Published: August 14, 2008 12:53 pm            

Revisiting Belize: A rewarding experience

Outdoors

Ten years had slipped by since Bobby Whiteside, his wife Carolyn, my wife Beth and I had spent a wonderful tropical week on Caulker Caye in Belize, Central America.

Last week as the water taxi from Belize City deposited us on the little island we had finally returned. Memories flooded our minds as we stepped off the boat, even though many things had changed.

A hurricane almost 10 years ago had removed some of our familiar landmarks. But even more striking was what progress had done. The tiny island had become a tourist mecca instead of a primitive tropical hideaway.

The sandy streets were crowded with travelers from the United States, Canada, Holland, France, Germany, Italy, England, Austria and numerous other countries.

But some things were the same. Like the slow pace of life. Ordering, eating and paying your check is a two hour ordeal. It’s tough at first on high-octane Americans.

The Caribbean Sea was unchanged. It was still teaming with great varieties of marine life. Bobby and I quickly rented a double kayak. Each morning before breakfast with the girls, we floated over the grass beds and coral deposits near our beachfront hotel.

On our trip 10 years before, we had rented a primitive dugout canoe. The Hobie kayak was a quantum step upward.

One thing that had not changed was the affinity of those tropical species for our little crappie jigs. Mutton snappers yellowtail snappers, lane snappers, dog tooth snappers, puffers, barracudas, blue runners, yellow jacks, horse eyed jacks, lizard fish, grunts, sand eels and black groupers all fell prey to our jigs.

While tying on another jig Whiteside said, “It’s no wonder that survival kits have crappie jigs in them. They’ll catch anything.”

After the first morning we had plenty of snapper fillets to take to one of the many island restaurants.

Two of our days were filled with fishing trips to the reef with local guides. The second longest coral reef in the world runs 175 miles down the coast of Belize. At about a mile off the shore of Caulker we could see waves breaking on the coral reef from our hotel.

The local guides are all good fishermen, even though some of their equipment is primitive. Most of their rods have line guides missing. The reels are rusty and don’t turn well. They don’t care. Hand lines are the native specialty. A hook, a weight and a piece of heavy monofilament line is all they need.

After catching at least a hundred lane snapper, mostly on our crappie jigs, our guide slow trolled along the reef with sardines as our bait. Several barracuda came up from the coral and slammed the bait. On such ancient tackle is was a challenge to land those ’cudas.

Our second guide put us overboard with mask and fins to snorkel the reef. We saw all types of coral, several species of fish and a large stingray. Then he took us to a tiny island and cooked some of our snapper. Onions, cabbage and snapper all mixed together and cooked over an open fire. It was very good.

Another memory to add to our tropical list.

The girls had plenty of time to roam through the many shops on Caulker looking at T-shirts, tank tops and shorts. They also fulfilled one of their main goals for the trip.

On our previous visit they got to know a little 12-year old girl named Rochelle. Her mother sent her each morning to the hotels with hot banana bread to sell. She was a talkative child. Carolyn and Beth spent lots of time visiting with her. Did she still live on the island? Could they find her? The answer wass yes.

The maid at our hotel knew Rochelle. They graduated from school together. Rochelle was now the Caulker Caye postmaster. Instead of the little girl we found a 23-year old woman with a four-year-old daughter. She remembered us. That night we took her to a local restaurant to eat fried snapper with us. It was quite a reunion.

On another morning we rented a golf cart to tour the island. There are three modes of transportation on the caye — walk, bicycle and golf cart. Most taxis are golf carts.

Bobby was our driver. Very dangerous. We took all the back roads and hit every bump. After two hours Beth and I had enough. We walked back to the hotel while the Whitesides took in a few more shops.

While Beth took a nap, I walked down the beach with my flyrod. Spotting a sand hole in the midst of a grass bed, I waded out to give it a try. As I approached the hole I saw some big fish swimming and feeding. They were too big to be bone fish or snappers.

Were they huge mullets? Then it hit me. Tarpon! I got down and crawled through the grass bed. About eight tarpon were circling the hole.

A few false casts and I dropped my pink shrimp fly into the hole. The tarpon didn’t see it or ignored it. They slowly swam away into the heavy grass. Missed opportunity!

I waded above the hole and was actually fishing a smaller sand hole next to the tarpon hole. I glanced over my shoulder and there they were again — back in the hole. A short back cast and the fly landed right in front of the school. One of the big silver fish took it immediately. Miraculously, the hook stuck in his upper lip. Tarpon have tough, boney mouths and are hard to hook.

I didn’t expect to land the fish. All I had was my tiny three-weight bream rod. Certainly not tarpon tackle. The fish finally figured out that he was hooked and powered across the grass flat, making a high leap. Then, to my surprise, he was under my control. He made a few short runs but never came close to emptying the reel spool. In about 10 minutes, I had him in my hand. A short 100-yard walk back to our dock and we had pictures.

It was a great trip. But if we come to Belize again we will try to find us a more primitive, undeveloped area like Caulker once was. Why does civilization and tourism always discover the hidden, mystical getaways?

Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show, God’s Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in the Daily Record.

        

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