Belize - Caye Caulker

Belize is a tiny country on the Caribbean coast, south of Mexico. Besides the coast, the country is mainly jungle. We made a quick stop here on our way to Guatemala. From Belize City, where we got ripped off when exchanging money 😒, we are heading to a small island called Caye Caulker. Many divers go there to dive in the Blue Hole. We just want to dive and we will do it! The Blue Hole is tempting, but it is far and very expensive, and we are not (yet) that ambitious 😉 The coral reef here is the second largest on our planet after the Australian Great Barrier Reef and truly impressive with some huge corals. We do 2 dives through underwater canyons and see firefish, lobsters, some beautiful parrotfish, many smaller colorful coral fish, and a lonely remora. Remoras are fish that attach themselves to other marine animals using a suction plate and get carried along. The colleague we encountered was looking for a new swimming companion and tried to attach itself to us, quite annoying 😆 The visibility here is also very good, maybe a few meters less than our first dives, overall we see less biodiversity here than in Cozumel. Cozumel is probably not the best place to start diving, as you get very spoiled there and develop high expectations that are not met everywhere. Someone could have told us that beforehand 😉

During the break between the two dives, we snorkel with nurse sharks and rays. The sharks are very shy and relaxed, while the rays fight for the food that most dive operators give them. We enjoy snorkeling with the animals, but we are not enthusiastic about the feeding. It changes the natural behavior of the animals and we believe it is nicer to see maybe fewer animals, but in their natural habitat without being attracted.

Otherwise, we enjoy the island feeling, characterized by Reggae, marijuana, and golf carts. There are no cars on the tiny island, which wouldn't make sense anyway, as you can walk or bike everywhere. For the lazy ones, there are golf carts. The image of Reggae or Hip-Hop-listening Belizeans with dreads up to their buttocks driving around in a golf cart is a common sight here 😁 We also try some of the many colorful flavors available here, grape, pineapple, ginger, etc.

Culturally, Belize is fascinating, as Mayan culture and West African cultures meet and mix here. Although some people speak Spanish, as the country is surrounded by Spanish-speaking neighbors, English is the official language. Belize is part of the Commonwealth and has been independent from the UK since 1981. Many Belizeans of African descent, descendants of West African slaves, speak a Patois (Creole English) that resembles Jamaican Patois and is very difficult to understand. Some Chinese people have also settled here and, as expected, they run restaurants or junk shops. The island is full of cute kids, dogs, and colorful houses, and the island motto 'go slow' is very contagious...

We are reluctantly leaving Caye Caulker, but Guatemala is calling!

Today we travel by bus from Bacalar directly to Belize City. At first, we thought about passing through Belize to Guatemala without stopping, but then it seemed like a good idea to spend a couple of days in the country to do a day of diving. For this, we go to the island of Caye Caulker, about 45 minutes by boat. At first, what motivated us to dive here was the possibility of seeing whale sharks, which are the largest fish in existence. But after visiting a few dive companies directly on the island, it seems impossible to see any, as the season to do so has already passed. And yes, we had previously researched on the internet, so we have learned a valuable lesson: don't trust what the internet says ;-). Anyway, we continue with the idea of diving, as it is an experience we gain and besides, Belize has the second-largest coral reefs in the world after the ones in Australia. And indeed, the landscape we see in the reef is spectacular, full of large corals forming canyons along the reef. We see less marine life than in Cozumel, but we manage to see a lionfish and a remora, which tries to attach itself to us with the suction cup on its head. During the break between the two dives, they take us to a shallow place where we can swim with rays and some nurse sharks. At first, it's a bit scary to put your foot in the water, but you get used to it quickly :-)

The island is very tiny, and people get around by bicycle or golf cart. Although you can actually cross the island in about half an hour on foot. The people who live here are very diverse: people of African descent, Mayans, Mestizos, Asians, and of course, the American tourists ; ). The official language is English, although there are many people who speak Spanish or languages that mix African languages and English (Creole English). But everything seems to work in harmony on the island...

After spending a few nights on the island, we return to Belize City, where we take a bus that will take us to Flores, in Guatemala!