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About five weeks ago, Matt’s ears started hurting again. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me catch you up. A month and a half ago, Matt and I got ear infections. Over the past few weeks we had been taking antibiotics and taking it easy while our ears healed. After taking two weeks off, we were eager to get back in the water and dive again. We dove 10 times within a few days, including an incredible dive at The Blue Hole (read about it here), and it was amazing.
A few days later, Matt noticed that his ear pain had come back and didn’t seem to be going away. We decided to go see the dive doctor again and he diagnosed Matt with ear barotrauma, which is a type of ear damage due to pressure changes. It can be very serious and if it gets worse it can result in permanent hearing damage. We did not want to risk that, so here we were, taking an entire week off of diving, again.
We decided to use that time off to explore. This time, we left the island of Ambergris Caye and took a short 30 minute ferry ride to the smaller sister-island, Caye Caulker.
Caye Caulker is only 5 miles long from north to south, with the northernmost part being a nature sanctuary. It takes only 20 minutes to walk through town, so it’s pretty small. The ferry drops you off near the center of town.
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All the roads are un-paved ![]()
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Our first stop was a little place called Ice and Beans, known for their coffee and fresh donuts. We stopped in, ordered some breakfast, and sat down on the chairs overlooking the beach. There are beach chairs, hammocks, picnic tables, and a bar out back where you can hang-out, relax, and enjoy your meal.
We ordered a pineapple-passion fruit smoothie, some of their iconic hot, fresh, cinnamon-sugar donuts and a bubble-waffle complete with Nutella and chocolate chips. I know, it sounds more like dessert than breakfast, and if that’s not your jam, they have plenty of savory things too. Everything we tasted was delicious, and we so badly wanted seconds. Instead we thanked them and went on our way.
I found out that there was an animal shelter on the island, and I knew I just had to take Matt. He has a soft spot in his heart for all animals. We arrived and it looked like the back of someone’s yard, but there is a sign so you know you’re in the right place. A local named Kenny runs the shelter on his own from donations. It was so nice to see animals that were cared for and not living on the streets. They were all so sweet and we absolutely loved our time there, and we even got to hold a 3 day old kitten. Matt could’ve spent the entire day there. If you want to make donations to his cause, check out his facebook page under the “about” section.
After the animal shelter, we headed to a small dock where you can feed the Tarpons. These fish are massive and the ones we fed are only juveniles. The mature Tarpons can reach up to 8 feet long and weigh 300 lbs. At the end of the dock is a little shack where you can buy some sardines to feed the fish. Be sure to watch the video below to see just how massive these fish really are.
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The lady at the dock showed us a massive barracuda they had caught. She told us her favorite part to eat is the eyes…
Time to go spot some sea horses. On the island at Iguana Reef Inn there is a seahorse sanctuary right off the beach. You can kneel down on the dock and try your luck at spotting some seahorses. They are pretty small creatures that camouflage themselves. Sometimes they are hard to spot, but we found 2 or 3.
Caye Caulker is unique due to something called “The Split” where the island is split into the north and south parts. The Split was carved out by hand from early villagers, and made larger by hurricanes. It started out small, with only small canoes going in and out. Now, larger ships and barges can make their way through and it goes down 100+ ft deep.
The Split is now a popular hang-out spot on the island. We headed there to see what it was all about. We swam in the warm water, jumped off the tall platform and even spotted some crabs.
After a while we decided it was time to head to our next and final destination, Northside Beach Club on the north side of The Split.
To catch the boat ride to Northside Beach Club we headed back down to where the ferry dropped us off that morning, but instead we went to the west side of the island. Here there is a dock where the beach club will pick you up and take you to their resort. The boat ride is free with the intent that you will purchase food and/or drinks at the restaurant or bar. We had heard this was one of the best beaches on the island, so we were excited.
The beach was nice and had chairs, inner tubes, and shaded areas to relax in. We went to the restaurant to order some lunch. Overall, we had a very bad experience at the restaurant and do not recommend it. However, we realize it’s possible they were just having a bad day. We relaxed and played in the water until we were ready to head back home.
We caught the boat back to the south side of the island, and then the ferry back to Ambergris Caye. It was fun to get out and explore Belize a little bit more, and visit the smaller, laid-back island of Caye Caulker.
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