Greetings jauntsetters. Munching on shrimp kebabs, swaying to reggae, and easing into the warm night over a couple of Belikin beers: That pretty much sums up one of my favorite weekend trips – perfect for this time of year  –  to the tiny, wave-licked Caye Caulker in Belize. 

While some Belizean destinations can suck your wallet dry, Caye Caulker, near the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, is surprisingly affordable. Take your pick among the plentiful budget beach shacks, like De Real Macaw, which sits just a dozen paces from the Caribbean Sea. American Airlines is offering good deals from New York City to Belize City, and from there, frequent water taxis chug across the sea to the caye. 

Caye Caulker is called the “backpacker isle” for good reason: “Go slow” is the motto, beach bikes and golf carts are the mode of transport, and the weightiest decision you might be faced with is scuba or snorkel? Henna tattoo or hairbraid? Foot or scalp massage? (Or try them all, as I did.) For dinner, settle in at Wish Willy (wish-willy.com), where chef Maurice cooks up lobster in a ginger-butter sauce, and then watch the moon rise at the Lazy Lizard bar at the northern end of the caye. (Sleazy name aside, one of tastiest – and most popular – of Belize’s cocktails is the “pantyripper,” made of coconut rum and pineapple juice.) 

Oh, and when you start plotting on how you can stay (forever), you’ll find plenty for sale, like this beachfront (pictured) that I stumbled across as I was exploring the island. Hey, New Yorkers, you can always have your bagels delivered. 

For more travel tips on Belize and other destinations, join me, a couple of other Rough Guides travel writers, and the lovely jauntsetter team at Word in Brooklyn this Thursday. Look forward to seeing you! 

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AnneLise Sorensen has penned (and wine-tasted) her way across four continents, from Barcelona to Belize City, Calcutta to Copenhagen, and New York to New Orleans. She has written and reported for guidebooks, magazines, websites, and radio/TV, including Wallpaper Magazine, New York Magazine, TimeOut, Fodor’s, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, Pulse Night + Day, and About.com. 

She contributes a weekly TV called “Backyard Travel,” - on all the weird and wonderful ways you can travel around New York - for NBC’s New York Nonstop TV, and has also appeared as a travel expert on NBC New York, Forbes Traveler, Real Simple, Sirius Radio, Budget Travel, the UK Guardian/Observer, and Self Magazine. She’s also the author of DK Top Ten Barcelona; and co-author of books to Belize and Guatemala, Spain, Scandinavia, Montreal and Quebec, New York, and California.