Caye Caulker

[monicajay]

Yes, we did in Mid DEC 2011.

 

They were great.

 

But.. we went with them for only the trip to Cay Caulker.

 

We were the only ones on the boat for the trip, everyone else was for the snorkel.

 

 

They droped us off at cay caulker, and the boat hand actually walked us off all the way to the restururant.

 

 

They were excellent. However, if you are just looking for a boat to get to Cay Caulker, We feel the regular taxi boats is a better deal $$ at 1/2 cost.

 

 

Just be very careful on your return time back to Belize........

 

BOTTOM LINE..

 

There is no faster time between Gulf Breze and the local taxis. They both take the same amonut of time.

 

Gulf Breeze is twice the cost... $40 per person round trip verson $20 the other way.

 

Gulf Stream is very personalized, very attentavie towards you. They make sure, when they drop you off at cay caulker, you know where to meet back up.

 

They will wait for you.

 

The taxi's will leave if you are not on time.

 

IF WE DO IT AGAIN.....

 

We would do the taxi's at half the cost. You get no individual service, but who cares.. it is a boat ride to get you there and back.

 

YOU JUST NEED TO BE CAREFUL TO LEAVE IN TIME TO GET BACK TO YOUR SHIP.

 

So all you have to do is leave two (2) TAXI'S SCHEDULES ahead from Cay Caulker, and you are Golden.

 

This means, Leave Cay Cauker Regualar Taxi at 1:00 PM their time, and no later than the next one at 2:30 PM Their time, to get back to your ship, by 5:00PM, SHIP TIME.. REPEAT SHIP TIME. NOT BELIZE TIME.

 

If you leave the next taxi at 4:00 PM, you are screwed!!!! So give yourself some distance and leave at the 1:00PM or no later than the 2:30 one.

 

WE LOVED CAY CAULKER, SOOOOO WONDERFUL :p

 

Do you mean Coral Breeze? Can't find Gulf Breeze or Gulf Stream!

[zipnover]

What site did you use to get the water taxi times? I can't find one that has a 1:00 departure from Caye Caulker....

 

Yes, we did in Mid DEC 2011.

 

They were great.

 

But.. we went with them for only the trip to Cay Caulker.

 

We were the only ones on the boat for the trip, everyone else was for the snorkel.

 

 

They droped us off at cay caulker, and the boat hand actually walked us off all the way to the restururant.

 

 

They were excellent. However, if you are just looking for a boat to get to Cay Caulker, We feel the regular taxi boats is a better deal $$ at 1/2 cost.

 

 

Just be very careful on your return time back to Belize........

 

BOTTOM LINE..

 

There is no faster time between Gulf Breze and the local taxis. They both take the same amonut of time.

 

Gulf Breeze is twice the cost... $40 per person round trip verson $20 the other way.

 

Gulf Stream is very personalized, very attentavie towards you. They make sure, when they drop you off at cay caulker, you know where to meet back up.

 

They will wait for you.

 

The taxi's will leave if you are not on time.

 

IF WE DO IT AGAIN.....

 

We would do the taxi's at half the cost. You get no individual service, but who cares.. it is a boat ride to get you there and back.

 

YOU JUST NEED TO BE CAREFUL TO LEAVE IN TIME TO GET BACK TO YOUR SHIP.

 

So all you have to do is leave two (2) TAXI'S SCHEDULES ahead from Cay Caulker, and you are Golden.

 

This means, Leave Cay Cauker Regualar Taxi at 1:00 PM their time, and no later than the next one at 2:30 PM Their time, to get back to your ship, by 5:00PM, SHIP TIME.. REPEAT SHIP TIME. NOT BELIZE TIME.

 

If you leave the next taxi at 4:00 PM, you are screwed!!!! So give yourself some distance and leave at the 1:00PM or no later than the 2:30 one.

 

WE LOVED CAY CAULKER, SOOOOO WONDERFUL :p

[monicajay]

What site did you use to get the water taxi times? I can't find one that has a 1:00 departure from Caye Caulker....

 

http://belizewatertaxi.com/rates-schedule

 

Seems to have a 1pm departure

 

The other company has a 1h30 departure:

 

http://www.cayecaulkerwatertaxi.com/

 

Now, if I can just figure out if they leave from the same place in Caye Caulker..... anybody know?

[Milhouse]

Different piers but it's pretty close (NOT right beside each other tho).

[i'll check my laptop later to see if I ended up taking a picture.]

[monicajay]

Different piers but it's pretty close (NOT right beside each other tho).

[i'll check my laptop later to see if I ended up taking a picture.]

 

So they use different piers in Caye Caulker? How far apart are they?

[VikkiGarcia]

We were there in December. The 2 piers are very close. While waiting for our water taxi I could see everything happening on the other pier.

[Milhouse]

This picture was taken from from the Caye Caulker Water Taxi pier seating area looking over to the Belize Express Water Taxi pier.

 

Hopefully the picture is big enough for you. If not, let me know and I can post a larger version by linking it to my flickr acct.

[zip55]

Does anyone know how to get to each of the departure terminals for Caye Caulker Water Taxi and San Pedro Express? (in Belize City) How far is the "swinging bridge" where Caye Caulker Water Taxi leaves from? It has an earlier departure, and we are going to try to make it. We were booked w/ Coral Breeze and they just cancelled because of too few bookings. We are leaving in 5 days. We really just want to see Caye Caulker for a few hours.

Thanks!

[SeaPA1]

Does anyone know how to get to each of the departure terminals for Caye Caulker Water Taxi and San Pedro Express? (in Belize City) How far is the "swinging bridge" where Caye Caulker Water Taxi leaves from? It has an earlier departure, and we are going to try to make it. We were booked w/ Coral Breeze and they just cancelled because of too few bookings. We are leaving in 5 days. We really just want to see Caye Caulker for a few hours.

Thanks!

 

The San Pedro Express is immediately adjacent to the Tourism Village, separated only by a chain link fence. Exit the TV, turn left, then turn left into the courtyard of the next building. SPE is all the way back at the end of that building, on the water.

 

CCWT is, I'd guess, about a 5 minute walk (that's approx how long it took me, walking with my wife, a 7 year old, and a 5 year old - so we weren't making any mad dash). To get there, exit the TV, turn left, & keep going. It's just before you get to the swing bridge.

[zip55]

Thank You! We are going to use the water taxis despite what a few people have said... I am sure it will be fine, I will update when I return.

[mamajules]

My understanding is there is a third option as far as water taxis to Caye Caulker. Does anyone have any experience with San Pedro Water Jets Express. Per the website, it leaves from the same dock in Belize City as Caye Caulker Water Taxi; however, it uses the back lagoon dock at Caye Caulker. Looks to be a simple walk down that middle street on Caye Caulker to the other side of the island to Front Street. I think originally this was just to Ambergris Caye and Chetumal, but they have added Caye Caulker. The boats look to be very nice, and the schedule looks good, too.

[T_Bone2012]

We booked the Shark Ray alley snorkeling tour through Coral breeze in January. The tour was actually run by Hammerhead tours. The boat ride over on "The Great White" took 40 minutes. The snorkeling was fantastic, but we felt rushed. we saw a ton of fish, a moray eel and an Eagle ray, but they didn't seem to want us to dwell and look at the coral closely.

 

 

Shark Ray Alley was similar to Sting Ray City in Cayman, only with a bunch of nurse sharks swimming around. It was cool to see this exact tour on ""The Bachelor" last week! The crew was great - and we on;y has 12-15 people in our group.

 

 

Two of our party chose the non-snorkel option, and were dropped off at the dock at Caye Caulker and told that we would be back in 1-1/2 hours. They wandered into town and were told the beach was a good 20 minute walk away. They decided to just hang out by the pier, but were told that they couldn't use any of the 30 empty beach chairs right there by the dock. They asked if they could rent them - no. Really? They walked in a few shops, then just went to the bar and had a few drinks, since they didn't want to rent a cart, and it wasn't worth 40 minutes of walking to spend 20 minutes at the beach.

 

We returned from snorkeling, ate a nice lunch and started to wander into town to look around when we were told the boat was leaving! What happened to "wander around town for an hour"? I guess you have to choose between lunch and wandering!

 

We loved the area so much we are going back to Ambergus Caye for a week in November - and we are going scuba diving this time. We do plan to go to Caye Caulker for a day trip to scout out hotels for a future trip.

 

In Short - The snorkeling was great, the non snorkeling was a rip off.

[BrianB1964]

We booked the Shark Ray alley snorkeling tour through Coral breeze in January. The tour was actually run by Hammerhead tours. The boat ride over on "The Great White" took 40 minutes. The snorkeling was fantastic, but we felt rushed. we saw a ton of fish, a moray eel and an Eagle ray, but they didn't seem to want us to dwell and look at the coral closely.

 

 

Shark Ray Alley was similar to Sting Ray City in Cayman, only with a bunch of nurse sharks swimming around. It was cool to see this exact tour on ""The Bachelor" last week! The crew was great - and we on;y has 12-15 people in our group.

 

 

Two of our party chose the non-snorkel option, and were dropped off at the dock at Caye Caulker and told that we would be back in 1-1/2 hours. They wandered into town and were told the beach was a good 20 minute walk away. They decided to just hang out by the pier, but were told that they couldn't use any of the 30 empty beach chairs right there by the dock. They asked if they could rent them - no. Really? They walked in a few shops, then just went to the bar and had a few drinks, since they didn't want to rent a cart, and it wasn't worth 40 minutes of walking to spend 20 minutes at the beach.

 

We returned from snorkeling, ate a nice lunch and started to wander into town to look around when we were told the boat was leaving! What happened to "wander around town for an hour"? I guess you have to choose between lunch and wandering!

 

We loved the area so much we are going back to Ambergus Caye for a week in November - and we are going scuba diving this time. We do plan to go to Caye Caulker for a day trip to scout out hotels for a future trip.

 

In Short - The snorkeling was great, the non snorkeling was a rip off.

I am booking this trip for April. I was also told for the snorkeling, they made you wear a lifevest versus wearing a snorkeling vest? If that is so, I may need to purchase a snorkeling vest. You can't dive below the surface in a life vest.

 

Pictures look great!!!

[T_Bone2012]

I am booking this trip for April. I was also told for the snorkeling, they made you wear a lifevest versus wearing a snorkeling vest? If that is so, I may need to purchase a snorkeling vest. You can't dive below the surface in a life vest.

 

Pictures look great!!!

 

That is correct - some of the coral we floated over was less than 2 feet below the surface, so they made everyone wear a life vest around your waist so we didn't touch or damage the coral formations. It made it impossible to dive! They also do not want you getting anywhere near the moray eel that they harass until it comes out of hiding!

 

[Will in sunny FL]

I am booking this trip for April. I was also told for the snorkeling, they made you wear a lifevest versus wearing a snorkeling vest? If that is so, I may need to purchase a snorkeling vest. You can't dive below the surface in a life vest.

 

Pictures look great!!!

 

When we snorkeled with Coral breeze Tours we wear our snorkel vests with no problem.

They do offer the best snorkel tours to be had in Belize, with consistent quality from Heni the group leader.

We will be with them again this April & can't wait for the trip & local lunch on Caye Caulker.

Bill in FL

[tweety33]

So your feet never touch the bottom when swimming with the sharks & stingrays? Are you in water shallow or over your head? I fear stepping on one of them, causing them to bite me:eek:.

[milkcoffeecruiser]

Quite a trip from the tender dock...

[jayscore]

So your feet never touch the bottom when swimming with the sharks & stingrays? Are you in water shallow or over your head? I fear stepping on one of them, causing them to bite me:eek:.

 

Karen! Just had to say 'Hey!" ;)

Jay

[T_Bone2012]

So your feet never touch the bottom when swimming with the sharks & stingrays? Are you in water shallow or over your head? I fear stepping on one of them, causing them to bite me:eek:.

 

The area we went to was only about 3' deep, so we were standing in the water. They told us to just make sure we were always walking forwards, that way you can see where you are stepping.

[tweety33]

Karen! Just had to say 'Hey!" ;)

Jay

Jay, Hey back at cha. I haven't seen you lurking around these boards all year. Have a great trip.

 

 

 

So do the sharks rub up against your legs or try to avoid you?

[T_Bone2012]

So do the sharks rub up against your legs or try to avoid you?

 

The sharks pretty much stay away unless you hang out right where they are feeding them. Once I got in the water, I moved about 10 yards away from the boat - the water was much clearer. If you hang out right by the boat, all kinds of sand gets kicked up, making the water really cloudy.

[zip55]

Hi

So here is my update on Caye Caulker. We did take the water taxi. We arrived in Belize around 8 am ship time and we easily made the San Pedro Express at 9 am Belize time (10am ship time). The ferry was on time (give or take 10 minutes) and it is about a 1 hour trip. We had about 2 1/2 solid hours to walk around, it is a neat place. You wont need much longer than that. My only regret is that I wished we had rented bikes and gone out to the "split". Coming back, the water taxi was about 5 minutes late, no big deal. I recommend this, we had a great day. Just be careful not to get mixed up with Belize time and Ship time...

[Melismass]

Hi

So here is my update on Caye Caulker. We did take the water taxi. We arrived in Belize around 8 am ship time and we easily made the San Pedro Express at 9 am Belize time (10am ship time). The ferry was on time (give or take 10 minutes) and it is about a 1 hour trip. We had about 2 1/2 solid hours to walk around, it is a neat place. You wont need much longer than that. My only regret is that I wished we had rented bikes and gone out to the "split". Coming back, the water taxi was about 5 minutes late, no big deal. I recommend this, we had a great day. Just be careful not to get mixed up with Belize time and Ship time...

 

Thanks Zip! That is my plan for our group of 13 in 2 weeks. I am planning on going directly to the split and letting that be our "hangout spot" for the day. That way everyone can go do their own thing and then meet back up there to walk back to the water taxi together. Thanks for easing my mind about the water taxi schedule. What did you do with your time on the island?