Caye Caulker's motto is: 'Go Slow'

Several years ago, I took a Norwegian Cruise out of New Orleans to the Caribbean. My then bf said he would go and also pay, but he backed out, claiming he needed to cycle through the Rockies. So, I paid for the trip myself and invited a girlfriend to come along. We had a blast.

She is a risk-taker and so am I. Everyplace we docked, we had an adventure beyond those sponsored by the cruise line at a fraction of the cost. Arriving in Belize City, we were besieged by peddlers in the marketplace and thought maybe we did not want to stay there all afternoon.

I stated: “There is the Audubon Society office. We will go inside and someone will tell us what to do.” Indeed, the representative recommended we grab a water taxi to Caye Caulker, a small island, about 45 minutes off the coast.

We ran to the boat launch and jumped onto a rather crowded ferry where locals provided tips to enjoying ourselves for the afternoon. The minute we docked, we hitched a ride in a golf cart to the “split” where the party was just getting started. (There are no cars on the five-mile island, so you must walk, bike or hail a golf cart.) We were hungry, and ordered fruity drinks and fresh fish plates at the bar while somebody loaned us flippers and masks.

Everyone is friendly at the Split.

As we had worn bathing suits underneath our sundresses, we simply dived into the turquoise water and snorkeled while our lunches were being prepared. (The split was created during a storm, which severed the island in two.) We ate and then it was time to rush back to the ship!

In the couple of years after, I wondered if I could figure out how to return to that magical island? Working an extremely stressful job, I was more than ready for the “Go Slow” mentality of Caye Caulker. It was Christmastime, but online I found a flight through Miami that would land in Belize City and a small suite for $35/night. Granted, the weather in Belize was not quite as nice as it had been in April, but still very pleasant.

A taxi driver met me at the dock, threw my bag onto the roof and we putted to the rustic hotel where I’d booked a reservation. I don’t know how many hours I slept after an extremely long journey, including layover. Once rested, I was ready to explore parts of the island I had missed on my previous, very brief visit. Caye Caulker is near the more popular and populated Ambergris Caye where there are luxurious accommodations and nightlife, but I wanted to avoid pricey tourism. Caye Caulker was the right place to recuperate.

One end of the island (across the split) is a protected mangrove forest. I rented a kayak and explored the coastline, but the winter weather was windy and difficult paddling. Another day, I rode a bike to the opposite end to see beautiful homes along a sandy road, a few having suffered hurricane damage. But it was pleasant just to wander around the small village. I do love freshly squeezed jugo (juice) and made a daily trek to sample different flavors of papaya. There are fine art and craft galleries and shops and dozens of interesting casual restaurants, including a BBQ joint run by an ex-pat from Chicago. On the beach, fishermen sell lobsters caught that morning. Everywhere, people are flying kites, boating, sailboarding and fishing.

By the third day, I was ready for my big adventure. I asked the innkeeper what’s the best company for snorkling? She referred me to her uncle and said he would be sitting on his front porch. I found him and signed up to go out the next morning. He took only eight of us on his hand-crafted sailboat to Belize Barrier Reef. What an amazing experience! He knew the reef like his own backyard, having grown up on Caye Caulker. Before the boat, he would swim five miles to get out to the reef every day. His underwater tour was nothing short of breathtaking, seeing up close and even touching eels, tortoises, sharks, stingrays. It was so great, I did it again two days later.

In the meantime, I met a feisty young woman from Australia who had been traveling all over Central America alone with just a backpack and a debit card. We signed up together for a mainland tour with a private driver to visit the Belize Zoo and do cave tubing through Actun Tunichil Muknal, a Mayan archeological site.

The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center

We ate a wonderful lunch at a jungle resort. Lunches were very similar everywhere we went - rice, fresh fish and salad with local beer, but you really can’t go wrong with that. I met so many fabulous women on this trip, from the innkeeper to a mother and daughter traveling together and my intrepid tour companion. I encountered a couple of sleazy guys who tried to give me a massage, but everything else was fantastic.