Martin um die Welt: 8) Caye Caulker, the Caribbean Barrier Reef, Belize City and Ambergis Caye

We started with the 10 am (09.01.) bus from Flores to Belize as we were too lazy to go for the 6 am one^^. We were promised a big coach, but of course only a small bus came. We drove to the border town Melchor de Mencos. After quite some queuing we immigrated from Guatemala to Belize and were waiting for our bus at the other side. Some great fresh pineapples sweetened my waiting time, while Franzi was sick on the stomach and rather looked out for the restrooms. The problem when our bus arrived was, that we were told to wait on some mysterious people that had problems at the border but in the end never showed up. Also everyone was on the bus, but the driver kept waiting for almost an hour. A guide from another company gave us coupons for a cheap ride with his ferry service in case we would miss our. Everyone of us was angry and the driver finally started... however, we still arrived 15min after the ferry left the port. Instead of waiting for 4 hours we decided to go for the other company. When walking through the port district of Belize City it felt like being in some old US movie about its southern states with all the big wooden houses. The food was American too... so I got some chicken fingers before leaving for the island Caye Caulker. We made a reservation for the Barefoot Beach Hotel from Flores. However, as we arrived much later, our room was sold. But the friendly owner gave us the best room of the hotel for the same price, although it rather was a flat than just a room. Lucky us^^ We had to change room the next day for a smaller, but still huge one. All coming with separate kitchen and living room :)
We quickly recognized that Caye Caulker is not the island paradise we expected - it has no beach. The "beach" is solid ground although having the same colors as a sandy beach. The water was shallow and at most places not good for swimming. The reef 2 km off shore brakes all the waves leaving the island with very calm water and a lot of sea weed. Still, the island surprised us with its laid back feeling, even if it looks very touristic and concrete on the first glimpse. The people of Belize are how I always imagined Jamaican people to be like... super relaxed, enjoying the day, smoking weed and drinking alcohol all day, friendly greeting and talking to everyone and most of them having African ancestors.
The next day (10.01.) we explored Caye Caulkers official beach near "the split", which was created when a hurricane went over the island and literally split it in two. However, we were to find out that also the split holds no beach. Though, it is funny to jump in and be driven away by the current between the island parts. Probably the only place for passable swimming and some jumping^^ The softest spot for sunbathing was the wooden pier. The island disappointed us. But I was eager to dive the famous Blue Hole and booked a tour for the next day with Frenchies. Franzi booked a snorkeling tour for the next day. We organized a stay at Paradise Too hotel for the following night. Then she went for sunset yoga, while I prepared my diving equipment at Frenchies for the next day. Afterwards I watched Franzi during the yoga at one of the rooftops.

Caye Caulker from the pier of Barefoot Beach Hotel

The next morning (11.01.) I started very early for my diving trip. The boat was rather small and we were told that in the back of the boat it would be splashy but way less bumpy... what Frenchies staff knew but we didn't was that when leaving the reef 2 km off shore, waives would go from a few cm to up to 3 m!! Even bigger than the boat was wide... which means that there was the true danger of capsizing. 3 of us were happy to sit in the back. We were all wet from the splashing water but we didn't hit our heads against the roof of the ship like the people in the front. After 1.5 h of a really bumpy ride, we arrived at Turneffe Atoll. 20 minutes recovering while we drove through the atoll before another 1 hour bumpy ride started to the Lighthouse Reef. The wind felt rather cold while being all wet from the splashes. This combined with the morning coffee made me stop the boat to have a pee off its backside. 15mins later we arrived at the Blue Hole. It surely looks impressive from above with its 300 m across and 124 m depth surrounded by the shallow edge. However, sitting in a boat within the Blue Hole, you can slightly see the shallow circular edge in the middle of the sea. As advanced divers we went down to 40 m depth. The Blue Hole is a limestone cave flooded by the sea. At 30 m depth, massive stalactites showed up being up to 20 m high (so going down up to 50 m). At 40 m we could swim between these massive natural buildings. Other than that, the Blue Hole is empty, no corals and no fish. Unfortunately, we didn't even see sharks, which the Blue Hole is famous for. We were told that they we gone for some weeks, probably because of the unusual cold season bringing too cold water.
In the meantime Franzi moved our luggage from Barefoot Beach Hotel to Paradise Too and went on her snorkeling trip. She could feed and touch a swarm of baby nurse sharks and saw an impressive swarm of sting rays!
We had two more dives in the Lighthouse Reef. And right the next dive was to show us the sharks. 45 min dive and sharks appeared after not even 5 min. Two big black tip reef sharks. Usually unable to kill a human, they at least could bite you off your arm or lower leg. Check out the video! Especially second 40 when the second shark scared Philipp - cameraman and my dive buddy. I'm always next to him and very well to be seen having a close encounter with the shark at 1:31. Anything else on the dive was suddenly unimportant, I was only looking for the sharks. We were told that they probably are being fed and thus came close to us all the time. Sometimes it was quite scary when a shark came to the "I could almost touch it"-area. I guessed the small one to be 1,40 m and the big one 1,80 m. On the last dives we saw 3 manta rays passing by, a huge lobster sitting in an even bigger coral and a gigantic turtle. All in all a great diving experience even though the Blue Hole was the least impressive dive of the three. On our way back we were going with the waves making the ride less bumpy and I chose to sit in the front. Back from the dive I met with Philipp and his friend to have some beers and Franzi joined later. We then had more drinks at the Split bar with some dancing :)

Rising sun when we started the boat trip to the Lighthouse Reef

A small island as lunch spot :)

feeding and touching the nurse sharks - Franzi

a swarm of Stingray captured by Franzi

The shark encounter! I'm the one with the snorkel on^^ (1:32!)

our boat on the way back

Myself being exhausted from the dives

The next morning (12.01.), we woke up to a great sunrise. Then we made a trip to Belize City using the ferry tickets we still had from the Flores trip. In Belize City we first took a walk from the pier to the bus station to ask for the best connection to Tulum in Mexico - our next stop. However, the speedboat from Caya Caulker appeared to be the best option, even if it was a bit pricey. Then we went down King Street and Albert Street. The latter is the center of Belize City and resembles a shopping district. We were repeatedly asked by beggars for money. Still, the atmosphere was very friendly and even the beggars were not annoying. We along Albert Street until Bird's Isle where we sat down in a cafe and enjoyed a cold drink and some chicken fingers. A really relaxed atmosphere on that small isle. On our way back to the pier we were followed by a dog - for almost all the way. The way back to Caye Caulker was suddenly much more expensive than expected. The vouchers we got when entering Belize were truly worth a lot... we should have taken more of them^^ On the ferry we met a couple from Leipzig sitting next to us. That was a very funny coincidence... we gave them some information on the island especially concerning accommodation... they were very happy about that.
Back on Caye Caulker we rented a standup paddle for one hour. We always wanted to tr it and the calm and shallow waters around Caye Caulker are great for standup paddling or kayaking if the wind is weak. First we kneed on it and crossed the Split. On the other side we had a lot of fun trying the paddling, making photos and watching the sun set. Definitely gonna do that again :)

beautiful early sunrise captured by Franzi

beautiful sunrise captured a bit later on my camera^^

interesting buildings in Belize City

like in old American movies about South US like Georgia or so^^

standup paddling into the sunset (here the relaxed sitting version :P)

Caye Caulker indeed has some good places to watch sunsets

The last day (13.01.) we decided to visit Caye Caulkers more developed neighbouring island Ambergis Caye. We hopped on a ferry to San Pedro - its major town. We were surprised that it indeed was much more developed with many more concrete buildings and streets than Caye Caulker. And we already found Caye Caulker too developed to be an island gem. We quickly left San Pedro walking at the beach towards north. We found a nice bar to have a drink while sitting in the water and played some Tok-tok. Most of the northern Ambergis Caye appeared to be holiday homes of Americans. We continued further north and came across the funny Palapa Bar. The bar was covered with cravings and paintings, funny phrases and pictures. Situated on a house on the sea, we had a nice view and it was even possible to have your drinks sitting on a tube in the water. As it was getting late, we went back to the pier catch the last ferry back to Caye Caulker. In Caye Caulker we wanted to rent the standup paddle again for another sunset trip, although the sun was almost down. Unluckily the owner was not around. So we enjoyed the sunset without paddling :) As our hotel was fully booked, we changed to its partner hotel Tropical Paradise for the last night.