So when you’re living on an island that’s pretty darn close to paradise, it’s hard to plan vacations. On Monday and Tuesday of this week we had a pretty packed schedule of meetings on the mainland, so we decided to set off early to head North to Caye Caulker for Lobsterfest. We figured that Caye Caulker was big enough to have some of the amenities we’ve been missing on Tobacco Caye and would be pretty popping with the festival, but not touristy enough to disgust wanna-be-Belizeans such as ourselves. So Anna, Anja, Sean, Jen (the two Marine Station managers) and I set off for another Caye.
My friend on the Caye Caulker water taxi who kept me entertained by counting everything around us, including my sun freckles, that took a while.
We started off with a water taxi from Tobacco to Dangriga, bus from Dangriga to Belmopan (the capitol), bus from Belmopan to Belize City (the former capital determined to be too vulnerable to hurricanes), taxi to the water taxi terminal, and another water taxi to Caye Caulker. We could tell by comparing water taxi experiences that Caye Caulker was going to be a different ball game entirely. The Tobacco Caye water taxi greeted us with the smell of fish and several face-fulls of water, the Caye Caulker taxi workers (that’s right, more than one) greeted us with pineapple-coconut drinks and Mardi Gras beads (which we stared at with much confusion before giving them to local children, you know so we wouldn’t look like tourists).
Arrived in Caye Caulker and were stunned by the sheer size of everything. Though it still had the island ambiance we treasure on Tobacco, here there were roads filled with whizzing golf carts and throngs of people. We checked into the room we had booked at the Costa Maya Beach Cabanas and were stunned to find air conditioning, a TV, microwave, fridge, and…hot water!!! In the face of such luxury it was hard to maintain our stubborn preference for small and rustic, but we tried.
After lounging in the glory of our accommodations for a spell, we headed out to face the throngs at Lobsterfest. The festival is meant to celebrate the opening of lobster season in Belize and is held in 3 locations along the coast on 3 different weekends. The lobster was impressive, and served pretty much any way people could think of. The people, crafts, music, and atmosphere made everything even more delicious.
Chillin in Caye Caulker
The festival’s namesake.
I was temporarily crowned Queen of Caye Caulker, but the crown was less than comfortable and had recently been on a pile of suspicious looking dreadlocks.
