TOBACCO CAYE

A tiny island perched practically on top of the Belize Barrier Reef, Tobacco Caye is just north of the cut with the same name (a “cut” is a break in the reef through which boats navigate). If your tropical island dream includes sharing that island with a few dozen fellow wanderers, snorkelers, divers, rum drinkers, and hammock-sitters, this is your place. Shoppers can seek out hand-sewn gifts by Phillipa (behind Lana’s). Other activities include a number of caye-hopping or underwater excursions to surrounding reef spots or even to Glover’s Atoll, less than an hour’s boat ride away. Check with the dive shop at Reef’s End.

Long considered a backpacker and Belizean tourist destination, Tobacco Caye’s six “resorts” have lately diverged a bit in price, but still offer similar packages. 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 Coral Reef Resort welcomes you to “the Lifestyle of a Chosen Few” in one of four rooms or nine cabanas (tel. 501/509-5032, US$30, shared bath); the Paradise Lodge occupies the northern tip of the island with rooms from US$25 and cabins for US$35; Lana’s (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. 501/520-5037 on island, 522-2419 in Dangriga, US$65); owner of the caye’s dive shop which can be utilized by anyone on the island. Tobacco Caye Lodge (tel. 501/520-5033 or 227-6247, tclodge@btl.net, www.tclodgebelize.com, US$120 a couple plus tax) occupies a middle strip of the island and offers three units. Find Belizean-Brooklynites Raymond and Brenda Lee at Ocean’s Edge (oceansedge@btl.net, US$50/95 s/d) to rent one of seven rooms and enjoy a flag-draped bar and some of the best food on the island.

Tobacco Caye is the only island in the area that offers semi-regular water taxi service, with boats leaving Dangriga 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$15 each way, with a return trip usually made mid-morning. 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.