 Special
cay: Island off Belize offers idyllic respite
by
Judith Wynn/Special to the Herald
Thursday, December 26, 2002
GLOVER'S REEF, Belize - Moonlight spills down on the white
sands of Southwest Cay. The sky is so clear you can see Saturn's
rings, and Venus never looked more fetching.
Eight guest tents are set up beneath tall coconut palms at
our private base camp and look like sleeping white elephants
as the trade winds pass through the screened tent windows.
The
scene takes place approximately 18 miles off the coast of
Belize, a former British colony about 200 miles south of Cancun,
Mexico. The 24-acre cay is one of the four islands in Glover's
Reef. Hurricane Hattie split the cay in half about 40 years
ago, creating a channel down its center.
Hurricanes
Iris and Mitch blew all the sand off Southwest Cay five years
ago, although you'd never guess it from our view. Incredibly
enough, our Vancouver-based host, Island Expeditions - one
of the most environmentally conscientious tour operators in
the Caribbean - spent two weeks putting the storm-blown sand
back into place, one wheelbarrow fullat a time.
Surely
Southwest Cay has always been serenely fixed in time. Yet
Glover's Reef changes a little bit every day, especially as
it attracts more visitors. On the other side of the narrow
channel that divides Southwest Cay, for instance, a luxury
resort has sprung up.
Glover's
Reef was named after a local pirate. Some geologists call
it the Caribbean's biggest and best coral atoll. Belize declared
it a protected marine reserve in 1993, and it won World Heritage
Site status in 1996. All fishing done on its four islands
is strictly catch-and-release.
Inside
Glover's sheltered oval ring, the shallow, aquamarine water
is ideal for snorklers and sea kayaks. Out on the rough-water
side of the ring, 400-foot-deep walls of coral attract scuba
divers from all over the world. Whale sharks come here to
feed in late spring; sea turtles lay their eggs in the island
sands.
Island
Expeditions runs tours that include a three- to five-night
visit here from December until April. February and March usually
bring the best weather and the clearest underwater visibility.
A
typical day on Southwest Cay begins with a trip to the bathhouse
for a quick shower followed by a head-to-toes application
of bug repellent and sun block. Then it's breakfast time in
the screened dining room, which sits on stilts among the rattling
palm fronds like a treehouse.
Our
chef, Amelia Norales, serves a delicious buffet of currant-studded
porridge, hot johnnycakes and fresh mango. During the five
days of our island stay, Norales will produce fish stews,
potato salads, fresh breads and mouth-watering bread puddings
and banana cake.
After
we learn to haul ourselves in and out of a kayak while in
deep water, we leave our kayaks to snorkle some of the 700
brilliant coral reef patches that make up Glover's Reef. Irridescent
parrotfish, angelfish and spotted goatfish glide through tan
and russet forests of sea sponges and elkhorn coral. It's
hard to resist touching the lacy lavender fan coral, but we
know that a casual hand swipe could ruin decades of coral
growth.
Following
a briefing by Island Expedition guides Alex Sabal and Dwane
Roberge, we know to avoid the beautiful, but skin-scorching
fire coral. Sabal alerts us to a manta ray half buried in
the sand five feet below. It scoots away in a shower of coral
dust.
Back
ashore, lunch is followed by lively games of rummy and Scrabble
in the breezy dining room. The camp dog can be heard howling
down below - the work crew has given her unweaned puppies
to someone on the other side of the cay.
The
afternoon is filled with fishing, more snorkling and blissful
hammock-surfing (i.e. loafing). A huge iguana suns itself
outside the kitchen door like a house cat. By day two, everyone
has gotten used to the privy, which sits up on its own little
tower at the far end of camp.
On
day three, we're ready for a two-mile paddle across the calm
lagoon to Middle Cay, where a dive master takes the certified
scuba divers for deep water adventures among sharks and marine
turtles. The rest of us follow Florida University-trained
naturalist Earl Young into the shallow water, despite the
presence of a loitering, three-foot barracuda - a textbook
instance of peer pressure in action. Our guides attach sails
to our kayaks for what we hope will be an easy breezy ride
back to Southwest Cay.
After
another excellent dinner - barracuda steaks, conch salad and
rice - the dining room rings with the clatter of dominoes;
the uninitiated learn to play.
Before
bed, we view Saturn through the camp's beachside telescope.
In the wee hours of the morning, strangers walk by our tents
searching for the puppies that our camp dog has retrieved.
Our
final island night arrives all too soon. The crew plays drums
and rattles while Norales teaches us Belize's sexiest dance,
the punta, in which the solo dancer pantomimes pointing with
a stick at a body on the beach, trying to reanimate it with
creative hip shaking.
Back
in Dangriga town on the mainland, where we spend a night,
the caged wild pigs and the sacred fan-like ceiba tree in
the Hotel Chaleanor courtyard distract us from the pangs of
vacation's end.
What
would be an apt souvenir of this humble little seaport?
``Hey,
mister, want to buy a drum?'' two small boys call to the scoutmaster
in our group.
We
follow the boys to Austin Rodriguez's drum studio - a raked
dirt yard under a crude pavillion. Rodriguez putters in his
workshop while his daughter, Daytha, tells how they hike four
or five miles into the jungle to find 50-pound cedar and mahogany
stumps to haul home, to be chain-sawed and sanded into sleek
drum bodies topped with a goatskin secured with ropes and
jungle vines. For $75, the drums are the best deal this side
of Glover's Reef.
If
you go
The
eight-night Glover's Reef & Mayan Caves tour offered by
Island Expeditions (800-667-1630; www.islandexpeditions.com),
includes five nights on Southwest Cay, and one night in Dangriga,
plus two nights at Banana Bank Lodge (see accompanying story),
and is priced at $1,499 per person,including meals, but not
including airfare to Belize.
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