4-1-2017 Exploring Caye Caulker

Our hotel in Caye Caulker had a nice vibe and a great location right in the heart of the action. This is the original office and
hotel building, and we have stayed here before.

The view from our hotel room - that blue is the ocean right across the street.

This pool and the three story building are a new expansion since our last visit a year ago.

The hotel used to be called Paradise Too, but now it's called Las Isla Resort.

Happy Lobster was recommended to us for breakfast, so we decided to check it out.

Cara's "plate of tropical fruits"

Eric's omelet with hash browns

We ran into someone we knew from Hopkins, who now works in Caye Caulker, and he told us
about a place where we could see seahorses, so off we went. At Iguana Reef Inn they have a
little habitat created in a sectioned off area by their beach and dock.

At first the seahorses were hard to spot, until another tourist pointed one out, then we found several of them. See the yellow
one kind of in the middle of this photo?

Closeup - tail wrapped around the twig

There are two yellow ones to the left of the algae.

Brown one, swimming freely near the center of the photo.

They were fascinating to watch.

These guys were going a little further out, filling this boat with sand, then coming back here and dumping it in the water.

Photographer Dad at work again.

Lobster traps, off duty now since lobster are out of season.

We walked all around the island just seeing what we would see.

We like Caye Caulker because of the more relaxed feeling here, and the sand roads aren't filled with golf carts, even now in
"busy season".

At one point we left the daughters relaxing on the beach, and the adults wandered around more. We stopped here at the Sip N
Dip for drinks to cool off.

Mojitos - yum!

The Sip N Dip has things like a volleyball net, swings, a picnic table and hammocks in the water.

There are also inner-tubes tied onto a rope in the water, and a nice dock.

The chairs at the bar are funny too!

Just noticed, this place is called a "mini bar", yet it has an absolutely giant chair - hehehe!

We walked down to check out the Lazy Lizard at the Split, which is normally THE place to be. Boy, has it changed since
Hurricane Earl last August!

The (new) palapa on the right stands where last year there had been a brand new building housing a pizzeria and a gelato
shop. (Those businesses are now in newer buildings nearby.)

There is now major reconstruction underway in the whole Split area.

There used to be a nice sandy area and a wood dock all along here. They obviously had to do lots of work to build a concrete
dock and start filling the beach back in with sand.

It's shocking the Lazy Lizard building is still standing.

Gone is the nice area to chill at the in-water tables.

People enjoying the water at the Split (the place where the island had been split in two by Hurricane Mitch years ago).

We watched someone getting a kite-surfing lesson.

We met the girls again and continued to wander the island, spotting some wildlife along the way.

Brian liked the lobster traps and all the other textures here, and he wanted a family picture.

We found where someone had carved this snake from a limb of the tree.

Beer caps for eyes - love it!

Don't know these people - just liked the photo.

We had heard there would be a wedding on the island this evening, and we happened to run into it.

We also found the "Sub-Away". Funny, their menu looks a lot like a fast food chain we are familiar with in the U.S.

We stopped at Rainbow Grill for dinner.

It's got a lovely location on the water, and we all enjoyed our food.

Several people got the special - snapper filet in a cilantro sauce, with garlic potatoes, steamed veggies, and garlic bread.

Cara's Veggie Quesadilla with cole slaw and rice & beans.

We wandered a little more after dinner, pointing out the Sip N Dip to the girls, who had missed
it earlier that day. We booked our snorkeling tour for the next day, so we went to bed early.

Towards the end of the night we stopped at a beach bar and were rewarded with this inspired performance by a local guy.