A 1960's photo of my father's (Ray Auxillou) Hideaway Reef Lodge on Caye Caulker (1st hotel on CC) and his boat, the Atoll Queen, also an ad for the lodge from Field & Stream 1973.
I spent many a childhood day on this boat cruising Belizean islands.
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The Atoll Queen owned and operated by Ray Auxillou was one of the very first live aboards to operate in this country. That’s the Hideaway hotel in the background. In the photo the Atoll Queen is docked on Front Bridge ... that’s when that bridge actually belonged to the people of Caye Caulker, of course. My father built that boat himself by hand. As a child, I never appreciated what a feat that was but I do miss that boat now. When my father got up in age, he tried to give us kids the boat, but we were young, foolish and unappreciative of the valuable gift that it was ... so he sold it.
Atoll Queen had 2 Diesel (Volvo Penta) engines with double rudders in the back connected to each other from which we would steer the boat. There was a tall mast and a boom. 2 bunk beds in the back of the boat under a hutch and another double bed up front under the bow. Kitchen / dining / sitting area & toilet were under the main cabin where the 2 engines were also located.
My father had three boats (that I can recall), the Sailfish, the Atoll Queen, and the Buccaneer (just above). I helped build the Buccaneer, lol. It was his first fiberglass boat and it was built at Arthur Hoare's boatyard in Belize City when I was a young girl.
Annette Newell:
I certainly remember the Atoll Queen when I was there in 73/74. I remember one harrowing trip in a terrible storm from Turneffe Atoll back to Belize Harbour. I wasn't sure we would make it!
Ad for the lodge from Field & Stream 1973
Photographs courtesy Wendy Auxillou
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