“Now stay here, turn off your engines, and be quite! I’m going to see if the coast is clear.”
“Can we get arrested for this?”
“No, not likely. This isn’t the states. Possibly a bribe, that’s all.”
We waited quietly in the dark while we watched one of the golf carts slowly make its way onto the unlit runway. Its little front lights getting dimmer as it blended into the darkness. Minutes went by but it seemed like an eternity to my excited and frightened mind. Then the golf cart came back. Our guide motioned for us to come over to her. And then, we were spotted.
A woman living in one of the houses near the airport shouted out, “Yo,
We all bursted out laughing. “Shh. All of you!” Said our guide particularly to the woman, who knew the guide well. “The coast is clear. We are going to go all the way to the end of the runway, and then when we see the white line, STOP.”
“Why aren’t we racing from this end?” Someone asked.
“Because the runway ends into the ocean, and its too dark to see it. So we’ll go to the end and race back up this way so no one crashes into the ocean.”
Our group of racers, waiting just outside of the airport.
I’ve written before about using golf carts on Caye Caulker to do a scavenger hunt. But that was just the preview of what we were really planning. Our guide told us how she likes to have her groups rent golf carts towards the evening hours. The reason being is that the small one runway airport in Caye Caulker does not have lights, and so cannot do any landings or take offs in the nighttime hours. Â It also is the only paved area on the island, making it perfect for racing.
And so we headed down to the end of the runway. It was pitch black dark and the sea calm, so it nearly impossible to hear the ocean before you came right near it. It definitely was a good idea to start at that end, otherwise one or more of the carts probably would have ended up in the ocean in the heat of the race!
I was one of the 3 drivers because we were the only ones with drivers licenses on us. And boy did I have fun!
Here I am, driving the golf cart furiously trying to beat out another cart.
We blew past this cart. You can see them duck down trying to gain more aerodynamics to be faster.
The other cart as it tries to pass us. It was at this point I realize we don’t have a front windshield and so don’t have an aerodynamic advantage.
In the end, one cart was significantly faster by a long shot, and so I made it in at second place. But it was amazing amount of fun and I would love to do it again!
(All of these great photos were taken by my co-pilot Martina.)
Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.
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