Staying at Oasi on Caye Caulker

When it comes to accommodations, we can go either way. For short trips and trips where we are crazy busy running around, a clean, safe place to fall into bed is all that is really needed. For a more relaxed trip where we know we will be spending a decent amount of time at our accommodation, we tend to be more selective.

Though I  take Tripadvisor reviews with a grain of salt, I have never seen so many glowing reviews as I did when I was reading up on Oasi. Review after review raved about the wonderfulness of Oais and its owner Luciana. Since it ticked off most of the boxes for a place we would want to stay, I decided I had to see the wonderfulness for myself.

The Owner

As you can probably tell by her name, Luciana is originally from Italy. Artist, entrepreneur, scuba dive instructor, she is an amazing, renaissance woman. She had the perfect balance of letting us do our own thing, while ensuring that we had everything we needed, and making sure we were enjoying ourselves. She was friendly, energetic, and offered great suggestions. She mentioned that we should eat at Aladdin’s, and it ended up being our favorite meal of trip. I believe that Oasi minus Luciana would not be the same.

Other Cast of Characters 

Also encountered at Oasi was Micheal, Luciana’s other half, and Mama, Luciana’s Italian speaking mother. I wish I knew Italian because Mama was a friendly,lively lady. There were dogs and cats on ground. We grew particularly fond of Fifi, as she usually let us pet her and give her attention.

Some guests included two friends from Texas, a couple from New York, and by far our favorite guests, Brian and Evelyn from Ontario, Canada. We got to talk with them for a bit while enjoying some afternoon drinks. Brian and Evelyn were staying at Oasi for two months. Brian is a writer. He wrote a noir novel, Belizean Sextet:Six Tales of Adventure. I plan on acquiring it once my to-read pile reduces. Brian is also a travel blogger. You can check out his blog, Brian's Belize, here. Before we left for home, Evelyn was kind enough to give me a copy of a Canadian Geographic Travel Magazine. The magazine featured  Canada’s national parks. It definitely provided more places for us to add to the list.

The Apartment 

Oasi is comprised of four apartments. We stayed in apartment 3. 

There was air-conditioning, but we never used it. It was cool enough in the evenings to sleep with just the fan and the windows open, delivering fresh island air throughout the night. During the afternoons we hung out outside on our lovely little patio, because... hammock. 

There is no better nap, than the one taken in a hammock. 

If our stay was longer, we probably would have taken more advantage of the kitchen. It was nice having a refrigerator to store our juice. Our room also had a water cooler, so we could refill our water bottles.

Our room was always clean, and there were nice touches, like the fresh flowers that adorned  our table.

The Grounds

We found out during the week that Michael is a landscaper, which I’m sure attributed to the loveliness of the grounds. I always have to take the obligatory picture of a hibiscus.

The Location

Perhaps the only slight downside of Oasi, is that it isn’t on the water, but we did have use of a dock, and that was just fine. The dock almost looked too beautiful to be real.

Oasi is right near the island’s airport. It was fun relaxing in the lounge chairs while watching the planes and boats go by. 

We happened to visit during a few days of constant breeze. Really great for keeping things cooled down, and keeping the bugs away, but it made the water surrounding the dock too choppy for swimming (the water at The Split was still calm). 

No worries though, as Oasi had a pool. 

The pool was great for cooling off during the warm afternoons. The pool's water temperature was perfect. We said it over and over again,

“The water is perfect. How can it be so perfect?”  The pool had a nice deck with chairs that were great for reading.

The distance from the main town area is a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it. Oasi is located away from the main town near the opposite end of the island. We enjoyed being able to walk to town, and then escaping back to the relaxed quietness of Oasi. It’s an easy walk to town, and given that our day jobs are rather sedentary, we enjoyed indulging in the physical activity, especially after a filling dinner and ice cream. If you prefer to peddle instead of pad, there were bikes assigned to each apartment that were free for guests to use.

 Il Baretto 

On the grounds of Oasi there is a wine bar, Il Barreto. Wine is pretty scarce on the island, where beer and rum abound. The bar opens only in the evening, and serves drinks and bruschetta. One of the evenings there was live music, so we decided to relax for a spell before dinner. 

Tommy, the musician, did a great job. I enjoyed all of the songs that he played. Note that Mama had a special, on stage seat. 

I liked that we were able to choose from a variety of bruschetta. 

The one with grilled peppers was my favorite, followed by the eggplant, which was like an eggplant spread. It was nice to have a little snack, a glass of wine, and some good music. Even if you don’t end up staying at Oasi, I’d recommend music night at Il Barreto.

A Special Event 

If you knew me well, you would know that the sign caused laughter, because of course we just happened to be staying at Oasi when it was hosting a Book Fair and Art Exhibition. 

I’m obsessed with books.

The event was very nice and well attended. 

I think our favorite part though was watching all of the local artists and authors setting up. Maybe I just like organization and logistics a little too much, and what artist, no matter their craft, hasn’t fantasized about painting, writing, sculpting, etc…while living on an island. Here folks are living that dream.

I am in desperate need of a new camera and deeply regret that the picture I took of Luciana with her artwork did not turn out, but believe me when I say that she is a very talented lady.

Just like the reviews on Tripadvisor, I couldn’t think of a single complaint about Oasi. The apartment was ideal, the grounds and pool are lovely. The company and Luciana were amazing, and it offered a quiet, relaxed atmosphere, while still being in walking distance to town.  I couldn’t imagine staying anywhere else while on Caye Caulker. It was wonderful.

Getting to Caye Caulker-Part 2

The trek through the Belize airport was uneventful. This included getting money from the ATM, once we found the ATM of course (it is exactly at the exit). We took a moment to catch our breath, and collect our thoughts for the next leg of our journey. We knew we had to…

   

1)  Get a taxi to the water taxi terminal

   

2)   Take the water taxi to Caye Caulker Island 

Task 1- We walked out of the doors of the airport to find an extremely polite, organized, and efficient taxi system. We were escorted to a car, and began zipping through Belize City.

We found out later in the week that solid yellow lines are brand new in Belize. They only arrived a few weeks before we did. Most Belize residents still didn't know exactly what the lines meant. 

 Our driver was very friendly and chatty. By the time the 25 minute ride was over we knew about one another’s families, travel preferences, and we learned some nice background information on Belize. He was great, and not a super crazy driver, though he did show off some moves that would make any avid player of Tetris proud.

When we stopped at the water taxi terminal, I was ready to put my figuring out logistical things cap on. Our taxi however was greeted by a nice man from the San Pedro Express Water Taxi. The man took our two larger bags and escorted us to the luggage drop off. He tagged our bags, explained how to retrieve them once we got to the island, then gave us directions to the ticket counter. He even let us know where the restrooms were located. I was once again amazed by the efficiency.

The water taxi terminal was nicer and more modern than I expected. It had places to eat or grab a drink, stores to buy snacks or other needed items, and clean restrooms. 

Task 2- We walked to the opposite end of the terminal and found the ticket counter. 

There are two windows. You purchase your tickets at the window to your right (the one marked cashier). 

I  read some things before the trip advising against getting the round trip tickets( if the boat is full they may not let you on in favor of one-way tickets), but we got the roundtrip ticket twice and had no issues. One-way is $15, and a round-trip is $25. If you are at the Caye Caulker dock early, you can even get a coupon for a dollar off.

Important Information- After purchasing your ticket at the right side window, you must get it punched at the left side window (marked ticket booth), otherwise they won’t let you on the boat. Since I’m a researcher, I knew this ahead of time, but others did not. We watched a group who thought they were all slick and cool being first in line to get on the boat, only to discover that they couldn’t get on because they never got their tickets punched. They then had to wait in the line for the punching, which had become quite long, and almost missed the boat. Get your tickets punched.

The inside waiting area isn't bad, but we got in line a lot earlier than we had to, because the people watching in line was better.

We rode the water taxi six times in total during our trip and never rode on the same boat twice. They have a lot of different boats. I’m not going to sugar coat it, the ride, no matter which boat you are on, can be pretty butt jostling. Usually not the whole time, a lot of it is fairly smooth, but be prepared to do a bit of bouncing. 

Our first ride  on the smallest boat, was the most bouncy, and also my favorite. We got a nice amount of air time on some of the waves. It was fun, and was made more fun by a group of college girls who squealed and giggled every time we flew up in the air. The breeze blowing through my hair, the occasional sea spray, and the constant visual of blue water, amped up the excitement that we were almost at an island.  

Also fun, was Sleepy Guy. You could tell the visitors from the locals on the boats. The locals used the boat ride as nap time, while the wide eyed visitors ogled the pretty blue water. Every time Sleepy Guy nodded off, he would start to fall over onto Shannon, jolting awake just seconds before he snuggled against Shannon’s shoulder. 

It started to become a source of entertainment for us as well as another passenger. The other passenger generously shared his pretzel M&Ms with us and would later become our stalker (or maybe we stalked him, we never quite decided).

We got off of the boat and set foot on the Caye Caulker dock with that initial, slight, disorientation of, wait, where are we? We are in a completely unfamiliar, new place. What do we do now? 

This quickly dissolved into becoming Randy on Christmas morning with exclamations of,

“Wow look at this. Wow look at that. Palm trees, blue water, that’s mine!” 

We were so excited. It did feel a lot like Christmas morning.

 

Being good direction followers, we handed in our bag tickets and received our duffle bags. We didn't know how far we were from our accommodations and if we needed a golf car taxi (we didn't, we could have walked), but we ended up deciding to hop in one with a man and his young son E.J., who was being shown the golf cart taxi ropes. Now we were off to our home for the next few days, Oasi.

Getting to Caye Caulker-Part 1

Friendly Hotel Desk Clerk: Okay, I have you booked here for two rooms.

Us: What? No we should only have one room.

Friendly Hotel Desk Clerk: Hmmm, let me see {click-clack-clickity-clack} No, it says here two rooms. You are definitely booked for two rooms.

Us: Sigh.....

 We decided to spend the night near the Newark airport as our flight departed at 5:45am. It was surprisingly difficult to find a hotel near the Newark airport whose Tripadvisor reviews did not include photos of guests riddled with bed bug bites.  Springhill Suites seemed to be our best option if we didn’t want to carry unwanted insect passengers in our luggage. 

Our bug free bed 

The best available price was the one actually stated through Tripadvisor’s website, so I ended up booking directly through them. Of course what I found out at the desk of Springhill Suites is that Tripadvisor then books you through a third party. Through some glitch in their system they had accidentally, simultaneously booked us through two different third parties, Expedia and Get a Room. I had absolutely no Expedia information. No paperwork, no confirmation number, but I did have the paperwork for the Get a Room confirmation, so the clerk booked us in using the Expedia reservation and advised us to call Get a Room and have them cancel their reservation. If we didn’t get one of the reservations cancelled, we’d be charged for both rooms. 

Me: I explain the situation to the person answering the phone

Joe: I'm going to have to transfer you

Terrible hold music

Me: I explain the situation

Pete: I'm going to transfer you...

More terrible hold music

Me: I explain the situation

Donna: Actually, you have to call a completely different phone number, here I'll give it to you....

The issue seemed like something that should have been easy to resolve seeing as it was a glitch on Tripadvisor’s end, but it took forever. We spent almost two hours, precious hours we should have been sleeping before our 2:30am wake up call, on the

phone. Fortunately we did end up getting the second reservation cancelled, but I will be hesitant to book a room through Tripadvisor again. It wasn’t the best way to start off a trip.

 2:30am, we got ready in record speed, then caught the hotel’s 24 hour airport shuttle to the Newark airport. 

This part of traveling always gives me anxiety. Not the flying part, I enjoy flying, just the making sure that everything falls into place part. I’m usually not fully relaxed until my bag has been successfully set down on the floor of my accommodation. 

Craig from the Indie Travel Podcast suffers the same anxiety and described it as feeling like taking a final exam. That really is the perfect description.

We passed through security smoothly, though while I was waiting for Shannon, I witnessed two of the security screeners arguing and almost getting into a fist fight. Ah, New Jersey.  

I'm always mesmerized by the people who can chow down on greasy egg sandwiches and massive fruit and yogurt parfaits at 4:30 in the morning. All I can manage to do is sit down in my seat and stare. While I was staring, there was a girl yelling at her boyfriend for eating a muffin because it wasn't vegan. 

Once we were in the air, I pulled out my iPod. It was a little too early for reading or movies.  I wanted to go Meta for the first flight, so I saved up some of my favorite travel podcasts to listen to while in the air. Particularly, Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase, because then I was listening to a podcast about flying, while flying.  Whoa.  

We had one of those fancy screens at our seats where you can choose to watch a plethora of different movies or shows, but I preferred watching the flight progress.

We both have our airplane drinks. I don't drink Coke a lot, but I always choose it as my airplane drink. Shannon always gets Ginger Ale.

We landed in Miami in a bit of a panic. We had a very short layover and were aware that our next flight was probably already boarding as we waited to exit the plane. It seemed to take FOREVER for people to mosey their way off of the plane.  We bounced impatiently on our heals as Slowy McSlowster took his sweet old time retrieving his bag from the overhead bin, completely unaware of the backup of eager to disembark passengers behind him. The dread of a possibly missed flight started to envelop me.

In the most wonderful stroke of luck, our boarding gate was directly across from the gate we departed from. We even had time for the quickest bathroom break in the history of airport bathroom breaks. 

Next stop, Belize City, Belize.

The Genesis of Caye Caulker, Belize

We were going to Spain. 

I purchased a copy of The Rough Guide Andalucía. I read it.

 I started to plan out an itinerary. A day trip to Ronda. At least a few days in Granada, etc… I went to sleep with visions of tapas and churros dancing in my head.

As Shannon closed out our budget for 2015 and began setting up our budget for 2016, he noticed something. We could go to Spain, or we could take a few smaller, less expensive trips in 2016, and have our mortgage paid off by the end of the year. Less debt means more travel funds, so the Andalucía book was placed on the shelf, along with our trip to Spain. 

Now the question, where do we go for our winter escape trip?  

There was a Google search. We really enjoyed our Holbox Island trip last year, and although we wanted to go somewhere we’ve never gone before, we were hoping to find a place with a similar vibe. 

I typed in,

“places like Holbox, Mexico.”

The answer that popped up over and over again, Caye Caulker, Belize.

Belize has been a contender over the years, but always ended up in second place behind Costa Rica, or Mexico, etc... After completing my usual initial research, I found that Caye Caulker ticked off our boxes.

-Warm

-Palm trees and Blue water

-Laid Back

-Affordable

Thus our trip to Caye Caulker, Belize was born.