Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HURRICANES
Like much of the Caribbean, the cayes and other coastal areas of Belize can suffer severe hits
by hurricanes. The of
cial
hurricane season
lasts from June to the end of November, though
the worst storms usually occur during September and October - tourist low season. There are
excellent warning systems in place, and most of the major weather websites, including
W
weather.com and
W
underground, adequately cover Belize's weather systems and hurricane
forecasts. If there is a hurricane developing
anywhere
in the Caribbean, prepare to leave as
quickly as possible or postpone plans for a visit to the cayes.
Beyond the outdoor sports, though, the tempo of life on the cayes is slow - and
languidly so. If you adopt the “no shirt, no shoes, no problem” philosophy of locals
and expats alike, you'll fit right in. A typical day might include swinging lazily on a
hammock, lunching on freshly caught lobster and then sipping rum punch as the
sun sets. It's no wonder that the cayes are crawling with expats - a few days in this
sun-soaked corner of the world and you, too, will be considering permanent
relocation.
3
GETTING AROUND
THE NORTHERN CAYES AND ATOLLS
By boat
Boats operated by the Caye Caulker Water Taxi
Association (see p.100) and the San Pedro Express Water
Taxi (see p.100) travel regularly between the cayes and
atolls, as well as to and from Belize City and other coastal
hubs on the mainland.
By organized tour
Numerous companies (see p.100)
offer organized tours throughout the cayes, from diving in
the Blue Hole to exploring the Turneffe Atoll.
Brief history
The earliest inhabitants of the cayes were
Maya
peoples or their ancestors. By the
Classic period (300-900 AD), the Maya had developed an extensive trade network
stretching from Yucatán to Honduras, with settlements and shipment centres on several
of the islands. At least some cities in Belize survived the Maya “collapse”, and the trade
network lasted throughout the Postclassic era until the arrival of the conquistadors.
Christopher Columbus
may have sighted the coast of Belize on his last voyage to the
“Indies” in 1502; his journal mentions an encounter with a Maya trading party in an
immense dugout canoe off Guanaja, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras. Traces of
Maya civilization remain on some of the cayes today, especially Ambergris Caye, which
has the site of
Marco Gonzalez
near its southern tip.
Pirates and buccaneers
Probably the most infamous residents of the cayes were the
buccaneers
, usually
British, who lived here in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, taking refuge in
the shallow waters after plundering Spanish treasure ships. In time, the pirates
settled more or less permanently on some of the northern and central cayes. But life
under the Jolly Roger grew too risky for them in the late 1600s, after Britain agreed
to stamp out privateering under the terms of the Madrid Treaties, and a number of
pirates turned instead to logwood cutting. The woodcutters, known as
Baymen
,
kept their dwellings on the cayes - specifically
St George's Caye
- whose cool breezes
and fresh water offered a welcome break from the steaming swamps where the
logwood grew. The population of the cayes stayed low during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, but the St George's Caye settlement remained the Baymen's
capital until 1779, when a Spanish force destroyed it and imprisoned 140 Baymen
and 250 of their slaves. The Baymen returned to their capital in 1783, but waited
until 1798 to take revenge on the Spanish fleet in the celebrated
Battle of St George's
Caye
(see p.233). After, although the elite of the Baymen still kept homes on St
George's Caye, the population of the islands began to decline as Belize Town (later
Belize City) grew.
