If your tropical island dream includes sharing said island with a few dozen fellow travelers, snorkelers, divers, rum drinkers, and hammock sitters from around the world, then Tobacco Caye is your place, especially if you don’t mind the close quarters and smoldering trash piles.

This tiny island perched practically on top of the Belize Barrier Reef has long been a popular backpacker and Belizean tourist destination, especially for divers. Tobacco Caye is just north of Tobacco Cut (a “cut” is a break in the reef through which boats navigate). Guesthouse owners have boats to whisk you each day to snorkeling and fishing trips or to Man-O-War Caye and Tobacco Range to look for manatees. Glover’s Atoll trips are also available.

Tobacco Caye Accommodations

Tobacco Caye’s five “resorts” offer similar packages but for a range of budgets. All six places are Belizean-run family affairs, each a bit different according to the owner’s vision, and are comfortably crowded together on the five acres of sand. Apart from some basic differences in room quality, the more you pay, the better food you’ll be eating—a pretty important thing when checking into a room that also locks you into a meal plan. The following prices are all per person per night and include three meals!

Gaviota’s Reef Resort welcomes you to “the Lifestyle of a Chosen Few” in one of four rooms or five cabanas (tel. 501/509-5032, US$45, shared bath); there are three boats that can be used for visiting the reef and cayes. An on-site marine station often hosts visiting scientists, and you can ask to check out their reference materials on the area’s habitats and species. Paradise Lodge occupies the northern tip of the island with rooms from US$12.50–17.50; Lana’s on the Reef (tel. 501/520-5036 or 522-2571) has four basic rooms for US$40.

Stepping things up a notch, find Reef’s End Lodge on the southern shore (tel. 501/570-0558, www.reefsendlodge.com, US$65); rooms and cabanas have air-conditioning and hot/cold water with private baths. Reef’s End has one of the caye’s dive shops, which can be utilized by anyone on the island. Tobacco Caye Lodge (tel. 501/520-5033 or 227-6247, www.tclodgebelize.com, US$45 US pp Jul–Nov., US$55 pp Dec.–June) occupies a middle strip of the island and offers three units.

Getting to Tobacco Caye

Water taxis to Tobacco Caye leave when the captain says there are enough passengers; usually around mid-afternoon from the Riverside Café or the Tackle Stop farther upstream. Captains Buck and Compa are spoken of as the most reliable; just ask around. The trip costs US$35 round-trip, with a return trip usually made midmorning. By calling ahead to Gaviota, Reef’s End, or Tobacco Caye Lodge you can arrange a pickup any time from Dangriga and ensure a boat will still be there if you are arriving after midday. Captain Fermin has the newest, largest, and most comfortable boats (tel. 501/509-5032).

Be advised, if you need a boat after 3 P.M., you’ll pay a lot more—seas get rough and a private charter is necessary; plan accordingly.