Caye Caulker - Sharks and Sea

After six weeks in Guatemala, it was time for a change of scenery :) I took a shuttle to Belize, Belize City, and then a boat to Caye Caulker. I had almost crossed Belize off my list, but I found out that the route to Mexico would lead me through the country anyway, and if I had to pay the exit fee for Belize, I wanted to see at least a little bit of the country.

So I decided to go to the Caribbean island of Caye Caulker for three nights and two days. It's a destination that almost every backpacker visits when in Belize (at least the ones I met). It's one of the cheaper islands where you can do snorkeling and diving trips, including to the second largest barrier reef in the world. On the way, I met nice people again. Among them were two British girls who, as it turned out, were taking the same route to Mexico as me. We ended up in the same hostel.

The island is not very big and doesn't have a proper beach. However, at one end of the island, there is a restaurant or a bar with a pier into the water, where you can easily go into the water. The water is very clear. You can see starfish and already observe a few fish. There wasn't much activity on the island as it was still off-season. It was a bit new for me that suddenly everyone around me was speaking English again. Only a few also spoke Spanish and Creole, the native language of the inhabitants of Belize. It sounds a bit like a wild mixture of English with a strong Caribbean accent and Spanish.

On the first day, I explored the island and booked a snorkeling tour together with Maegan and Gabi, the British girls. The next afternoon, we set off for the three-hour trip on the sea. First, we went to a spot where you can see nurse sharks and stingrays. And as soon as our captain dropped the anchor, some of the sharks came swimming towards us because they are used to being fed from the boats. However, we and our guide did not feed them. So we quickly jumped into the water and could observe the animals up close. But I was especially fascinated by the stingrays, some of which came swimming curiously. They move so gracefully through the water...

After a while, when the sharks realized that we wouldn't feed them, they left and we went to the actual national park. In order to snorkel there, you have to be with a certified guide. The reef has been protected for a long time and is therefore still very well preserved. You can see colorful corals and various fish. There is a spot where many fish gather, which is why it is called "the aquarium". As a crowning conclusion, to our surprise and that of our guide, we saw a manatee! This gentle giant was threatened with extinction until a few years ago and is still rarely seen in the area.

In the evening, we enjoyed one last sunset on the island and the next morning we took the ferry to Belize City to continue by bus to the border with Mexico.