DAY 49: Caye Caulker – Utila: Snorkelling and diving in Belize and Honduras

Belizean Azure Water

After Mexico we headed south to this unknown Caribbean country called Belize. Pretty sure you’ve never read something about Belize in the newspaper, nor seen any news about it on TV, right? You’d think nothing goes on in there, that there’s not much to see... Well, you´re mistaken. Sure, mainland Belize is not very interesting and quite a dodgy place. But the islands (called “cayes”) are surprisingly interesting, and their marine life is the most amazing thing we’ve ever seen.


Because of its British colonial history (British Honduras), Belizeans speak English. Well, more like of a Caribbean Creole version of it, but still, English. It is actually the only Central American country in which English is the official language. And their ethnic background has nothing to do with the Mayans anymore, because almost all Belizeans today are African-American and Caribbean (Creole and Garifuna). That is why being in Belize feels like being in Jamaica. You don’t really feel like in Latin America.

Caye Caulker

Since life in Belize is very expensive, we only visited one island, called Caye Caulker. We got there by ferry from Belize City (one of the last places you want to be at night by the way). 

But Caye Caulker, located one mile west of Belize Barrier Reef, has a safe and laid back atmosphere with white sand streets and clear azure waters. The three main activities there are chilling, daytime drinking and snorkelling. 

The Lazy Lizard Water Bar in Caye Caulker

So after a couple of days of chilling and daytime drinking, we decided it was time to do something productive, and went on a sailing trip to the locally famous Hol Chan, a Marine Reserve located on the Barrier Reef (the second biggest Barrier in the world).

Our sailing boat crew

There, we swam with nurse sharks, huge stingrays, and many other huge fishes. All those creatures are now used to snorkelers and are therefore harmless, but the sensation of swimming and touching sharks and stingrays is difficult to explain. We also spotted some amazing eagle rays, turtles and green moray eels. Unfortunately we haven’t developed the underwater pics yet, but here are some of the pics we took from the boat before jumping into the water:

That sailing trip and all we saw underwater made us want even more to learn diving. That is why we chose Utila, one of Honduras’ Bay Islands, as our next destination. We left Caye Caulker after 5 days and undertook a really long journey, involving several sketchy chicken buses, an overnight stay in a ghost town called Dangriga, and a dangerous 4 hours fast boat trip to Puerto Cortés (Honduras). That boat was so dodgy that we felt like illegal immigrants. We finally arrived in Utila after almost 72 hours. 

Joana on the dodgy fast boat to Honduras

Dangriga is a shithole. Period.

Like Belize, Honduras’ crime stats are off the charts, and one can feel how dangerous cities are. We even heard gunshots several times during our stay in the country, and learned afterwards about all the people getting murdered near our hostel... But fortunately, the Bay Islands are very safe and a perfect spot to learn diving. Utila is probably the cheapest place in the world to dive, and one of the safest for beginners. Like Caye Caulker, Utila is a small tropical island surrounded by vast coral reefs with incredible undersea life, and breathtaking sunsets. 

Alton's Dive Centre in Utila

Rubi's Inn's dock

After negotiating with several dive shops, we decided to do the advanced diving course with Alton’s dive centre, one of the most professional shops on the island. The instructors were great and all the divemasters were cool, but the accomodation they offered was a bit rustic, so we decided to stay at Rubi’s Inn, one of the best local cheap Hotels, just a few blocks away from our diving shop.

The Open Water Course (for beginners) and the Advanced Course lasted 7 days and included 13 dives. Our instructor Arjent, a really professional and nice dutch guy, taught us diving theory during the first two days. The second day, we did our first scuba dive, which involved being kicked into a swimming pool with all the diving equipment in order to test and learn how to use it. Honestly, breathing through a regulator underwater wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. Not difficult, but uncomfortable at first. But when we finally got into the open water the next day, we all easily managed to breathe and go deep. Diving is like being an astronaut in the water because of the neutral buoyancy, like gravity zero. It is an incredible experience because it allows you to float around the coral, go through caves and get much closer to the fishes. The course included many exercises such as solving underwater problems (out of air, etc), buoyancy control, as well as two fun dives.

Warming up

Testing the gear

Fun diving with our travel buddy Pej

The Advanced course was much more entertaining and involved only an hour of theory on deep diving and night diving. An Open Water Certified diver can only go 18 meters deep. However, the Advanced PADI allows you to dive 30 meters deep. We first thought that we would have problems with our ears that deep, but you only have to equalize your ears every meter or so as you go down. Piece of cake. We did a deep dive, a drift dive, and a night dive. 

The deep dive was amazing as we dove the Haliburton, a cargo ship wreck just off Utila´s coast. We went around the wreck and swam through the captain´s cabin, which is usually inhabited by a green moray eel. The night dive was also cool: the coral lightened in beautiful colours, we spotted sleeping fish and experienced bioluminescence for the first time (living organisms that emit light for themselves).

 

Utila is a very famous backpacker spot and therefore partying is guaranteed. We met a lot of backpackers, went on booze cruises drinking rhum on our diving boat at sunset and got wasted at Tequila Tuesdays at the Tranquila Bar. Also, a very special place was the Treetanic bar and hotel, a real work of art. The owner, a British guy, built this place on his own during 30 years, using colourful stones, glasses, dead corals and all other kind of stuff that people would usually throw away. Poeple who don´t like animals with eight legs (ja Mama, du wärst gestorben und hättest direkt die Insel verlassen J) would have freaked out as the garden is inhabited by thousands of big yellow banana spiders. Spooky but harmless.

Treetanic!

 

We planned to leave Utila after a week, but stayed a few more days, mainly because we couldn’t leave without a last Tequila Tuesday (había que quedarse un par de días más para dejar bien alto el pabellón del Tequila Team chavales!).  

Locals joke about how the most frequent lie heard in Utila is, “I'm leaving tomorrow”. They are definitely right!


Staying for a last party had its consequences though... We got back to mainland with a ferry called Utila Princess, also known as The Vomit Comet because open sea can get choppy at times. The combination of hangover and the boat’s motion killed us, but we got safe and sound to La Ceiba.

In our next post we will tell you about our trip from La Ceiba to Nicaragua, with a lovely glance at the world’s murder capital: Tegucigalpa.

Merry Xmas to all of you!

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DAY 32. Isla Mujeres - Tulúm: the real Caribbean dream

After reading this post, some of you might be a bit jealous... but don’t get us wrong, we just want to warm you up a little in these cold rainy days. Wir ersetzen die schöne Glühweinzeit durch kalte, frische Kokosnüsse und Piñas Coladas hehe. Para los que no comprendáis, dice que os peinéis y chincha que estamos en bañador ;)

Isla Mujeres in low season

So, after Cuba we flew back to Cancún and caught a ferry to Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres (Spanish for Island of Women) is a small island off the coast of Cancún that got its name because of the many cult images of Mayan goddesses the Spanish found in the Island. Isla Mujeres is a common destination for American tourists, but right now, during low season, there are few gringos on the island, so we could enjoy the white sand beaches almost by ourselves.

Carlos at Playa Norte

The most famous beach in the island is Playa Norte, located at only a walk from the city centre. Playa Norte is a beautiful 1km Caribbean beach with white sand, palm trees and crystal clear water.

Crystal clear water

Joana on Playa Norte's wooden bridge

But the most impressive beach is located on the northern part of the island. There, Isla Mujeres is connected by a wooden bridge to a tiny, private island, only accessible to guests of a luxury hotel. Between both islands the water is only a few centimetres high, thus creating a huge swimming pool, with the difference that you are in the middle of the ocean. We did some snorkelling and spotted a small stingray as well as some coloured fishes and coral.

Although VERY touristy, the beaches of Isla Mujeres are worth the trip.

From Isla Mujeres we headed south to  Tulum,an ancient Maya town. The ruins of Tulum are located just off the beach, thus making it much more attractive. We stayed in the city centre of Tulum, which is 15 minutes away from the ruins and the beaches by bike. Most hotels are located at the beachfront, but are not really affordable for backpackers like us   :) 

Tulum is a nice place to spend holidays: it has a lovely town with different bars, restaurants and shops, the white sand beaches are beautiful, and you won’t find a thinner sand between your toes.

Playa de Tulum

Snow or sand?

 We also visited the Mayan ruins, which are beautiful because the archaeological site has its own beach. You can see the ruins on the cliffs while swimming. However, they are overcrowded and are much less impressive than all the other ruins we’ve seen by now. 

Mayan ruins of Tulum

Beach view from the Mayan ruins

Furthermore, Tulum offers plenty of private cenotes (remember the underground natural pools in Valladolid) to visit. We went to the “Grand Cenote”, one of the most famous ones around Tulum, in which you can swim, snorkel and dive in huge underwater caves with fishes and small turtles.

Grand Cenote in Tulum

Caves in the Grand Cenote

But without any doubt, the highlight of our stay in Tulum was Akumal beach, 30 minutes north of Tulum. The bay of Akumal is protected from the wind and is very calm. There is a turtle conservation programme going on and the beach is full of big green turtles, stingrays, huge and colourful fishes as well as some small sharks. Swimming with the turtles and observing how they eat and swim up to the surface to breathe was impressive. We tried to take some photos with a water camera (Danke an mein Binchen J) swimming with the turtles. Pics to come.

Leaving Tulum

After five relaxing days in Tulum we took a night bus to Belize. When we got to the Belizean border at 4am, immigration agents woke us up. We were the first in line to get stamped our passport and were asked to pay a 20 dollars departure tax. This non-existent tax is also called Gringo tax, because only uninformed tourists get ripped off. Fortunately, we already had left Mexico a few days before when we went to Cuba, so we already knew about it, and therefore refused to pay. The officer got a bit angry but eventually let us pass, while many of the other tourists on our bus paid that Gringo tax. Yeah, corruption is still a major issue in Mexico... 

In our next post, we will tell you all about swimming with sharks and stingrays in Caye Caulker (Belize). See you!

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DAY 26. Cuba: where time stood still

Cuba is definitely a magical place, where the past meets the present, and where one can see cars from the 50´s driven by youngsters wearing ghetto clothing from the States (even wearing US flags..). It is a contradiction in itself, a clash between an “ongoing” Socialist Revolution and a youth with new dreams and hopes. The propaganda is still very present in every corner of the cities, and one can feel the concern of the Cuban government about losing the people’s loyalty. Since there is a lot of tourism, the Cuban youth is very exposed to occidental fashion and values, and therefore dreams of travelling or having internet access. Even though the Cuban Socialism has been guaranteing an excellent education system, a worldwide recognised healthcare and an egalitarian society in which nobody dies of hunger, Cubans earn very little and therefore have to make enormous efforts to live decently. For instance, a doctor earns about 20 Euros per month and a bottle of water costs like 1.50 Euros. It's ridiculous...

La Habana Vieja

Cuba's odd transportation system

We arrived in la Habana at 3am on November 7th, and went straight to sleep at our “casa particular”. For a few years now, Cuban families are allowed to rent rooms in their houses to tourists. Although they need a special license and have to pay high taxes in order to get the permits, it is now very popular amongst cubans since it is a way for them to earn some extra money. Yes, it is private entrepreneurship in a communist State. This is what they call “casas particulares”. 

Our beautiful casa particular was located in “Centro Habana” and was owned by a wealthy Cuban family. On the one hand we felt like at our grandma’s home because the rooms had a strong XIXth century Iberian touch, but on the other hand, the family didn’t want to hang out with us because they ran the place more like a hotel than a “casa particular”. 

In “Centro Habana”, close to the old city centre, there wasn´t much to do in terms of sightseeing, but one could really see how Cubans live. Cubans spend the whole day hanging out in the street. In fact, one often wonders what do they exactly do for a living. But wandering in the streets of La Habana is always enjoyable because you will always meet funny and interesting people. A very common activity for Cubans is “jineterismo”: in every corner jineteros will offer you a place to stay or eat, cigars, an escort or any service whatsoever. There is NOTHING a jinetero won’t do for you, but they obviously will charge high commissions on naive tourists. 

Joana in Centro Habana

"My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita",  Ernest Hemingway. For those who didn't know, the mojito and the daiquirí became famous in La Habana

The “Habana Vieja” (old city centre) is the only district where buildings are still well maintained and periodically restored. In other districts such as Habana Centro, buildings are destroyed and abandoned or partially decomposed. But, one can imagine how beautiful la Habana must have been fifty years ago. Visiting La Habana needs much more than one day. We spent almost two days wandering through the alleys of Habana Vieja, visiting the main plazas of the Capital, the old Cathedral, the Capitolio (an exact replica of the US Capitol), etc. 

One of the many old timers you can find in La Habana

The US House of Representatives? Nope, el Capitolio de la Habana!

One of the most important and famous attraction in la Habana is the Museum of the Revolution. The Museum retraces Cuba’s last century’s history and features some fascinating souvenirs of the Revolution. We also saw some vehicles used by Fidel and the revolucionarios during the Uprising such as tanks, planes and Granma, the boat that brought them from Mexico to Cuba at the start of the Revolución Cubana. Although very interesting and instructive,  bits of history are missing and is of course pure propaganda.

Turista revolucionario?

Museum of the Revolution's Rincón de los Cretinos (The Idiot's Corner): Batista, Reagan and the Bushes. BRILLIANT

During our stay in Cuba, we also went to one of the oldest colonial towns called Trinidad, a small mountainous town next to the Caribbean coast. We stayed four nights with a Cuban family in the city centre. The owner Noel welcomed us with two delicious Mojitos and we enjoyed dining under the stars on their rooftop the amazing meals prepared by his wife Nury. For the first time since we left Europe, we didn’t feel like customers. The family shared so much time with us that we eventually felt we were staying at some friend’s place. We got to know them so well that we are still in touch with them, and we’re actually trying to help them advertise their “casa particular”. If any of you are planning to go to Trinidad, YOU HAVE to stay at Casa Noel y Nury  :)

Beautiful Trinidad

Trinidad: Cubans actually spend all their time in the street

Trinidad had also wonderful beaches. We spent some days at Playa Ancón and got to snorkel in a reef infested by huge lobster. Although Carlos tried to hunt one for dinner, he was only able to bring a tiny dead one. TIP: Never try to hunt a lobster without proper instructions, they can actually cut your hand in half... Eventually we decided to make it easy and ate lobster at a restaurant for only 6 Euros!

Playa Ancón

We left Cuba on November 15^th and were so delighted we promised we would come back (hopefully before it becomes another Cancún or Miami). Then we went back to Mexico and spent some time in Isla Mujeres and Tulúm. 

To be continued...

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