Hello Everyone,
We just returned from a wonderful week at Glover's Atoll Resort and a week on Caye Caulker.
I have been to Belize on at least 10 occasions but, like Lamanai last year, Glover's Atoll was one of those elusive must-dos on my "bucket list". We arrived in Belize on a Thursday and shot over to Caye Caulker for a couple of days to relax and acclimate. We found the relatively new Belize Express to be a better all round experience than the old standby Caye Caulker Water Taxi Association.
The terminal in Belize City is much nicer, the boats leave on time and almost hourly. The boats are new, covered and the trip to Caye Caulker is 50 minutes. A round trip to CC is $35BZ.
On Saturday morning we took the 7:30AM boat back to the city, got a taxi to the bus station $10BZ and grabbed a James Bus all the way to Dangriga. I think it was $14BZ each. The stop in Belmopan is just for 10 minutes now and then onward down the Hummingbird Hwy. We stayed on the same bus, sat in back to watch our bags and were in Dangriga slightly after noon if I remember correctly. At the Dangriga bus station we hooked up with 2 Danes who were also going to Glover's for the week. We all hired a taxi for $50 and stopped at the Gregalezian Market, the biggest market in Dangriga for supplies. We stocked up with rice, potatoes, veggies, pasta and a few other things. We ended up getting a little too much stuff and spent about $80BZ for the supplies. Then onward to Sittee River.
When we arrived at the Lamont's place in Sittee River, they only had one tiny cabin $30BZ so the Danes agreed to spend the night at the Riverside Hotel nearby. Thankfully it was just for the night. We had dinner with the Lamont's that night for maybe $14BZ each?
All Sunday morning people were arriving for the week's trip to Glover's and it looked like an overly large group to me. The morning was spent with the amazing Becky sorting things out, trying to fit everyone into the spaces available and doing her best to cater to everyone's budget and tastes. Some people were extremely disappointed and rather put off when they found they would be camping in a provided tent rather than a cabin. Becky did her best to calm them by providing things like free kayaks and stuff. We had confirmed reservations for a beach cabin but had not paid in advance. We also said in our email that we would consider an over-the-water cabin if possible. We were very patient as Becky continued with the negotiations with the large group and she told us to wait. We were pleasantly surprised when at the end Becky gave us a super nice over-the-water cabin (number 7) (It pays to be polite and patient) Ok, so we left Sittee at around 12:30 for the 3 hour tour out to the most beautiful coral atoll in all of Belize.
The engine of the large Catamaran started burning something as we approached the atoll around 3:30 so Becky shut off the motor to investigate. It turns out that it was probably just some fluids left during the engine's recent maintenance. Unfortunately, this put us on the island just before dark so after a short tour of the place we grabbed a wheel barrel and carted our stuff to our cabin. We were able to prepare a pasta dinner in the dark on our double butane stove and finally eat around 9PM.
Be sure to bring candles and flashlights. The low grade kerosene and the provided lamps are almost useless as they become full of soot within minutes whereas the candles under the glass globes burn clean.
The weather was great the entire time. We did some snorkeling around the island. We made some incredible underwater HD movies of the beautiful coral and fish and loved the coconut walk around the beautiful, coconut covered island. We did manage to shuck a couple of coconuts at the provided shucking station and use the juice from the meat for coconut rice. There is even a bar now halfway down the coconut walk with real ice and imported liquor! Everything is put on your tab, no need for a wallet the entire time but keep track of what you purchase since it can add up. On two occasions we purchased some fresh fish fillets (red hind and red snapper) from Warren, Becky's son for $7US. A whole fish runs $5US. We ended up cooking 5 full meals in our cabin and having two meals including a lovely Valentine's Day Lobster dinner at the restaurant for $18US each. We ended up spending an extra $80US added to our $325US each for the cabin and boat ride out including tax.
So we didn't end up renting the kayaks. I never used my fishing equipment since it was a mile trip either by kayak or by walking the breakwater to get to the legal fishing area. We had fun just hanging out, snorkeling and it turns out that cooking is a big part of your day since you have to start early, around 3:30 in order to eat before full darkness sets in at 6pm. We did go out on one snorkel trip outside the reef for $10US but the coral was pretty much dead there and it was more catered to the divers. The two outhouses and two showers seemed to be adequate and not crowded most of the time. There is also a dorm building with the kitchen underneath and of course several beach cabins which are very nice with a bed upstairs and kitchen downstairs. Actually some of the best sites are the tent sites just off the coconut walk and along the lagoon.
So the following Saturday we headed back to Sittee River, more room on the boat now. We spent the night in Hopkins at the Yaguda Inn for $30BZ and headed back to Caye Caulker on Sunday for hot showers and great restaurants. The trip was wonderful if you don't mind roughing it a bit. I thought Becky, her first mate Ian and her son Warren were all great hosts. I may have forgotten a few things but I think you get the gist of the experience. Thanks for listening. Happy Travels! Greg
