The part of the group that was left headed back to the boarder in a van so that we could catch the public bus from its first stop. That way we all had a seat. By the time we reached San Ignacio all the seats were full. The bus was like an old American school bus with wide seats but not alot of leg room if you had long legs, not a problem for Catriona. The bus trip to Belize City took around 3 hours and then we had a short taxi ride to the dock for our 1 hour water taxi ride to Caye Caulker. After checking into our hotel we bumped into John and Katie and Josh who were heading out on an afternoon snorkeling trip. The rest of us had lunch and drinks at a waterfront Cuban restaurant that specialised in pork. It was a delicious lunch in a lovely location.
After lunch we set off for a walk around the island with Sharon and Chris and made it to the split. The split is the point where the island was split in 1961 by a hurricane. We picked up the relaxed island vibe as we walked around. In the back streets we came across the power plant which looks temporary and is made up of 2 shipping containers with huge cables coming out of them. They run on diesel and make a huge amount of noise. Close by were the shanty shacks of some locals. We had afternoon drinks at the hotel with Sharon, Chris, Josh and Katie then headed off to dinner at Bamboozled, a sand floored restaurant by the water with swings for seats.
The two of us had breakfast at Glenda's, a small restaurant located in a house. At 10am we set off for our 1/2 day snorkeling trip, Sharon came along for the ride and only Chris, David and Catriona snorkeled. Our first stop was to swim around the coral and we saw many different types tropical fish. Our guide lured a green moray eel out from its hiding place with some food and it swam around the group trying to get more then went back into its hiding place. once back on the boat the guide handed out a laminated sheet with the pictures and names of the fish so we could identify what we had seen. Next stop was stingray alley. The water was very shallow and the nurse sharks and stingrays knew we were coming. Again the guide had food to keep them close by. We were there for around 45 minutes with the stingrays and sharks swimming around our legs, it was amazing. The guide even picked up a shark and let us feel it's pack and belly. He also let us feel a stingray as he was feeding it. At our last stop we were allowed to swim where ever we wanted around the reef. We had fun diving under the water following large and small fish and seeing the many different types of coral. It was a great morning out. We had lunch with Smokey and then headed up to the Split where David bought a bucket of 6 beers for 20 Belize dollars ($10US). We spent the rest of the afternoon there and were joined by Chris and Sharon, Josh and Katie and later on by Rob and Claire. The water was very warm and Catriona David and Chris ended up standing in the water having their drinks. The two of us had lovely seafood kebab dinner by ourselves at a small restaurant.
Our last day in Caye Caulker we had a relaxing day, did a little snorkeling on the leeward side of the island, and lunch with Chris and Sharon at Rainbow cafe over the water. At 4pm we met up with Smokey for a Sunset cruise. Most of the others in the group had canceled so it was just Chris, Sharon, David and Catriona with Smokey for the Cruise. It was a highlight of the trip sailing around Caye Caulker watching the sun go down over the Caribbean. The only downside was that we drank too much rum punch as we shared a gallon jug of it between the 4 of us. Once back on shore feeling very happy we met up with Josh and Katie who were having rum and cokes. We continued drinking with them and didn't end up making it to dinner.
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