Caye Caulker--will this work?

[mountainmare]

We are on the HAL Ryndam in January--from 8-5 (on HAL ship time is port time)

 

In the best of all worlds the tender gods would let us make the 9am ferry and all would be wonderful. But...

Assuming we take the 10:30 water taxi does this plan sound reasonable.

Arrive at 11:10 this gives us about 3 1/2 hours on the island planning on the 3 taxi back.

 

Try to find someone to take us out snorkeling. Now Coral Breezes says they have people snorkel to Ray Alley and another site for a total of 90 min. How far away from the island are the snorkeling sites? How easy is it to find someone on the island to take you out? Is it reasonable to plan on 2 hours for a snorkel trip from the island?

 

Would like to walk to the Split. How long does it take to walk?

Another (more adventuresome) idea is...if we cannot go out in a boat to snorkel--

walk around town, bakery, art and end up at the split. Hang and snorkel and the fly back to Belize City. There is a plane back at 3 that gets into the Municiple Airport at 3:10.

 

So my question is if we have to take the 10:30 taxi over and the 3 back will that give us enough time to snorkel a bit? I hate to commit to Coral Breezes in case the weather is crummy, and if we did the ultimate taxi--snorkel -- lunch and fly it is still less than Coral Breezes.

[crewsweeper]

I think you original plan sounds fine. There are boats that will take you out snorkeling or you can snorkel from the Split ( grab a bit of lunch from Carlos' little lolo stand just before you get to the Split). The island isn't that large so walking to the Split or renting a golf cart to drive there shouldn't be a burden, physically or time. Unless you want to snorkel for hours on end, as long as you can get back to the water taxi dock before 3 PM, you'll have plenty of time. You may have a bit of a problem with cleaning up as there really aren't public fresh water showers around, only available at resorts and hotels.

 

I'd say it's six of one, half dozen of the other on flying back versus water taxi time wise. By the time you land and catch a cab and get back tot he pier, you'd probably be meeting yourself getting off the 3PM water taxi.

[mountainmare]

Thanks--the only reason for flying is because it would be cool!!! We have our own snorkel stuff so that could make finding someone to take us out a bit easier.

 

Now that I think about it we have taken water taxis from St Thomas to St John and over to Virgin Gorda from Roadtown while on a ship--but in these cases great snorkeling was from the beach so my only issue this time has been getting to the reef in Belize.

For the last few years we've been going to Europe--public transportation is a snap so I'm just out of practice in the Caribbean.

[crewsweeper]

Try some of the dive shops and charters on this site. Just click on the links by the names for information.

 

http://www.gocayecaulker.com/serv.html

[wadethegringo]

For time sake flying is the best option. Check out the rates for flying out of Belize Municiple. (TZA) airstrip. with Tropic or Maya air. I would pick Tropic.. You should book a flight before you arive. They have a flight every hour, but only if there are bookings. If you are early or late they will do there best to get you on the next flight. every 2 hours starting at 730am Every hour to San Pedro. a 20 min flight. The Taxi to the Airstrip should be about $10 bz. Once on the Caye. you can head to the split to snorkel or hang out. Once again prebook your tours or they might not have anything.

[Willthethrill]

For time sake flying is the best option. Check out the rates for flying out of Belize Municiple. (TZA) airstrip. with Tropic or Maya air. I would pick Tropic.. You should book a flight before you arive. They have a flight every hour, but only if there are bookings. If you are early or late they will do there best to get you on the next flight. every 2 hours starting at 730am Every hour to San Pedro. a 20 min flight. The Taxi to the Airstrip should be about $10 bz. Once on the Caye. you can head to the split to snorkel or hang out. Once again prebook your tours or they might not have anything.

 

Wade, how long is the taxi ride from the pier (tourism village) to the Municipal airport? The cruise I'm on will also be in port from 8-5 and I'm thinking about booking the 9:30 Tropic Air flight out to San Pedro. I should be able to get one of the first tenders out, but am I cutting it too close? For the flight back, Tropic Air has a 2pm and a 3pm flight. Are the last tenders back to the ships really at 4pm or is there a little bit of wiggle room there? I'm wondering if booking the 3pm return flight would be cutting it too close.

 

Thanks!

[luv2trvlnow]

Wade, how long is the taxi ride from the pier (tourism village) to the Municipal airport? The cruise I'm on will also be in port from 8-5 and I'm thinking about booking the 9:30 Tropic Air flight out to San Pedro. I should be able to get one of the first tenders out, but am I cutting it too close? For the flight back, Tropic Air has a 2pm and a 3pm flight. Are the last tenders back to the ships really at 4pm or is there a little bit of wiggle room there? I'm wondering if booking the 3pm return flight would be cutting it too close.

 

Thanks!

 

Remember to check the time difference. Belize is on CST. Which means that don't observe daylight savings time. If your ship is coming out of Florida, it will probably be 1 hour ahead of Belize until we change to daylight savings time, then it will be 2 hours ahead of Belize.

[mountainmare]

That all depends on the cruiseline--on HAL ship time is port time--they change the clocks on the ship when you change time zones.

[cruzy-sue]

I used Coral Breeze last May - it was really really wonderful.

 

The snorkeling off Caye Caulker is kind of a ride out to the reef - not too far, tho. It is the absolute best snorkeling I have ever seen. (ANd I have snorkelled all over)

 

There were people on our tour who were just dropped off at the island - while we snorkeled I guess they explored Cay Cauloker - and then came back on the boat with us. (The are very respectful of ships' leaving time)

 

After the two snorkel stops - we were brought back to the island, had lunch and still had a little time to walk around Caye Caulker - not much to be seen!

 

I recommend coralbreeze , in fact we are doing the same exact tour again this December.

 

P.S. What if you decide to fly and your flight is delayed or cancelled?

[mountainmare]

Thanks for all the input everyone.

The reason for not reserving a tour from anyone in advance is that I have been stuck snorkeling when conditions were crummy. I want the freedom to decide depending on conditions on that day. It sounds like we will be able to go with the flow according to reports back from people sailing the Ryndam recently. I'm looking forward to the adventure and will report back in Feb.

[AlanAllyn]

There are likely going to be more ships in Belize when you are there than a week or two ago.

 

I second Crazy-Sue; we had a great time on that trip with coralbreeze.

 

Alan

[wadethegringo]

Wade, how long is the taxi ride from the pier (tourism village) to the Municipal airport? The cruise I'm on will also be in port from 8-5 and I'm thinking about booking the 9:30 Tropic Air flight out to San Pedro. I should be able to get one of the first tenders out, but am I cutting it too close? For the flight back, Tropic Air has a 2pm and a 3pm flight. Are the last tenders back to the ships really at 4pm or is there a little bit of wiggle room there? I'm wondering if booking the 3pm return flight would be cutting it too close.

 

Thanks!

The Taxi is a 20 min ride. 20 min flight.

[MDSue]

We were going to take the Caye Caulker water taxi on our last trip but decided not to because of time concerns. Our ship [the Legend] showed their arrival time at 8 am [6am Belize time], but we were told that we couldn't tender until 9:30 am since people with ship sponsored tours got the first tenders. I have heard that you can get an earlier tender if you showed up early, but we didn't want to risk it. The ships scheduled departure was 4pm [2pm Belize time] and the last tender was 3:30. That meant we'd have to catch the 12:30 water taxi back from Caye Caulker in order to get back in time. We ended up booking a ship tour instead.

 

There is a recent great review by CC member "blessedwith12' who just got back from a Carnival cruise [on the Carnival board]. They took the water taxi to Caye Caulker and had an absolutely hair raising race back to the ship in after they got left behind by the water taxi when an unexpected storm popped up. It is well worth looking up.

I still want to go there one day, but her review is a great example of what can happen along the way.

[blessedwith12]

Yes, it was me that got left in Caye Caulker after making a couple of critical mistakes. What I learned from my adventure:

 

1. Hammerhead Sports (Tour company used by Coral Breezes) may cancel your excursion at the dock if one of the ships is taking too long to tender and they don't want to take just a small group out. Have a Plan B ready.

 

2. As others have said on these boards (and a point I ignored when making my spur of the moment changes in plans): do not plan on taking the last water taxi back that can make your ship.

 

3. Do not rely on the water taxi schedules. They ignored the schedule and left Caye Caulker 15 minutes early - and did not wait until the correct time to leave, even after being told there was a couple that needed to be on that water taxi.

 

4. Realize there are 2 water taxis that operate on Caye Caulker.They are at separate piers and have different schedules.

 

5. Make sure you have your passports and a credit card with you - just in case things go wrong.

 

6. Pay attention to the weather.

[MDSue]

Yes, it was me that got left in Caye Caulker after making a couple of critical mistakes. What I learned from my adventure:

 

1. Hammerhead Sports (Tour company used by Coral Breezes) may cancel your excursion at the dock if one of the ships is taking too long to tender and they don't want to take just a small group out. Have a Plan B ready.

 

2. As others have said on these boards (and a point I ignored when making my spur of the moment changes in plans): do not plan on taking the last water taxi back that can make your ship.

 

3. Do not rely on the water taxi schedules. They ignored the schedule and left Caye Caulker 15 minutes early - and did not wait until the correct time to leave, even after being told there was a couple that needed to be on that water taxi.

 

4. Realize there are 2 water taxis that operate on Caye Caulker.They are at separate piers and have different schedules.

 

5. Make sure you have your passports and a credit card with you - just in case things go wrong.

 

6. Pay attention to the weather.

 

Great advice- I loved your review!