Travelling Safely to the Cayes for the Easter Holidays
With borders closed, this year is going to see many Belizeans become tourists in their own backyards – visiting various parts of the country for the Easter Holidays. While some will head west and south with the family or friends, others will make their way for an extended weekend of sun, sand and sea. So what is in place for these water taxis that will be working around the clock to ferry passengers to and from the islands? News Five’s Duane Moody was very tempted to catch a boat today, but returned to the studio with this report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Over the last month, there has been a lot of traffic to and from the islands of Caye Caulker and San Pedro as residents took a much needed break from quarantine restrictions to relax. Water taxis have been busy ferrying people to their destination and back, so much so that additional runs had to be introduced to accommodate the flow of passengers.
Shameka Pennill
Shameka Pennill, Marketing Manager, San Pedro Belize Express
“What we have done to accommodate the crowd is to add that extra run in at five-thirty. It was in high demand for a later vessel so we added a later vessel coming out from the island as well. So if people want to go for a day trip they can do that as well. So for each port, we had one extra departure.”
Over the extended weekend three weeks ago, there were concerns about overcrowding. Marketing Manager Shameka Pennill says that there will be more officers at the terminal to ensure that travellers are adhering to social distancing rules.
Shameka Pennill
“For the most part we have control because we have officers located here. But for Easter we plan to increase security personnel from the police force to help us enforce those rules with regards to social distancing and just to help us with the carrying capacity of the compound. We don’t want it to be too crowded. We want to make sure that it is enough people for the terminal; it is a large terminal so we can hold a large amount, but at the same time, we want them to be social distanced. The law right now is seventy-five percent capacity. I know you’ve seen the pictures that the boat is jammed. We want to let the public know that each of our boats is scrutinised by the Belize Port Authority. It is based on the capacity that is issued to us by the Belize Port Authority; seventy-five percent from that total.”
San Pedro Belize Express Water Taxi says that since last week, a lot of people have been purchasing tickets in advance. It helps with the process, but she advises everyone to arrive at terminal half an hour before their scheduled departure.
Shameka Pennill
“We actually are asking people if you are going for Easter, please don’t wait last minute. Come in a day before, like right now, purchase your tickets so when it is time to depart, you only have to check in to go on the manifest. When you come to check in, we ask you to be here at least thirty minutes just to get the lines, to reduce those lines. We want to reduce the line and make it easier for customers. We have some of the largest boats which would be the catamarans and we are going to utilize those boats. We are going to use the larger boats to take the crowd out. So our largest boat I believe is two-ten so seventy-five percent capacity would run you about a hundred and fifty on that vessel. So the moment we send off a catamaran you would see the crowd reduce. Now what we’ve prepared is if we have what we call the left behinds, we will do a slot vessel which is a standby vessel and we would shoot those out on that run.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
Whether you purchase your ticket in advance or on the day you leave, be sure to take along a picture ID as all passengers are required to show this at check in.
