Shark Ray alley with coral breezes

[rjm11]

I am considering the shark/ray alley tour with coral breezes, but would probably want to do lunch on my own as I have younger picky kids (7 and 5). Does anyone know if there are golf carts available near where the boat docks on Caye Caulker? Is it feasible to drive around and pick a spot for lunch? Safe? Thanks!

[CENTEX CRUISER]

We are doing this in April, daughter was thre 2 years ago, said they are great..I talked to the crew last March, and they seemed very nice, couldn't go because they were all booked. Caulkner should be perfectly safe, and I believe the golf carts are no problem. It is a pretty small island. Enjoy...:)

[Sargent_Schultz]

You won't find a Burger King, McD, of KFC. Yes, the island and the food are safe.

 

You can pass on the lunch option and still eat at the same place. I forget the options offered on the tour, but I think they were sufficient.

 

Some pictures from my last trip to Belize

 

 

04 - Wed, Nov 16, 2011, Belize - 8am-5pm

Page1 - Bridge, Tenders, Kicking up mud, Tendering, Ship from tender, Fort Street Tourism Village, Coral Breeze/Hammerhead Watersports Shark/Ray Snorkeling and Caye Caulker Excursion,

Page2 - Coral Breeze/Hammerhead Watersports Shark/Ray Snorkeling and Caye Caulker Excursion, Snorkeling part, Green Moray, Shark/Ray part,

Page3 - Coral Breeze/Hammerhead Watersports Shark/Ray Snorkeling and Caye Caulker Excursion, Sharks and Rays, Lunch on Caye Caulker, Tender back to ship

Page4 - Room Service (Chocolate Cake, Vegetable Sticks, Roast Beef on French), Lido, Sushi Bar, Sushi Menu, MDR Dinner. Elvis, Lido at Night,

[wadethegringo]

Lots of local lunch options on Caye Caulker. No need to rent a golf cart. You can walk the island in a half hr. There are taxi golf carts all over as well.

[Will in sunny FL]

Coral Breeze Tours has always shown us a great snorkel trip & super local lunch on Caye Caulker & Heni & her crew do a fine job.

I'd second the suggestion to not buy lunch in your package, possibly just for your kids, & they can order on their own from the limited menu.

Hopefuly your two kids are experienced snorkelers as the waters near the reef sometimes have a pretty stong current & other times there is very little current. You never know until you get to the reef. Or the kids could stay aboard during the reef snorkel but get into the water for the shark & rays play time which they might really love.

Good luck & enjoy Belize.

Bill in FL

[deltatraveler]

I just booked with them for Belize for this tour and the confirmation came back that Hammerhead Water Sports will be the tour provider. After doing all the research I do not know anything about Hammerhead. Any one have anything to say about this?

[CENTEX CRUISER]

Hammerhead does the tours for Coral Breeze..Mark is in the states, and you can e-mail or call him.. He does all the bookings for Coral Breeze.They are very reputable..

I just booked with them for Belize for this tour and the confirmation came back that Hammerhead Water Sports will be the tour provider. After doing all the research I do not know anything about Hammerhead. Any one have anything to say about this?

[Sargent_Schultz]

Hammerhead is the operator. You can book through Coral Breeze or you can book the same tour through the Wet Lizard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[snorkelgirlca]

Just came off hammerhead's snorkel boat last week. The highlight of the week. Lunch was barbecue chicken rice and beans and option for chicken sandwich. Fried bananas. You don't need a golf cart to get around. You have about 90 minutes for lunch and the restaurant has other options to pay for. There are other restaurants in walking distance too.

[rjm11]

Thanks SnorkelGirl.. can you tell me anything else about the tour? How was the snorkeling? Can you go at your own pace, or do you have to keep up with a group (I'm worried about my young kids keeping up)

[snorkelgirlca]

Thanks SnorkelGirl.. can you tell me anything else about the tour? How was the snorkeling? Can you go at your own pace, or do you have to keep up with a group (I'm worried about my young kids keeping up)

 

Henni the chief of the boat keeps everyone together for the first stop of the snorkel and her process is really for the safety of the people. So no you cant go on your own pace. Her pace was not fast and it was about 55 minutes of swimming in a group. Lots of fish and the current was not too bad that day. I would email Hammerhead directly and ask if them what they think

 

BTW there was both a six foot and eight foot nurse shark at the second stop. They dont bite but several of the woman on the boat did freak out (including my office mate who is in her fifties) when they first come up to feed on the tube as a eight foot shark can be a lot to process. Plus if you have ever seen the teeth of a nurse shark they are given the nickname jagged tooth in Australia for a good reason.

 

There were two children on the boat who I would estimate were 12 year old boys who handled the shark appearance better than most of the female adults, so a lot will depend upon how comfortable your kids are in the water. These two boys were not novice snorklers This would not be the place I would have taken any of my five boys (who are now ages 25 to 35) snorkeling for the first time and they were all in the water in Hawaii as early as age six snorkeling. It was not so much a snorkel as standing in four feet of water for about 20 minutes looking at the rays, sharks and the four foot baracuda which made an appearance (to which Nanci freaked out more than the shark cause it swam toward her quite fast). The rays brush by your legs so at first that can be a weird feeling. Neither the shark or the baracuda came close enough to touch you , although the second dive master (Mark?) did wrangel the 8 foot shark and asked anyone if they wanted to pet it. I did but Nanci declined.

 

so I would be more concerned about the second stop with the sharks. That may be too much for a child under ten to process as several of the women chose to stay on the boat.

 

I also checked with Nanci as she ate the chicken sandwich and she said it came with french fries.

[pdmlynek]

Both the rays and sharks get attracted to the boats by the prop noise. It is their dinner bell, because the ships chum the waters. We did two several stops, including two that had sharks. But the sharks tend to move quickly away if there is another boat in the area, whereas the rays tend to hang around the snorkelers for longer times.

As far as renting golf carts, then no, you do not need to do so on Cay Caulker. Cay Caulker is small. It is different from Ambergris Cay, where having a cart is helpful.