I discovered Errolyn’s House of Fry Jacks by accident. I wasn’t even looking for breakfast at the time. Rather, I was walking one of Caye Caulker’s back streets looking for the only ATM in town. After finding the Atlantic bank branch and withdrawing some cash, I noticed a small crowd milling about outside a nondescript building at the junction of two dusty streets a few yards away. The menu was simple and the name said it all: Fry jacks were the only thing on the menu, stuffed with any possible combination of eggs, cheese, beans, chicken, ham and bacon. A fry jack begins as a clump of wet dough, patted by hand into a disk and slipped into hot oil, where it fries up into an airy, crispy pocket into which the chosen ingredients are stuffed, with the whole thing wrapped into a paper towel and handed through a small window to the hungry patrons patiently waiting for each hand-shaped, fried-to-order concoction. After placing my order I headed next door to the fruit and vegetable stand which offered containers of freshly cut fruit and just-pressed juices. Once the fry jacks were ready, I headed back to our hotel, stopping briefly to nab a slice of pineapple cake from another vendor selling his assorted sweet treats from a tray balanced on the handlebars of his bicycle. Once back at our room at the Anchorage Resort, Heather and I sat at the table on our third floor terrace, with a view through the coconut palms to the blue-green Caribbean Sea. The wind rustled the palms and we could see where the sea crashed onto the outer reef just a couple hundred yards offshore. It was the start of another glorious day on little Caye Caulker.

We had arrived on the island a few days prior, choosing this spot to spend our final week of our winter travels before heading back to Colorado. It’s a popular place, much changed from the sleepy little island getaway we found on our first visit 27 years ago. The waterfront has filled in with guesthouses, restaurants, shops and tour operators. Tourists cruise up and down the 3/4 mile main street in rented golf carts (there are no cars on the island), drinks in hand, heading to any one of the waterside happy hours or perhaps going to the Split, which divides the island in two and where the Lazy Lizard slings drinks to the sunburned masses who wade in the crystal-clear water and snooze in the loungers lining the channel. ‘Go Slow’ is the island’s motto, and it’s taken to heart by residents and visitors alike. On more than one occasion we were passed by locals while walking the main drag who greeted us with the slogan, one even adding “the island welcomes you”. There was no doubting his sincerity when he flashed a big toothy smile. Friendly folks for sure.

If one is inclined, there are activities on offer – snorkeling and diving trips, sunset cruises aboard a catamaran and fishing charters are available. But most visitors seem content to do nothing more than relax, enjoy a meal and retire early (or maybe that’s just us). We certainly don’t mind spending most of the morning and a chunk of the afternoon on our terrace, enjoying the view and the breeze. When the fry jack breakfast wears off we’ll stroll into the village and find dinner – perhaps a jerk pork sandwich at the Sports Bar (where the ex-pats flock for happy hour rum drinks), grilled fish at Maggie’s Sunset Kitchen or a simple plate of chicken, rice and beans, slaw and a fiery habanero salsa from one of the roadside barbeque grills that set up in front of the beach at the towns north end.

Prior to our arrival on Caye Caulker we spent four days on Tobacco Caye, a tiny speck of sand and palm trees located twelve miles offshore, smack dab on the barrier reef that runs all the way from Cancun, Mexico to the Bay Islands of Honduras. When I say it’s a speck, I mean it. Walking around the circumference of the island would take all of ten minutes – provided you stopped at the Tobacco Caye Lodge’s bar for nine minutes to have a beer and a short chat with Kirk, the bartender. We came to snorkel the reef and it’s a beautiful and lively one. We spotted a bevy of the usual reef fish along with some big stuff: nurse and bull sharks; turtles; southern, whiptail, spotted eagle and yellow rays; barracuda and perhaps most impressive of all – a school of nearly one hundred tarpon ranging in size from two to five feet in length. If snorkeling isn’t your thing, fly fishing the flats just inside the reef for permit is another activity that attracts many visitors. No matter what you choose to do during the day, everyone gathers at the overwater bar at the Reefs End Lodge to swap stories, make new friends and watch the sunset.

In a couple days we’ll head home to Colorado. Ski season is over but winter doesn’t know it yet – snow is expected for much of this week and thirty degree temperatures will welcome us back, if only for a day or so until spring makes its appearance. If nothing else, we look forward to getting back to our daily walks around town and getting on our bikes for some exercise – after a week of staring at the sea and daily visits to Errolyn’s, I’m starting to look a little like a fry jack.