, the cost of taking a plane is pretty reasonable.
Get around
Everything is within walking distance -- it takes approximately 20 minutes to walk from the Front Pier to almost anywhere. There are only three main streets on Caye Caulker, none of which are paved. Front Street, the easternmost street, has almost everything for tourists on it. There are almost no cars on the island, and everyone gets around by either bicycle or golf cart. You can rent a golf cart and view the entire island in 30 minutes. A taxi ride (in a golf cart) costs $6Bz, or you can rent a bicycle for $7Bz per hour, or $15Bz per day.
See
Snorkeling
Short "half-day" snorkeling tours are offered by numerous local businesses for approximately $40Bz per person. They usually leave at 10:30am and 2:30pm. Stops include the local reef, the Coral Garden, and Shark and Ray Alley.
Longer "Full-day" snorkeling tours are offered by numerous local businesses, for approximately $100-110Bz. They usually leave around 10:00am and return around 4:30pm. Stops include the Coral Garden, Shark and Ray Alley, and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Be sure to check whether your tour guide will include lunch, since some only include snacks. The full-day trip offered by Ragamuffin Tours includes lunch, snacks, and a Rum Punch "happy hour" on the way back. With all operators, check to make sure they have equipment that is in good shape.
The creation of Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary - a manatee reserve near Belize City is due to the efforts of a Caye Caulker local named Chocolate. He offers guided tours to the Manatee reserve approximately every other day, as do a few other tour operators. Chocolate's shop is at the north end of Front Street, near Ragamuffin Tours. Be warned that you don't get to swim with the manatees in the sanctuary and some days may be more difficult to see them. Most manatee tours include one or two snorkeling stops. Manatees can be seen all year long, and in the summer months can be seen near Hol Chan Marine Reserve as well as other local areas. The younger ones are curious and will swim close to you, unlike the more mature manatees, which generally avoid people (for good reason).
Seagull Adventures, about a block from the Front Pier, offers snorkeling tours to more distant locations that most other tour guides will only go to for diving. Examples include Blue Hole (about $230Bz per person), Tourneffe Atoll (about $120Bz per person), etc. Ask the owner a few days in advance to find out what the schedule is. The best time to catch her is in the evening, around 6pm -- during the day she's usually gone on the snorkeling trips. Carlos Tours next to the Sandbox Restaurant is another local favorite.
Diving
Caye Caulker is popular with divers, and there are several dive shops on the island. Local dive shops offer trips to the Blue Hole, the Turneffe Atoll, Half Moon Caye, Hol Chan Marine reserve, and others. Check in a few days in advance to find out what their schedule is.
You can get your Open Water PADI certification at Belize Diving Services for about $500Bz ($250US). It takes 3-4 days, providing the weather is fair. The certification includes 3 shallow-water dives, and 2 open-water dives. All dives are done in the ocean, since they have no swimming pool. Belize Diving Services is located near the soccer field, in the northern half of the town. Similar services and prices are offered at Frenchie's, near the Split.
Sea Kayaks
You can rent Sea Kayaks from Tsunami Adventures, at the extreme north end of Front Street. This is a great way to explore the northern mangrove forest. Head for the leeward side of the island (the west side) for smoother water and to avoid paddling into the wind. Cost for a two-person kayak is $15Bz per hour for the first hour, then $10Bz for each additional hour.
Do
There is not a lot to do on Caye Caulker. This is a small very laid-back Caribbean island. It is an ideal place to spend a few days while taking a break from travelling around the rest of Central America.
Take a break from it all. Chill out at The Lazy Lizard located at "the split," a little bar on its own near what can only be described as the island's only beach, however there is no sand here.
Diving and Snorkeling
Much of the activity on the island centers around snorkeling (about a dozen operators offering trips) and scuba diving. The prices at all the shops are basically the same. The local diving is at Hol Chan Marine Reserve, a 30 minute boat ride away. A little further out is Spanish Bay, Caye Chapel, and some other sites. Long distance trips to Turneffe Atoll and the famous Blue Hole are regularly available.
There are four local dive shops:
The cost of various trips varies according to the distance from Caye Caulker. Typical costs are:
Other Activities
You can also book various activities at many places on the island, such as
Eat
Buy
Drink
Sleep
Get out
Water taxis leave the island for Belize City from early in the morning till the end of the day. Departure times are 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 10:00, 12:00, ... and then I forget the rest of the schedule.
Caye Caulker is a small limestone coral island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea measuring about 5 miles (north to south) by less than 1 mile (east to west). The town on the island is known by the same name, which is derived from the practice of caulking or sealing the seams in wooden boats to make them watertight, due to the high number of shipwrights on the island ("Caye Corker", the alternative spelling of the name used by British cartographers, has largely fallen into disuse).
Caye Caulker is located approximately 20 miles north-northeast of Belize City, and is accessible by high-speed water taxi or small plane. In recent years the island has become a popular destination for backpackers and other tourists. There are over 30 hotels, and a number of restaurants and shops.
Geography
The island is basically a sand bar over a limestone shelf. Underwater caves are found in the limestone (which have claimed the lives of several scuba divers exploring them). In front of the village, a shallow lagoon, between 6 inches and 14 feet deep, meets the Belize Barrier Reef to the east. In front of the village, the reef is known as a dry reef with the reef exposed at the surface, while further north the reef is a deep reef and lies under 8 feet of water.
A narrow waterway known as the split divides the island in two. Some people state that the split was created by Hurricane Hattie in 1961 which devastated Belize City, however others maintain that it is a man-made feature created by dredging. Though the feature could have been created by a succession of a natural and human causes the lack of use of the split by any except small boats belies any motivation for dredging. The natives claim that the hurricane first split the island but it was only a foot deep and as people started getting bigger boats on the island they decided to dredge it out to roughly 20 feet deep so the larger boats could pass.
History
:Adapted from http://www.cayecaulker.org/ (courtesy of Ray Auxillou).
Settlement
Caye Caulker is thought to have been inhabited for about 10,000 years, however the recent population levels didn't start until the Caste War of Yucatan in 1847 when many mestizos of mixed Maya and Spanish descent fled the massacres taking place across the Yucatán.
The location of the main settlement on the island is thought to have remained unchanged for thousands of years. The bay at the back of the village provides shelter for boats while the reef at the front provides good protection from large waves. Also, the coral sand near the village provides good anchorage compared to the soft mud found elsewhere on the island.
In modern times there have been at least three major hurricanes which have devastated the island, the most recent of which was Hurricane Hattie in 1961. Since the island is only 8 feet at its highest point, a strong storm surge can easily cover the entire island.
Hurricane Hattie
When Hurricane Hattie hit the island in 1961, a storm surge swept across the narrow part of the village. The wooden schoolhouse, being used as a shelter at the time, was smashed by the waves killing 13 people (mostly children). Fortunately, the eye of the storm passed to the south of the island sparing it devastation on the scale of nearby Turneffe Atoll which disappeared completely along with around 300 residents. However, of the 90 houses on the island, only 8 remained intact.
The village council was supported in the task of rebuilding by Governor Thornley's Emergency Committee and formed teams to do various types of work. About 42 houses were built in a few weeks. The British Army also helped with helicopters bringing medical and food supplies. Caye Caulker remains vulnerable to direct hits from hurricanes because it has no defenses from storm surges.
Economy
The main industry on the island prior to tourism was fishing. The island sits in the middle of natural migration routes for fish, and feeding grounds for conch and lobster. During World War II, fishermen living on the island also collected debris from torpedoed ships in the Caribbean that came floating ashore. The most lucrative were bales of rubber. The fishing industry is thought to support about 80 families on the island.
The growth of tourism on the island
Tourism first started on the island around 1964, with only a few visitors on weekends from the mainland Belleview Hotel, brought out by a local boat called 'Sailfish', built by a schoolteacher beside the then Teachers House. The early tourists were mostly people working with the Belize Government. Around 1969, Dr. Hildebrand of the University of Corpus Christi started visiting each winter with a Marine Biology Expedition of around 24 students. Backpackers also found their way to the island at this time, but transportation was only by fishing sailboats and there was no accommodation. The Alamina, Reyes and Marin families pioneered the tourism industry and the first Scuba Diving lessons and trips were started around the late 1960s.
As speedboats came into use in the 1970s tourists became more regular. Hippies following the so-called "Gringo Trail", of Isla Mujeres, Tulum, Caye Caulker, Tikal and Lake Atitlan in Guatemala passed though the island (many of them making use of the easily available marijuana). The reputation spread by word of mouth.
Today, the diversified economy of the village still includes lobster, fish and tourists. Internet e-commerce is growing in a small way. Recent hurricanes had a major effect on lobster fishing as well as dramatically affecting the vegetation. The island ecology is slowly returning to that prior to the storms.
The small airplanes and asphalt-paved airstrip of Caye Caulker Airport may appear small to visitors accustomed to jet airliners and long concrete runways, but the system of barrier islands support a lively network of air transportation with an array of travel times. For those passengers preferring a route more commonly adopted by locals, there is a regular water taxi service providing transportation to and from the island. Taxi service is available from the main Belize City airport. The speedboats used are capable of carrying around 20 people, and are generally open to the air. The watercraft typically sport two large motors and make the journey in about an hour.
Once on the island, the main mode of transport is simply walking. The paths are well defined, and crossing the island takes 20 minutes at most. Bicycles and golf carts are also common and can be rented. Visitors prone to sunburn should take precautions.
Gallery
Image:Wiki_CC_dog.jpg|A dog resting. Caye Caulker dogs often roam free and are called potlickers.
Image:Wiki_CC_gringo.jpg|Caye Caulker painting. One more gringo in Belize
Image:Wiki_CC_store.jpg|Caye Caulker convenience store. Albert's Mini Mart
Image:Belize20D 250.jpg|The Caye Caulker mantra. Go slow
Image: Belize20D 242.jpg|Caye Caulker sunset.
Image:CCAerial.jpg|Aerial view of Caye Caulker.
Image:CCPOLib.jpg|Caye Caulker Post Office & Public Library complex.
Image:CCFD.jpg| Caye Caulker Fire Department.
Image:CCLitterSlogan.jpg|Caye Caulker litter campaign slogan in Belizean Kriol. Betta no lita (Better not litter)
Image:CCInfoBooth.jpg|Caye Caulker tourist information point.
Image:CCRastaRangeRover.jpg|Caye Caulker Rastafarian lawn ornament.
Image:CCRastaCruzer.jpg|Caye Caulker Rasta Cruzer. A number of boats are available for scuba diving and snorkeling in the nearby coral reefs.
External links
