We will be traveling to Belize on our next cruise. This is a port we have only visited once and one I always wanted to go back to see again.
We visited Belize on our very first cruise ever. To put things into perspective… We were 2 broke kids on our first real vacation … all by ourselves. The furthest Mark had ever been out of Texas was across the border to Oklahoma. Ocean wise, we had both been to Galveston and that was about it. Our first port was Progresso in which the ocean and beaches are pretty much the equivalent of Galveston. So when we saw Belize… WOW.
We thought we were in heaven! You only saw things like this in movies or pictures. We were in awe.
For our excursion we “splurged” on a snorkel tour to a private island (aka: sand dune in the middle of the ocean). Obviously, neither of us had ever snorkeled before. Putting on the flippers, vests and goggles was humorous to say the least. They said we should not blow up our life vest until we are in the water. This seemed a little backwards to me, but I was assured this was the proper procedure.
I was somewhat scared because I am not the best swimmer and this body of water did not have a concrete bottom. The attendant helping everyone down the ladder said not to worry, it was not deep where we were and that you could touch. "Ha!" I stepped off the last rung of that ladder expecting my foot to hit soft sand … and sank to the bottom of the ocean instead!
I was spitting, sputtering, flailing about. Apparently the attendant and I are of different heights! Mark grabbed 1 arm and the attendant grabbed the other and hoisted me above the water as they were laughing hysterically…
8 years later … I still fail to see the humor in this situation.
I was revived, but unable to blow up my much needed life vest. So Mark was holding me with one arm and blowing into my life vest, however the air was not going in proportionately. The next thing I knew my backside pops up to the top of the water and I find myself face down in the ocean, flailing once again and trying to get my ass back in the water so I can breathe! Finally we got me aired up correctly and took off.
We paddled around for a bit and noticed the 2 of us quickly became 3. Everywhere we went there was this teenage kid following us. Mark finally turns around and the kid was not really viewing the ocean floor so much as he was my Bum! A little bit of yelling, splashing, swimming and chasing ensued after that and the kid finally retreated to his family… or to stalk another unsuspecting female. Mark simmered down and back to snorkeling we went. There was a magical world below us. The colors and shapes were mind blowing. The different types of fish and sea life were amazing. We were trying desperately to take it all in. Everywhere we looked there was something new!
Remember that horrid movie from several years ago “Open Water” where the couple got left on a diving trip and were eaten by sharks. …. Well. Here we were, 2 naïve kids from Texas and the next thing we knew whistles were blowing…. We popped up and we were A LONG WAY from the boat! Thank goodness there wasn’t a strong current or we would have been toast! We swam back towards the boat and decided to take a break and finally reached the sand dune… I mean island in the middle of nowhere. This excursion offered 1 thing to drink… Rum Punch. No water, no food… just Rum Punch. It was good punch. It didn’t seem “alcoholy”. (Pretty sure that isn’t a word, but we’re going to go with it) Smart folks these rum punch makers were. We don’t really recall getting back on the boat, or the ride back to the ship. But we sure did purchase a nice little package of “their” pictures for a pretty price we never would have paid if we were in our right mind! LOL
After returning to the boat we showered (and sobered up) to go meet up with a couple we met at dinner the night before and another couple we met on the excursion and we all headed into town. One couple was from California and innocently asked if we thought you could purchase marijuana in Belize. Mark says … I am sure you can. Let’s see. We walked up to a little hut and he says … “How much for that T-shirt?” The lady says $5. So Mark says … “How much for those coasters?” The lady says $5. Mark says … “How much or a bag of weed?” NO JOKE! She whips a baggie out of her pocket and says $5! Mark says … “Eeh, We’re just kidding about the weed, but we’ll take the coasters.” OMG The California couple disappeared a few minutes later and I am pretty sure they backtracked past the coaster hut.
Next we see these really cool sculptures. They are faces and such carved out of wood. I am sure my description is doing this art a huge disservice. But please know… these things were really cool! And big! They whole group was looking at them, but the guy wanted like $300. That was crazy money to us! About that time a local “Belizian” comes up and says “I can show you a really good art gallery where the prices are much cheaper.” The whole group is like “ok”. So we set off
following this guy. (My mother is going to freak out when she reads this ... Hi Mom!) Strength in numbers ... Right? We walked and walked … and walked. Down little windy dirt roads, passed the chickens … I started to get a little scared. I told Mark “I think this is how people disappear… like, forever. We should turn back.” The little guy kept assuring us we were almost there and we were safe with him. (Hmpf)
The next thing we know… there it was. A little art gallery in the middle of nowhere and sure enough inside were some awesome deals. We got this huge “pregnant man?” ha ha , for a fabulous price. It really serves no purpose in our home other than a remembrance of an incredibly stupid thing we did on vacation and lived to tell about it! And, it certainly is a conversation piece :)
We had no idea the danger at the time. We loved Belize. After being home for several years and reading things online I now hear it is often not visited by cruise ships
because of how dangerous it is. I am still excited about going back … I haven't decided what excursion we will be taking… but I am sure of this… It won’t include a walking tour through the backroads of Belize from a random guy we don’t know!