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Hey guys - looking for opinions on Belize - we are torn between Ambergris Caye or Caye Caulker? It's just me and my husband, we don't like lots of tourists, and we're looking for REALLY GOOD snorkeling (we've been to Grand Cayman -excellent, Turks & Caicos -nothing interesting in the water to see, and the Red Sea -awe inspiring)

Are they safe islands? Does anybody have any advice?

Katie_Valk

Neighboring islands, both about a mile from the reef. CC is much more laid back, less developed, quaint, fair beaches, geared towrds budget to moderate catagory. One pool on the island. Ambergris is much larger and more developed, but also has smal inns up north and furtehr away from town and people. Better beaches. Both are safe, both have great snorkeling.

dmcnama

If you like hippies (they called them trustafarians: wealthy American and Canadian kids drifting around the place, selling homeade baked goods and smoking lots of pot) Caye Caulker is the place for you. Many living a backpacker/youth hostel lifestyle and not a whole lot there. I was not very impressed with the place and was so thankful we did not stay there. Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) had more going on but was still very very laid back. More restaurant and laid back beachside bar choices. Plenty of tour companies to come to the dock of your hotel to whisk you away to anywhere (pyramids, Caye Caulker, reef). Ambergris Caye was a very nice experience. We stayed at Mata Rocks. Moderately priced, nice accomodations and a really cool, small beachside bar to sip Belliken beer and enjoy the Caribbean breeze. Doesn't get any better than that.

locolowe

You might want to check out this website, Lan is the writer of the Belize Fodors and has lots of great reviews of different hotels in Belize. Currently his eBook is free which is all about AC and CC including their differences.

http://www.belizefirst.com

Let us know what you decide.

AlJ

My vote is Caye Caulker. We're neither poor nor backpackers. We just like the simple, laid back style of Caulker. I also like having the run of the entire island by foot.

As mentioned, Ambergris is larger and more developed. We didn't like San Pedro at all. There are more and nicer resorts on Ambergris but some of them are a way out of town. Its much bigger and more popular so they must be doing something right.

There was a knock on the backpackers. Actually, they're part of what we like. Very interesting people to talk to and much more adventurous than I am.

To me your description sounds more like Caulker but I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy both. The snorkeling is done on the reef at the same spots from both islands.

We put a lot of pictures from our 3 trips to Caye Caulker on our website. If you're interested, feel free to check it out. It'll give you a tourists perspective.

www.AlandSueJohnson.com

Click on Trip Reports / Belize and pick the Caye Caulker ones.

There really isn't a bad choice between the two.