Day 4- Belize City, Belize

This was an interesting adventure! It was like being back in Jamaica. They generally speak Creole there, so it was fun to listen to them talk.

We had to anchor out in the ocean because the water was too shallow. So, we started the morning with a 30 minute tender trip to shore. Once on shore, we met up with “Major Tom and the Fun Team”. They were appropriately named, because they were SO much fun! There was a little bit of a bus ride out to the zip line/cave tubing. So they made the most of it; telling jokes, and having a good ol’ time. Once at our destination…

We suited up for the zip line (This is us with our guide “Brother Love”. He was hilarious!)…

This isn’t something I really wanted to do. (I’m not a fan of heights.) But, since everyone else was, I didn’t want to look like a dork, so I tried it, and I’m so glad I di! It was AMAZING!!! I’m hooked! I’d do it over and over again. So much fun!

Here’s Heidi…

 

Klint…

Rik…

Eric…

Corinne…

Me…

This is our “we survived the zip line” picture…

After the zip line, we headed over to the cave tubing. It was a couple miles of hiking to get to where we’d start the tubing, but the scenery was amazing…

 

Rik came prepared with a head lamp. Doesn’t he look fancy!

 

As soon as we arrived at the starting point, Rik and Klint jumped right in to see if the fish really would nibble on their leg hairs, like Brother Love said they would…

I, on the other hand, was perfectly happy just standing on the shore and watching them swim in the fishy water. Yuck!

 

Next, we loaded up in our tube, hooking our legs under the arms of the person in front of us. This is how we’d stay for the rest of the trip.

Here we are heading into the cave…

The cave was really dark, but around one of the bends it opened up into what from the surface, would have been a sink hole. But, from inside the cave, it looked like this…

Here we are coming to the end of the caves…

After getting out of the caves, Brother Love helped negotiate this long train of 11 people down the rest of the river…

Here’s Eric thoroughly enjoying in leisurely trip down the river…

 

Here’s Brother Love doing his best “Baywatch” impersonation…

Brother Love had been running tours down the river for over 10 years. I was amazed how well he knew the twists and turns of the river. He’d literally slither our train of people down the river like a snake, knowing exactly when to twist, or straighten out. He also knew the depths of the river, which I thought was amazing. He’d know exactly when to tell us, “Buns up!” so we didn’t drag along the bottom of the shallow areas. His favorite thing to say was, “If you clinch it tight, you’ll be alright!” funny guy!

The scenery was so peaceful and BEAUTIFUL!

After getting back to the ship, we spent an evening with a casual dinner, a show, and hours of card playing. As amazing as all the shore excursions were, some of my very favorite times on the cruise were spent playing cards with our traveling companions. People in the game room kept asking us what game we were playing because we were having so much fun. We even taught a few folks how to play so they could TRY to have as much fun as we were having. :)

Good times! More to come soon…