This typical Caye Caulker house is home to the community’s most famous but enigmatic snorkelling guide, Juni Zaldivar. Now in his seventies, he has a deep respect for, and an encyclopedic knowledge of, the underwater creatures around the island.

Jahlee Jones of Cool Runnings Custom Tours takes small groups out to snorkel and fish. Conchs are plentiful on the ocean floor—simply dive down and pick them up. There is a specific technique to extracting the white, meaty flesh, which is often served as ceviche or as a fritter.

Lobster fishing has been one of the main occupations of the residents of Caye Caulker since the 1920s, when the wooden trap was introduced and then modified for the spiny lobster. Today the traps are made out of palmetto wood, with lobster season starting in June.

The Split is where one can find the Lazy Lizard, one of the best-known bars on the island, which makes a bright green house cocktail called Lizard Juice. The watering hole is the perfect spot to swim and sunbathe.

The waters around Caye Caulker are a fisherman’s paradise; before the island became a tourist destination, it was a fishing village. A variety of fish—tarpon, snook, jacks, bonefish, snapper, grouper, barracuda—can be caught here. In this photo, a local resident prepares a barracuda.

In 1998, the Northern area of the island was declared the Caye Caulker Forest Reserve. Found here are mangroves, incredibly tough shrubs that grow in the shallow waters where the sea meets the land. The plant’s root systems support an intricate ecosystem of fish, sponges, gorgonians, and anemones.

The world’s second-largest barrier reef is a short trip by boat from the East side of Caye Caulker. Local guides take visitors to such popular spots such as Shark Ray Alley, where snorkellers swim among stingrays, nurse sharks, and colourful tropical fish.

Along Front Street, which features a collection of art and craft stands, sits Paula Jones’s kiosk. She handpaints T-shirts that are inspired by nature and the sea, often adding the island’s motto: Go slow.

Caye Caulker can get very hot during the day, so many people rise early to take advantage of the cool dawn.

Nelson Young is one of Belize’s most respected visual artists. At the age of 16, Young moved to Canada, an experience that changed his life thanks to his exposure to the arts. After years of international travel, Young, a devout Rastafarian, returned to live and paint on Caye Caulker.

Caye Caulker—the perfect Caribbean island getaway for those who enjoy the “go slow” lifestyle—is located 35 kilometres northeast of Belize City in the Central American nation of Belize. A small limestone island that is eight kilometres long from north to south and two kilometers wide, Caye Caulker offers ocean swims with enchanting sea creatures, dramatic tropical sunsets, and leisurely bicycle rides that include stopping to chat with the locals. Walking, bicycling, and golf carting are the main forms of transportation on land, while boats of all kind are used to navigate around the shores. This tiny island is considered one of the most laid-back in the Caribbean—even more serene than the neighbouring San Pedro, which Madonna famously sang about in her song “La Isla Bonita”. Caye Caulker has been home to a small population of indigenous people dating back an estimated 10,000 years, although it also attracted sailors and pirates over the millennia. The most notable increase of population came when mestizos of mixed Maya and Spanish blood fled the Caste War of Yucatan, Mexico in 1847 to find refuge. To this day there are still many mestizos descendants living and working on the island.

Historically, fishing and boat building were the main industries of the island, but since the 1960s, tourism has increased. At its heart, however, Caye Caulker remains a small village with no large-scale tourist developments. Lodgings and restaurants tend to be small and locally owned.

An ideal day on Caye Caulker may start with a breakfast of freshly baked cinnamon rolls at Glenda’s restaurant, followed by a cycle around town, a snooze in a hammock, a dip in blue waters, and then a cocktail at the Lazy Lizard. The end of the day could include a short walk around the tip of the island to see the sun go down before grilling locally caught fish for dinner—and what could be more perfect than that?

Photos by Tallulah.

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