The island of Caye Caulker is so small that you can see one side when you are standing on the other, it only takes 10 minutes to walk the full length of the main street.
Yet there is still a Starbucks.
More or less.
We weren’t there to drink Starbucks though. Snorkelling was on the agenda.
First up was a night snorkel. Because it was completely dark and our waterproof camera struggles in full daylight, we have no photos but you’ll have to trust us when we tell you that it was pretty cool. We didn’t see a lot of critters, because well, it was dark and spotting camouflaged aquatic critters on the reef by torchlight in 1 metre swells is actually rather challenging, but we were pleased to see assorted weird lobsters, cuttlefish, turtles and a very fast octopus.
As for the daytime snorkelling, we headed out for a full day trip to explore Hol Chan marine reserve, and a few other top notch snorkelling spots on the reef.
We swam with huge nurse sharks, giant rays, enormous loggerhead turtles, hilarious scampering spider crabs, angelfish, parrot fish, tarpons, green turtles, corals, anemones and even got to check out a sea horse. Nobody was eaten by anything bigger than them, nobody drowned, we think we can call this a successful outing.
After we had snorkelled all we could snorkel, drunk all the beer we could drink and walked the length of the island a few dozen times, it was time to head back to the mainland.
This savage wee beastie was guarding the docks, but we managed to sneak past and hop on a boat back to Sarteneja.
Savage guard dog.
What we hadn’t seen while we were out and about snorkelling was a manatee.
Luckily, we had an opportunity to correct this a few days later at a manatee rescue facility in Sarteneja. Not quite the same as seeing one in the wild. Also, they don’t really look that great from above the water. Kind of hairy, dirty and weird-looking. But the people at the manatee rescue centre were enthusiastic about the job they were doing for these slow-moving water-sloths. Even though we weren’t allowed to cuddle a manatee or swim with one, it was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.
I’m sure these guys look cooler from under the water.
We of course weren’t ready to leave Sarteneja immediately. It took a few more days relaxing in the calm tropical waters and drinking cold Belikin beers on the shore as we watched the sun sink low on the horizon before we were ready to hit the road.
So long Sarteneja. We’ll see you again soon!
Perhaps Madonna would have done better to sing about Sarteneja, but I guess it has the wrong number of syllables. It does however have the appropriate number of retirees in golf carts: 0.