Wow. Belize takes me to a round 120 Visit UN Countries and 115 Run UN Countries.
Belize (Pop 410,825) is tiny compared to Mexico. It is 34% the size of Tasmania and the second smallest country of 9 in Central America. It is fairly flat with its highest peak reaching only 1,124m. Like all the Central American countries the Mestizo culture dominates (Indigenous-Spanish mix) and Catholicism is the main faith. Unlike Mexico, most Belize speak English (it is the official language) alongside Spanish because England colonised Belize in 1840 and independence came in 1981. Belize like Australia is a Constitutional Monarchy under Charles III and the Commonwealth with two Houses of Parliament and a Governor General. The Mayans were here from the very beginning in 1500BC. Christopher Columbus was the first European here in 1502. The English settled here in 1638 and colonised the place after winning a huge battle with Spain in 1798. Belize has a fabulous coral reef and its own music known as PUNTA music. Strangely, Belize is a member of both the Central American and Caribbean regional communities. The top three exports of Belize is seafood, sugar and citrus products. Guatemala refused to recognise Belize after independence since they felt that they were the first to occupy and settle the land after the Spanish arrived. After several years a referendum was held in both countries and Belize won. Belize is also notorious for drug money laundering since its currency called the Belizean Dollar is pegged to the US dollar and they offer all foreigners bank accounts here.
At 8am we left our hotel in Chetamul and travelled by taxis for 25min to the border. Exiting Mexico was quick and before we knew it we were at the Belize entry office after driving 5min across no mans land. Our first impressions of Belizeans was good. They resemble more African Caribbean than Mexican. Darker skin, more affro and best of all an English accent !!! The drive from the border to Belize City (Pop 410,825) was long at 3.5hrs. Belize City is the largest but not the Capital (which is Belmopan). This city and the Capital are the only two cities in Belize. Between them they house 75% of the population. Belize City used to be the capital until a hurricane wiped it out in 1961 and the capital moved inland to prevent losing it in the future.
Belize City is not pretty. It is messy and industrial. No visitors stay here. Everyone gets on the ferry and stays on the islands situated on the BELIZE BARRIER REEF, which is UNESCO protected and the second largest in the world after Australia’s Barrier Reef. More on the reef tomorrow when we visit it for snorkelling. We arrived at the port at 11am and our boat made it out on time at noon.
Only one hour to get to the island travelling at 60km/h so not too far off the coast. The water is the iconic milky green colour that characterises the Caribbean. Caye Caulker (Pop 2,677) is tiny. It is teardrop shaped limestone rock island measuring 7.9km north-south and 1.6km east-west. There are no cars. Just buggies with big wheels. Roads are rough and ungraded made of fine white clay like silt that gets very messy when wet (this is in fact white calcium carbonate). The island is dead flat so prone to hurricane destruction. A total of four hurricanes have levelled anything wooden from 1961 to 2000. The key livelihood is fishing and tourism. There are also many retired Brits and US living on the island.
Our hotel was a short 10min walk away. We checked in and off we went to explore this place on our own. Walked along the east side up tot the northern tip known as THE SPLIT. This is a huge bar with deck chairs and covered eating tables and this is where everyone swims. There are no beaches on this island. You come here and jump off the wharf and climb back up using stairs. There is a northern island that is only 50m on the other side of The Split but there is a very fast current flowing between the islands given the Caribbean flowing east to west. The Spilt is very nice. I spoke to s a few local fisherman about swimming my 2km on the west side of the north island – got the thumbs up – no sharks and no crocs on that side but there is one croc on the west side. Antonia and I enjoyed our second swim in Caribbean since Tulum and it was enjoyable. Same warm water but clearer than Tulum. After our swim we relaxed on our deck chairs with a cold BILIKIN BEER, which is the local Belizean Beer. As we sipped I got tapped on the shoulder and looking up I saw a young Belizean who asked me if my cozzies where the Australian Flag – When I said YES, he sat down and told us his story. Born in Belize City and moved out to Caye Caulker with his mum after a divorce. She owned the bar at The Split and s hotel in the centre of the island. Not bad. The Split is where everyone goes. His name is Greg and he has lived on the island for 8 years. He is 26 so took an instant liking to Antonia. He has also been to Australia and you will need to wait for the film to hear the funny story that got him there. We got along very well. Greg told us where to eat and where to watch the sunset. He even shouted us beers and cocktails. Great guy. We would meet him again at sunset. We then explored the west side of the island and noted the sunset location. Caye Caulker is very touristy – a bit too much for me given I have been spoilt with isolated pacific islands last year. There is a supermarket on every corner selling wine and they are ALL run by Chinese !!! Even some restaurants and nightclubs are run by the same. It is very hot and humid here but very windy so it takes the edge off. We showered and went out. The Swings restaurant that Greg recommended was full so we ended up at the Enjoy Club with Greg after meeting him outside Swings. We had shrimp coconut curry and chicken coconut curry which are the two most popular dishes on this island. Then the singing and sipping began. Singing Karaoke and sipping cocktails and beers. One of our group members, Hal, turned up and very soon Greg, Hal and Antonia were up and singing Karaoke late into the evening. A great first day and night.
The following day started at 6am for me with my 10km run to the southern end of the island four time since it is not long enough !!! The dirt road took me passed the only light aircraft landing strip and into mango covered dirt roads which were damaged and flooded. The run was hard but satisfying. I was absolutely drenched when I got back and had to wash my runners for the first time since they were covered in fine claylike silt. All in time for our 830am day-trip to the reef. Walked to the reef tour operator and were fitted out with fins and snorkels. The twin hull sailing and power catamaran was close by. Off we went under power but after 15min switched to sails since the wind was absolutely howling. There was a huge net up front between the two hulls and Antonia sat here with other people. She loved it. Her first. It took an hour of sailing to get to the first stop on the reef off the coast of San Pablo town and island, which is huge, compared to Caye Caulker. We hit the water in groups of 6 with the strongest swimmers going first that included us. The reef is nowhere near the colour and splendour and variety of our own Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. There are some interesting shapes and some unique fan shaped corals but too many empty spaces in between. This is because of the constant hurricanes that come through here especially the big one in 1961 – Hurricane Hattie that wiped out many island dwellings as well as the coral. Our second stop was only 30min away in a place called SHARK ALLEY. This was the highlight. Swimming with Nurse Sharks and Sting Rays and the occasional Green Turtle. But wait. Things are not what they seem. The Nurse Shark has no teeth !!! Just two whiskers and a mouth like a vacuum cleaner – they suck in their food, which is mostly shrimp and other crustaceans and very small fish. That is why you see them around humans and mountains of fish and nothing gets eaten !!! Grey Nurses can grow to 3-4m long and up to 330kg in weight. After our close encounter of the fourth kind we enjoyed a lunch of chicken, rice, beans and coleslaw. The Belizeans love coleslaw. But that was not the best thing about lunch. The pineapple, coconut rum punch was the best accompanied by Orange Rum Punch. As much as you want. This meant that our third stop at The Coral Garden hosted only one snorkeler – me !!! The others were too tipsy to dive but I can handle cocktails and coral. Same coral as before and I even followed a shark. Only place you can see sharks and coral in the same scene as the photo below proves. The two hour sail back to Cay Caulker was the best. Rum cocktails all the way. This required a short nap back in our beautifully cool air-conditioned room and some blogging, wine, cheese and olives. Tonight we decided to have dinner with the group. The restaurant we went to was nothing special. The best thing about it was that it was on the water but the food was ordinary. Antonia had a grilled lobster tail with chips for $30AUD. Caye Caulker is famous for its lobster. You can see many grills with lobster tails on the main street. No karaoke tonight so early to bed given the several hours of snorkelling in the open sun.
Our final (third day) on the island was a rest day and the best one so far because it was full of surprises. The first was my 2km swim. Set out at 9am and picked up a coffee and sipped it on the way to The Split. Coffee here is string but not tasty. It is bitter and tastes a bit stale. Nevertheless the caffeine came in handy because it is a major sprint effort to cross the 50m high current channel to get to the north island. I rested a while to get my breath back and headed into the mangroves as Antonia waved me goodbye from the bank of the southern island. She had instructions to send out a search party if I did not return within the hour – it usually takes me 40min to swim 2km. I passed a small number of resorts after the mangroves and felt more confident that I would not encounter a croc. Some hotel people told me there was a croc but three fishermen said no so I went with them. The resorts were proof of my safe bet – who would built resorts in an area that has crocs !!! The swim was great. Calm waters but murky with lots of reeds. I made it back to the current in 42min and was very happy. Another heart-pounding dash across the current, rewarded with two Bilikin Beers – one from Antonia and one from Greg. I then left Antonia to get my drone from the hotel and fly it from a soccer field I spotted in the centre of the island. Success. Despite the constant high-wind warning I was able to fly Mini 3 to 250m (half its ceiling) and get it to come back. Lucky for me I kept the flight short with enough battery to battle the wind. Mini will fly in windy conditions but you have to keep the flight short to give it enough time to battle the headwinds back. The footage was unreal so I give you a sneak preview in stills below. I dropped Mini off and picked up my laptop to work seaside next to Antonia under the covered picnic style tables next to the water. It is there that I met John McLellan, a singer song-writer from Montana USA who had come to the island with a group of his friends to support another singer friend who had come to the island to perform. John’s music is know as TROP-ROCK – short for Tropical Rock, a cross between Island Reggae and US Country. He self-produces and publishes on social media and has enough of a following to make a descent living. At one stage, John got up and sang a number of his own songs and even sang a Men At Work song dedicating it to Antonia and myself. Jamie and Matt, the other two Ozzies in a group joined us and we drank beer and listened to John and his mate (apologies that I forgot his name) all afternoon – this made this day the best rest day so far on our trip. We returned to the hotel at 4pm to shower and blog until our 645pm briefing on our travels tomorrow, which would involve 3 forms of transport. Tonight was out night and we finally had dinner at the ever popular Swings Restaurant, which actually has swings at the bar and a great menu. To celebrate our day and my run and swim, we had a $50AUD bottle of wine and feasted on coconut curry and grilled chicken breast. I went off to watch a movie but Antonia hot the Karaoke scene with Greg and Hal (from our group).
Antonia was only half there the following morning of our departure. A heavy night of heavy singing and cocktailing. She was sad to leave this scene but glad to make friends with Greg. Greg and John made this island a great encounter and it was sad to see it disappear into the milky green waters of the Caribbean.
Enjoy the sights of Caye Caulker and its Caribbean…
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