Ambergris Caye
— — a long thin island the reef keeps quiet.
Not only on a wall.
“A long sand island off the northeast coast of Belize. The reef runs parallel about half a mile offshore, which is what makes the water inside it that flat pale colour. San Pedro Town holds most of the people; the rest is mangrove, palm, and the lagoon on the leeward side. Golf carts, not cars. The wind off the Caribbean carries the sound of the surf hitting the reef from a long way out. from the studio
Ambergris Caye, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Ambergris Caye is the largest island in Belize, about 40 kilometres long and rarely more than 1.5 kilometres wide, lying off the northeast coast of the Belize District. Its eastern shore sits within a few hundred metres of the Belize Barrier Reef, the longest barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. The island's only town, San Pedro, holds most of the population of roughly 20,000. The caye is reached by short flights from Belize City or by water taxi across about 56 kilometres of the Caribbean.
The water on the lee side of the reef is shallow, clear, and the pale green-blue colour of fine sand seen through warm seawater. Most of the depth is under 5 metres for several hundred metres out. The Hol Chan Marine Reserve, established in 1987 at the southern tip of the caye, holds a 75-metre cut through the reef where nurse sharks, rays, and large groupers gather. Visibility on a clear day runs 20 to 30 metres. Boats from San Pedro reach the reserve in about 15 minutes.
Most visitors fly into San Pedro from Belize City on a 15-minute hop with Tropic Air or Maya Island Air, or take the roughly 90-minute water taxi from Belize City. There are no rental cars on the caye; transport is by golf cart, bicycle, or boat. The dry season runs from late November through April, with the most stable diving and snorkelling conditions in March and April. Hurricane season runs June through November, with the highest risk in September and October.