2006 was a year with a lot of changes and challenges for us, so when we were ready for a vacation we decided just to return to Caye Caulker. It was wonderful. It's hard to believe that such a little island could hold enough to warrant a revisit, but the people are great, the snorkeling is excellent, and the scenery is stunning. Combine that with cold beers and a very relaxed island vibe and it's a tough package to beat. It was touching how many people on the island recognized and remembered us from our last trip. Our favorite bartender even ran out and threw her arms around us when we got there. Now, while that could be taken as a sign of a lot of things, we chalked it up hospitality and a true friendliness. It helped to make it a great vacation. |
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This time we flew into Caye Caulker in a little Cessna four-seater. The whole trip took less than 15 minutes. |
We were only about 500 feet up, so Gelina got a great view out the side window. |
We stayed at the Seaside Cabañas again - nice rooms, good location, and the only pool on the island. |
 The hotel had this banana tree growing in the courtyard. Gelina checked it every day hoping to get a snack. |
 We stayed in one of the cabañas right next to the beach. It was 2-story with a sun deck up top. |
 This was the view out of our room. Great way to start the day. |
 The steps up to our sun deck taken using an infrared filter. |
We spent a lot of time during the day hanging out on the deck. It had a palapa for shade and a great hammock for naps. |
Gelina getting some sun. |
Gelina relaxing in infrared. |
Gelina worked on knitting her socks while on vacation. That anyone would deliberately wear wool socks was a foreign concept to the locals. |
 Beer clock - when the shadow got to the other side of the bottle it was time to get another beer. |
Beer clock went off - Gelina bringing more Belikins. |
Happy Gelina in her straw hat. |
Downtown Caye Caulker - this is about as busy as it gets. |
 A Creole request not to litter. |
We loved walking the beach and looking at some of the beach houses. |
 This one was a study in just how much pink paint you can legally buy. |
Not too long ago the island was nothing put houses like this. They're raised to protect them during storm surges. |
 This little shack was perfect - a space to store your boat, a spot to take a nap, and a porch overlooking the Caribbean. |
Blue on blue - modern architecture in Belize. |
Or the not-so-modern, but equally eye-catching, orange on blue on green combo. |
The Banana cabaña is sure bright and cheerful. |
The Barefoot Beach Resort is very cute too. |
 A fine start to the day - fresh squeezed orange juice in a Belikin beer glass. |
And a typical afternoon snack - banana bread and stout. |
Gelina at Rasta Pasta restaurant. |
 G taking a dip. Caye Caulker doesn't have great beaches, so a lot of swimming is done off of long docks like this. |
Where Land Rovers go to die. It seems to have sunken another couple of inches since we saw it last year. |
 This Rover has become an art display/religious icon/billboard. |
Loved the name of this salvaged boat - Determine |
The last thing a lobster sees - these lobster traps are all over the island. We arrived in time for the last day of the season. Good eats. |
The old Caye Caulker Cargo ship. The canoe is in case the engine breaks down. |
The bow of this boat has seen better days. There are a lot of old ones like this pulled up on the west side of the island. |
 An egret waiting in a mangrove tree to get some lunch. We watch this one stalk prey up and down the beach for hours. |
Bar snacks - this little guy tried out the swing and the cookies at Rasta Pasta. |
Morning sail - this windsurf was up early to take a ride. Wind surfing and kite surfing are big sports on the island. |
 12,420 km to Tokyo. We saw this sign post and thought, "No matter where you go, there you are." |
The new Caye Caulker fire truck. It's one of the few vehicles on the island. |
Just so you all know... |
The main dock where most of the commerce and tourists come in to Caye Caulker. The white motor sailor is the Winnie Estelle that runs day trips out of Ambergris Caye. The palapa/boat hybrid is Rass Creek's Heritage Cruz tour boat. |
Most of the cargo gets transported via tricycle. Here's local legend and funny man Rooster pushing a load of bananas and onions. Last time we saw him he was singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland at the top of his lungs while pedaling along. |
Pack animals - the ferry boats unloads a lot of backpackers at the dock. We only saw one person actually camping on the the island, so we're not sure if the bags are for show or what. |
For Dave's birthday Gelina arranged a day of fishing, snorkeling, and cruising around with ex pats Captain Bill and first mate Romey. It was a blast. |
Gelina caught this porgie. He was very fine eating. |
 Bait? No, but this little guy wasn't much bigger than the sardines we were using to troll for barracuda. |
After fishing, we snorkeled a part of the reef that used to be part of the local marine preserve. The coral was in excellent shape. |
Here's a couple types of brain coral. |
This is boulder coral, a porites species, which means it can take on a lot of different shapes. |
This is lumpy coral, the same porites type, just a different shape and color. |
Staghorn coral, we think. |
 The catch of the day was when Gelina spotted this lobster crawling along the bottom. She signaled Capn' Bill and he plugged him with the spear gun. Looks like lunch to me! |
We headed off to a couple of little un-named cayes west of Caye Caulker to make lunch. |
We just beached to boat the carried the gear ashore. |
 Of course, being mostly mangroves, there just wasn't a whole lot of shore there. |
We found enough dry land to set up the grill. |
 We explored our little bit of paradise and discovered that it was home to quite a few nesting seabirds. This is a cormorant chick. |
Here we are settled on our salty piece of land. Wonder if we could build a hut here? |
 Look at all those lobster. The big guy Gelina spotted is at the bottom. He was easily a 5-pounder . |
Talk about al fresco - we had our lunch off the bow of the boat, kind of a swim-up restaurant. It was fantastic! |
After a great meal, we toured around Caye Caulker for a bit. Some local fishermen built shack so they could watch over their lobster traps. |
And this is the Lazy Lizard, the bar that sits on the split that separates the island. |
 There's some serious building going on at the south end of the island. We called this the "tin church." |
The 4 o'clock flight back to Belize city taking off. Note the palapa-roofed shortage shed. |
 After a big day on the water we headed out for some food. This is the swing/waiting area outside of Don Corleone's Caribbean Trattoria. |
It's a cute italian place with nice outdoor seating. |
Wine, candlelight, and pasta - can't go wrong. |
After dinner we watched a intra-island basketball game for awhile. They even had a play-by-play announcer. |
Here's Rasta Pasta, one of our favorite places to eat on the beach. |
Back home at the Seaside Cabañas. |
The sunset as seen from out deck - it seemed to last forever. |
Wheels leaving the ground - sadly, after 10 days, we had to leave. |
The south end of the island. The purple shacks are Ignacio's Beach Cabins. |
You can just see the split near the north end of the island. |
You can see were the west end of the split forms a small lagoon were a lot of sailboats anchor. |
Caye caulker fading into the distance, sob... |
Again, we were only about 500 feet up, so we got some great views of the barrier reef. |
Here's a spot where the waves break over the reef. It's hard to believe the colors. |
Caye Chapel - Leonardo DiCaprio rented the whole island out just a month ago so he wouldn't have to deal with any of the "little people" while on vacation. |
He can have it. The island is mostly man-made. They put up sea walls and dredged sand to fill it in. Just can't stand palm trees in neat rows. |
Hick's Caye - last speck of land before Belize City. |
Us and our shadow. |
And then, depression set in - we arrived in the middle of a 17-inch snowstorm. Here's the baggage crew trying to find the plane. |
The cab couldn't even get into our driveway, so we had to trudge through the snow. Stuff like this makes you appreciate the time away even more. |