Unbelize-able!
Trip Start
Feb 01, 2006
1
7
33
Trip End
May 01, 2006
Caye Caulker,
Belize
Friday, February 10, 2006
Our trip down was uneventful and here we are in the least inhabited country in Central America. It is truly blessed with nearly untouched natural beauty.
We had a smooth flight and a fun boat ride to our current location, Caye Caulker. This island is an interesting place, where the motto is "Go Slow." Caulker is as tranquil as it gets: no cars, no cabs and virtually no bikes...just sandy streets and water!
Reggae is more popular than salsa, English is the official language and the geographic diversity is amazing. There are celebrations for Bob Marley{s birthday in all the bars.
But we've had some bad karma all around: bad food and bad weather. We had only been here about a day when a tropical storm moved in and it has been cold and windy and really wet!
Of course our purpose for coming here was to snorkel the second largest barrier reef in the world and after a few days of rain, we finally did it. We had a tour with three stops: a marine park, some coral gardens and the best of all, shark and sting ray alley.
Imagine snorkelling in shallow water (only 4-8 feet deep) as barracuda and sharks linger in the seagrass and tons of massive rays whisk beneath you like underwater prehistoric birds. It was outstanding....a bit scary but brilliant. Some of the rays were so big that when you took hold of the side of one, it would pull you through the water. Even in Thailand we had never experienced anything like that.
And so now we head south, to eat some lobster, drink some Belikin and soak up some Garifuna culture. More from Belmopan, Dangriga, Hopkins and Placencia...
