Glover's Reef - life (for a week) on a coral island.

45 km off the coast of Belize lies the extensive coral atoll of Glover's Reef, named after John Glover, one of the original 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. On the eastern flank of the atoll, a group of tiny islands rise a few metres above the surf pounded reef rim and one of these, Northeast Caye (pronounced key), became our home for six days in January.

Your stay on the island is at Glover's Atoll 'Resort', run by the Lomont family for close on forty years. The parenthesis on the word 'resort' is also used on the Glover's website, because this is not the kind of set up that many people would expect from a 'resort'. It's more like comfortable but basic beach bumming than a hotel, although to be fair, most people that come here are pretty clued up about what to expect and get on quite happily with the shared composting toilet and cold showers, no electricity, bottled water and 'through-the-wall' air conditioning. And there's not a trouser press in sight!





We had a simple over-the-water thatched cabin, which was surprisingly spacious , with a double bed and a hammock and a table with cooking gear, pots and pans. These remained unused on the table all week though, as we took the soft (and sensible) option and had all our meals cooked for us in the 'restaurant'. Breeze, the dive master, head chef and general main-man on the island and his three man team cooked great food for us. Breakfast, lunch and a good dinner, usually of fresh seafood from conch or fresh fish to lobster.

We would sit at the back door in the evening, with our preprandial ration of Belikin beer, watching the shoals of tiny fish or maybe a passing ray or pipefish or just admiring the view (above).





The 'shacks' are supported on piles driven into the shallow lagoon. They have survived two hurricanes!
These are our nearest neighbours.


Most people come to the Glover's Reef Marine Reserve to dive or snorkel in the pristine coral reefs here, as the atoll is the most biologically diverse in the Caribbean. It is so valuable a resource that the atoll was made a World Heritage Site in 1996. The map below (courtesy of the Glover's website) shows just how huge the atoll is and gives you some idea of the range of diving opportunities that exist on the reef.

The dry reef crest marked on the map above Northeast Caye is not as dry as you might expect. Jos and I set off on a 'walk' and soon discovered that the crest is really just below the waves and that anything like nine miles would be a bit too far at such a slow paddle. We managed a few hundred yards.

There were less submerged areas of reef but these proved difficult walking too. Opportunistic mangrove seedlings sprouted amongst the coral debris. It was clear they would not survive.

Breeze the 'head honcho' with Shane lugging air.

Jos and I don't dive, so we snorkelled close to the island and found plenty to keep us happy. Just to widen our territory, we had a two-man kayak for the week and had great fun learning to stay upright in the choppy waters and jumping back in after a dive. By the end of the stay we were still some way off being expert but we found that kayaking is a great way to tone up the pecs.

Jos paddles the kayak over the aquamarine lagoon while I relax in the back.

I had a waterproof housing for Canon Powershot I'd brought with me and soon found out just how difficult it is to take photographs while you're bobbing around in the waves. There was a strong wind blowing for most of the time we were on the reef, so I never managed to try underwater photography in calm conditions. Here are just a few shots:

A beautifully camouflaged and beautifully marked flatfish. Virtually invisible when not swimming.

Northeast Caye covers around three acres, big enough for it to take all of fifteen minutes to walk around at a slow pace. Jos and I used to do a circuit of the island before beer in the evening, clockwise mostly but anticlockwise some evenings for a change of scene. The interior of the island is covered with dense coconut forest, dotted here and there with broadleaf trees; cool, dark and mysterious.

Nuciferous nursery

Scuttling along the forest floor, especially at night were hundreds of shells, home to hermit crabs from fist size to impossibly tiny. Below is one we kidnapped and took back to the shack to photograph. Lucky for him we were eating at the canteen!

Lizards too were common but difficult to photograph by stalking. The best method was to stay in one place, say on a sun lounger with a book(Jurassic Park works best for me) and a camera and read nonchalantly. Reptilian curiosity would eventually get the better of them and they would come out of hiding to see what you were doing and allow a chameleon pace approach from behind the lens.

Ospreys are said to breed on each of the islands around the atoll, plucking fish straight from the ocean with those sharp grabhooks. This is one of our resident pair taking off after eating breakfast on the reef just before we went to the canteen for ours.





And everywhere on the island are conch shells, mostly the remains of past meals and put to good use as path edging, cabin decoration and even a novelty hand basin tap (although you can't get the soap to lather in the brackish water).

Some creatures live on smaller 'islands'. While we were tidying the beach one afternoon as part of our contribution to the running of the island, we picked up a hair spray can, which had been adopted by a colony of stalked barnacles as their floating home. We wondered how long they had lived on their enamelled can, how far they had travelled and what storms they had endured. Perhaps the cans motto helped.

By the way, we returned them to the sea to continue their Odyssey

Of course all good holidays come to an end but our stay on Glover's was only the first week of two in Belize. Nevertheless we were sad to leave such a beautiful 'Robinson Crusoe' island after the great time we'd had and all the wonderful people we met, who were tremendous fun and really made the whole experience very special.

If you would like to stay at Glover's, visit their website at http://www.glovers.com.bz/accomodations.html