Why Belize? Setting the Scene and Getting There

Charles Darwin referred to the Belize Barrier Reef in 1842, in his study of the origin and evolution of coral reefs. He described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" Since then it has become renowned as the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly 260 km long, it runs from the northern border of the country, where it is only about 1 km offshore, south to the Sapodilla Cayes.

In 1996 the reserve system was designated a World Heritage site due to its vulnerability and the fact that it contains the most important and significant natural habitats.

Prequel

One of Bob's life goals was to visit Bermuda on his own sailboat and then sail down to the Virgin Islands. Bob did get to buy his dream boat, but we haven't sailed on it to Bermuda. We have visited both Bermuda and the Virgin Islands but not on our own boat

From 1995 to 1998 we made two trips a year - one at Thanksgiving and one in the winter (January-March). My husband started this round of travels (the ones before we retired in 1999) by saying we were going to Bermuda for Thanksgiving in 1995.

I had always wanted to see the tropical jungles, so in the winter of 1996, we visited Costa Rica

Thanksgiving of 1996, we went to Barbados for a week.

Because Bob wanted to re-visit the Virgin Islands (His first visit was courtesy of the U.S. Navy), we chartered a sailboat in the winter of 1997. Bob wanted to see if I could live on a boat. I took the opportunity to get certified in SCUBA. I did the check-out dives from the charter

My scuba instructor

(I took a course in the late 60s, but this time it was a national certification). We did another charter in the Virgin Islands at Thanksgiving with the same people but a different boat.

One of my life goals was to dive the Great Barrier Reef. So our winter 1998 visit was to Belize. Because I didn't see any possibility of diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, I figured this would be the next best thing.

We bought our sailboat in May 1998. So our last trip of this series was to Cozumel in December 1998 when I did some more diving and Bob took a course and got his own Open Water certificate.

End Prequel

We bought our trip through a California travel agent that had been recommended to us by the guy that we used for the Virgin Islands charter trips. I emailed him, talked to the guy on the phone and arranged a VERY low cost trip of two weeks. My notes say 'to Belize Transfer Services $750.00'

Figuring travel insurance cost

I got a booklet of vouchers, but just before we left, the main person that I had been dealing with apparently got sick, and the person that took over for him didn't complete all the notifications. When we presented our vouchers, some of the people and businesses didn't know that we had paid in advance and sometimes they had not been told when we were to be there or even that would would be coming.

I wrote a trip diary in a book that my mom gave me called

The Compleat Traveler's Journal and Record Book

In addition to the mainland of Belize, with Belize City, and the Cayo District (uplands near the border), Belize also has many cayes (pronounced keys) ranging from fairly large like Ambergris to very small. We started out at Caye Caulker, transferred via a snorkeling trip to Hol Chan to San Pedro (Ambergris Caye), flew to the mainland and rented a car and drove to Placencia, and then drove to the Cayo district where we left the car and took a two day trip to Tikal.

All the pictures from this trip were taken with point and shoot film cameras because I didn't have a digital camera at the time.

Thursday 26 February 1998

My email wouldn't let me log on this morning. I went to the library and got their Belize guides. (I had bought Frommer's guide to Costa Rica and Belize for our Costa Rica trip, so I tore it in half and took the Belize part with me.)

List of books checked out of the library

I stopped the mail and packed. I had a small hard side roller bag, a softside bag, and a very large bum bag. I took 3 bathing suits, my dive console and wrenches, my mask (with diopters for reading watch or gauges underwater), dive light, snorkel, dive skin, dive log, dive camera, one extra pair shoes, a pair of Teva sandals that I'd gotten for Costa Rica, T-shirts, a long sleeved shirt, light-weight long trousers (not jeans they are too heavy). underwear, socks, nightgown, one jumper (a sleeveless dress), sweater, plastic poncho, hat, sunglasses, binoculars, DEET, sunscreen, 400 ASA film, a panoramic and a regular point and shoot camera plus some snorkeling cameras, first aid kit, medications, flashlight, pocket knife, travel alarm, tissues, plastic bags, an extra pair of glasses, traveler's checks, a mesh bag, a Camelbak (a biker's water bottle worn on the back with a bite valve) and of course, passport, tickets, and vouchers.

At that time we lived about five miles from BWI, so we could just get a local taxi to the airport.

Friday 27 February 1998

Woke up early and signed on and received and sent email. Dressed and had two bagels. The taxi came early and we got to the airport before 5. Went through the line pretty quickly and we checked two bags - one for each of us. We each carried the other bag aboard. The plane was to be full - they were offering $300 to take the next flight.
Flight 975 - Depart BWI 07:05 am - non-stop to MIA. Seats 10A and 10B Equipment 727 Stretch. Continental Breakfast Arrive Miami 09:40 am
But in fact the man next to us moved so that we had all three seats to ourselves.

The plane in Miami was late arriving. We could not board at 11:25 because the plane was not there yet. If you are going to have to be somewhere in Belize by a certain date, it might be a good idea to fly in a day in advance so you can deal with any snafus. Book as early as possible to get the best rate and try not to have a lot of connections to make. Especially if you book early, reconfirm about a week prior to departure, and when you get to Belize, reconfirm your departure flight. You could fly to Belize on American, Continental, US Airways (U.S.), or Grupo Taca (El Salvador). Continental flies out of Houston, American has flights out of Miami and Dallas, US Airways flies out of Charlotte. Taca flies out of Houston, Miami, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. I prefer AA of course because my daughter is a pilot for them and we can get discounted tickets. You will land at the International Airport which is - like most of larger airports - not in Belize City.
Flight 2103 Depart MIA 11:25 am - non-stop to BZE Seats 11A and 11B Equipment 727 Stretch. Lunch Arrive BZE 12:44

Belize from the plane

As we came in over Belize

Flying in - the shadow of the plane below

we saw

Fires in the woods

(from the big plane). We did not land in Belize until 13:30. The guy on the aisle next to us (who was originally from Scotland) told us that the water taxi did not run after 1 pm (which was not true but we didn't know that)

The Belize airport did not have A/C. We had a short wait for our bags and after we went through customs and immigration, we walked over to the local counters and bought a ticket on the plane to Caye Caulker for $42 each. Flying is the most time efficient way to get around in Belize and one of two ways to get to Caye Caulker. An advantage of flying is that it is quicker, and you can easily find out about flights at the airport. The disadvantage is that it is more expensive.

There are several airlines that fly to Caye Caulker, or from Caye Caulker to Belize City Municipal Airport or San Pedro (Ambergris Caye). The two Belize airlines are Maya Island Air and Tropic Air. Island Air also has flights to Caye Caulker.

Tropic Air ticket to Caye Caulker

Boats leave from Belize City (so you have to get transportation from the International Airport which will cost something and also take some time) and cost US $15 for a round trip. The boat ride takes about 45 minutes. I figured that the price by air was not that much more than it would have been by taxi and boat, especially since we thought that the water taxi might not be running.

We got on the plane right away - just the two of us

Plane to Belize City

and flew to the Municipal Airport where we got onto a smaller two seater plane and flew to Caye Caulker.

Airplane to get to Caye Caulker

The pilot did all the pre-flight talk (about life preservers etc) himself. There wasn't room for everyone (Bob, me and one other guy) in the passenger compartment, so I got to sit in the copilot seat.

Cockpit from copilot's seat

Leaving Belize City

As we flew we could look down in the water and see the wakes of the boats and the little islands, beaches and reefs.

The flight was 12 minutes. The runway in Caye Caulker was a single track.

Landing strip on Caye Caulker

We landed, and got out, There was someone waiting at the Caye Caulker airstrip to go to San Pedro when we arrived and after he got aboard, the plane took off to ferry the other passenger to San Pedro.

Bob carried our luggage as we struggled through the sand under the hot sun to try to find our hotel.

Bob slogging across the sand with my wheeled bag

Roller bags don't roll worth a hoot in sand. The people from Belize Diving were there taking someone on a golf cart tour of the island, and they rescued us - they took our stuff (i.e. me and our luggage) on the golf cart to the edge of the beach. The beach was harder sand, and easier walking.

We checked into Ignacio's Cabins with Ramon's mother

Office of the Ignacio's with golf cart

and dropped the bags on the bed. It was pretty close to the airport, but a distance away from everything else (at least as far as you can be on Caye Caulker). Just north of Shirley's Guesthouse and south of the Anchorage Resort. They had a check from our agent for us, but did not realize what days it was for, so we got the end cabin #14 which does not have hot water.

Our starting point - Ignacio's Hut #14

I think some of the other cabins do have hot water. It also did not have towels or toilet paper. Ramon, who helps run the place gave us toilet paper and gave us towels under protest as he said he did not usually supply them. The cabins are mostly on stilts on the beach. They have windows with screens and louvers, and a Casablanca fan. The photo shows

Wooden louvered windows (with curtain pulled aside for air circulation), Casablanca fan, clothesline (with a towel on it), and small chest with our water bottles on it

Bob's shirt is hanging on a nail. The sign says that the room is $45BZ a night but I think we paid less than that

Our cabin had a single and a double bed. The double was very bouncy (which my husband didn't like), and the bottom sheet was a synthetic which pills and is like sleeping in sand. Also in the room was one chair, a rack on the wall, three wall shelves, and a couple of clothes lines, including one on the stair landing.

The photo shows the toilet and sink. You can see my toothbrush on the sink. Some reading material (travel literature) is on the floor under the sink. The shower is in back of photographer. There is only one tap because we only have cold water. It was hot outside, so a cold water shower wasn't really a problem. No soap was supplied - bring your own.

The shower and sink drained directly out the bottom to the sand below. The toilet presumably went to some kind of septic tank or holding tank. We were told not to flush toilet paper, and that was also the case in other places on Caye Caulker as well. So you wipe yourself and put the paper in the trash can (which was not emptied) . It is very important that you follow those directions.

There was no mirror in the bathroom or anywhere else, no soap, and no place to put anything in the bathroom except the sink or the toilet box. There was a night light and electricity in the bathroom, and one overhead light in the cabin.

The manager don't want no Rastas or drug dealers in the room or the yard

East side of room with the cabin door closed. Shows one of the three shelves and the sign that says "I the manager don't want no rastas or drug dealers.." Our mesh bag for laundry is hanging on the end of the shelf. The curtains do not completely cover the windows - just the top part. Didn't find much need for bug repellent because there was a breeze when we were there

Looking out of room

Cabin door is open to the porch for increased breezes (propped open with the chair). One of the several clothes lines (for drying bathing suits etc) was on the porch. There is a hanger on the line.

Beach in front of Ignacio's Huts

There is a dock, with some chairs on it. People usually swam or sunbathed from the dock, rather than from/on the beach because it was quite shallow near shore and tended to have seagrass

We were actually quite comfortable here except for the bed and the lack of a mirror.

Picturesque but basic Ignacio's Huts

We decided that we needed to check out the next day's activities, so we walked slowly in the heat to the Post Office.The streets are sand

Sand on road in back of hotel

There were almost no internal combustion vehicles on the island. There were said to be a beer truck, and maybe two other cars. All transportation was by foot, bike or golf cart. I went barefoot which was a mistake. It made my heels very sore. At home I can walk on gravel, or go barefoot in the snow. I go barefoot all the time and have tough feet. But the sand is very abrasive. So I had to wear shoes, which was a bummer. Caye Caulker is the perfect place to go barefoot.

The Post Office gave us directions to various places. We went up to Driftwood Dive shop where we we had a voucher to go on a snorkeling tour the next day, and they said "No problem". We also talked to the folks at Belize Dive.

Caye Caulker including the north mangrove end on the other side of the Split is only about 5 miles long. There are three streets. Front Street, Middle Street, and Back Street. We thought about renting a golf cart, but they were $15/hour and we didn't think it was worth it. We stopped by the bookstore "Seeing is Belizing" and bought a map for BZ$18.00,

Front of the map

Map of Belize

Caye Caulker section of the map

and Bob bought some water for BZ$1.50.

We had dinner outside at the Sand Box (BZ$43.00). Recommended for Belizean-American seafood by "Belize First"'s editor Lan Sluder. We ate outside and had some trouble with flies. Sand floor inside and patio outdoors. I seem to remember eating at a picnic table with other folks.

Website says Open everyday from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm. Named the Sand Box because of the sand floors. Also notorious for the names of regular customers carved into the backs of the chairs. The most diverse menu on the island with daily specials - and they almost always have everything on the menu. A well-designed inside space decorated with local artifacts and a pleasant outside garden for dining. Having everything on the menu is important, and is not always the case at these places. Prices on the menu are in Belize $$. Divide in half to get US$$ prices. We paid US$22 for two without drinks.

Then we walked back to the cabin. It was windy. Bob went to bed early.

Our hut

Total expenses today in US$
$470.00 - plane fare (half of two round trip tickets with our daughter's 20% employee discount)
10.00 - A taxi to the Baltimore airport including tip
- Bag Breakfast on plane to Miami
- Hot Lunch on plane to Belize
42.00 - Plane to Caye Caulker for two
9.00 - map
21.50 - dinner
unk (maybe $23) for Ignacio's Huts
0.75 - water
$553.25 in US$

28 February, 1998 - Saturday

The first full day in Belize we took a trip with Driftwood Dive shop to see the manatees.

Bob got up at 5 to take a pill (my notes don't say why). Note: We didn't drink the tap water here.

I got up and sat on the john for about an hour to write in my journal because it was still dark and there was a little light in there - I didn't want to turn on the ceiling light in the main room. Then I went back to bed.

Ignatio's Huts

Most of the time, we walked into town on a path along the shore

Scenes along the shore

Shoreline fisherman

Walk Along the water

at least as far as the cemetery

Cemetery from the beach

and which point we could take a short street up to Front Street or Middle Street.

Corner of Front Street - The yellow building is some kind of government headquarters

Movie theatre with billboard of showtimes

We didn't avail ourselves of this opportunity, but apparently people show movies or more probably video tapes of movies in this little building. The sign says that the movie is $5.95 and will be at 8:00 pm. The bottom of the sign advertises Conch Shells for $5.00. I wonder if they'd take a trade.

The building has solid shutters on the windows to cut out the light, but after dark there wouldn't be too much problem because there's not much in the way of street lights on Caye Caulker. You will need a flashlight if you are out at night because there were obviously no street lights along the path.

We had breakfast at The Other Side of the Moon because all the other normal breakfast places were closed that early. They had fry jacks on the menu, and I thought that would be fish, but it isn't. Fry jacks are a traditional dish in the Belizean cuisine. They are deep fried dough pieces served as a breakfast item, and can be shaped as circles or triangles. They had a self service coffee urn which we didn't sample because we don't drink coffee We had a good breakfast at US$15 US for two including tip. Bob had french toast and I had scrambled eggs and fry jacks.

Then we went down to Driftwood Dive Shop to do the manatee and snorkeling tour. This was the second one of our vouchers. (The first one was for Ignacio's Huts). One of the main activities for visitors to the cays is scuba, but there's a lot of snorkeling too. Because Belize has such an extensive reef system, that also means that the beaches are narrow. The reefs keep the surf from grinding up rocks into sand and building wide beaches. So snorkeling is most often done from small boats.

The open outboard boat named Baby Blue.picked up guests from various hotels, We were with ten other people This was more than usual because one of the other tours that was supposed to go - didn't. The people included a tour group of eight - Colleen from British Columbia, Alexandra from Germany and the other six from the UK (Clyde, Mary and her husband, Phil, Heidi and two names I can't read) plus a little girl and her mother from Austin TX who were supposed to go on the other tour. Madone and Rocque ran the boat.

Approaching the manatee "zone"

It was hot in the boat and somewhat crowded. There was no canopy on the boat. We sped to the manatee area.

Sign in manatee area

Here they turn off the engines and pole the boats into the area.

Poling the boat toward a manatee

Not only do the boats not use motors, but they are limited to a certain number at one time. We were not allowed to get out of the boat or touch the manatees. I understand that these restrictions were initiated by the Belizeans running the tours themselves.

Manatees are hard to photograph because the water reflects into the camera and conceals their outline. They only stick their nostrils up out of the water to breathe and not their whole head.

Manatee just under the surface

Also they don't breathe very often, so you are waiting and waiting, and just as your camera shuts down, they stick their nostrils out and they are back under again before you can turn it on again. But we did see one or two of them

Then we were supposed to go to Goff Caye, but Rocque thought there were too many people there, so we went to Sergeant Caye instead. Roche dove down and showed Bob what fire coral was,

Fire coral

and then we snorkel circled the island. Bob and I both had disposable snorkeling cameras.

Coral patch at Goff Cay

Snorkeling

parrot fish on the right

I got a photo of a big barracuda, but I can't find it

Fish

I was astonished at how much branching coral there was.

Staghorn or Elkhorn coral reflected in the surface

Elkhorn coral

Elkhorn coral

Sergeant major fish

We had no lunch because we hadn't known to bring any, and they didn't know that we wanted it. When it was time to go home, Roque had to borrow fuel from another boat to be sure he would get us back to Caye Caulker.

Leaving the caye with the 18 palms

Rocque dropped us off at Ignacio's. Then we walked (18 minutes but with shoes this time) back to the Driftwood Dive shop (which is at the other end of the island). Driftwood will fill a container for you for 50 cents US, which makes water much cheaper.

Rocque has girls working on commission to sell snorkel trips and fit people with fins and snorkeling gear (we had our own masks and snorkels so we didn't need that). But since none of the people on Caye Caulker had known that we were coming, we decided to ask them to call Ruby's in San Pedro to be sure that our reservation for there would be OK.

Then we went back down to the Other Side of the Moon and had wings and drinks ($16)

Bartender behind bar

before we went to Seaing is Belizing for a slide show on the "Reefs of Belize" ($10 for two). which I thought was a lot, but it was very worthwhile.

Reef Life Slide Show

Then we had dinner at Rocque's house - this was coupon #3. It was very good even though he didn't know that he would be doing this - this was another coupon where the Belize Transfer Service person hadn't told someone that he had sold something to us.

Lobster pots waiting for season to start

He cooked lobster and we had a baked potato and a side salad. It wasn't the lobster season, but he was a lobster man so he had some that he had gotten during the season. His wife was off with his children on the mainland investigating schools, because people in Belize have to pay for their education, and secondary schools are not available on Caye Caulker.

Bob is sunburned inside his elbows, and I have a rash in my armpit and a scrape on one finger.

This was a flash picture taken on a walk back at night. I was trying to take a picture of the land crab when he was out of his hole. But the developer wrote something on the negative so he is hard to see.

Today we spent

$15.00 Breakfast
1.00 water
10.00 tickets for slide show
16.00 wings and drinks
unknown amount for dinner at Rocque's
unknown amount for Manatee and Snorkeling
unk (maybe $23) for Ignacio's Huts
$42.00 US.

Sunday 1 March 1998

Today was diving day. Belize Diving Services is the name of one of Caye Caulker's best and longest operating dive shops (It was established in 1978) and that was the one that the Belize Transfer Services sent me to. The shop is owned and staffed by

Kathy's card

Master Instructor Kathy Dalton and Master Scuba Diver Trainer Dawn Williams. I did two dives with Kathy and Dawn. I had a brand new underwater camera which took me a couple of dives to get used to.

Great white egret

All the breakfast places were closed because it was Sunday, so I got cereal and juice at the market ($3.64). Bob went to Castaways to get a sandwich for my lunch ($5.00 and he had breakfast there after I left for $6.00 because they wouldn't substitute tea for coffee (which we don't drink) and he had to pay extra for it.) while I got fitted for a BC and got my dive computer mounted. This was coupon #4 which was one 2 tank dive with tanks, weights and belt included. I paid $1.00 to the decompression chamber fund.

Voucher for Dive Services

A man came by and said that he thought the weather was too bad to dive, but I don't know what he is thinking - the weather is fine. At that time they had an old WWII boat, but it worked. As we left the dock we saw heaps of conch shells in piles on the shore,

Piles of conch shells

and I saw two CSYs (boats like ours) moored or anchored on the backside of the island. One was a ketch with a blue stripe, and one was a standard rig walkover with a maroon stripe.

In addition to the bad weather man, Vicky and David, a couple from Alaska were to be diving with me, while Nick and Margo from Holland and Chris were doing the PADI Open Water Dives three and four with Kathy. Vicky was about my size and impressed me because she said that being our size was like walking around carrying 100 lb sack of flour all the time.

On the first dive I had a problem with my depth control. Dawn (dive master) took us on the first dive,

First Dive Trip in Belize

but she had a migraine and didn't do the second dive. We anchored between dives, and they supplied oranges and water. They let Oscar (who was driving the boat and a lady who was with him go in and snorkel while we were anchored.

Fellow Divers

Filefish

The second dive I did better but I didn't manage to get together with David and Vicky and Oscar.

French angelfish

French angelfish

I ended up coming up with Chris. On the way back, we saw two blue sharks chasing a baby eagle ray.

When we got back, we rinsed off the equipment, and I walked back to Ignacio's. Bob was there.

About 5:30, we walked back to Popeyes to buy pizza, garlic bread and a couple of sodas. It cost $19.00.

Heron waiting for pizza?

We couldn't eat it all, but they wanted extra money for a box to take it back to the Hut, so we carried it back in napkins.

Spent today in US$
$3.64 cereal and juice for breakfast for me
3.00 Bob's breakfast at Castaways
Unknown amount for dive trip
2.50 sandwich for me
2.00 water and juice
1.00 decompression chamber donation
19.00 pizza at Popeyes
unk (maybe $23) for Ignacio's Huts
31.14 Total

Monday March 2, 1998 Leaving

We have a battery operated clock radio with us, and we have found BCB (Belize Broadcasting) on the radio and the weather forecast said 10 to 20 knot winds. The fan was on all night, but there was some breeze.

When we got up, the bed was completely de-sheeted. We packed, and ate a couple of pieces of pizza for breakfast. Bob walked to the Caye Caulker Bakery

and bought some breakfast rolls for $2.30 BZ and took pictures of the tanks and the gas station

Gas for car and boats

and generating station (at the time he was an above ground oil tank inspector for the Department of the Environment).

Sitting at the end of the dock waiting for pickup

We walked out to the end of Ignacio's dock at 10 a.m. to be picked up for snorkeling at Hol Chan and transfer to Ambergris Cay. Note how straight the dock is.