Whipray Caye Lodge - Placencia, Belize

Whipray Caye had been a vacation home to the Cabral family for over 30 years, a fishing camp operated solo by Julian off and on for over 15 years, and finally, after Hurricane Iris leveled the caye in 2001 and destroyed much of the mangroves and vegetation and ALL of the buildings, Julian and his soon-to-be wife Beverly decided to take over the family lease and start over. What a way to start a marriage!
They began rebuilding the first cabana after many months of clearing away the hurricane debris with helping hands from friends and family. When the first cabana was livable, Julian and Beverly moved in and greeted their first fishing guests who also happened to be dear friends who have returned to Julian year after year for the last 15 years. They officially opened as a fully operational  

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lodge in December 2002, and married in January 2003.
Julian began his fishing career when he was a young man of 6 years old, traveling out in fishing dories with his dad George, and later with some of the ‘older heads’ in the fishing village, doing commercial fishing and learning the art of cooking for the crews while camping on various cayes, coming in to sell their catch and renew the ice supplies, and heading right back out again for more of the same.
When fly-fishing was starting to catch on as a tourist attraction, Julian trained himself through experienced visitors from the fly-fishing areas of the states, fishing and camping with them for weeks or months at a time. The skills he picked up from them: casting and tying his own flies, led to a full-fledged career that he carries with him to this day.
During this time, he also supplemented his beer money by working for various resorts as a snorkeling and diving guide, a bartender, cook, house and boat builder and engine mechanic, electrician and general do-it-yourselfer. He also spent nearly 2 years working as chief engineer on a commercial fishing boat in Bermuda. As a tour guide, he met Beverly and her sons on one of their many trips to Placencia, and especially endeared himself to her when he treated her (successfully!) after she stepped on a Scorpion fish while snorkeling at the Silk Cayes.
In 2016 Julian and Beverly retired and passed ownership and management into the more than capable hands of Julian’s brother Daniel Cabral. Daniel also has years of fishing and guiding experience with a knack for incredible customer service.
Whipray Caye Fishing Lodge is known and represented in the quickly growing international fly-fishing market by various agents. They are also active in coral and reef conservation under the guidelines of ICRAN and the Mesoamerican Reef Alliance, partially funded by WWF and the UN Foundation. The Mesoamerican Reef Alliance project has been awarded 'Best Environmental Initiative 2005' by Scuba Diving Magazine.