Chilling, diving and drinking in Caye Caulker
Summary
Chilling – Go Slow is on the street signs, used when people say hello to each other, and just the general culture of the place. Such a wonderfully laid back Caribbean beach town
Diving – some fab dive sites no distance from the shore, and of course access to the world famous Blue Hole
Drinking – the Spit, the narrow channel that splits Caye Caulker in two and with a series of beach bars to allow you to chill in the water whilst having your drinks, makes for one of the best drinking spots you can dream of
Caye Caulker – a must if in Belize
highlights
#1 Chilling out having a few drinks in the water by The Spit that separates the two islands, one of the coolest beach bar locations
#2 Diving with the nurse sharks around Tackle Box and Esmerelda dive sites
#3 Wandering through the lazy streets and colourful bars of Caye Caulker
#4 Heading out by boat to the world-famous dive site of the Blue Hole, with its enormous stalactites, sleek Caribbean Reef Sharks, and the unnerving look down into the deep blue
Travel Tips
- Diving -we went for a half day of diving with Black Durgon Dives and would recommend them. Two sites just to the north of Caye Caulker:
- Tackle Box (30m), a canyon with a heap of nurse sharks
- Esmerelda (30m), a similar dive with many nurse sharks
- Blue Hole– for more tips specifically on a trip to dive the Blue Hole, see the Diving the Blue Hole entry
- Cycling – in Caye Caulker, nothing is really that far away, but it is worth hiring a bike, or borrowing one from the place you’re staying at
- Start off with the Lazy Lizard at The Spit and, if haven’t had too much to drink, head over at some point to the other side where there are a couple of cool little spots for a different and even less built up view
- Key tip – Go Slow . . . its what Caye Caulker is known for
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Similar Beach Bumming Travel Experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone