Belize

The Belize Barrier reef is about 1000' off shore and part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System which is the second largest barrier reef in the world. (Do you know which is the biggest?)  We had to anchor the ship a long ways off shore and take tenders into port.  The morning was overcast but warm.  I ate and early breakfast and brought Rick some coffee so we could get to shore in time for our excursion to Altun Ha.

     The Maya ruins of Belize include a number of pre-Columbian Maya archaeological sites including Altun Ha which is located about 30 miles outside of Belize City.  We were taken there on a air conditioned bus.  The infrastructure in Belize (for old folks the original name was British Honduras) including roads, sewers, and water was put in place when it was a British colony.  It is the only country in Central America that has English as its official language.  The roads are narrow and in tough shape so the ride was exciting as the buses played "chicken" on the basically single lane streets outside the city.  At Altun Ha we saw many large temples and pyramids restored at the site.  At one time there were 3,000,000 Mayans living in Central America.

    After our tour we drove back to an outdoor restaurant on the Belize River where we were served traditional Belize beans and rice with chicken.  Yumm! my favorite food on the trip.  Then we got on a 15 passenger boat with a canopy to cruise down the Belize River back to the port.  Along the way we stopped to take pictures of many crocodiles, monkeys, iguanas, and herons. 

     At some point one of the boats two Yamaha motors failed.  Eventually we pulled along shore and a repairman jumped into the croc-infested water to change out the propeller.  As we started up again the motor seemed better, but not completely fixed.  We stopped at the mouth of the river to look for manatees.  We saw several swimming in the brackish water, but mostly just their snouts. 

     We were still a long way from the pier and it was getting late - after time lost in fixing the motor.  Our guide tried to get the boat to plane on the ocean waves but it wallowed slowly and sprayed water into the boat.  We were now about 30 minutes before the last tender left for the ship.  Another boat in the area saw us floundering and came along side.  We climbed over the gunnels into this new boat and made it back to shore in time to catch a ride back to our ship.  What a day!