We picked up my niece Randi and her girlfriend Amy from the international airport near Belize City on the 18^th of February. Randi and Amy had planned months ago to join us for a couple of weeks travelling around Belize and we were excited to finally have them with us.

We immediately stashed the truck at the Radisson Hotel in Belize City and headed to the ferry terminal to catch the boat to Caye Caulker where we had an AirBnB booked for four nights.

Caye Caulker is just one of many islands off of Belize that are adjacent to the Belize barrier reef, the second largest reef system in the world. The island is small and was actually ripped in half by a hurricane in 1961, forming what is now called the Split. A disaster at the time, but now the Split is a hub of activity during the day as it has a lovely beach area (really the only large piece of nice public beach on the island). There is a bar, picnic tables in shallow areas of the water, and it is used by kite surfers, swimmers, snorkelers and sun bathers. The water in the Split is deep enough that tour boats and sail boats also cruise through, so it was a fun place to hang out during the day.

Beach Bar

The Split

The weather was a bit stormy while we were there so we kept putting off booking a snorkeling tour. We finally did go out on the last full day we were there and visited three different sites. At the first local the guide jumped in the water with us and would dive down, point at a fish or a piece of coral, and then swim up to tell us the name.

The second site was called Shark Alley. Here, they threw some chopped up fish in the water and then we jumped in with our snorkel gear on the opposite side of the boat to watch a dozen or so nurse sharks in a feeding frenzy. Below us swam several large sting rays, all in about 10 feet of water. Nurse sharks are not dangerous, but they are quite big so it was exhilarating to watch them feed.

Sharks!  These guys were about 5 or 6 feel long.

At the last stop we snorkeled on our own in and around several large coral reefs. The waves were starting to get larger and the current was pretty strong, so it was quite a bit of work to maneuver to where you wanted to be. The waves also made the water not as clear as it could have been, but we still saw a lot of great fish and coral.

Before heading back we visited a place along a dock where sea horses live and then fed some tarpon…well, Amy and Derek fed them, Randi and I opted out!  Tarpon are large fish that apparently have no teeth but do have a rough, sand paper like gums and strong jaws that can inflict pain if they snap closed on your hand.  With that bit of information, we were told to hold a small dead fish between our fingers, hand flat out about 2 feet above the water.  A school of tarpon immediately began to swim in around and over each other below the dangling bait fish.  Then BOOM, one jumped out of the water and took the fish.  It happened so quickly that it was hard to get a photo of, but go ahead and google videos of hand feeding tarpon if you want to get a feel for what it was like.

The rest of the time on the island was spent lounging, snorkeling the Split, paddling around on our floaty toys, drinking, eating, playing cards, and catching up.

Sunset by the Split.

Amy’s photo of Derek, Piper and I making our way back to the ferry.