What you might want to know when you come to Caye Caulker (because you should definitely come to Caye Caulker)

Today is our last full day on Caye Caulker. We are completely enchanted with this little island and hope you all take the time to come here on your own. I promise you won't be sorry! This post is dedicated to some of our favorite places and activities on the island, and to note some of the tips that we've learned. They will also be a good reminder for us when we're back in November. Yes, we're returning in November, much to my surprise and delight!

Getting Here

Once you arrive by plane in Belize City, there are two ways to get to Caye Caulker: water taxi or small plane.

The water taxi takes about 45-60 minutes to get from Belize City to Caye Caulker. They hold about 100 people, and can be crowded at times. However, there is enough seating for everyone so the ride is not unpleasant.

Tip: keep your iPod handy for the water taxi ride. I like to have a book on mine, Andrew prefers music.

They will put your luggage in the storage area at the front of the boat, so you don't have to drag it on and off yourself. We used the water taxis numerous times during our stay, and found them to be very convenient, though not always on time. :)

There are two different water taxi companies - San Pedro/Belize Express and Key Caulker Water Taxi. You can use them interchangeably and the run at slightly different time, which is convenient. They don't run from the same dock in either Belize City or Caye Caulker, but the ports are very close together. You can get schedules from the ticket offices. The water taxis also run to San Pedro/Ambergris Caye, which is another 30 minutes past Caye Caulker.

The water taxi will cost about $40 BZ/$20 US each way. You can get a round trip ticket for $35 BZ, if you want to save a few bucks. However, you have to use it on the line you purchased it from. We found the one-way tickets to be the best in most cases, even though we ended up spending a few extra dollars, because we could then take the first taxi to where we were going, regardless of what line it was.

The flight from Belize City to Caye Caulker takes about 10 minutes total (from take off to landing). The airline is Tropic Air and you can book tickets on line in advance. A one-way trip will cost about $50 US/person. The planes are small Cessnas, so only hold a limited number of passengers. Each passenger can bring 2 checked bags, which must weigh 30 pounds or less, each. We didn't use airline for two reasons - I'm terrified of small planes, and we have yet to travel with suitcase the weighed in at under 45 pounds!

We arranged a "transfer package" through the property management company we rented our house through. For $25/person (US), we were picked up from the airport in Belize City and taken to the water taxi station to get to Caye Caulker. At the dock in Caye Caulker, we were again picked up with our luggage and and taken to our rental property. I would recommend that, wherever you stay, you ask about this kind of service. It was extremely convenient, especially when arriving with luggage!

Acommodations

We could not have been more thrilled with the house we rented, Alta Vista! It was spacious and beautiful, and the owners were lovely. We also had a great experience with the management company, Caye Caulker Rentals. Kim, the owner of Caye Caulker Rentals, is a fellow Canadian! He is extremely knowledgeable about the island so can answer any questions that you might have come up. He also can arrange tours for you - Kim set up our day trip to the zoo, cave tubing and zip lining. All of the guides and services he set us up with were top notch. Caye Caulker Rentals has numerous houses for rent on their website, which can accommodate from 2 up to 10 people. Not all the houses have air conditioning, so if that is important to you, ask about that. Alta Vista has a/c, but we only used it once for a few hours. For the most part, there is enough of a breeze that open windows and some fans suffice. The humidity was also low on the Caye, compared to the mainland, making the 85 degrees quite pleasant.

In addition to vacation rentals, there are also plenty of small hotels and guest houses on Caye Caulker. This might be the fit for your if you are interested in more amenities than a rental house can provide, like maid service or a pool. We preferred to have the kitchen to make meals at home when we wanted, and also wanted to be away from the more crowded areas where the hotels are. The hotels are located primarily in the area of The Split - which is a bit busier than the residential areas.

Tip: if you're renting a house, we would suggest you try and stay away from The Split, or the north end of the island. While very close to everything, it's much busier/nosier at that end. Caye Caulker is small, so it doesn't take long to get anywhere. We would recommend the south end of the Caye (near the airstrip), if you have the choice. Note: while the airstrip was only about 2 blocks from us, the noise is not an issue. Flights are sparse and they are small planes. Also, they only fly during the day.

Money
You can use either US or Belizean dollars at any establishment on the island. $1 US = $2 Belizean. There is one ATM in Caye Caulker, at the Atlantic Bank on Middle Street. Most of the businesses, except for hotels or maybe one or two of the gift shops, don't take credit cards. Another thing to understand is that, if a place does take credit cards, most shops add a 5% fee for the service. Cash is king on this island, so plan accordingly.

Tip: as said, there is only one ATM on the island. We found it was not working the first day we arrived, as somone's card had gotten stuck in there. It took several hours for it to get fixed, so we were happy have US cash on hand. Plan to either hit an ATM in Belize City before you come to Caye Caulker, or have enough US cash on us to get you through a day or so. There didn't seem to be a fee to use the ATM, according to our bank statement, but that may be because we have a credit card for traveling that doesn't charge fees on foreign currency exchanges/withdrawals.

There is a 12.5% sales tax on everything in Caye Caulker, so be ready for that.

Eating & Drinking
The motto of Caye Caulker is "Go Slow." It's actually more of a religion than a motto - people adhere to it very strictly. If you have rigid time expectations, like I do, you should try to leave those at the airport or you'll quickly suffer from sort of stress-related disorder. No place is the "Go Slow" more apparent than at dining establishments. Do not, I repeat DO NOT, wait until you are completely starving to head out to eat. Particularly if you are traveling with kids or people, like me, who get cranky when they are hungry. Also, be aware that many of the shops and restaurants close for a few hours midday, so your options are limited in the early afternoon.

Once you seat yourself in the restaurant it will likely take a good 10-15 minutes before anyone comes to take your order.

Tip: Grab menus on your way in and be ready with your whole order the first time the wait staff come by. Don't order drinks and/or appetizers first because it could take another 15 minutes (or more) for the wait staff to come back and take your food order.

Once you place your food order, it can take as long as an hour for the food to actually make it to the table. It will be worth the wait - we have found all the food her to be quite good. Also, the portions are big so don't be tempted to over-order. Entrees range from about $10 BZ - $30 BZ, so it's fairly cheap to eat out. At the end of your meal, you often need to ask for you check as they take a long time to bring it out.

If you do find yourself in the dreaded position of being famished, the street food is a quick alternative to eating in a restaurant. As someone here on the island said "If you've got a grill, a piece of cardboard, and a sharpie - you've got yourself a business." We tried foods like jerk chicken, burritos, pupusas, and baked good all from vendors on the street. Every bit of it was delicious! For dessert, there is great coconut ice cream ($3 BZ for a single scoop) on Front Street across from the Scuba Sensation Dive Shop.

Tip: The best street food we found were the pupusas made by Anna. Her stand is outside of her little clothing shop on Middle Street. They cost $3 Belizean dollars each ($1.50 US) and two is enough for a meal if your an average eater. We ate there no less than 5 meals in the 12 days we were on the island. We tried every kind she makes and the pork and chees or mixed (pork, beans and cheese) are the two best kinds, in our opinion. She also makes homemade horchata, which is a cold rice drink with cinnamon and sugar in it. Andrew loves this! I find it a little too sweet for my liking, but it's very tasty otherwise.

Drinks are relatively cheap here, especially if you like anything made with rum. Most of the rum drinks are 2 for 1 all the time, so about $5 US, or less, for 2 drinks. We also got nice lime daiquiris and other frozen drinks at that Lazy Lizard for $5 each. The local beer is Belikin, and it is cheap! At the Lizard, and many other restaurants, you can get a bucket of the (6) for $20 BZ/$10 US. Andrew thought it was very good! If you order water anywhere it will come to you in a bottle (500 mL for small, 1 litre for large) and will cost you a$1.50-5 US, depending on the size.

Getting Around
In total, Caye Caulker is 5 miles long by about 1 mile wide. However, the area from the airstrip on the south end to The Split is where all the businesses and most of the residential housing are. That distance is less than 2 miles long by a mile wide. The roads are all made of sand, and there are 5 north/south streets connected by numerous side streets. The 5 north/south streets are Beach, Front, Middle, Back, and Back Back. Pretty self explanatory if you remember that Beach is on the ocean side and Back Back is on the lagoon side. We did see about a 1/2 dozen small trucks or SUVs on the island, which seemed to be service vehicles of some sort. There is also one tractor pulling a small trailer that delivers supplies to the stores and restaurants. Mostly, however, pedestrians, bikes and golf carts make up the traffic. There are no sidewalks. There doesn't seem to be a discernible rule for which side of the street you drive/ride/walk on. Everyone just weaves in and out depending on their speed, and to try and avoid the pot holes.

Being such a small area, you can easily walk anywhere you need to go. You can also rent bicycles or golf carts. We recommend you fore go the golf car rental (expensive and hard to find parking for them at some places) and go with bikes instead. I initially told Andrew I didn't think we needed the bikes, but am so happy we had them. I think we would have gotten around far less than we did had we been on foot the entire time. With the bikes it is quick and easy to get anywhere, and we thought nothing about going back and forth to the shops or the beach numerous times in a day. We rented our bikes through Kim - they cost us $70 US for both for the 10 days, which was originally the 1-week price we were quoted. You can also rent them by the hour or by the day, but you can negotiate a far better deal if you rent them for multiple days.

If you do get bikes, be sure they give you locks, and be sure you always lock them up. There isn't much crime on the island, but what there is are typically crimes of opportunity. If you leave your bike unlocked just to "run in for a second", it may not be there when you get back.


Internet
Our rental property included free wi-fi, which we loved, so check to see if your accommodations include that. If not, many of the restaurants offer wi-fi services if you spend a minimum amount on the premises. That magic number seemed to be about $15 BZ, in most cases. There were also several internet cafes where you could pay to log on. Many of them had computers available for use, if you don't want to haul your own along.

What to Do
As we wrote about in previous blogs, we found lots to keep ourselves busy while we were here. Day excursions are easy to arrange. We would recommend the zoo, cave tubing or zip lining, and snorkeling or diving. Of course, if you're able, we would strongly suggest you go to the ATM cave (see previous post)!

For trips going out of Belize City (such as the zoo, cave tubing, or zip lining), we'd recommend the guide that Kim set us up with, Jason. We paid $300 (US) for both of us to do all three in the same day. We had to buy our own water taxi tickets to and from Belize City, however the price included travel from Belize City to the attractions, entrance to the attractions, and lunch. It didn't include tips for the various guides we had throughout the day, so factor that in as well.

If you want to dive or snorkel, we highly recommend using the French Angel on Caye Caulker. The owner's name is Ash and he is very professional, despite the fact that he appears to be 12 years old and grins like a maniac all the time. We went out to Shark Ray Alley and Andrew did a night snorkel with Ash's guys. Both were well organized and the guides put much emphasis on safety. As well, Ash arranged our trip to the ATM Cave, which we can't say enough good things about. If you decide to go there, definitely book it through Ash. It cost $330 US for both of us (plus water taxi costs to Belize City and tips), and was worth every penny!

The one thing to know about the snorkel and dive excursions, is that you may need to be a bit flexible with your schedule if you are a small group (like 2). Most of the outfits require a minimum number of people registered to "move the boat".

Tip: if you want to snorkel or dive, talk to the dive shop about what they are offering and get your name down on their list for the trip you're interested in. Then, check back in with them the evening before to see if it's confirmed. You may also have to pay a deposit at that point. Many of the shops will have signs out front advertising what trips they are trying to fill for which days, so you can look at those for reference.

If you don't have anything planned, you still can easily amuse yourself on the Caye. There is a public beach up at The Split, which is pretty much the only place to swim unless you are staying at a place with their own dock. The water at The Split is beautiful, although the sand is a bit like kitty litter. There is a little bit of shade, it's not too crowded and you can watch the kite boarders do tricks. It's also right next to the Lazy Lizard, so easy proximity to bathrooms and drinks! You can rent snorkel gear at a little stand there (I think it was about $5 BZ) , however the snorkeling there is fairly poor unless you are content to look at minnows and sand. The best snorkeling is out by the reef, which you need a boat to get to. There are also several shops on Front Street at The Split end that rent kayaks, paddleboards, etc. Kayaks were between $10-15 BZ/hour, depending on whether or not you want a double or a single. I didn't see a posted price for paddleboards. If you need some spa time, there are several places to get mani/pedicures, massages, etc. Massages looked to be about $30 US/hour or so. Didn't see the cost of the mani/pedicures. Finally, there is an outdoor movie theater on Front Street that is open every other night. The cost is $10 BZ to get in and they show two movies. They aren't as current as the movies at home, but are still relatively new.

What to bring
You will pretty much just need swimming suits, shorts, t-shirts/tank tops and flip flops here on Caye Caulker. Don't bother packing anything fancy - you won't have any place to wear it. In most establishments, you don't even need to be wearing shoes! You may want a sweatshirt or light jacket for the evening, depending on what time of year you're here. We never needed anything. If you are going cave tubing be sure to bring some sort of water shoes that you can also hike in for about 30 minutes. You should also plan on bringing your own beach towel unless the place you are staying specifically states that they supply them.

There are several laundromats on the island, so you can easily wash clothes if you want to pack light. If you do it yourself, it costs about $10 BZ to wash and dry one load, if you bring your own soap. Add $2 BZ if you need soap. You can also drop it off to have it done for you for about $15 BZ/load.

Tip: bring a few of the small travel packets of liquid tide and a few dryer sheets from home. The laundry soap here is expensive.

As you may have read in my previous post, sand fleas are an issue here. Be sure to bring some good bug spray (deet is best). While I was able to buy calamine lotion and Benadry tablets at the pharmacy here, next time I will bring them from home. FYI that the calamine lotion cost $16 BZ, and the Benadry tablets were $5 BZ/10 tablets. Sun screen is also very expensive on Caye Caulker (about $12-15/bottle), so bring it from home.

Shopping
For being a small island, there are a surprising abundance of grocery stores. Most of what is there is more expensive than what you would be used to at home (keep in mind they have to import everything). For example - a bag of Doritos costs about $12 BZ. Pop was about $2 BZ per can. We bought things like coffee, milk, pop and peanut butter in the grocery store. You can also buy liquor here.

We went to one of the produce stands on Front Street for fruits and veggies, which are all very reasonably priced. Note that there is a trade embargo on lettuce here, so don't expect to find it. We were told that a couple of stores bring it in "illegally" once a week, but the locals know what time it arrives and tend to buy it up quick. There is a bakery that makes great bread and pastries on Middle Street near the bank. You can also get meat from the butcher. All the meat is frozen when you buy it, but defrosts quickly in the heat. For fish, look for the seagulls near one of the docks - a sign that fishermen are cleaning their catch. Ask them what they have you can buy. Snapper is abundant, and you can often get barracuda or shrimp.

Other shopping includes a few small gift shops, and several vendors set up along the beach selling crafts such as bracelets, necklaces, and wood items. All stores seem to be open quite late for such a small place - many of the grocery stores are open until 11 pm. The pharmacy was open until 7 pm.


Safety
Because it's small, Caye Caulker feels (and is) quite safe. As I said earlier, most crimes are those of opportunity, such as theft. While we were here, a couple of the neighboring properties were broken in to. We were advised to lock windows (not just close them) when we were out, and to keep all valuables and our laptops out of sight. We hid extra cash and our passports in various and strange spots around the house.



So, that's the low-down. We're booked to come back on November 4th - who's in?!