From Orange Walk we headed south to Belize City in order to take a water taxi to the island of Caye Caulker, a very small island that was actually cut it half by a hurricane a few years ago. We stayed right on the water at a place called Miramar. Our first night in town was a Thursday, we spent the night relaxing, took a yoga class on the roof at sunset and fell asleep to the hustle and bustle of the streets below our room. It was really cool to hear the buzz of the street, Garifuna, Spanish, English, and a blend of them all, could be heard all through the night.
The second day I was on a fishing mission and after some rooftop sunrise yoga, we circled the town getting supplies and bait. We went down to ¨the Split¨ where there is a bar, a beach and a good place to fish. The only fish I caught was a small grouper, so no cheap fish taco lunch for us. The rest of the day we lounged and that night we went to a super cool outside restaurant away from the main tourist strip named Wish Willy´s, probably the most relaxed and local place we ate at the whole time.
The third day in Caye Caulker was a big day. After a 3 dollar breakfast burrito, we headed to the docks to go on a snorkeling trip to the protected reef that lines the east side of the island. We got to see tons of fish, and even got to swim with nurse sharks and Southern Caribbean sting rays. On the way back to the island from the reef we where lucky enough to run into a school of feeding bottle nose dolphins, an unusual spot for them to be. After the snorkeling tour we decided to go rent a kayak so we could paddle around the northern part of the island across the split, most of the northern island is protected land.
So we paddled out and I decided I wanted to troll for fish, earlier I couldn´t find any sardines for bait so I was forced to buy shrimp. After about 5 minutes of trolling I was fixing something and my spool of line went flying over board, I of course went flying overboard after it, nearly turning over the kayak and completely ignoring the fact I had my hat on and my sunglasses on my hat. After climbing back into the kayak to a very upset partner (i almost took our bag with me when I dove over) I reeled in my fish. The fish looked good enough so I kept it. Two more hours of fishing with no more fish we paddled back to the southern part of the island. When we pulled up the local Rastas we rented the kayak from asked if we caught anything. I responded, ¨Yea but I´m not sure if its any good.¨ When I pulled the fish out everyone was completely shocked. It was a black snapper one of the best local fish you can get, much better than it´s red cousin, and it was a decent size. The Rastas asked me where exactly i caught it, then when we where walking through town trying to find someone to cook it two more people came up surprised and asked where exactly I had caught it, so I´m thinking it was a pretty good catch. It was definitely one of the best tasting fish we both ever had.
Three days in paradise was enough and we where off to San Ignacio near the border of Guatemala.
