We spent 3 nights at the Ocean Pearl Royale on Caye (pronounced key) Caulker, an island about 20 miles off the coast from Belize City. Our first full day, we went snorkeling (Ragamuffin Tours) off a 25 foot sailboat that holds about 20 people. It was a lovely day. We saw lots of pretty fish and a sting ray.
Unfortunately, the coral we saw was dead and dying because of a variety of human and natural assaults. One of the guides caught 3 lobsters. They were beautiful, with orange and green backs and purple undersides and antennae. He made ceviche with the lobster meat "cooked" in lime juice and mixed with cilantro, tomatoes, onions and green peppers. It was delicious, and we washed it down with rum punch as we returned to the Caye. I heard Jimmy Buffet in my head singing "It’s Been a Lovely Cruise".
The inhabited part of Caye Caulker is only a mile long, and 300 feet wide. There are two main dirt roads running north south and about 10 roads crossing them. There are no cars, just golf carts and bicycles. The sound of reggae music emanates from every restaurant, shop, and hotel. It's a funky little beach town with lots of back packers and Rastafarians. Magnificent frigate birds hang in the sky and sail boarders zoom along the shore.
Steve and I enjoy the white winged doves who visit our Tucson yard in the summer. We wondered where they go in the winter, and we are always glad to hear their "Who cooks for you?" call for the first time in the spring. We were delighted to discover that they winter in Caye Caulker. Here are our old friends, but with a distinctly Caribbean accent in their call, which sounds more like "Who cook fi ya, mon?"
Every morning of our trip, the first sound we heard was a rooster crowing, even in Belize City and on the first day of our river camping trip. The pattern continues on Caye Caulker.
Our first snorkeling trip was to Shark Ray Alley and to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. It was pretty good snorkeling, but we were promised better coral plus turtles, dolphins and loads of fish if we were willing to make the 2 hour trip out to Turneffe Atoll the next day. Steve decided to lay low because he is growing a fu manchu moustache, so he couldn't get the snorkel mask to fit tightly enough to keep water out.
What an ordeal! Unlike the nice big sail boat we took with Raggamuffin Tours, the ominously named Tsunami Tours took 11 guests and 2 guides in a small open fiberglass motor boat. Most of the 2 hour trip was spent pounding across deep ocean swells 6 feet high. I was lucky to be in the middle of the boat, and didn't take too much of a beating, but the people in the front groaned loudly every time we slammed down off the crest of a wave. At least one other person in the boat besides me thought the whole venture was ill advised, and I was regretting that I'd come. I wasn't sure the boat was designed to handle such a work out, and wondered whether I'd survive the trip.
My father died in November, and I was hoping I could evoke his spirit some time during the trip. He always took good care of us when he was alive, so I asked him to take care of me now. I closed my eyes and imagined he was driving our red and white ski boat around Embden Pond in Maine. It was stormy, but I knew he would get us safely back to our rented cabin. I suddenly felt much calmer, and I wasn't afraid anymore.
The snorkeling wasn't any better at Turneffe Atoll, but we did see dolphins, southern sting rays and a flying fish. Wow! The guide shot an orange and brown crab whose shell was the size of a dinner plate with his spear gun just so we would have something to look at. He released it, and said it would live, but it made me wonder about eco tourism again.
After 2 days of snorkeling and getting sunburned, I was too exhausted to make it to midnight on New Year's Eve. It's ironic, because one of the reasons we took a vacation this time of year was to avoid the nothing-to-do-in-Tucson-on-New-Year's-Eve blues.
The third day on Caye Caulker, we just enjoyed having no schedule. I got my hair braided into corn rows. A woman named Tracy, who has a jewelry and rock stand under a canopy on the beach, played Ray Charles and Bob Marley for me as I looked out at the surf breaking on the reef and she spent almost 2 hours braiding my hair. I figured it would be just the 'do for 5 days of sea kayaking and no fresh water showers. I was aspiring to the Bo Derek look, but had to settle for Bo Dacious. Still, it's a fun change, and it still looks great 4 days later.
Our tour group had pretty much disintegrated by this point. Our tour leader from G.A.P. Adventure Travel was a big disappointment. She's from Peru and her English is barely passable. Her knowledge of the flora, fauna, history, politics, geography and culture of Belize and Guatemala is completely non-existant. Our expectations were high after taking a tour of Costa Rica with Overseas Adventure Travel in 2002, where we had a native Costa Rica guide who could name every bird and tree, and gave a fascinating narration as we tooled around in our private, air conditioned bus.
