No Shirt, No Shoes….No Problem
……. that’s the motto of Cay Caulker, a predominantly mangrove island, over 4 miles long and cut in two by a swift flowing small boat channel that leads to the Caribbean side of the island.
Most of the men of the 700 islanders make a living from lobster fishing. What a great little place this is – the colours are wild – all the buildings, chairs, picnic benches - even rocks are painted in every colour of the rainbow. It is so relaxed – no cars, only bikes and golf carts, with the only traffic sign on the island telling them to “go slow”.
However, it does only take 15 minutes to stroll through one end to the other! A strong Creole presence and home to a small community of Rastafarians with their pulsing reggae music, ensures you are totally detached from the stresses of the outside world. Two sandy lanes known as Front Street and Back Street are cut by several cross streets. We moored the dinghy and headed straight to Front Street so the boys could organize their scuba diving trip at the Sunrise Dive Shop for the next day. This is such a funky little place – the shoreline is lined with outside BBQ’s with the delicious aroma of their sizzling kebabs, jerk chicken, corn and seafood treats, little craft stalls selling necklaces, bracelets and shells and a Rasta chopping up fresh coconuts with rather a large machete! We had a great lunch at Maggie’s restaurant, unfortunately it is not lobster season now, but there was plenty of seafood and jerk chicken on the menu.
Everyone is just hanging out and having fun here, swimming, diving, fishing – mostly with a beer or rum in their hand! Geoff and I took the Split to Split ferry across to the other side and spent the afternoon lazing around on two beach chairs under a fringed canopy with Painkiller and Pina Colada cocktails - gosh it’s all such hard work! A short nap on the boat and then off to the Pelican Bar on the lagoon side of the island to watch a beautiful sunset, finishing off with a delicious dinner sitting on the balcony of a clapboard house at Hibisca restaurant.
Thursday 7 April – big day today, the boys are finally off on their long-anticipated scuba dive trip. Off they went at 9.00am. Meanwhile I treated myself to an outdoor massage. This took place on the top balcony of a clapboard house overlooking the water. It was heavenly, just lying there listening to the reggae music in the street below with the breeze wafting over me – certainly a very delectable experience, this was followed by a much needed 1 ½ hour pedicure – the best I’ve ever had and much needed after 3 weeks in that old shipyard!!!! I followed this by a decadent lunch of fresh pineapple upside down cake and a juice of orange, pineapple and cucumber – delicious!
This is such a fun place, so colourful, vibrant and friendly and easy to walk around. I met the boys at 3.30pm. We sat on the dock outside the Dive Shop and enjoyed a rum or two or three…. They had had a brilliant time, two shark dives the first one to 26 metres and the second to 22 metres. They said the water was clear, 27 degrees at those depths and the sharks were fabulous to see, swimming up close. The biggest shark was about 3 metres long and the closest it came to them was 6 metres away, but it was still visibly interested, and they felt they engaged with it as they looked into its eyes. There were numerous multicoloured tropical fish in and around the corals; while the corals looked good and well formed, they did lack the colour that Geoff said he’d seen in other places, particularly in Indonesia.
Our final night here ended with another delicious dinner at Casa per Caso, a very authentic Italian restaurant run by Anna and Armando –deliziosa!
Friday 8 April – an early start and quick dinghy trip for Geoff and I back to the Sunrise Dive shop to take advantage of their wifi and a breakfast while we’re at it, then we’re off to San Pedro where we have to clear Customs and Immigration. We now have an 18 -hour sail to our next destination/adventure – Cozumel in the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula.