Tobacco Caye

January 15-16, 2025

It was about 1 hour on the shuttle boat to Tobacco Caye. This key is very small. We could circumnavigate walking it in about 5 minutes. On this caye were 3 different “resorts”. None of them fancy by any means. Our resort was called Paradise. Also on this caye were 2 bars and a few individual homes owned by local Belizeans from the mainland.

The guests that come to Tobacco Caye come to snorkel right off the shoreline, kayak, scuba dive, fish for Permit and bonefish and relax. So unlike Glovers that was like a private place for us, we were mingling with scuba divers, fishermen and others.

We each had our own cabana placed right on the shore’s edge. Each cabana had its own bathroom! Jim was grateful for this as he wasn’t feeling well. It was perfect place for sleeping the virus away.

The resort had a kitchen/dining room where they cooked 3 square meals/day for the guests.

The adventure part of Tobacco Caye

Similar to the days before we had a morning activity, lunch and an afternoon activity and… a bonus evening snorkel!

Our first snorkel shortly after we settled into our cabana was a short walk to the other side of the island where we could snorkel right off the shore. The reef was literally right on the edge of the island.

After dinner there was an option to night snorkel the same area. Only 3 people took this option. They used flashlights tethered to their wrists for light. They saw octopus which is a night critter.

The next day we took our kayaks out beyond the reef to the ocean side. We had to paddle away from the wave break and headed up current for awhile. When we got to the proper spot we exited our kayaks (deep water exit). Then they tethered the kayaks up to one another and our second guide took the lead line and swam them back behind all of us as we snorkeled. This time we just snorkeled with the ocean current and it took us back to where we entered the ocean through a break in the reef. I think that was my favorite snorkeling of the trip! We saw some bigger fish, schools o big fish, manta ray and the water was a bit deeper and very colorful.

After lunch we took the longest kayak paddle of the week. We paddled over to another area of mangroves where the frigate birds nest. It was a very small island where they nest. They look like prehistoric birds (pterodactyl-like). The males have a bright red throat that they blow up like a ballon when mating.

Then we continued kayaking through some mangrove islands to a very shallow area to snorkel looking for seahorses. They were really really really small.. the two we found. But even more interesting were the schools of small fish in the mangroves. Hundreds and hundreds in the school.

Back into the kayaks and paddling to an area that has manatees. Unfortunately we didn’t see any but paddling through the area was so calm, beautiful and relaxing. Honestly this area had so many little islands that I could easily have gotten lost. Eventually we came through to the open water and paddled back to our resort.

That was it for adventures in Belize. The following day was a short boat ride back to Dangriga. A short plane ride to Belize City. A hotel shuttle to downtown Belize City. After lunch at the hotel we were anxious to cleanup in our hotel room with hot water!! We also needed to dry out our wet clothing from the previous day before packing it. We spent several hours of sitting and waiting for the next transportation or hotel room to be ready.

This was a very nice hotel (Chinese owned) with a good restaurant. We’d been warned the city wasn’t very safe so we were happy to relax and hangout in our very modernized city hotel.

Jan 18, 2025

Today we were headed to Belize airport and our return to the USA and Billings, Montana. Expecting subzero weather in Montana. It certainly was nice to have 10 days of flip flops, toes in the sand, warm comfortable days and nights.

For my first trip to Belize I’d have to say that I really liked it there. Our adventure trip was just what we had hoped and expected it to be. Made better by the friendly staff on the cayes and the other travelers in our group. I was not a very experienced snorkeler but I did get more relaxed and better at it after several swims. At first once a day was enough for me. I have TMJ so holding the snorkel in my mouth was not the most comfortable. Of course we were really off the beaten path of the most popular Belize destinations. I probably would like those too, but I know that they would be more touristy, busier and more gentrified. Belize is pretty simple and easy for English speaking visitors. It is their primary language (in school). They also use American dollars and the exchange rate is 2:1 (Belize:American). But first and foremost they are very happy and nice people. They are genuinely helpful and nice to foreign visitors!

I could get used to an annual warm weather vacation in the dark days of Montana January’s. Might have to return to beautiful Caribbean waters!