Cannundrums: Caye Caulker

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Caye Caulker - Belize

We spent time on Caye Caulker off the coast of Belize from March 16 to 18, 2026. Caye (pronounced "key") Caulker is a limestone coral island (a sand bar over a limestone shelf) in the Caribbean Sea about 5 miles long (north to south) and less than a mile wide (east to west). The population is about 4,000 people and there is a town on the south end known as Caye Caulker Village. It is 20 miles north-northeast of Belize City which we accessed by high-speed water taxi which took about 45 minutes. There are over 50 hotels as well as a number of restaurants and shops. The Belize Barrier Reef is east of the island and there is a lagoon, between 6 inches and 14 feet deep between it and the island. It is a dry reef (exposed to the surface), but turns into a deep reef north of the island between 2 and 8 feet under water. There is a narrow waterway known as the Split which creates a south island and a north island. It was partially created by Hurricane Hattie in 1961 and finished by dredging thereafter. It is now about 100 feet deep and allows the passage of boats. The island is only about 8 feet high at its highest point and a strong storm surge in a hurricane can cover the island.

On March 16 we took the Hol Chan Snorkel & Sailing Tour with Ragga Sailing Adventures. We left about 10:00 a.m. and got back about 4:00 p.m. We went out with about 20 or 25 people on a large sailboat. Before boarding we took a short walk from the east side of the island to the west side to look at huge tarpons swimming in the water just off the island. They can grow 4 to 8 feet long and weigh from 60 to 280 pounds. The tarpon are protected and cannot be fished.

We set off in the boat and stopped at an area where sea manatee are often found, but none were around. About 12 miles north of Caye Caulker, near Ambergris Caye, a much larger island, is a wonderful snorkeling area known as the Hol Chan Channel. "Hol Chan" is Mayan for "little channel." The channel is a natural break in the Belize Barrier Reef about 75 feet wide and 30 feet deep. We spent about 45 minutes snorkeling in that area.

Inside the reef is another area of seagrass beds. We spent about 30 or 40 minutes snorkeling there.

A little closer to Caye Caulker is an area known as "Shark Ray Alley", a sandy bottom area inside the reef which was used by fishermen to clean their nets before returning to port. The food attracted nurse sharks and rays and their presence was encouraged by tourist companies because they brought snorkelers to view them. We were there about 30 minutes and saw one boat actually throwing out bloody fish to attract the sharks. We saw many nurse sharks, some as large as 12 feet long, and were able to get quite close to them. There were also sting rays and eagle rays.

I purchased a GoPro right before going and didn't have time to really learn how to use it. So our guides took it and had fun filming the sea creatures. I've viewed the film, but have not yet learned how to edit it on Lightroom. I had hoped that I could take snippets from the film and turn them into jpeg photos, but I need a different version of Lightoom to do it. Perhaps some day I'll get some of the film inserted into this post. We saw nurse sharks, at least three kinds of rays, lots of green turtles, a moray eel and lots of different kinds of fish.

The next day, March 17, 2026, we were picked up at our hotel, La Isla Resort Hotel, by our guide, Rodriego, in a small boat with an outboard moter, for a birding session. It was 6:00 a.m. We boated north up the east side of the south island, through the Split. In the Split we saw an osprey and a white ibis.

Osprey

White ibis

Then we sailed up the west side of the north island, seeing a number of kingfishers, to near the north end. There we went into a small inland dock and stopped to walk around, getting some great views of golden fronted woodpeckers.

Belted kingfisher

Black spiney-tailed iguana.

Black-necked stilt

Blue-winged teal

Brown anole

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Great egret

Great-tailed grackle

Mangrove yellow warbler

White-winged dove

Spotted sandpiper

White-winged dove

Wilson's plover - the one lifer I got on Caye Caulker.

Instead of going around the the end of the north island and down the east side, we traveled back the way we came, down the west side and back through the Split to our hotel. We had lots of birds that hung around the docks near our hotel.