Caye Caulker

 Waking up on an exotic island is always refreshing, well unless you are ship wrecked in the middle of the ocean on an  isolated island, and you only have Gilbert Gottfried as a companion. 

I didn't know much about Caye Caulker before arriving. I always prefer traveling that way.  If you start with no expectations you rarely get disappointed.   Since I have a travel companion this time, I let my girlfriend do all the planning, She is as happy as a clam doing it.

She has been studying her Lonely Planet book about Belize like she is studying for her boards.  The poor book is marked with tabs, so that it looks more like a  research manual, than a travel guide.  Or a drag queen porcupine.

When asking what and where she wanted to eat, she had a whole list of recommendations.   We went down the list of places, to check them out.  This place was rocommended for good food.   This place was recommended for meeting other travelers.  This place was recommended for the view.
 
Finally we settled on a street vendor right on the beach, called Budget Man.    It was my kind of dinner.   A huge plate of BBQ chicken and rice, with some veggies and bread. Served from a guy with lots of personality  and we got to eat it sitting on an old wave break, looking out at the stars over the ocean, with a pack of  stray dogs begging only feet from us.   Felt like home!

 I've always been a spontaneous person,  prefer to take the path less travelled. I'm pretty stubborn like that.  I'm terrible on organized excursions, lead by a guide.   I always get yelled at to follow directions.
For example,  on the second day on the island we booked a all day sailing trip along the barrier reef.    Taking us to some of the top spots to visit in Belize.

It was pretty amazing, to snorkel with sting rays and and nurse sharks  in shark alley.  But my snorkel guide was always on me for snorkeling too far from the boat, not staying with the group like a little pack of ducklings, and chasing around the fish with my girlfriends under water camera.

 I couldn't help but laugh.   To be honest, this came from a guy who was chumming fish with lunch left overs, grabbing and flipping over nurse sharks and sting rays, so people could pet them,  in Shark Alley, and poking into the reef to scare fish out, so he could point them out.  And I was one of about 100 snorkelers,  from seven different boats, racing around with motors.   Some tourists never before had been snorkeling before,  couldn't even hold their breath,  had to wear floaties, but still tried to chase the sharks and sting rays.    I felt like I was stuck on the bunny slope of Whistler  Ski Resort in British Colombia, on a huge powder day.    I was getting lead around by Mr.Rastaman,  with long dreads  who kept hitting on every girl on the boat including my girlfriend.

To be honest Rasta guys and me get along like lions and hyenas,