When we got back to the ship, I realized I’d forgotten to take the elevator picture. In the elevator, they have these panels in the carpet to let you know what day it is. I think it’s easy to lose track while you are at sea, and that the floor of the elevator is the best place to let people know.
Here’s a shot I took at dinner. I noticed that we were passing by a “desert island” and only had the camera phone, so you have to squint hard to see it. Other people began passing me their cameras, and some of them got better shots than this. There’s a dock and a little tiki hut type place there too.
After dinner, we went to see a show. I was feeling sort of sick. The boat was REALLY moving. I remember sitting outside of Vintages with a group of the Lodge Ladies and watching the menorah on display in the promenade sway…. At some point we went to the Dungeon, but I could not take noise AND feeling sick, so I told them I’d be outside on the deck. I was almost asleep when Deb came to fetch me for the comedy show. I definitely fell asleep during the show; sleep is the only way to escape feeling sea sick. This was the ONLY time I felt sick on the Navigator. I’m grateful for that! Anyhow, after the comedy show was over, I went to sit on the deck again for a while, and then I went to bed. I felt better in the morning.
Tour operators decided to give us a wild ride through the mangrove islands, taking hair-raising turns and bumping along. We theme park fans instinctively raised our arms to the sky in order to enjoy maximum air time.
The clouds were still gathering and darkening the closer we got to Belize city.
Safely on shore, we take the “goodbye” photo with our tour operators. What a fun day we had! The rain turned out to be further inland than it looked.
As we sped away from Caye Caulker, this is what we were speeding into. I wasn’t liking the prospect of being in a little speed boat, or even in the larger tender, during THAT. Was hoping it would either blow away, or else we’d be back on the ship before it started.
The rendezvous spot was near the Caye Caulker Police Station. There was a second-floor open air seating restaurant nearby where we saw Carol, who called down to tell us what shop Deb and Barbara had disappeared into.
Deb put on this pirate cap and for the first time since I’ve known her, I saw a very strong resemblance between Austin and his mom! I think maybe every time I see Austin, he’s wearing a cap.
Barbara poses with a complete stranger who had a weirdly named boat tied up on the dock near ours. I’m sure Deb or Carol will remember the name of the boat. Me, I was under the influence of two Kahlua coladas at the time, and we’re lucky these photographs are in focus. 🙂
I know that agave is not the same as weed, but this medallion on this shop sign sort of makes it look like contraband!
In reality, agave looks nothing like marijuana, but it IS medicinal!
Mister Moose poses here with my lunch. I think most if not all of us ordered the mid-sized grilled lobster tail. I had red beans and rice with mine, and also cole slaw. The dipping sauce was butter, BBQ sauce, and Worchestershire sauce. It was YUMMY! I ended up pouring the sauce over my red beans and rice. We also had some exotic drinks. Debbie wanted to know what the heck a “panty ripper” was, but I don’t think she actually ordered it. Linda and I had Kahlua coladas. I actually had two!
Here’s the view from our table
That boat actually looks use-able
More view from the table
Deb, Barbara, and Linda. Note that Linda has gotten her hair braided; while they were wandering the town, they met up with a woman who does such things. Barbara and Deb each had a few beads put in, too. Note also that Mister Moose is sitting on the table. His adventures on this cruise are chronicled on his very own blog .
Soon, it was time to amble down the beach and meet the rest of the landlubbers for lunch. The place recommended by the tour operator was the Rainbow Grill, on the beach directly across the street from the Rainbow Hotel. The restaurant had a bar inside, and all seating was outside on this floating dock dining room thing. It was covered so there was abundant shade and sea breezes blowing through. I stood outside under a palm tree to wait for them in the shade.
Back down the very same street, more of the same. It should be noted that the prices for doing laundry are in local Belize currency; halve it, and you have what it costs in USD.
There wasn’t really a beach on the other shore; above, you can see mangroves in the distance. Below, a commercial dock. I turned around and trod back after seeing what there was to see here (this is about the extent of it).
Above, some sort of bar called PIRATES. They do tend to mention pirates a lot in this country! Below, new construction. Looks like “hurricane spec” with all the cement blocks. A new hotel or condos, perhaps?
I should mention that when we arrived at Caye Caulker, we all split up. I wanted to look for shells on the beach; Carol and the two other people from the ship went with the crew to go diving on the reef; and Deb, Barbara and Linda went walking through the narrow, sandy streets in search of shopping opportunities. After about an hour or so of scouring the shore for shells, I decided to set out across the island to see what was on the opposite shore. I don’t think it took quite 10 minutes to do that on foot. Above, we see some folks getting around by bicycle; I also saw some golf carts.
The building above is some sort of bed and breakfast. Below is the local beauty salon.
I had packed my blue mesh bag (above) but had forgotten to toss the shell-net-on-a-stick into my suitcase prior to departing home. While in Fort Lauderdale, I bought a child’s version (the stick is shorter, and it’s plastic). So I was all set to do some shelling.
They do not have formal “swales” here in Caye Caulker; they have what look like naturally-carved ditches that run down to the sea to drain off the rain water. Looky what gets trapped in them!
You can see some sea snail shells here, as well as bits of branch coral.
Pay attention to that ditch in the lower left of the picture above; it’s going to become important in a minute or two…
This is really a sleepy little place. Nothing fancy at all, but that’s how I like it!
It’s about a 40 minute speed boat ride from Belize City to Caye Caulker. Along the way, you pass all these little islands and mangrove swamps. Sorry this is blurry; we were going FAST. There was this boat that made camp on one of the little islands. There was a guy out there fishing but I don’t think I caught him in this shot.
Wouldn’t it be nice to come back and stay a week at that Radisson?
Here’s the lighthouse; I like that Picasa has a “straighten” feature, because we were bouncing around in this teeny tiny speedboat, and this pic did not start out in life with the lighthouse looking so tall and STRAIGHT 🙂
The view as we depart from Belize City. That tall building on the right is the other side of that Radisson shown above.
Barbara, aka MOM
Carol
Debbie
The Wet Lizard is the meeting place for this expedition.
Shout-out to sime pirates I know… 🙂
I made Deb pose with this pirate as we made our way off the tender. The flag of Belize was flapping in the breeze. Belize used to be known as British Honduras, and is the only Central American country where English is the official language.
When we got to the end of the dock, a friendly face awaited us. Carol was going on the expedition with us. Whereas the four of us were just getting dropped on the island of Caye Caulker for a day of bumming around, Carol would be going on a dive out on the reef. She’d already made contact with the tour guide, who was anxious to leave ASAP, even though we were all an hour early. He hadn’t been aware that the ship intended to leave so early – 3:30 PM instead of a typical later time. Carol said there were only two other people from our ship to complete our expedition and then we could go.
Met Deb and her family in the dining room for breakfast. We left Barbara and Linda to finish their breakfast while we went to the pool deck to secure tickets to the tenders. Well, as luck would have it, they were looking to fill up a boat and came down the line saying, “Anyone ready to leave RIGHT NOW?” We raised our hands, got the tickets, and then RACED back to the dining room to collect the rest of our party. Then we RACED out to disembark onto a tender, and sped away toward Belize City. Here’s how the ship looked behind us as we departed.
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