Mrs. Meticulous and I just got back from a relaxing week in Belize. We spent the vast majority of it on Caye (pronounced “key”) Caulker, an island east of the mainland.
Since we had just returned from a week in Kenya, we wanted this to be a more relaxed trip. We chose to not fill every day with an activity and peppered in a lot of beach lounging. Because of that, I’m only writing this one article about it rather than my standard two (planning + actual trip).
Hopefully this overview can shed some light on the logistics and things to do around the island!
PLANNING THE BELIZE TRIP
After the Kenya trip, we wanted something close. Belize was a perfect fit: short flights plus nice weather to escape Minnesota in January.
We started by looking at places in the mainland, but it didn’t seem like we’d get the tropical/relaxing experience we were going for. So we turned our sights to the islands off the mainland.
We decided to book Caye Caulker because of its reputation for a slow pace and nice people. Both of those characteristics were right up our alley for this trip’s objective.
BOOKING FLIGHTS AND HOTEL FOR THE BELIZE TRIP
This was a shockingly easy and fast trip to plan. As many of you know, Groupon Getaways is one of my favorite ways to book cheap flights and accommodations together. Although they’re starting to post again post-COVID, pickings are still pretty slim.
So, for this particular trip I went with the Expedia route.
Expedia makes booking super easy. You say where you want to go, your origin airport, and you self-select your flights and accommodations. They provide reviews and helpful hints for the best flight itineraries.
Knowing we wanted to go to Belize, it was simple to plug in our info and pick out our hotel. We ended up going with Jan’s Hotel due to its super low cost combined with a high rating.
LOGISTICS: GETTING TO CAYE CAULKER
Flights to Philip SW Goldson International Airport (BZE) were surprisingly fast. MSP to IAH in just over two hours, then IAH to BZE in just over two hours. Roughly four hours of flight time from Minnesota to Belize was amazingly quick.
We did have only a 49-minute layover to IAH but made it through with plenty of time. IAH is laid out logically and we got to our gate before boarding even started. Even had time to get Mrs. Meticulous something at Dunkin to preempt any hangriness.
Once we arrived at BZE, there were taxis to take you from the airport to the water taxi port. There is a pretty standard $25 USD fee. If you find yourself looking for a taxi that won’t rip you off, keep asking until someone will do it for $25 USD.
There are two ferry ports in Belize City. We were told that the San Pedro Belize Water Taxi was the more legitimate of the two. Keep that in mind if a taxi driver suggests taking you the other one, the Ocean Ferry Belize.
After a 30-ish minute drive to the ferry port, you check in (or buy) your water taxi tickets. $22 USD for a return ticket.
Then, you wait for the next ferry to take off. There is a schedule posted on the website as well as in the port.
Keep in mind there are two gates: one to San Pedro and one to Caye Caulker. Be sure to line up in front of Gate 2 for Caye Caulker. There seemed to be some flexibility with how direct ferries were depending on the time of day. All that to say, it is possible that even if you go through the Caye Caulker gate, you could make a stop at San Pedro first which would add some time to your journey.
Our ferry took us directly to Caye Caulker, which took about 45 minutes.
When planning, I thought a bit ahead and asked our hotel for transportation advice. Lucky for us, they were willing to organize a pickup for us so we had a taxi driver with our names on a whiteboard when we exited customs. Always reassuring. He also provided us with round-trip water taxi tickets to Caye Caulker which was an added peace of mind.
COVID PRECAUTIONS & REGULATIONS IN THE AIRPORT
Full disclosure, I am not a public health official. If that wasn’t already obvious. So, all I can share is the regulations I researched and my personal experience trying to fulfill them.
Belize was (allegedly) in a bad COVID situation. The CDC had them at “level 4, don’t travel here” which is the highest level of risk. I found that odd, given new cases were in the hundreds. Either way, we made sure to follow the protocols to a tee, other than obviously actually traveling there…
I saw some conflicting information between United Airlines’ website, the Belizean government website, and the US embassy in Belize. Some said a rapid antigen test was OK, others said a PCR was required. To be safe, Mrs. Meticulous and I got a PCR within 72 hours of our departure. That was likely unnecessary since it was stated that 96 was the requirement. CVS has been returning PCR results in a day for us, so we weren’t too concerned.
We had our printed negative results when we arrived at MSP airport. Mysteriously, neither the check-in staff nor gate agent asked to see our negative test results. I found it bizarre that they let us board both flights without checking, but that’s what happened.
Officials checked our results for the first time when we landed. Again, bizarre to me. You gonna send me all the way back?
There was an impromptu testing area for anyone that didn’t have test results with them, for $50 USD. Since we were ready, we cleared this checkpoint quickly and went on to customs.
COVID PRECAUTIONS & REGULATIONS WHILE IN BELIZE
Outside of the airport and customs rigamarole, I found Belize to be disciplined on enforcing COVID guidelines.
- You must stay at “gold standard accommodations” in Belize, of which our hotel was.
- There was a curfew in effect from 9pm-4am on the mainland, and 11pm-4am in tourist areas such as Caye Caulker.
- Masks were worn, even when outside – except for swimming or eating.
- This was enforced by the 3-4 police officers on Caye Caulker, but in a pretty friendly manner.
- Per the Belizean tourist website, restaurants are to open at 50% capacity. This was probably the only rule I didn’t see enforced… there were some busy restaurants with full tables.
ACTIVITIES IN AND AROUND CAYE CAULKER
That was more planning text than I planned to write, so I’ll simplify our activities with a list instead. Happy to answer any questions about any of these things we did, send me an email at Andrew@TheMeticulousTraveler.com.
FOOD
- Caye Caulker is a seafood paradise. So many places with great grilled lobster, and delicious ceviches. We had 4 different ceviches & could’ve had more.
- Pelican Sunset (allegedly) had the best ceviche on the island, but we actually preferred the one at Maggie’s Sunset Kitchen
- We did bring a lobster our snorkel captain caught to Pelican Sunset and they made it into a ceviche which was a cool novelty experience
- Had my first Hogfish at Maggie’s, which is supposed to be one of the best local fish for eating. Can’t disagree.
- Fresh juice is also excellent, cheap, and available everywhere. We went to Ice and Beans a few times to sip drinks and sit in their hammocks and beach chairs.
EXCURSIONS
- Being POSes on the beach was the #1 activity which was fine by us, this was our top priority
- Full day snorkel
- We got a tip from the owner of Paradiso Cafe when we had breakfast that Ronnie Sosa had God-tier knowledge of the surrounding water and reef and we should go with him. This turned out to be sound advice.
- Swam with manatees, a sea turtle, a conch colony, spotted eagle rays (i.e. teacher from Finding Nemo who sings) and various gorgeous and colorful reef fish like wrasse
- Stepped into shallow water with nurse sharks and rays as they fed on lobster
- “Hunted” for lobster with a stick with a hook on the end. I tried it. I sucked and failed… multiple times. Captain and his nephews caught several with ease and I looked like a tourist dumbass.
- Day trip to the mainland to visit Xunantunich Mayan ruin
- You do have to take the water taxi back to Belize City and then a 2hr drive to the Guatemalan border, but it was a beautiful place to visit and we thought well worth the journey
- Hanging out at “The Split”, the divide between the north and south islands of Caye Caulker
- Watching the beautiful sunsets from beach chairs or restaurants on the west side of Caye Caulker
Cannot overstate the value of locals on our trip to Belize. I’ve written about the importance of locals when traveling before.
Chatting up the owner of a restaurant where we had breakfast our first morning on Caye Caulker, we learned they were from Minnesota. After shooting the the shit in classic MN style (it’s cold in MN, nice to be down here where it’s warmer huehuehue), they recommended Ronnie Sosa as a boat guide. If that wasn’t enough, the also directed us to two of the restaurants we loved. This 10-minute conversation led to some of the top experiences we had on the island!
OTHER OBSERVATIONS WHILE ON CAYE CAULKER
- There are no cars. You walk, bike, or take a golf cart. Makes for a slow-paced and serene atmosphere which I loved
- Caye Caulker is extremely safe. Everyone walks around, leaving their bikes & belongings unlocked, etc.
- No one is in a rush, including your wait staff. Get used to it!
- It’s mostly a cash economy, although some restaurants take cards. Some of the card-taking ones charge a fee (and don’t always tell you… thanks a lot Barefoot Cafe. Boooo…)
- Most merchants take USD, BZD, or a combination. 1 USD = 2 BZD and this is the understood exchange rate
- There are a lot of (entertaining) stray dogs on the island. We “adopted” one and named him Shadow since he followed us around and escorted us to our hotel safely every night. Not all heroes wear capes.
- Before coming home, we got a rapid antigen COVID test at Dr. D’s Clinic on the island for $75 USD each. Super quick and easy and got our negative results printed out.
WRAPPING UP
All in all, this was a wonderful trip. Slow paced and relaxed, exactly what we were hoping for. It did take some effort to get to Caye Caulker but once there it was smooth and chill for the entire week. Given the proximity to the US, the friendliness of the locals, and the beauty of the reef and beaches, I’d definitely recommend anyone to spend a week in Caye Caulker!
