Caye Caulker, Belize and the Hol Chan Marine Reserve

Recently I shared a post about swimming with Manatees near Caye Caulker in Belize. I promised to follow up with a post sharing a bit more information about Belize and in general the island Caye Caulker.

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker is a small island at the edge of the Belize barrier reef. The island was split in two island during a huge hurricane years ago. The gap departing the two island is called "The Split". A really nice bar is located at the beach near the split, called the Lazy Lizard. Its a great place to watch the sunset and have a drink or two.

So in fact Caye Caulker is two small islands, but only the southern one is where the action happens. The northern part is mostly nature, mangroves and houses a big group of salt water crocodiles. You can do a very interesting excursion and see the crocodiles and a lot of other wildlife.

Belize, but especially Caye Caulker has a characteristic Caribbean vibe. Being a former British colony, Belize is English speaking. Although a lot of other languages are used, like creole language for example.

Caye Caulker is very small and no cars are allowed. There are some golf cars to carry luggage and food supplies around. Everything you need is in walking distance. And if you walk to fast someone will tell you to relax. They blow some marijuana smoke in your direction and tell you that stress is the number one killer. There are a lot of sighs pointing out similar advice.

Hol Chan Marine Reserve

Caye Caulker is a place to relax. There is not much else you can do on the island. And the locals will make sure you will relax. There are great restaurants and a few bars.

The one activity that you can do, is go snorkeling, diving, surfing ect. It's all on the water. A popular day trip is to go snorkeling at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. It is really beautiful and full of colorful fish and interesting marine life. On our way there we stopped when our guide spotted manatees. As I wrote about in my previous post.

At the Marine reserve we did an amazing snorkeling tour towards the edge of the reef. Colder water flowing upwards from the deep provided that unknown and a bit scary feeling of the deep sea below. As we learned all types of shark and other dangerous creatures live there.

In the more shallow waters we did encounter sharks and big stingrays as well as an old and very big sea turtle. The sharks were not dangerous and I even managed to touch one to feel its rough skin while swimming by. It was an amazing experience.

Caye Caulker is a great place to visit when you like snorkeling or diving. Or just want to relax a few days. We stayed for about three days before we went further south and explored other areas of Belize.

An update about that journey will follow soon.

Cheers,
Thijs