What I Did For Summer Vacation (in February) #5

Day Five (Wednesday)

Snorkeling – To get into Belize City, we had to take a tender boat from the ship to the shore (we were parked off the coast about 5 miles – to protect the barrier reef environment).  Getting into and out of one of these boats and finding a seat is not fun – we all would much prefer to just walk off onto a pier or something.  After about a 20 minute ride, we arrived at the Belize City marina and on the docks where it was a mad house.  With four cruise ships parked offshore there’s probably around 6,000 people all descending on this little village in the space of an hour or two – all looking to have their version of fun (and we were no exception).  We eventually found our tour operator, signed the liability waiver forms, got our little wrist bands, and then hopped onto another boat for our 30 minute ride to Goff’s Caye (pronounced key).  The tour “guide” Bernie spent that time telling us all about Belize (formerly British Honduras) – he was quite entertaining and made the ride seem a little shorter and the bumps a little less severe.  The 1.5 acre island sits on the edge of a barrier reef (second only in size to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia).  It was definitely a post card looking island with white sand, palm trees and a little grass hut or two.  Initially there weren’t too many people but that changed as the day went on.  Frank stayed on the island while the rest of us snorkeled around this reef.  We saw several fish and quite a variety of coral.  Three of the tour operators were in the water with us – herding us along.  They would dive down to the bottom every once and awhile a pull up a sea cucumber or a starfish or something. After snorkeling we had about an hour to sit around and explore.  Casey found some contraband (coral pieces) but was told by an official that it would be okay to take with us.  We got on the boat for the return trip and sat next to a group that we was really into the rum punch – not so fun on the rough seas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shopping – At the Belize City port, Cindy purchased a clay nativity set signed by the grandson of the artist.

Back on board – After our tender boat ride home, we got cleaned up and prepared for an early dinner.  While at dinner there was some kind of storm that really soaked the ship.  We didn’t realize it until we got on the upper observation deck.  We watched one of the other cruise ships depart the area and took in a gorgeous sky – the pictures will tell the story here.  We enjoyed a comedy show, by Shark Bait and learned that there is a college for clowns and that these two former Ringley Brothers clowns (I’m not using that term figuratively here) were honest to goodness graduates and now out on their own.  Their juggling and comedy was very entertaining – I think Frank laughed the hardest of all of us though.