ONCE UPON A TIME TRAVEL IN…CAYE CAUKER, BELIZE

Our trip to Caye Caulker in Belize was memorable and full of adventures. Unfortunately, that was already a year ago. Big Boss and I would have liked to go back this year, but we have a big travel project planned for next summer so we went to New York City instead (read our Once Upon a Time in New York). Yes, what a hard life!

We spent 1 week on Caye Caulker, an islet about 30 minutes by water taxi from the mainland of Belize and there a lot of things you can do from there.

THINGS TO KNOW FOR A TRIP TO BELIZE

If you are planning a trip to Belize, there are a few things you need to know before heading there.

• The official language is English! So it’s very easy to get around. It is a former colonial country. Belize gained its independence from the United Kingdom on September 21st, 1981.
• The currency is Belize dollars or you can also use US dollars to pay.
• No travel visa is required to travel there if you are American, Canadian, or European. I don’t know about the rest of the world. It is better to check with your embassy.
• Belize is located just below Mexico.
• There are more than 400 islands and islets in Belize.
• More than 900 Mayan ruins can be found in Belize, including Lamanai.
• There are more than 200km of coastline with beautiful white beaches that we have not visited.
• There’s only a 1 hour time difference between Belize and Montreal.
• We found Belize very safe.

HOW TO GET THERE

We were unlucky with transport, especially airplanes. Our first flight was delayed and then canceled altogether. I was so disappointed! We had to make a long night stopover in Philadelphia and I had planned to use this layover opportunity to see my friends from college. So we slept for about 4 hours, after a long discussion with the lady from the UsAirways counter (company to avoid) in a hotel at the airport.

By Air

The most direct way to travel to Belize is of course by plane. However, for an end-of-year trip, and in order to get the best prices, it is better to book your ticket before the end of August otherwise, the prices will increase very steeply!

You can read our article on how to prepare a trip abroad if you need help planning a trip.

Since we waited before booking our flight and couldn’t find a good deal, we had to book a flight to Mexico and do the rest by bus. Longer, but much cheaper. The advantage is that we were able to see a glimpse of the Yucatan peninsula. It’s like we made two trips into one.

We arrived by plane in Cancun 4 hours late. We lost an afternoon on the beach, but we kept on smiling. After all, we were on vacation, the weather was nice and hot, not like in Montreal!

Yes, I said Cancun, Mexico. For a price difference at that time of $400 CAD per person, it was cheaper to go through Mexico than to land in Belize City in Belize. It makes you lose 2 days if you go back and forth through Mexico, but it’s worth it if you go for 2 weeks (it wasn’t quite our case, but it was a budget decision).

By bus from Mexico

We bought a one-hour bus from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen where we had booked a night in a backpacker that had a rooftop bar and a small swimming pool. It wasn’t very memorable, even if the place was decent. We went for a walk in the evening as it was too late for the beach and bought our tickets for the bus to Chetumal, only $25 USD round trip per person, 5 hours of travel.

You can’t book your ADO bus tickets online outside of Mexico and you need a Mexican credit card to pay. So bring cash. There are a lot of buses that run daily so you should always find space. However, you can go on their website to look at the bus schedule.

If you aren’t going directly to the islands of Belize, there’s a bus that takes you directly to the Belize City from Playa del Carmen.

Little Tip: If you have time, you could stop for a day in Tulum and see the ruins by the water, it’s really nice. Then, continue onto Chetumal, which is the border post with Belize if you are continuing your journey by sea.

Our little stopover in Playa del Carmen

I ate the best guacamole to date in Playa del Carmen even though it was in a tourist restaurant. I had never been to Playa del Carmen. It’s a lively city but not very Mexican. It’s rather more American, with all the fancy shops, but it’s worth a small stopover if you’re more of the adventurous type.

There are also beautiful beaches in Playa del Carmen. Seriously, there are worse places to stop.

Upon our return from Belize, we spent another night in Playa del Carmen, but in a more residential area in the chic Playacar district. A stone’s throw from the pedestrian street with all the shops in Playa del Carmen. It’s a really nice and quiet district with beautiful residences. A great place to go with kids.

Side note: As far as security is concerned, we didn’t encounter any problems, but things have changed in recent years, so check your embassy’s website to see if it’s advisable or not to go there.

By Taxi

The day after our stopover in Playa del Carmen, we left for Caye Caulker in Belize. After the bus ride, which was very comfortable, we took a taxi from Chetumal and negotiated the price with a girl on our bus who was going to the port like us to take the water taxi to Caye Caulker. The taxi cost us about $4 USD.

Fortunately, I had booked our water taxi with San Pedro water taxi online ($110 USD round trip, more expensive during the holidays), because there were a lot of people at the port.

The cheapest way to get to Caye Caulker is by water taxi or alternatively, there is a plane that costs about $75 USD to fly from Belize City Airport. The water taxi is cheaper if you come from Belize City than from Chetumal, Mexico.

Little tip: To leave Mexico (and to return from elsewhere), they charge you a visa even if it’s only been 24 hours since you arrived, in Mexican money or USD dollars. Therefore, once again, take out your pesos or gringo money.

Crossing the Mexico-Belize border by sea

The water taxi doesn’t look big and yet….we were impressed by the number of people and backpacks it could carry. The journey usually takes 2 hours. However, it stops in San Pedro made famous by Madonna with her song La Isla Bonita. It’s the official border between Mexico and Belize.

They keep you waiting for a very long time, up to 2 hours on the deck. They are in no hurry and you still have to pay in US dollars on arrival and departure (plan at least $30 USD for the round trip). It’s better to stop in San Pedro for one night and then go on to Caye Caulker because it can make for a long day.

Crossing the border Belize- Mexico

Furthermore, don’t be afraid when you return to Chetumal to be greeted by soldiers, their dogs, and machine guns. All the luggage on board the water taxi will be lined up on the asphalt and sniffed several times by trained dogs.

Therefore, I strongly advise you to go to customs as soon as possible (RUN FOREST RUN), otherwise, you’ll have to wait in line for a long time. You have to pay, but you can line up and then tell them you’re going to withdraw the money, there’s a bank nearby.

Word of advice: Please do not take the taxis waiting for you at the exit. They wanted us to pay $10 USD to get to the bus station. If you move away from the port, you can find another taxi, and cheaper. Plan to lose about 1h30 to clear customs. We missed the bus we had booked.

Little tip: If you arrive less than 30 minutes after the departure of your bus you will be refunded and book another one on the spot.

WHERE TO SLEEP

We arrived at Yuma’s House backpacker around 7:30 pm on Christmas Eve and absolutely loved it there. Our private room had a direct view of the sea for $42.5 USD/night. The manager was great and had organized a potluck on Christmas Eve. This allowed us to meet a lot of people on our first night.

If you want to stay at Yuma’s, it is better to book. It accepts reservations only within 2 months of your stay. It’s so popular that everyone wants to go. Children are not accepted, you must be at least 15 years old to stay there.

It is a quiet and perfect place to relax. To make your trip to Caye Caulker memorable, we strongly suggest spending 1 or 2 nights there as there are a lot of things to do in Caye Caulker. This is not a place to party.

Another advantage of staying at Yuma’s is that it’s located not very far from the excursion departures and the manager is full of useful addresses.

ACTIVITIES TO DO IN CAYE CAULKER

On Caye Caulker, there are no cars but there are golf carts for people with reduced mobility, bicycles or your feet. Walking barefoot is allowed, if you feel like it, as the ‘roads’ are not paved. It’s very peaceful and the island motto is Go Slow. There are a lot of dogs with T-shirts and no cats, weird.

When you travel to Caye Caulker in Belize, it’s not to sunbathe.

There is no beach, but you can still swim at the Split, go boating or canoeing. However, be aware of the current! Then relax at the Lazy Lizard Bar. This is where everyone meets during the day when they are not going on an excursion.

In the evening you can go to the Sports Bar which is located just next to Yuma’s House. This bar has a great happy hour with a cover band of classic rock or oldies that must be the age of Doudou and cheap beers ($2USD). They even have trivia night!

Diving

You might have heard about the Blue Hole. Well, it’s in Belize. Honestly, it’s not worth doing it except by air. Unfortunately, parachute jumps into the hole are no longer available. In a boat, you don’t see much and if diving, there’s not much to see. You can skip this if you don’t have much time. It is a very expensive and long excursion.

If you want to dive and pass your PADI this is the ideal place, but plan 4 days of course.

Otherwise, there are excursions that will take you scuba diving while doing other activities.

Excursions

I know that a 4-day boat trip is available with Raggamuffin Tours. We had thought about it, but the cost was around $400 USD per person since it was during the Christmas and New Year holidays. However, we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy Caye Caulker and the other excursions if we had done this one.

Our second excursion (the first one was the Blue Hole) was to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Alley with Carlos Tours, the BEST. In addition, for $15USD, you have on CD-Rom photos taken underwater by Carlos. We swam with turtles, sharks, rays, it was MAGNIFICANT. The boat is not very big so it remains intimate. Avoid being hungover for this type of excursion, you may regret it. (see below)

The last excursion we took from Caye Caulker, was to the ruins of Lamanai. It is a very beautiful Maya site, but too many boats to get there. It’s still worth the detour. We even got to spot some monkeys and some bats!

However, avoid eating Springles when you arrive at the site, your stomach may not recover. It’s very humid there too (see picture below= Springles + humidity) and the toilets are only at the entrance….it was extremely painful and really not at all romantic, at least not for me.

Night activities

There are several restaurants and bars on the island and even nightclubs! The first one we did was the most memorable. Not so much in terms of musical quality, but more in terms of adventure.

The night we arrived, with our new friends, we took a free golf cart ride to a night club, located in the middle of nowhere. It was free then, why not? It was to better rip us off on the way back. We walked home as a result and it took forever to get back as none of us knew how to get back to Yuma’s.

Karaoke

Oddly enough, we found a bar to do karaoke and if you know me, you won’t find it surprising. In addition, I won a bottle of Belizean rum for my pretty hmmm voice.

Unfortunately, Big Boss drank it all with our friend Jeff that we made during our stay. The day after, their hungover was very painful, especially since we had an excursion planned. (see above).

Outdoor movie

Among other things to do in Caye Caulker is going to watch a movie under the stars.

There is an open-air movie theater with couches and dogs from Caye Caulker who squat with you on the outdoor sofas.

You must arrive well in advance of the showing in order to be able to choose a comfortable and unobstructed seat. They serve food in the small adjacent restaurant. It’s convenient for waiting and the pizza we ate was good!

There is something for everyone on Caye Caulker….

THE END OF OUR TRIP TO CAYE CAULKER BELIZE

Back in Mexico, we took our first flight back to Miami, which was our stopover. Obviously, our plane was late so I did my nails while waiting, a real chick:) In my own defense it was New Year’s Eve, I had to get ready!

We had a 2-hour delay at the airport, but to clear the American customs PIECE OF CAKE, nothing to do with my experience while traveling with my children in Costa Rica (see the article Once Upon a Time in Costa Rica).

Fortunately, there was a restaurant at the hotel where we had booked a table because it was full. However, with all the time lost, once we arrived at the hotel, we only had 30 minutes left to get ready.

Our evening consisted of tasting a Flaming Lamborghini, drinking a bottle of champagne and going to bed at 12:30 a.m. only to be woken up by the fire alarm and the beautiful firemen.

We ended up at the bar again with a free glass of champagne in our hands to compensate. Our flight was at 6am, so the night was really short, but what a beautiful trip. We started the year off on the right foot…

Finally, if you are looking for New Year’s eve destinations, here are a few:

• New York
• Fès
• Paris
• Iceland
• Peru