Caye Caulker, an island about an hour by water taxi from Belize City was our last destination, our hotel/apartment Pancho’s Villas was an easy walk from the pier. We planned to stay only three nights, thinking we should get closer to the airport for the last night and maybe stay in Belize City, but after the day trip that was a bust, we thought maybe after seeing this place, if we liked it, we might extend our stay.

We stayed at an upper flat suite, it had 2 double beds, a futon in the living room, a stove, double sink, refrigerator, in room safe, bathroom and front and back balconies. It was bright and clean, it had a/c (the first place during our stay) the staff and location were amazing. The roof top deck was great for taking in the sunsets, and at the time we went up there, no one else was around.

I spent a lot of time on the front balcony which had 2 chairs and a side table right outside our door, it made for some great people watching. Looking across the street was Roy’s Blue Water Grill, a restaurant that displayed it’s fresh catches out front daily. To the right was Namaste Café, a 3 story business with a coffee house on the 1st and 2nd floor with yoga on the roof deck. To the left was a fish and chips shop that shared seating with the fruit and juice place next to it, and next to that was Errolyn’s house of Fry Jacks everyone was raving about. It must have been good, because all morning there were lines and happy people waiting to be served. Southside Pizza was next to us and had good live music that didn’t go too late into the night (I sound like an old person) and business looked booming.

Raul was the caretaker of Pancho’s Villas, he provided us with information for dinner, coffee, laundry, beaches, snorkel trips and furnished beach towels. He was amazing, available for whatever we needed, gracious, friendly and generous.

Upon Raul’s first recommendation, we went for dinner at Belizian Flava, it was at the end of the street that ran parallel to the coast and getting there early was important as this was the last day of lobster season. We arrived when it was still daylight and were able to actually see our dinner choices be put on the grill (those are our lobsters waiting to be grilled) . I opted for the large grilled lobster with salad and fresh veggies, and my sister wanted the large lobster and mashed potatoes and salad. It was delicious, the only complaint we had was the mosquitoes that were attracted to us during dinner. On a funny side note the repellent that is used there are the old citronella coils that you burn, I remember them from camping trips when I was young. I don’t think they worked then and they didn’t appear to work now either. I was trying to go organic and used a mix of essential oils and got totally bitten up.

This is what the reef looked like as we were approaching it on the snorkel trip, the waves were breaking on the reef and you could see coral formations below the waters surface.

What is Koko King? A private hotel resort that allows day use of a gorgeous beach, restaurant, clean restrooms and ferry that leaves every 30 minutes. You can walk to the ferry landing and catch it from 11am on, we caught the first one because it was already so hot, when we got to the resort, we had first pick of lounge chairs and inner tubes. I spent hours floating in the clear, warm waters until my sister tempted me with a bucket of Belikin beer. The catch to using the resort and the free ferry is to spend $25 Belize per person, it gets you a wristband that allows you to ferry back and forth all day. We enjoyed the experience so much that we did this 2 of the days we were on the island, each time the food was great and we had different items each time, it was money well spent for a great private beach experience.

This is the power plant for the island, it is expected that there is black or brown outs daily. We were lucky that there were no power outages, but if you have any medical need for continued electricity, you may be out of luck. We could hear and fee… — This is the power plant for the island, it is expected that there is black or brown outs daily. We were lucky that there were no power outages, but if you have any medical need for continued electricity, you may be out of luck. We could hear and feel the hum even when we were blocks away from this site, but approaching it, it was clear what this place was. Kind of crazy that semi trucks with generators were powering a whole island.

This was the airport in Caye Caulker an air conditioned trailer with a bathroom and 1 clerk, no security screening or baggage scanning and a walk across the tarmac to a 9 seater plane. It was the best way to travel, you had the pilots eye view if you sat close to the front.

This was the view towards a different direction from the roof deck, there was a definite difference in quality of living.

Know before you go: This is a developing country. You will not always have the water pressure for showers or toilets, that you are used to at home. There is a lot of trash and no recycling that I could tell, it feels wrong to throw things away when you are aware that we need to reuse or recycle them. People walk down the street and throw trash to the side of the road when they are done with a water bottle, and there are times that the water smelled like sewage and I wondered what they are dumping into the ocean I was swimming in. During our time in the water I felt compelled to gather the plastic bags, forks and other rubbish floating in the water to throw it away, our snorkel guide in Placencia did that also.

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