When visiting Belize and looking for new spots to see and snorkel three of my local Caye Caulker friends made it happen for me this time by taking me to Lighthouse Reef. Rafael, Fiona, Patrick and i spent 4 amazing days out on Northern Caye on Lighthouse Reef and snorkeled to our hearts’ content.
Small Caye with the Lighthouse after which the Reef was named.
This trip was all about back to the roots for me. We only packed bare necesseties when it comes to food, since we wanted to do as much speerfishing, flyfishing and trolling as possible. Other than that, the most valuable item was my bikini!
When we arrived at Lighthouse Reef the island’s caretaker greeted us happily and invited us to stay in the room’s that had formerly been Staff Quarters. Simple but clean and the bathrooms right next to it. We were delighted at so much comfort as we had anticipated camping out and sleeping under the stars. Mr.Jones, the caretaker, soon quenched that thirst for “outdoor sleeping” when he let us know there are crocodiles on the island as well as gazillion of mosquitoes!!!
As soon as the boat was unloaded we set out to go speerfishing, a little bit of a contest between the two pairs Rafael and Fiona and Patrick and i. We caught two hogfish each and a yellowjack. Shortly before sunset we started cooking and soon after lit a huge bonfire on the beach to chase away the mosquitoes.
We started the next day with an early breakfast and then explored the island for a bit. When talking to Mr. Jones i found out that the resort has been closed and for sale for 4 years now. It has an airstrip where people used to fly in directly to Northern Caye. There are three big houses that sleep up to 6 people, while the 5 smaller cabanas sleep up to 4 people. I was amazed how someone could close a beautiful resort like this one. Everything looked as if someone just hit “pause” not like having been closed for years.
two Juvenile Queen Angelfish i was able to find at the dock on Lighthouse Reef.
As i mentioned before, it is my lil paradise found. The island is surrounded by corral reef which enables you to snorkel right off the beach, the ocean is inviting you to dip in for a swim at any time and the water is home to as many game fish as well as reef fish.
I found out that the dock at the former restaurant has another function now: it is the island’s nursery for reef fish babies of all sorts. I saw juvenile Angel Fish, juvenile Rock Beauty, Seargent Majors, Black Snappers, grunts, Dogteeth, Butterfly Fish and Lobsters as well as the occassional baby Stingray very close to shore.
Later this day we took the boat over to Small Caye (the island where the actual lighthouse is) and spent the afternoon sunbathing, relaxing, playing around in the shallow waters on the shore and of course, fishing.
Rafael holding his catch, a tarpon, before releasing it back into the ocean.
Rafael was able to catch a tarpon. These fish are protected in Belize and fishing for them is catch and release only. It took him a good hour to get the huge fish in and we could not resist to pose for a picture with the gorgeous animal.
We then went for a bit of snorkeling and speerfishing since our dinner was not caught yet and we were all getting a wee bit hungry. Snacking on coconuts all day may sound great but it is not going to fill one’s stomach for long. The day ended with Hogfish for dinner and a great bonfire (mainly to chase the mosquitoes away).
Before i tell you that on the last day we did exactly what we had done the prior days, i would like to point out how much wildlife there was on these remote Cayes. We actually saw a blue heron, a greenback heron, pelicans, crabs, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, nursesharks, stingrays, eaglerays and many many colorful reef fish!
For all of you who would like to experience something like this trip to Lighthouse Reef i would advise to talk to Rafael from Raggamuffin Tours and he may be able to hook you up with what you want. But beware, the trip is expensive as gas prices have skyrocketed and you will need to bring pretty mcuh everything to the island, from ice for the coolers to bugspray for yourself. Other than that is a great trip to relax, snorkel, speerfish and enjoy island life for a few days.
