Going slow in Caye Caulker

“Go slow” is the motto and mood on Caye Caulker, Belize. A perfect place, therefore, for the World in Slow Motion wanderers to wind down.

This is paradise found. Turquoise waters, palm trees, white sand streets, reggae and rum. This tiny Caribbean island - only 8km long - is home to under 2,000 Belizeans and seemingly the same number of tourists. They come here because it’s slow.

Feet rule the streets and are often without shoes. People wander sedately up and down the three central lanes, first class road users with priority over traffic. When it comes, traffic is bicycles and golf buggies, which give way to and dodge around the pedestrians. The street is slow. Men sit around drinking coco locos - green coconut milk and white rum - chuckling softly and joking with the folk walking by. People are always ready to stop what they are doing and have a chat in this town.

For the last few days from my vantage point on the top of Tom’s Hotel I have watched a man dismantling wooden lobster cages . He does it at a very relaxed pace, resting when the sun gets too hot, stopping when friends pass by on their bikes and playing when his children come to help. At his pace he can’t get through more than five a day, and he’s got a big pile to get through. Not to worry, there’s plenty of time.

The owners of Tom’s are also in no hurry. Like most guesthouse owners on the island they don’t know when guests are coming or going. They just wake up in the morning and work it out then - no reservations possible, leave it up to luck and see what the day brings. Sadly, despite his best efforts, they don’t give discounts to Toms.

It’s very easy to go slow on Caye Caulker. We have spent three days here doing…I’m not entirely sure what. We wandered about. Drank fruit juice on the jetty as osprey carrying silver fish flew overhead. Watched pelicans sitting on poles in the water watching us. Drank some rum. Listened to some banjo. Ate a lobster…

The highlight was snorkelling. The sea life of the Belize Barrier Reef is breathtaking: angel fish, grouper, snapper, sting ray, sharks and many more colourfully painted and named fish, all slowly bobbing around the coral apparently unfazed by the score of sunburnt tourists flapping and peering down on them from above. Even a hawksbill turtle was happy to be watched as he munched the sea grass for lunch.

The outward boat journey was unsettling to our leisurely pace, zipping along and crashing over waves, leaving me quite nauseous before we anchored. The teeming tourist snorkellers were equally unnerving, leaving me having to move faster than accustomed to dodge their flippers.

The journey back however, was slow. We hoisted the sails and glided. It was rather like a dream, sitting on deck in the Caribbean sun, sipping rum punch and gazing out as dolphins sashayed along side. I raised a glass to the setting sun and thought, this is the world in slow motion.