Belize Travel Blog

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Attractions

Caye Caulker Snorkel Tours: What Four Operators Charge and What the Day Includes

On this page 7 sections

Verified on 25 September 2026, on four Caye Caulker tour operators’ own websites, the Hol Chan Marine Reserve’s day-pass shop, and the Belize Fisheries Department’s page for the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve.

From Caye Caulker, a full-day snorkel trip to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley costs US$95 to US$105 per person across the four operators we read (our range): US$95 at Tsunami Adventures, US$100 at Ragga Sail Adventures and at Caveman Snorkeling Tours, and US$105 at E-Z Boy Tours. All four say the reserve fee is inside that price. A half day on the island’s own reef is US$50 (Caveman, Tsunami) or US$53 (E-Z Boy), fee included.

On these four pages the Caye Caulker full day is a bundled price — reserve fee, gear and lunch in one figure — and the operators sit within US$10 of each other (our arithmetic). The differences are in the hours on the water, the stops and the extras.

Full day to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley

OperatorPrice per personTimesStops, in the operator’s wordsIncluded, per the operator
Tsunami AdventuresUS$9510:30–3:30Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Shark and Ray Alley, Coral Gardens; bonus manatee stop at the North Channel, “not always guaranteed”“Snorkeling Gear, marine reserve fee $15US, water, fruits and lunch all included”; “Max. 8 people on boat on our joined tours. Our Minimum is four.”
Ragga Sail AdventuresUS$100 · US$80 “for children under 11 years of age”“departs at 10:00am and returns at approximately 4:30pm”; “We depart daily”“Tarpon view, Shark and Ray Alley, Coral Gardens, The Hol Chan Channel and the manatee stop”; by sailboat, with shade and bathrooms“all taxes plus snorkeling equipment, marine reserve fees, and all food and beverages”
Caveman Snorkeling ToursUS$100.00 (minimum of 4 people)10:30AM–3:30PM, 5 hoursHol Chan Marine Reserve (“12 miles away”), Shark Ray Alley close to San Pedro Island, Coral Gardens (north end), Chatos Area, a sunken barge, a manatee stop, tarpon sightseeingsnorkeling gear, fruit, lunch and water; “Park fee included ($10.00USD each)”
E-Z Boy ToursUS$10509:30–16:30, 7 hoursHol Chan, Shark Ray Alley, coral gardens, manatees at the north end of the island “(NOT GUARANTEED)”lunch (vegetarian option), fresh fruits, snorkeling gear, park fees, unlimited rum punch, ceviche, GoPro videos and images; “Free cancellation up to 24hrs before departure”

Only Ragga’s page says taxes are included. Tsunami, Caveman and E-Z Boy do not say either way. All four name a manatee stop. Tsunami, Caveman and E-Z Boy say a sighting is not guaranteed — Caveman’s page puts it as “Manatees can never be guaranteed on tour by anyone” — and Ragga’s says “we are often able to swim with manatees”.

The four tours run for different lengths: 5 hours at Caveman, 7 at E-Z Boy, and Ragga’s 10:00am to about 4:30pm and Tsunami’s 10:30–3:30 as each prints them. Use the hours of the operator you book.

Half day on the Caye Caulker reef

OperatorPrice per personLength and timesStopsIncluded
Caveman Snorkeling ToursUS$50.00 (minimum of 4)3 hours; 10:30AM–1:30PM or 2:00PM–5:00PMShark Ray Alley close to Caye Caulker Island, Coral Gardens (south end), South Channelgear, fruit and water; park fee included
Tsunami Adventures, “Local Reef Caye Caulker”US$503 hours; “Two departures daily 10:30am or 2pm”three sites, including the South Channel“$5US marine reserve fee” listed with the inclusions, plus gear, fruit and water
E-Z Boy Tours, “Coral Gardens & South Channel”US$533 hours; 10:30–13:30 or 14:00–17:00Coral Gardens and South Channel, in the Caye Caulker Marine Reservewater, fresh fruits, snorkeling equipment, “park fee (Entrance)”, GoPro videos and images; “Free cancellation up to 6hrs before departure”

Two different “Shark Ray Alleys”

Caveman’s FAQ says it plainly: “There are 2 different Shark Ray Alley. One in the Half Day Tour (smaller sharks) and the other on the Full Day Tour/Hol Chan Tour (bigger sharks).” Its tour page puts the half-day one “close to Caye Caulker Island” and the full-day one “close to San Pedro Island”. So a half-day trip with a “Shark Ray Alley” stop is not the Hol Chan reserve’s Shark Ray Alley — our Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley page covers that one, the reserve’s zones and its fee history.

The reserve fee inside the price, and where the numbers differ

The fee in the full-day prices is Hol Chan’s day pass. The reserve’s own shop lists it at BZ$30 for a non-Belizean aged 13 and over — US$15 at the fixed 2:1 peg (our conversion) — BZ$0 for non-Belizeans 12 and under, and BZ$5 for Belizeans 13 and over. Its booking calendar, read on 25 September 2026, still listed dates only from 14 April to 31 July 2026.

SourceWhat it says the Hol Chan fee is
Hol Chan Marine Reserve’s shopBZ$30 (US$15, our conversion), non-Belizean 13 and over
Tsunami Adventures“marine reserve fee $15US”, included
Caveman Snorkeling Tours“Park fee included ($10.00USD each)”

Caveman’s US$10 is below the reserve’s own price. We print it as Caveman states it; the reserve’s shop is the source for the fee itself. Either way, Caveman’s US$100.00 is the price its page quotes with the fee included.

Children and the fee don’t line up either. The reserve lists non-Belizeans 12 and under at BZ$0. Tsunami Adventures says “Children 10 years and under do not pay the marine entrance fees” and “We offer 2 years and under at no charge on all our tours”. Ragga’s child rate, US$80, is for “children under 11”. If you are travelling with an 11- or 12-year-old, ask the operator how it prices them.

The comparison with San Pedro. On the San Pedro side, the two operators on our Hol Chan page list the fee separately: US$45 and US$50 before it, US$60–65 with it before tax (our arithmetic). Those are different trips from a different island, so compare what each includes; our Hol Chan page lists the San Pedro trips’ inclusions.

Private boats and the manatee day

Caveman Snorkeling ToursPrice
Private full day, 1 to 4 peopleUS$600.00 total — US$150 per person at four (our arithmetic), against US$100.00 on the regular tour
Private full day, 5 or moreUS$145.00 each
Private half day, 1 to 4 peopleUS$450.00 total
Private half day, 5 or moreUS$120.00 each
Manatee Watch (minimum 6)US$130.00 each; 9:30AM–4:30PM; Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary, “20 miles away”

Caveman’s FAQ says it accepts US dollars and Master and Visa cards, but “we prefer cash if possible”.

The island’s own reserve

E-Z Boy’s half day names the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve, the island’s own protected area, not Hol Chan. From the Belize Fisheries Department’s page:

  • The Caye Caulker Marine and Forest Reserve “was established in April 1998” (S.I. No. 35 of 1998 for the marine reserve, No. 28 of 1998 for the forest reserve), and the marine reserve’s rules were gazetted on 6 December 2008, SI No. 127 of 2008.
  • It is zoned: a Preservation zone, a Conservation zone for “non-extractive recreational use”, and a General Use zone for licensed fishing.
  • “No feeding of marine life except by license tour guide”.
  • The north channel is the “seasonal residence of the West Indian Manatees”.
  • Management team: +501-226-0300.

The Fisheries page publishes no visitor fee for this reserve. The only figure we found is Tsunami Adventures’ “$5US marine reserve fee”, listed inside its US$50 half day. The same Fisheries page gives the reserve’s size three ways — “over 9,000 acres”, “approximately 12,160 acres”, and, in the same paragraph as the second, “an area slightly over 100 acres” — so we do not state one.

What the operators don’t publish

On the four operators’ pages we read on 25 September 2026:

  • Whether tax is added at Tsunami, Caveman and E-Z Boy. Only Ragga says its price includes “all taxes”.
  • A group-size cap at Ragga, Caveman or E-Z Boy. Tsunami’s is 8 on its joined tours.
  • A minimum age or swimming requirement for any of the four. E-Z Boy mentions life jackets and in-water guides, with no stated minimum.
  • A visitor fee for the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve from the Fisheries Department, as above.

Anwar Tours, another Caye Caulker operator, publishes a price list with no date anywhere on the page. We could not check its age, so its prices are not on this page. Two other island operators appeared in search results, Carlos Tours and Stressless; the web addresses we tried for them, carlostoursbelize.com and stresslesstours.com, did not resolve on 25 September 2026.

How we researched this

Scope: this page reports source research, not a trip. Every tour price, time, stop and inclusion was read from that operator’s own website on 25 September 2026 and saved in full: Ragga Sail Adventures’ home page, Caveman Snorkeling Tours’ tours and FAQ pages, E-Z Boy Tours’ snorkel-tours page, and Tsunami Adventures’ snorkeling and important-information pages. We did not use booking-agent or travel-marketplace prices. The Hol Chan day-pass prices were read from the reserve’s own shop’s ticket data the same day, and the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve’s dates, zones, rules, phone number and sizes from the Fisheries Department’s page. The San Pedro comparison uses the prices on our Hol Chan page. Figures labelled our arithmetic, our range or our conversion are calculated by us — the price ranges and gaps, the per-person private price, the San Pedro totals and the peg conversion. Everything else is reproduced as its named source published it.

Sources

Last verified: 25 September 2026. Tour prices, park fees and schedules change without notice.

Written by Estuardo Enriquez. This site is independent, carries no affiliate relationship with any operator named here, and is not connected to any previous owner of this domain.