On this travel day, we were leaving Palenque, Mexico and heading to Caye Caulker, Belize. While we had a few travel days previously within Mexico, this was our first that involved a border crossing. Prior to leaving our hotel in Palenque, I spent a few hours reading through various travel blogs, guidebook recommendations, and tour company websites looking for information on the border crossing. Most of what I could find was for border crossings by car (either a private vehicle or on a bus). I couldn’t find much information on crossing by water, which is what we planned to do. Hopefully this article will shed a little bit of light on how to cross into Belize by water, as well as provide a glimpse into what a travel day looks like for us!

We ate dinner at our hotel and packed our bags, checking out at 9:00pm (Wednesday, October 12). We put our backpacks on our back and walked in the sweltering heat (lest you think I’m exaggerating, it was 90-100% humidity nearly our entire time in Palenque!). The bus station was only about a half mile away, so we arrived and took a seat in the waiting room. By 9:45pm, we were seated on our bus and pulling out of the bus station (bus tickets were $340 pesos each, or about $36 USD total). The bus drove on winding roads, slowing frequently to go over speed bumps in the road. A handful of times, we stopped completely to let police on the bus, who walked down the aisle and asked a few people at random for their ID. Jon and I slept fitfully, not getting more than about 15 minutes’ sleep at any given point in time. By the time our bus arrived at the station in Chetumal, we were already tired.

Jon and his backpack, waiting patiently at the Palenque bus station for our overnight bus.

Our overnight bus from Palenque to Chetumal was with ADO.

At 5:45am (Thursday, October 13), we disembarked and took seats in the waiting room at the bus station. It was still dark out, so we tried to get comfortable on the hard plastic chairs. I listened to podcasts while Jon read. A couple hours later, the Subway opened so we each ate a sandwich for our breakfast. The information counter had a man who spoke English and was able to help us figure out where we needed to go next. We purchased our ferry tickets from him and he wrote the name of the pier on a small slip of paper for us. Since the port didn’t open until 10:00am, we had about four hours of sitting and waiting at the bus station.

The Chetumal bus station, where we spent 4 hours waiting to then go spend 5 hours waiting at the water ferry terminal.

At 10:00am, we got into a taxi and showed him our slip of paper that read “Muelle Fiscal.” He drove us through town to the port and dropped us off at the end of a pier next to a two-story building (taxi ride was $80 pesos, or about $4.25 USD). We walked into the building and talked to the woman at the ticket counter, who exchanged the tickets we had purchased at the bus station for actual larger tickets for the ferry. It was around 10:30am, and we then had almost four hours more to wait for the ferry. We spent our time looking out into the water and back at town, filling out our Belize customs and immigration forms, writing in journals, and having some guacamole for our last time. The port waiting room filled up with other travelers, primarily Brits and one large Mexican family, all destined for the Belize islands. At one point while waiting, a bright greet butterfly decided that I resembled a tree, and landed on my head. He stayed perched on my head for over an hour, not even moving when I went into the small store to purchase a bottle of water.

This is the small station where you go through immigration and board the water ferry.

One last beer and guacamole before we leave Mexico!

We went through immigration to officially leave Mexico around 2:30pm, where we had to pay an immigration fee ($390 pesos each, or about $42 USD total). I had read up on exit fees online, again only having found information on the land crossing, so we ended up paying the full amount despite the information that told people not to pay if they had already paid to get into the country. Oh well, live and learn! The immigration was at the port in the same area as the waiting room, so after immigration, we continued to wait with our bags. The Mexican military arrived with a drug-sniffing dog and inspected all of our bags, both checked luggage and our carry-on items. Finally, it was time for us to board the boat, a half-hour late at 3:30pm (tickets were $1100 pesos each, or about $116 USD total).

Our boat, which held about 25 people and all our luggage.

The boat was small, but held more people than we had expected. We took seats around the outside on a cushioned bench, next to a window. We left the pier and began cruising toward the islands. The first part of the journey was a bit bumpy, with choppy water and waves. Eventually it evened out a bit and was more comfortable. Dark clouds were threatening rain, but luckily it didn’t affect our trip. At this point, I’ll note that there are two different ferry companies that make the trip between Chetumal and the Cayes: Belize Express Water Taxi, which we rode, and San Pedro Water Taxi. The companies work out of the same office and pier, and work on alternating days. We waited until we arrived in Chetumal to purchase our tickets, although they can be bought ahead of time online. Make sure to double check the schedule so you purchase tickets for the correct boat, although each will honor the other’s tickets for a $10 fee.

We were able to exchange the last of our Mexican pesos for Belizean dollars on the ferry.

We arrived in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye around 4:30pm (note that there was a time difference and that Belize was 1 hour behind Mexico). We all got our bags off the boat and lined up according to the number we had been given when we checked into the port back in Chetumal. Jon and I were #1 and 2, since we had arrived so early! We were the first to go through Belizean immigration and customs, in a small room on the pier. We then had to wait an hour for everyone to go through and the luggage to be reloaded onto the boat. Those who were staying on Ambergris Caye could leave, but the rest of us reboarded the boat for the half hour ride to Caye Caulker. We left Ambergris Caye at 5:30pm and pulled up to the dock in Caye Caulker by 6:00pm.

The sun was setting as we went through immigration in San Pedro and re-boarded our water ferry.

A view out the window of the water taxi as we sped toward Caye Caulker.

Our guest house had arranged a driver to meet us at the dock, so we said hello to Jose. I went into a nearby sports bar to use the ATM and take out some Belizean dollars while Jon collected our bags from the boat. Jose then drove us across the island to the small cottage that we are renting for two weeks ($2.50 BZD each, or about $5 USD total). The cottage is outside of the main part of town, in a residential area. Since it was dark out, it was a bit hard to follow where we were going. Luckily, Hilda, the owner of the cottage, was waiting for us and spent 15 minutes going over the map, where things are located, and her advice for the island. Finally, by about 6:30pm, we were home!

A view of the sunset from our rooftop patio at our apartment/cottage rental in Caye Caulker. We finally made it!

This was a long travel day full of a lot of waiting, but we were thankful that everything went smoothly and we made it to our destination safely. I can only hope that all future travel days will be as smooth and easy as this one was!