So we all have a good time? Yay !!
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So it's our first morning waking up on the beautiful
island of Caye Caulker, here in Belize. Absolutely beautiful, just off the coast
from Belize City, one of the main islands that the tourists come to, absolutely and
check out how blue this water is, and today we're gonna give you a guided tour
of this beautiful island, and in this beautiful Inlet there are hundreds of
baby fish there are!
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So the island of Caye Caulker is actually only about five miles long, with a
population of about 2,000 people, and you can see the blue sea behind me and if we
turn around you can actually see the blue sea behind me !! Because that is how thin this
beautiful little island is. So Caye Caulker is a destination that has become really
popular with backpackers and there's various types of hostels and
accommodation, that you can find here on the island. You also don't need to worry
about being run over by cars, there are no cars on the island! If you
want to get around the island, you'll need to pick up one of the golf cart
taxi, or you can hire them, or you can rent a bike, as a beautiful way to get around the island.
Oh - looks good !!
For lunch maybe, we will come back. So all around the island you can find various different
places to eat, some of them have these wonderful like barbecue stations and
grilled meats, like the one you can see behind me, and it smells absolutely delicious.
Do you want to try - Grandmas recipe !
It looks beautiful, Grilled Chicken and coconut milk, rice, fried plantain. Whole snapper fish. Amazing
So we walked down, only a few minutes walk to the end
of the island of Caye Caulker, and there is a section called 'The Split' which is a
channel between the two islands of Caye Caulker. Apparently, it was caused by a
hurricane back in the 60s, but now there is a beautiful bar called the "Lazy
Lizard', where you can just hang out have a drink and just enjoy this amazing blue
water, and the channel is great, because it allows boats to go in between without
going all the way around the islands. And look how blue and clear this water is
behind me! and I can't wait to get in that water, and I think for sure we're
going book a snorkelling trip. Marianne is trying to get some shade but there's no
chance! Because it's just too blue! Everything's blue.
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We got bamboo stuff, coffee cups, beer mugs, shot glasses - The most environmental man that makes craft on this island!
Look at the skill that goes into this, look at this !! - that is beautiful.
Look - proper bamboo !!, Thank you for looking after our Planet. You are welcome
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So another thing that you can do on the island of Caye Caulker, is eat ice cream ! and
Marianne's got a banana split. I've got a Rum and Raisin from the store behind me,
and I'm so hot, this is gonna taste so good. Owww
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So we've actually arrived on Caye Caulker in the month of May.
Which is actually the beginning of their low season, it's the beginning of
their official rainy season. But there's no rain, but the prices I think are less
during low season, so the Island nice and quiet, the sky is blue, so I would say
May, is a really good month to come visit.
So if you're worried about ATMs on the
island, at the Atlantic Bank here that you can see behind me, there is an ATM
and it's located on the middle street of the island, and right opposite is the
laundry, if you want to get any washing done.
So in the modern pressures of
society where you have to use the tumble dryer, not here my dears, we found
somewhere that's wonderful. This lady's called Marie, and she runs her washing /
laundry service, and for eight pounds of laundry it's ten Belizean dollars.
It's our second morning waking up on the island of Caye Caulker, and today, we are going
on a snorkelling trip we put it all day snorkelling trip, and we are super
excited at the chance to see maybe manatees, some sharks, some rays.
One of the really funny things, as we're walking down the street is the health and
safety aspects, if you check out the scaffolding that we saw, while we were
walking down the road, and it's just like bits of wood on concrete blocks. I don't
know how it stays up, can you imagine doing that back home? What health and safety? Exactly !!
So during your stay here on Caye Caulker, you have to try snorkelling or
diving, and as you walk around the island, there are so many snorkelling trips, and
snorkelling outlets, that you can choose from. We're just in front of a lovely
snorkel shop and we chose these guys over all the others because they don't
feed the Sharks. We don't want to nag we don't want to moan
but ultimately marine life is to be observed and not messed with. This place
is environmentally friendly and we love that, they don't allow plastic
onboard, and it's really important they don't allow styrofoam for your lunch, and
it's just really really positive for the environment, to choose a
place like this, and you can influence that by your choice of shop here on the
island. So another thing when you're walking around the island is they have
lots of stalls all the way down the street selling little bracelets and
necklaces and souvenirs for your trip here, but please don't buy anything with
shells what's from the ocean should stay in the
ocean and we always try and avoid the stands that take the shells and things
from the ocean, because that in effect is actually a crab or a marine life's home.
We've got a couple of guys behind us. We have David and we have Alex, and we're gonna go out
for a nice days snorkelling with these guys and share everything with you.
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So we've got a fun group of six of us today, and David who is our guide
Captain David and 2 lovely ladies from Australia Becky and Alex, and Larry and
Shannon from the States. So another really good positive thing about using
this tour group, is they're one of the only ones that leave so early right? Yes!
So we left at half past eight, but most of the other tours that we asked leave
at 10 or 11 o'clock. So there's only one of the boat that we can see in
the whole sea, and that's a park ranger! So there's no other snorkellers here ! VIP
So we get a private viewing of Shark Alley. As you approach Shark Alley you can
see all the sharks that are coming up to the boat and the reason they come up to
the boat is that so many tour groups actually feed the Sharks and they associate the noise of the engine with breakfast time !
Hopefully it's the engine and not us, but sharks are lovers, and we are going to get in with these sharks
And you get to see them in a more natural habitat, because once they realise you don't have food.
They are going to go back to their natural day to day business.
So our guide was just telling explaining that one of the problems with feeding the sharks, he has just thrown in a piece of seaweed,
and all the marine life, sharks, fish, they are reacting and coming up, so if people throw rubbish in the sea,
or a bit of plastic, they will react and come and feed. Also the sharks normally only come out and hunt at night. During the day they should be resting,
And of course with this they are feeding in the day.
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So did we all have a good time or what ? WHOO HOOO !!
Okay so if you're looking for some really good
home-cooked food, here on the island of Caye Caulker, down by the beach, towards
The Split we've come down to Chef Kareem, how good does this food look ? So we've
ordered some spicy jerk chicken and some barbecued chicken, because we are
starving, after all that snorkelling we did this morning and it looks so good!
Cheers my lovely so how good does this chicken look ?
Mmmm nice rice, I'm gonna get my fingers dirty now!
Oh that is so good, spicy jerk chicken, that really is
finger licking good! That's my first Authentic barbecue sauce.
I think, it is smoky! It is smoky !! Really good jerk spicy
chicken, time to eat!
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Welcome to Belize Baby - you have to taste Belize !! we have been baking for 29 years !! Banana bread, chocolate chip, coconut rolls, cinnamon rolls, made with rose water, brown sugar !!
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So we're down here at La Pina and we're here with Nino, the young chap that has set up this stall - this is the most
environmental glass you will ever find and including in your drink you get a
free bamboo straw, so we feel particularly proud to have met him and
seeing this lovely fresh product that is done in such a nice environmental way as
well, this island needs to protect itself and he's part of the team that are
making it happen. Beautiful tasting fresh pineapple drinks
and you can have it as a pina colada with rum and coconut cream or you can
have it just with your ice. And a little sweetener - Although I didn't want the sweetener as the pineapple tastes so good anyway !!
The white stuff on Chris face is marine safe sun tan lotion !! no it is my shark war paint !!
Okay she is doing it - we are looking for Manatees can you make the noise? MOOOO
Okay that apparently, is the mating call of a manatee! Let's see if it works !!
We call her baby or a Phoebe, hello, how beautiful!
Why does Marianne always find a puppy? she started it!!
And this is Chef Kareem ?
No ! this is Chef Carlos, his assistant !!
So when we arrived on the island they told us
don't worry, relax, enjoy, its island time and in fact
Caye Caulker is so relaxed, that actually you might need somebody to remind you
when it's time to go home!