I decided to round up my round the world trip with a beach holiday just chilling out and not doing much. I chose Caye Caulker because I could do diving, snorkeling and it wasn’t far from Belize city where my Guatemalan van would drop me off. And I think I made a great choice. Caye caulker is just 1 1/2 hours by boat from Belize city. I didn’t spend any time at Belize city because I heard it’s not so safe and it’s not very pretty from what I saw. If you do want to spend more time in Belize, you can consider San Ignacio with the Mayan ruins and stuff you can do. You can also choose to stay on the bigger island called San Pedro, 45 minutes from Caye Caulker.

Caye caulker is a ‘go slow’ friendly little village. I say village because it’s really small and everyone seems to know everyone and they love talking to tourists and sometimes making fun of us like shouting ‘hey, you’re walking too fast! Slow down!’ I love it. The entire island is about 8km long and 1 km ride wide but where the village is, it’s really small and chilled out. From one end to the other, it’s a 10 minutes walk if you go fast and any amount of time if you go slow because you can admire the sea, talk to the locals, have an ice cream, frozen yogurt, a fry jack, burrito or maybe even a massage by the beach. Everyone speaks English on this island so it’s so refreshing because I’ve been in non English speaking countries for the last 6 months 🙂. Even creole, which is their native language sounds like Jamaican English, so cool right?

The hostel I stayed at called Yuma’s house is just by the ferry terminal and it’s the cleanest most cute hostel I’ve stayed at. The host Susanne is friendly and keeps everything clean and immaculate, which I love. She also has 2 very cute dogs and a large garden facing the sea with hammocks and chairs that you can eat your meals at, chat with other hostel mates or just write my blog like I did. From her house, you can see the amazing sunrise! The island is really small so in peak season, do book up your accommodation quickly.

Caye Caulker has amazing blue and green crystal clear waters that changes as you head out to sea. The beach is white and sandy and really gorgeous near the split. The sunset is also gorgeous there and everyone congregates there for it while having happy hour drinks.

The best part about Caye Caulker is you can do lots of things, or do nothing.

On my first full day, I dived the blue hole with Frenchie’s and it was cloudy in the morning so it wasn’t as beautiful. However, the sun came out in the afternoon and half moon wall and the aquarium sites were amazingly clear, with beautiful reefs and abundant sea life. Lunch was at half moon Caye and we had some time to walk to the bird colony which had red footed boobies and frigate birds. Birds I didn’t get to Pet close to in Galápagos, they come right up to you from the watch tower and I was lucky to even see small chicks of the boobies. We were also really lucky to spot Pilot whales on the 2 hours way back on the boat so it was an amazing dive day.

Half Moon Caye is so beautiful

I dived for another 2 days in Esmeralda and Turneffe North and it was also filed with lots of sharks, amazing reefs and very mild currents. Means even diving here, you go slow 😂. Post the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the waters of Honduras, there was no tsunami and the waters were pristine.

During the trip to Turneffe, we stopped by San Pedro for lunch. It was a bigger and more commercialized town but there was good food at Brian’s food corner, the steered beef was good. The orchata which is a local rice drink is delicious

San Pedro from the waters

If you don’t dive, no problem! I highly recommend doing the full day snorkeling trip to Hol Chan. You get to feed large Tarpons, frigates, snorkel with sharks, rays, turtles, and lots of fish and snorkeling with Caveman tours, we even got a guided snorkeling trip where he points out almost all the fish species to us as we snorkeled in a group in the protected reef. We weren’t lucky enough to see manatees because the water was a bit too cold. They usually are around from May to October so I missed it. This just means I’ll have to come back to see them. If you’re not big into spending a whole day, they also have half day tours.

If you’re into fishing, there are also companies that do it here and it’s mainly catch and release as it’s a protected area and I saw the photos of the fish they get. They’re huge!

I tried my hand at paddle boarding. It’s tough but it’s a great work out and the shop near Yuma’s do it to the reef and they also have sunset excursions. They throw in a free lesson if you rent the board for an hour so it’s quite a good deal. You can also learn to surf and kite surf if you’re into more of an intense work out 🙂

If you love yoga, Jessie at Random Yoga teaches yoga everyday except Sunday at the rooftop of Namaste Cafe near the only bank on the island. She works on donations so she can teach yoga to everyone and she’s been doing it for 10 years! Go early to book your mat and spot as the 35 spots filled up quite quick

After all the chilling out or working out, I had a nice massage on he beach at Mel’s magic touch and she and her partner are the only certified therapists on the island and she throws in free chiropractic adjustments too as as she is a trained chiropractor. I did another massage at Ix’chel spa near the split and they had a really good honey sugar scrub.

I had the best Italian pasta out of Italy at Pasta Per Caso. Armando and his wife Anna are Italians and she knows how to make pasta! I ate there 3 nights and they were all good. They only have 2 choices, vegetarian and meat and it changes daily. Their place is packed full every night so you have to make a reservation or try walking in when they open at 6pm. They are closed on Thursday and Friday.

‘ Maggie’s sunset grill has a great view of the sunset while you chomp down Seafood or ribs. The lobsters are good on the island. I saw so many diving that it’s no wonder they are only $25-40 Belizean per piece. I also ate at Wish Willy’s and the vegetable side that came with my fish and pork chops was amazing!

you find grilled dinners everywhere on this island at dinner

Happy lobster has fresh conch ceviche and I was lucky to have conch in season so if you are here October to June, try it in a ceviche or curry. It has the texture like abalone and it’s slightly chewy and nice.

conch ceviche and shrimp coconut curry

If you’re into exotic fish, eat the grilled lion fish at Roy’s blue water grill. The jerk chicken is also very good as is the stuffed lobster 😂 so said my hostel mates

Divers, can you recognize the face of the lion fish? Now I know it’s delicious as well as beautiful. No wonder it’s poisonous. If it wasn’t, it would be extinct. They spear it here because they’re not native to Belizean waters, they multiply quickly and there are no predators except us

Rainbow bar and grill has got great burritos and a nice view of the sea. I had the nachos with beef and it was delicious too and a huge portion and the hot sauce!!! Yes! I’m obsessed with it

If you want to have a nice greasy breakfast, head to Errolyn’s house of fry jacks for the delicious deep fried goodness. I had chicken, cheese, ham and eggs in mine as bacon was sold out! 😂. It’s delicious with the hot sauce that’s made on this island! It’s cheap and good!

If you’re lucky enough to see a man on a bicycle selling banana cakes and beef pies, buy both! It’s damn delicious! His wife makes them and they sell out fast. They’re good for breakfast or snack and he has that hot sauce too. The hot sauce is so good I bought 2 bottles Home! Cake lady near the split also sells the cakes on the streets but I saw her dig her nose while talking to me so I decided against buying the chocolate cake.

the famous Belizean hot sauce. My dive master says it burns you twice. 😂😂

I had very good ice cream at The Creamery and they do frozen yogurt too near the split on the main stretch. The waffle cone is yummy.

If you like good organic coffee and juices and small donuts, Ice and Beans is really good. I also had fruit shakes at namaste cafe and the salads and giant muffins looks awesome.

If you like to party, there is sports bar by the beach just beside Yuma’s where everyone seems to be. You can also take the boat to koko king, opposite the split, the boat departs every 30 minutes from the pier at the west, where the sun sets.

If you love dogs, you will love the fact they have a humane society and dog shelter and you can walk the dogs if you want to. Just look for the shelter on the main stretch just opposite rice and beans.

I’m so happy my last 7 days were gorgeous and I chose the right place. I just got my nails done and I’m ready to head back to the corporate world for now, but I’ll never stop wandering and neither should you.

XOXO

Stella

Ps: I paid for all my meals and activities,so trust that my reviews are really my honest opinion ☺️