Belize Island Hopping Tour
The Raggamuffin Island Tour was three days of sitting on a boat relaxing, snorkelling with Manatees, turtles and sting rays. Sleeping on picture perfect Cayes and drinking rum with a great group of people. In short, it was awesome.
Day 1
We set sail (mostly under engine) at around 9am, it was so calm and peaceful I hardly even knew we were moving at times. The whole coast of Belize is sheltered by the second biggest reef system in the world (second to the great barrier reef in Australia). The result is extremely calm waters along it's whole coast, if you go beyond the reef you get in to some serious sea sickness territory as we discovered when we went to the blue hole, however the trip would stay within the reefs confines which actually makes the whole coast line of Belize technically a lagoon (according to our captain, I haven't confirmed this myself!).
We'd found our place in the blazing sun at the front of the boat and we were soon relaxing with our books and chatting to the other people on the boat. The crew members were made up of captain Jerry, and crew Chris and Shane A (apparently there's another Shane), as well as chef Linton. They were all extremely charismatic and making jokes and entertaining everyone with stories in their Caribbean accents. We'd been sailing for less than an hour when the first call went out from the crew. "Dolphins!" At the front of the boat appeared two dolphins swimming along the bow waves of our catamarans double hull. We all crowded to the front of the boat to watch them dancing along with us, Kate was especially was very excited!
They swam away shortly after but the appearance of the dolphins so soon after leaving Caye Caulker made us all very excited about what we would be seeing in the coming days. We chatted to everyone on the boat for another hour or so before we stopped for our first snorkelling stop. We couldn't see any land where we were but we could see the sea was still extremely shallow with reef and sea grass all around the boat with some of the reef only a metre deep. We jumped in the water with Shane and he took us for a snorkel to point out all the fish and coral. He was really informative and made lots of jokes and finished most sentences with an elongated "shhheeeeeiiiiiitt" which almost made me choke on seawater multiple times. "Did you see dat parrotfish? Shhhheeeeiit", "Dis is a Common Purple Fan Coral! Sheeeeeeiiiiit", "Oh ma gaaahhd, we got a turtle ova here! Sheeeeeiiit".
We'd seen some awesome things already and were heading back to boat when suddenly out of the turquoise water we saw some rather large looking fish They came closer, no they're a little too large for fish, a shark perhaps? No, they were the wrong shape. Oh Wow! Manatees!! The Manatees came towards us and inspected us closely. They are very curious and if you don't make a lot of noise and chase them they actually come to you. It was very exciting, it was a this moment that both Kate and I were kicking our selves for forgetting to bring the cameras!
We spent most of the day in the same way, doing different snorkel spots and on the look out for more wildlife. We were very disappointed on the second snorkel not to see Manatees again, and apparently we were extremely lucky to see them at all in the spot but we kept out fingers crossed and on the third spot we lucked out again with another two Manatees. The crew said it was very unusual to get to see them while we were in the water, we were clearly a very lucky group!
Our next snorkelling spot was just off from another Caye called Goff's Caye. It's another Caye that is sometimes used by the Raggamuffin tours so it has a couple of huts and a barbecue, so all the important things!
For lunch we had some delicious fresh ceviche and a buffet as well as having lots of snacks along the way. If we were ever hungry we just had to say so and the snacks would appear. It was great! After the third snorkel the rum also appeared and soon everyone was enjoying Belize's famous, and very, very strong rum punch. We sailed towards our first overnight stop at Rendezvous Caye, a desert island paradise about an acre in size, with a couple of huts, and that's about it.
We were each given a tent to put up which was probably made slightly harder by the rum punch! We made sure the tents were set up before the sun went down and then it was time for dinner. It was another amazing buffet of different fish (some of which had been caught during the day) and lots of different veg dishes.
Afterwards we continued making use of the unlimited rum punch and played cards with some of the other people. We attempted to remember the rules to some card games but mostly made then up as we went along. It seemed to go pretty well though! Before long Kate headed to bed, I finished my drink (which was quite difficult considering it's high rum to mixer ratio) and soon followed. The sky was perfectly clear and the starts were spectacular. We were hoping for a good sunrise when we woke up.
Day 2
We slept averagely in the tents due to it being so hot and the outer layer being on. In hindsight it would have been better with the out off, however they recommend that you leave the outer on as it can often start with a torrential downpour with very little warning so we suffered with the heat. Luckily there didn't seem to be many mosquitoes which is always the worry with these tropical paradises! In the morning we were awoken with coffee and a nicely cooked breakfast (including baked beans!) though the sunrise didn't live up to much. Everyone was very excited to have another full day of snorkelling ahead so soon the tents were down and we were setting sail again!
The second day of snorkelling was far less successful than the first, however we felt after the first day that was probably just karma evening everything out so we were happy to snorkel a little and also sunbathe and read our books. One very cool thing we saw however was a waterspout, which is a mini tornado over water. They are a lot more benign than a tornado over land however they can do damage to boats so we steered clear of it. It lasted about ten minutes and was definitely something you don't see everyday. the trip just kept on delivering!
We stopped at another Caye called Tobacco Caye, it was slightly larger than the other Caye's we'd seen and had a bar and a few other bits. We stopped there so the captain could make sure we had a water taxi to take us to Dangriga (our final stop the next day).
Shortly after we departed for our next nights accommodation at Ragga Caye, eponymously named after our tour company Raggamuffin tours. As it was actually Kate's and I's second year anniversary while we were on this trip we'd decided to pay a little more for the trip which meant we didn't have to sleep in the dormitories on the island but got our own private cabana, overlooking the sea. It was nice to have our own bit of privacy after being on the boat for a few days.
We pulled up to Ragga Caye, which yet again was another stunning Caye, slightly larger than Rendezvous Caye. It had the dorms, three cabanas and a dining area with a bar. Unfortunately the island was experiencing a drought when we were there so there was no running water in the cabanas which we were very sad about, especially as the cabana was an extra 100 USD. We were also hoping for a fan, which there wasn't one so though it was very nice, it probably wasn't worth the money. But we had to do something special for our anniversary. We moved in to the cabana and had an hour or so to explore the island before dinner was served. Everyone got their own lobster which was awesome, and all the food to go with it was great too. Again the rum punch came out and this time the party games came out led by Shane. We played those games for a couple of hours before heading to bed. Again the stars were spectacular!
Day 3
In the morning the Cabana showed their best party trick. Sunrise. We were awoken by a scarlet sky and immediately woke up to watch its progress and take pictures. After sunrise we were able to have another couple of hours sleep before the island woke up for another great breakfast.
The third, and last day was going to be a little shorter as we were due to dock in Dangriga at 4pm. We set sail again, this time in the direction of the manatee reserve. This is usually where everyone sees manatees, though you're not allowed to snorkel here so you have to view them from above. We'd be lucky to manatees in the water so we were less excited to see them, but nonetheless it was nice to see them again!
On the way to our next snorkel destination we saw another few dolphins going about their business next to a Caye we were sailing past. The boat was slowed and we circled around a few times and attempted to get pictures however the dolphins (including a baby one!) would surface seemingly randomly and the disappear immediately making pictures very difficult! We had another snorkel where we saw an eel and a nursing shark - which ticked off all the major things we could see on the trip - before heading back to Ragga Caye for lunch.
We had another great meal with everyone before we had time to pack up our thing, have one more quick snorkel (where we seemingly got attacked by sea snails) before a water taxi arrived to take us the twenty minute speed boat ride over to Dangriga.
Everyone said their goodbyes, especially to the crew who had been excellent and jumped on the boat with our bags. The crew had to jump back on to the boat and sail overnight all the way back to Caye Caulker to do it all again. I'm not sure how they do it!
It had been an awesome trip and we were very sad to get to Dangriga, not least because we didn't know where our next meal was coming from! We sad goodbye to everyone who was heading off in different directions before making our way to our nights accommodation.
Top Tips
The Raggamuffin 3 day cruise is an island hopping tour from Caye Caulker Belize. It costs 400USD and includes all accommodation and food on the trip. You'll snorkel with the chance of seeing Manatees, Sharks, Turtles and a whole lot more. You'll sleep on beautiful Cayes and get to meet other like minded people. The trip leaves on multiple days depending on demand, we just went and asked at the Raggamuffin tour office for information.Day 1
We set sail (mostly under engine) at around 9am, it was so calm and peaceful I hardly even knew we were moving at times. The whole coast of Belize is sheltered by the second biggest reef system in the world (second to the great barrier reef in Australia). The result is extremely calm waters along it's whole coast, if you go beyond the reef you get in to some serious sea sickness territory as we discovered when we went to the blue hole, however the trip would stay within the reefs confines which actually makes the whole coast line of Belize technically a lagoon (according to our captain, I haven't confirmed this myself!).
We'd found our place in the blazing sun at the front of the boat and we were soon relaxing with our books and chatting to the other people on the boat. The crew members were made up of captain Jerry, and crew Chris and Shane A (apparently there's another Shane), as well as chef Linton. They were all extremely charismatic and making jokes and entertaining everyone with stories in their Caribbean accents. We'd been sailing for less than an hour when the first call went out from the crew. "Dolphins!" At the front of the boat appeared two dolphins swimming along the bow waves of our catamarans double hull. We all crowded to the front of the boat to watch them dancing along with us, Kate was especially was very excited!
They swam away shortly after but the appearance of the dolphins so soon after leaving Caye Caulker made us all very excited about what we would be seeing in the coming days. We chatted to everyone on the boat for another hour or so before we stopped for our first snorkelling stop. We couldn't see any land where we were but we could see the sea was still extremely shallow with reef and sea grass all around the boat with some of the reef only a metre deep. We jumped in the water with Shane and he took us for a snorkel to point out all the fish and coral. He was really informative and made lots of jokes and finished most sentences with an elongated "shhheeeeeiiiiiitt" which almost made me choke on seawater multiple times. "Did you see dat parrotfish? Shhhheeeeiit", "Dis is a Common Purple Fan Coral! Sheeeeeeiiiiit", "Oh ma gaaahhd, we got a turtle ova here! Sheeeeeiiit".
We'd seen some awesome things already and were heading back to boat when suddenly out of the turquoise water we saw some rather large looking fish They came closer, no they're a little too large for fish, a shark perhaps? No, they were the wrong shape. Oh Wow! Manatees!! The Manatees came towards us and inspected us closely. They are very curious and if you don't make a lot of noise and chase them they actually come to you. It was very exciting, it was a this moment that both Kate and I were kicking our selves for forgetting to bring the cameras!
We spent most of the day in the same way, doing different snorkel spots and on the look out for more wildlife. We were very disappointed on the second snorkel not to see Manatees again, and apparently we were extremely lucky to see them at all in the spot but we kept out fingers crossed and on the third spot we lucked out again with another two Manatees. The crew said it was very unusual to get to see them while we were in the water, we were clearly a very lucky group!
Our next snorkelling spot was just off from another Caye called Goff's Caye. It's another Caye that is sometimes used by the Raggamuffin tours so it has a couple of huts and a barbecue, so all the important things!
For lunch we had some delicious fresh ceviche and a buffet as well as having lots of snacks along the way. If we were ever hungry we just had to say so and the snacks would appear. It was great! After the third snorkel the rum also appeared and soon everyone was enjoying Belize's famous, and very, very strong rum punch. We sailed towards our first overnight stop at Rendezvous Caye, a desert island paradise about an acre in size, with a couple of huts, and that's about it.
We were each given a tent to put up which was probably made slightly harder by the rum punch! We made sure the tents were set up before the sun went down and then it was time for dinner. It was another amazing buffet of different fish (some of which had been caught during the day) and lots of different veg dishes.
Afterwards we continued making use of the unlimited rum punch and played cards with some of the other people. We attempted to remember the rules to some card games but mostly made then up as we went along. It seemed to go pretty well though! Before long Kate headed to bed, I finished my drink (which was quite difficult considering it's high rum to mixer ratio) and soon followed. The sky was perfectly clear and the starts were spectacular. We were hoping for a good sunrise when we woke up.
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| There was plenty of rum for everyone! |
Day 2
We slept averagely in the tents due to it being so hot and the outer layer being on. In hindsight it would have been better with the out off, however they recommend that you leave the outer on as it can often start with a torrential downpour with very little warning so we suffered with the heat. Luckily there didn't seem to be many mosquitoes which is always the worry with these tropical paradises! In the morning we were awoken with coffee and a nicely cooked breakfast (including baked beans!) though the sunrise didn't live up to much. Everyone was very excited to have another full day of snorkelling ahead so soon the tents were down and we were setting sail again!
 |
| An Osprey on Rendezvous Caye |
The second day of snorkelling was far less successful than the first, however we felt after the first day that was probably just karma evening everything out so we were happy to snorkel a little and also sunbathe and read our books. One very cool thing we saw however was a waterspout, which is a mini tornado over water. They are a lot more benign than a tornado over land however they can do damage to boats so we steered clear of it. It lasted about ten minutes and was definitely something you don't see everyday. the trip just kept on delivering!
 |
| Captain Jerry giving us some great information on Manatees (They're closely related to Elephants!) |
We stopped at another Caye called Tobacco Caye, it was slightly larger than the other Caye's we'd seen and had a bar and a few other bits. We stopped there so the captain could make sure we had a water taxi to take us to Dangriga (our final stop the next day).
 |
| Chilling out on Tabacco Caye |
Shortly after we departed for our next nights accommodation at Ragga Caye, eponymously named after our tour company Raggamuffin tours. As it was actually Kate's and I's second year anniversary while we were on this trip we'd decided to pay a little more for the trip which meant we didn't have to sleep in the dormitories on the island but got our own private cabana, overlooking the sea. It was nice to have our own bit of privacy after being on the boat for a few days.
We pulled up to Ragga Caye, which yet again was another stunning Caye, slightly larger than Rendezvous Caye. It had the dorms, three cabanas and a dining area with a bar. Unfortunately the island was experiencing a drought when we were there so there was no running water in the cabanas which we were very sad about, especially as the cabana was an extra 100 USD. We were also hoping for a fan, which there wasn't one so though it was very nice, it probably wasn't worth the money. But we had to do something special for our anniversary. We moved in to the cabana and had an hour or so to explore the island before dinner was served. Everyone got their own lobster which was awesome, and all the food to go with it was great too. Again the rum punch came out and this time the party games came out led by Shane. We played those games for a couple of hours before heading to bed. Again the stars were spectacular!
Day 3
In the morning the Cabana showed their best party trick. Sunrise. We were awoken by a scarlet sky and immediately woke up to watch its progress and take pictures. After sunrise we were able to have another couple of hours sleep before the island woke up for another great breakfast.
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| Spectacular Sunrise from Ragga Caye Cabanas |
The third, and last day was going to be a little shorter as we were due to dock in Dangriga at 4pm. We set sail again, this time in the direction of the manatee reserve. This is usually where everyone sees manatees, though you're not allowed to snorkel here so you have to view them from above. We'd be lucky to manatees in the water so we were less excited to see them, but nonetheless it was nice to see them again!
On the way to our next snorkel destination we saw another few dolphins going about their business next to a Caye we were sailing past. The boat was slowed and we circled around a few times and attempted to get pictures however the dolphins (including a baby one!) would surface seemingly randomly and the disappear immediately making pictures very difficult! We had another snorkel where we saw an eel and a nursing shark - which ticked off all the major things we could see on the trip - before heading back to Ragga Caye for lunch.
We had another great meal with everyone before we had time to pack up our thing, have one more quick snorkel (where we seemingly got attacked by sea snails) before a water taxi arrived to take us the twenty minute speed boat ride over to Dangriga.
Everyone said their goodbyes, especially to the crew who had been excellent and jumped on the boat with our bags. The crew had to jump back on to the boat and sail overnight all the way back to Caye Caulker to do it all again. I'm not sure how they do it!
It had been an awesome trip and we were very sad to get to Dangriga, not least because we didn't know where our next meal was coming from! We sad goodbye to everyone who was heading off in different directions before making our way to our nights accommodation.
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