Day in Caye Caulker?

Cruise stop from 8AM - 6PM, considering taking a water taxi from port to Caye Caulker for most of our day but have questions for anyone who has done this before. It looks like we could walk and see some of the island and have lunch, is there a nice beach we would have access to for a bit? Any other recommendations? We're not interested in the shark/ray excursion or snorkeling but would like a day that includes a beach and a beach bar if available, and a stroll through town with lunch.

From what I can tell the ferry schedule would give us 4.5 or 6 hrs on CC depending on whether we make the 9AM or 10:30AM ferry from Belize City and take the 3:30PM return. I assume the 3:30 return give us plenty of time to get back to the tender dock in plenty of time for the tender.

Caye Caulker is GREAT! My favorite place to be. There is a nice area to snorkel right off the Split, which you get to by walking as far to your right from the pier as you can. There is a bar there "The Lazy Lizard" where they serve drinks & snacks. I've heard there's a good restaurant in town called Willy's or Willy XX I don't remember. We've just hung out at the Split.

"Town" is all of 3 or 4 dirt streets, which run parallel to the long side of the island. There are a few booths set up on the 'street' selling necklaces, shells, etc. You will love this area if all you want is to swim, sun, and drink!

Cruise stop from 8AM - 6PM, considering taking a water taxi from port to Caye Caulker for most of our day but have questions for anyone who has done this before. It looks like we could walk and see some of the island and have lunch, is there a nice beach we would have access to for a bit? Any other recommendations? We're not interested in the shark/ray excursion or snorkeling but would like a day that includes a beach and a beach bar if available, and a stroll through town with lunch.

 

From what I can tell the ferry schedule would give us 4.5 or 6 hrs on CC depending on whether we make the 9AM or 10:30AM ferry from Belize City and take the 3:30PM return. I assume the 3:30 return give us plenty of time to get back to the tender dock in plenty of time for the tender.

We took the water taxi last month to Caye Caulker. The water taxi can be seen from the tourism area, literally on the other side of the gate to your far left when you exit the tenders. Just walk out of the tourism gates, turn left, turn left again and the office is at the end of the plaza on the right. We never felt unsafe during our short walk. One person approached us about a tour and we said 'No thank you, we're heading to the water taxi' and they told us to enjoy our day.

There is no 'beach' at the Split, but there's a huge dock that you can lay out on, just on the other side of the Lazy Lizard. Access to the water there. Hubby snorkeled a bit in and around the split. We had a great day and met some nice people from all over the world while hanging out on the dock.

The taxi ride is 45 minutes, just remember the time difference. I assume you'll need to be back on the ship by 5pm.

Thankyou both, very helpful! We're not interested in any of the other excursions this trip and this sounds like a good day for us.

Thanks again, and good point about the time difference.

I see 2 water taxi options, Belize and San Pedro water taxi, any preference? Looks like the prices are similar and the only factor is the belize taxi has a 9AM departure from Belize City that San Pedro does not.

We dock at 8AM ship time (7AM Belize time). So we should easily make the 9AM Belize-time taxi if not the 8AM Belize-time taxi.

The 3:30PM Belize-time return taxi will get us back to port around 4:15 Belize time and 5:15 ship time which is too late. So we'd have to take the 1:30PM Belize-time return from Caye Caulker which would get us back to port by 2:15 Belize-time or 3:15 ship time.

Hope I have that right? :eek:

I see 2 water taxi options, Belize and San Pedro water taxi, any preference? Looks like the prices are similar and the only factor is the belize taxi has a 9AM departure from Belize City that San Pedro does not.

 

We dock at 8AM ship time (7AM Belize time). So we should easily make the 9AM Belize-time taxi if not the 8AM Belize-time taxi.

 

The 3:30PM Belize-time return taxi will get us back to port around 4:15 Belize time and 5:15 ship time which is too late. So we'd have to take the 1:30PM Belize-time return from Caye Caulker which would get us back to port by 2:15 Belize-time or 3:15 ship time.

 

Hope I have that right? :eek:

We used San Pedro Belize Express. This is the office right next to the port area that I described above. The other one is a bit further of a walk and we wanted to play it safe (given some of the feedback about the safety outside the outrush village).

Sounds like your times are similar to ours. We also had to take the 1:30 return water taxi (Belize time). The winds were really bad and we were delayed by over an hour getting off the ship (even with FTTF). We took the 9am (Belize time) taxi because we missed the 8am one. Just be flexible on your departure time, which it seems you are. We still felt like we had a good amount of time on the island. Definitely someplace I'd like to go back to. Maybe a split trip between Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye.

Just note that is this is your schedule then don't count on being able to do a trip out to Shark/Ray alley unless you hire a private boat or can find a tour that matches your timing. On our trip we couldn't find a tour that matched our times (which seem similar to yours).