Diving at Gallows Point

  Caye Caulker, Belize Cayes, Belize
Friday, May 16, 2008

I woke up early (5:30) due to an upset stomach from the Chloroquine I took the night before.  Erinn got up around 7 and started feeling the side-effects of the medicine just as we were about to eat breakfast at Glenda's at 7:30, which was open this time.  Unfortunate timing for her because Glenda's had a very good breakfast.  I would recommend it over Amor y Cafe unless you want something light (like yogurt and granola) or have to have espresso.  I had a bacon omelette with a small cinnamon roll, orange juice, and coffee.  Erinn just had a small cinnamon roll with juice because of her upset stomach and fear of problems with sea-sickness if she ate too much.

After eating, we complained at the Seaside Cabanas front desk about the AC problems and they said that the would have it fixed by the time we got back from the dives.  When we arrived at BDS, we were told that we wouldn't be going to Turneffe after all because the sea was too rough.  There were very few people on the boat  and we became suspicious that they had decided not to go to Turneffe because of the small group size and distance of the trip; it might not have been profitable for them.  We were disappointed, but the dive ended up being the best of our trip anyway (with one obvious exception later in Placencia). 

  It was about a 30-40 minute trip to the site.  We went past many small "cayes" on the way, some with only enough room for a single shack on stilts and having a kayak or other small boat tied to the stilts.  The larger cayes we passed had mangroves lining the shore.  We also passed some of the brightest turquoise water I've ever seen on the way.   It was a very scenic trip.  Our dive site was just off of Gallows Caye, which appeared to be a fairly quiet, but expensive place to stay, judging by the size and condition of the lodging.

We geared up as the boat crossed into the "rough" water on the other side of the reef.  The swells were only about 3-4 feet, much smaller than the previous day.  Obviously, we aren't experts on the water conditions in the area and it could have been much rougher at Turneffe, but this seemed to lend credence to our theory about why the trip to Turneffe was altered.  We dove with Renaldo again.  This time there was just one big group of 8 of us. 

Erinn made the dive interesting again.  When I got in, I noticed that Erinn only had 1 fin on.  Apparently, she had put her other one on too loosely and it came off when she rolled into the water.  Luckily, she was able to spot it about 40 feet down and I retrieved it after descending and put it back on for her.  The coral was much better here, but visibility was slightly poorer.  We saw many interesting small reef fish here including what we think was a stonefish.

During our surface interval, we had a very good lunch of jerk chicken, rice, slaw, and orange.  I was again amazed by how good the chicken dishes in Belize were.  I made a note to try to find a place with fresh chicken back home if I can.  Most of the scraps (including bones) went overboard for the fish to clean up.  After eating, we had about 30 more minutes before the next dive, so we snorkeled.  The snorkeling was very good here; nearly as good as the snorkeling we did in Maui a couple of years before.  

The coral was even better for the 2nd dive.  We swam through a small coral "canyon" and got some great pictures of large brain and vase coral.  We also saw several lobsters and a large crab.  We had about 45 minutes in this coral paradise before ascending and riding back to BDS where we again rinsed our gear and hung it up for the next day. 

After getting back to Caulker, we booked a hopper flight to Placencia with Tropic Air at our hotel.  The clerk who ordered the tickets for us also told us that our room's AC was working again.  Somehow the housekeeper got the red light (marked compressor on the front of the AC housing) to go off just by fiddling with the AC controls. 

We showered and walked up to the split at the north end of the Caye.  We stopped along the way to get ice cream.  As we got closer to the Split, there were more and more obnoxious rastas and street-side vendors desperate to sell hammocks and other goods.  The island had cleared out significantly since the day we arrived.  It was beginning to be about as empty as we had anticipated.  There was a small party of some sort going on at the north split with a huge speaker system blaring out reggae.  The beach was not very nice looking and everybody swimming seemed to be a local.  We decided to just walk back towards the middle of the island.  After seeing the whole island, we would recommend staying in the middle or south sections unless you want to party.  They seem to have nicer accommodations and are quieter.

We decided to go back to Rasta Pasta for happy hour.  Several rum drinks later each, we were feeling pretty good and returned to our room to wait for Habanero's, the best restaurant on the island, to open for dinner.  Luckily, our hotel had a pay-per-view available to watch (they had evidently already paid for it all day) and it was showing No Country for Old Men.  We watched the middle hour and then made the one-block walk over to Habanero's to see if any tables were available. 

Supposedly, you need reservations to get a table most nights at Habanero's, but it was pretty much empty when we arrived shortly after it opened at 6.  We got our pick of tables and decided to eat outside at a table overlooking the street.  Habanero's deserves its reputation.  I had excellent pork fajitas with a Beliken and Erinn had a chicken kabob dish with a drink called the Pink Panther.  We had bananas foster pie and coffee for dessert.  The bill came to $100 Bz, a fortune for food in Belize, but it was well worth it.

We just relaxed again back at the hotel after our meal and watched the rest of No Country for Old Men before going to sleep early.