Purplelake: Day 6 - Dec 11, 2018 Caye Caulker, Belize

Belize is one of the few countries that still recognize Taiwan as a separate country outside of China. Apparently, Taiwan is giving Belize tens of millions of foreign aid every year. We drove by a technical training center run by Taiwan on our way to Western Belize a few days ago. Today right in downtown next to the Taiwan embassy, we saw a Taiwan Street!

Taiwan Street in Belize! Btw, most grocery stores are owned by Taiwanese or Chinese

The final leg of our trip started today. After a full breakfast buffet at Radisson, we left our big luggage at the hotel and walked to the ferry terminal few blocks away with just two backpacks. These ferries were similar to the ones we took in Galapagos. The journey to Caye Caulker is only 45 mins. The boat then would continue to San Pedro on the much bigger Ambergris Caye. Caye Caulker is quieter and more relaxed than Ambergris Caye. There was no paved road, just one dusty main street going North and South. Locals used golf carts as cars. Caye Caulker does not have good natural beach so swimming is not the best. The only "beach" they had are artificial beach at the tip of the caye. The main attraction here is snorkeling or diving. Our "high end" hotel was disappointing. The rooms are so small they can compete with Japanese hotels!

Speed boat ferry to Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye

Caye Caulker

Everyone has a jetty due to the shallow water. In fact, from the shore to the barrier reef, water is not deeper than 10 ft

Here in Caye Caulker, police car is a golf cart!

Artificial beach! No need to worry about beach erosion!

We booked a half-day snorkeling tour for the afternoon. This tour took us to the barrier reef just outside the shore. We followed Andrew our tour leader in the water as he tried to tell us all the names of the fish we encountered. Next, we went to a spot where lots of nurse sharks and stingrays would gather around the boat. These animals now had expectation of food hand out when they heard the boat motor. Even though I had reservation about feeding wildlife, it was still amazing to see all these magnificent creatures so close up. Yiling is fearless as she did not hesitate to touch the sharks! We did free snorkeling afterward before being fed some fruits/water. They also brought us to see big tarpon fish and sea horses on the other side of the caye as bonus items. Teasing the tarpons with tiny sardines was loads of fun as we watched in awe how high these fish could jump to get the food from your hand. Our dinner tonight was also memorable. We went to this highly recommended place to eat but there was no server! We sat wherever and grabbed ourselves beers from a cooler at the back. Then the chef came out and told us what he DIDN'T have tonight. Basically, he was trying to tell us he only had two items for tonight's dinner: curry fish or conch. We ordered one each and the food was delicious and the price was very reasonable. Maurice the chef only cooked what he could source that day. Some regular customers there told us that they never had one repeat dish from Maurice in the five days they ate there!