Caye Caulker Transportation Tips by Bwana_Brown

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: On checking with Delta Airlines a few days before our scheduled departure, I was informed that they had cancelled both our incoming and outgoing flights between Atlanta, Georgia and Belize City, cutting two days off our vacation (I had booked the trip months in advance). This meant that, on our arrival in Belize, instead of spending the first night in Belize City and then taking a morning Water Taxi out to Caye Caulker, we would have to leave immediately for our pre-arranged hotel booking on the island. However, the distance of the International airport from downtown meant that we could not catch the last water taxi run of the day, so we instead had to take a local island-hopping flight to Caye Caulker.

Tropic Air came to the rescue quite nicely with their regular shuttle to Caye Caulker and San Pedro on Ambergris Cay. It was around 3 PM when our flight landed in Belize and we were soon through Customs and booked our onward flight to Caye Caulker, not cheap at US$55 each (it costs about US$20 more to fly from the International airport than it does from the local city airport because of 'departure taxes'). Tropic Air had a full load of 14 passengers and 2 crew on the flight, only about a 10 minute hop to cover the 21 miles out to Caulker. By 4:15 PM, four of us had said good-bye to the airplane on Caye Caulker and the flight continued onward to San Pedro with the other passengers.

I had been placed two rows back from the cockpit, so had a good view of our approach to the island (second photo). The view also gives a good shot of the white line marking the very close off-shore reef that helps to calm the beach waters on Caye Caulker! Altogether, it was a great little flight and it allowed us to maximize our time on the beaches - where we wanted to be!

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Phone: 1-800-225-6732 (Maya )
Website: http://www.tropicair.com/

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: The two other passengers who had arrived on Caulker with us were long-time repeat visitors to the island, so they had a small reception committee waiting for them with an electric golf-cart (in the background by the terminal building). With no cars on this island, golf-carts and bicycles are the main means of transportation used over the short distances on sandy roads.

We were going to trudge off with our back-packs, but the lone employee meeting the airplane said he would call us a golf-cart to take us directly to our accommodations at the Trends Beachfront Hotel. At only US$5 for the two of us, I said sure, and within 15 minutes we were enjoying the sights of this beautiful little island as we headed for our new 'home'! We were looking forward to getting out of our 'Atlanta clothes' and into something a bit more tropical as the vacation was now officially underway!

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'Mode': TO
Category: Ship/Boat
Getting TO/AROUND: Our failure to catch a water taxi at the beginning of our Belize trip was rectified a few days later when it was time for us to leave Caye Caulker and head further north, to San Pedro on Ambergris Cay. The day had started with the first grey skies of the trip and was a bit cool as well, so it was a good day to leave the sunny beaches for the slightly more 'upscale' northern Cay!

I walked across the beach from our hotel to buy our tickets (US$10 each, credit cards accepted) for the 10 AM departure, giving us plenty of time to pack our backpacks for the short ride. It was not long before our departure time that we were standing at the end of the wharf with the other passengers waiting for the incoming craft. Upon boarding, the crew stowed the various backpacks under the seats and down a hatch inside the cabin while we grabbed a couple of seats just at the edge of the cabin in case it was a rough crossing. They have life-jackets aboard (check out the front window!) but none were required to be worn.

We were soon underway on what turned out to be a choppy sea, with the 3x200 HP outboard engines powering us along quite nicely. The 35 minute run to San Pedro stayed on the lee side-side of the coastal barrier reef to shelter us from the worst of the waves of the Caribbean Sea, so the ride was quite comfortable. As always on this vacation, the crossing time passed quickly as we compared notes with the other travellers and their adventures.

If you get the chance, be sure to take a water taxi ride at least once - they are fun, fast and cheap!

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Phone: 501-226-0992
Website: http://www.cayecaulkerwatertaxi.com/pages/1/index.