Are there islands in Belize? If so, where, and what are they like?
Tamrah Lozano
Belize has roughly 240 miles of coastline, with many coral reefs, cayes, and islands in the Caribbean Sea, and the Barrier Reef.Most of the islands that I’ve visited are very beautiful, with crystal clear water, white sandy beaches and amazing coral life right off the shore.
Belize has roughly 240 miles of coastline, with many coral reefs, cayes, and islands in the Caribbean Sea, and the Barrier Reef.Most of the islands that I’ve visited are very beautiful, with crystal clear water, white sandy beaches and amazing coral life right off the shore.
Posted December 1, 2014
Therese Jonch - Programme for Belize
Belize has a lot of coastline and a lot of islands. We have atolls and lots of beaches. One of my favorites is Goff’s Caye, which is a government-owned island nearest to Belize City. There aren't water taxis that can take you so you have to book a private boat or half a private boat to get to Goff’s Caye. It's probably about 20-30 minutes from Belize City, depending on how fast you are going. There are a couple of nice beaches down south in...
Belize has a lot of coastline and a lot of islands. We have atolls and lots of beaches. One of my favorites is Goff’s Caye, which is a government-owned island nearest to Belize City. There aren't water taxis that can take you so you have to book a private boat or half a private boat to get to Goff’s Caye. It's probably about 20-30 minutes from Belize City, depending on how fast you are going. There are a couple of nice beaches down south in places such as Placencia. Placencia is actually a peninsula, but it has the feel of an island. San Pedro in Ambergris Caye has very nice beaches as well. Caye Caulker has a good beach but it's more populated.
Goff’s Caye is a very small island, and the interesting part about it is that because it's right in front of the barrier reef, based on the tide that comes in, it doesn’t have a constant shape. It’s shape changes, basically every day. The beaches in Goff’s Caye have very fine, white sand and pristine waters. The water does not get as deep as you'd think. You can actually walk from the beach into the water and it’s very shallow. You go in where it is ankle deep and then, as you out farther, it gets a little deeper. The beach itself has a lot of coconut trees. You can find some shells on the beach and there are some mangrove systems sometimes on the beaches, too. You can actually see some of the rocks of the barrier reef coming up out of the surface of the water. There is one area that is calmer than the next. Goff’s Caye is a very popular caye and it's an area that a lot of Belizeans visit as well as cruisers and passengers. They go visit that area because they also offer good snorkeling.
There are facilities at Goff’s Caye that you can use if you need to go to the bathroom. There’s an entrance fee of US $5 that you have to pay to get on the island itself. But once you're there and they know that you're there, their attitude will be, “I'm more than happy to have you use our restroom facilities.” But it's not like somebody is out there constantly. You have to make an arrangement with the Audubon Society, which is the organization that manages Goff's Caye.
The beaches in Placencia are a little bit different because the sand is a little bit coarser. It's not as white as the sand in other beaches here in Belize. It's a little lighter shade of brown. Going to the beaches in Placencia is still a very different experience and it's still beautiful, nonetheless. The water just off the coast is a little bit rougher because the water is deeper there. The water is not 100% pristine but it's still clear enough that you can see into it.
There are many, many cayes that are close to Placencia that have pristine, crystal clear waters. One of them that I can recommend is Moho Caye, which is a beach that is pretty much like Goff’s Caye. It is a private caye from what I know and it's very large. It's definitely larger than Goff's Caye.
Another place in Belize that has nice beaches is San Pedro in Ambergris Caye. The beaches around there have very white sand. You can walk straight into the water, which is ankle deep.
There aren't many cayes out there besides San Pedro and Caye Caulker but there are nicer areas that you can go and snorkel because further out, it's definitely clearer. For snorkeling, there are specific areas called the Coral Garden and the Shark and Ray Alley that are very excellent for snorkeling.
Caye Caulker in Belize is another island with nice beaches. It’s similar to san Pedro on Ambergris Caye, but it has a smaller town. The beach is pretty much the same as in San Pedro.
My fiancé and I own a tour operating company that takes people to various cayes. Guests book and we w take them snorkeling to these cayes that are farther away from the coast, where water taxis could not take them. The guests organize a family fishing trip or a snorkeling trip together to the blue hole or to the one of this really beautiful cayes.
(Caye Caulker Beach, Belize, pictured.)
Posted April 12, 2015
Glendy Delcid
Belize does have islands. I am not sure about exact the number of islands we have in Belize, but most of them are small islands and I think most of them are not populated. The most common islands in Belize are Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, which are constantly visited and people are moving there. Ambergris Caye is the biggest island in Belize. We also have other islands that are coming along in popularity. Some of the islands in Belize are privately...
Belize does have islands. I am not sure about exact the number of islands we have in Belize, but most of them are small islands and I think most of them are not populated. The most common islands in Belize are Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, which are constantly visited and people are moving there. Ambergris Caye is the biggest island in Belize. We also have other islands that are coming along in popularity. Some of the islands in Belize are privately owned. Some of them fall within a marine reserve so there is no access to them or you might have to have a special permit or a special license to visit. Some of them are just government property.
Some of the islands in Belize are very small. For example, we went to South Water Caye and one of the islands there are maybe just 20 meters wide. Some of these islands are just a small amount of dry land and perhaps a palm tree and which you could visit only if you have a boat. I haven’t heard about people who live here taking their boats and going to the islands, but people on tours do that a lot. It is safer to go in tours if you are not familiar with the area because there are accidents that can happen.
There are areas that are restricted because of the reef. We have the barrier reef and we need to take care of the reef, so we can preserve it for the future and for tourists who want to visit now. Visitors don’t know the areas where the boats can pass. Knowledge of the area is required and so that is why some areas can be restricted to a certain extent. It’s very important to protect the reef.
Some of the islands in Belize are inside the reef and some of the islands are outside of the reef. In order to go outside of the reef, you have to know where you are going because otherwise you could damage the reef, which is why it is recommended that you go with someone else.
(Goff's Caye in Belize, with beautiful coral and barracudas, pictured. )
Posted April 19, 2015
Giancarlo Vega - Black Orchid Resort
There are plenty of islands in Belize; over one hundred islands. Generally speaking, in Belize, we call islands “cayes”, which is pronounced “keys”, like what you use to open a door in your car.Some of the more well-known islands are Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Saint George’s Caye, Blackadore Caye, Goff Caye, and Sapodilla Caye (which is an island reserve). Then there are cayes that are yet to be developed like Chapel Caye, the one that is going...
There are plenty of islands in Belize; over one hundred islands. Generally speaking, in Belize, we call islands “cayes”, which is pronounced “keys”, like what you use to open a door in your car.Some of the more well-known islands are Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Saint George’s Caye, Blackadore Caye, Goff Caye, and Sapodilla Caye (which is an island reserve). Then there are cayes that are yet to be developed like Chapel Caye, the one that is going to be developed by Leonardo DiCaprio. There’s going to be a golf course in that island.
There are other cayes that are resort islands like Hoffman Caye. We also have Huracan Diving, which is a diving resort about 3 hours away from Belize City by boat. Those cayes are really more out sea but there are villages and people living on them, and there are businesses there, too. Next is Turneffe Atoll, which is a series of different cayes that have very nice scuba diving and snorkeling.
The islands in Belize differ from each other in many things like size, the type of sand, and some are inhabited and some are not. Blackbird Caye is surrounded by a lagoon. Other cayes do not have this feature, as the cayes of Belize are different. Some of the cayes are inside the reef and some of them are not. For example, Southern Long Caye is outside the reef.
(Autumn Erhard, Wheel of Fortune winner takes a trip to a private caye, courtesy of Black Orchid Resort, Burrell Boom Village, Belize, pictured.)
Posted March 16, 2016