3 Best Sights in The Cayes and Atolls, Belize

If you’ve always wanted to dive with the gentle, 60-foot-long whale shark, Gladden Spit is the place. But this is the catch: you have an extremely narrow window in which to do so. The spawning of various snappers—cubera, mutton, and dog—draw the whale sharks here, and that takes place from March through June from the full moon to the last quarter. (Even March can be chancy.) If your schedule coincides, all dive outfitters in the village of Placencia can get you here during these mini-seasons. It means needing to reserve far in advance for a popular excursion that can be offered three—four if you’re lucky—calendar weeks during the year. The other 48–49 weeks, the two pristine, deserted Silk Cayes offer a chance to picnic on their sugar-white beaches and snorkel in their clear-blue waters. Plan on seeing Goliath and Nassau groupers and various sea turtles, but not the whale sharks.

Few visitors make it to this collection of six sand and mangrove cayes, Belize’s southernmost island group. If you’re one of those lucky few, you’ll come back with tales of Hunting Caye, the largest of the Sapodillas, and its gorgeous white-sand beach. Shallow waters immediately off the islands’ coasts make for good snorkeling; various dive sites lie farther out. Spadefish, parrot fish, and dolphins are yours for the viewing. Camping on Lime Caye is your only option for an overnight stay. Save for a few researchers from the University of Belize, who study the sea turtles here, and Belize Defence Force (BDF) personnel, the islands are otherwise uninhabited. Why the military outpost? Guatemala and Honduras also claim the Sapodillas as their own. Belize maintains control of the islands, with its own military on Hunting Caye to ensure that status. The dispute need not concern you as a visitor, and, indeed, you might rub shoulders with day visitors from Livingston, Guatemala. They all need to go through passport control with the BDF. You won’t. Outfitters in Punta Gorda can fix you up with a trip, either for the day or overnight.

Belize's easternmost island offers one of Belize's greatest wildlife encounters, although it's difficult to reach and lacks accommodations other than camping. Part of the Lighthouse Reef system, Half Moon Caye owes its protected status to the presence of the red-footed booby. The bird is here in such numbers that it's hard to believe it has only one other nesting ground in the entire Caribbean (on Tobago Island, off the coast of Venezuela). Thousands of these birds hang their hats on Half Moon Caye, along with iguanas, lizards, and loggerhead turtles. The entire 40-acre island is a nature reserve, so you can explore the beaches or head into the bush on the narrow nature trail. Above the trees at the island's center is a small viewing platform—at the top you're suddenly in a sea of birds that will doubtless remind you of a certain Alfred Hitchcock movie. Several dive operators and resorts arrange day trips and overnight camping trips to Half Moon Caye. Managed by the Belize Audubon Society, the park fee here is a steep BZ$80 per person.