Belize, Baby - The Good and The Bad

 We're wrapping up our 2 Belizian ports with mixed results.  I wish I could say that it was all UnBelizeable.

Yesterday, we were in (or on, I guess) Harvest Caye.  The island is privately owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines.  If memory serves me right, we were supposed to visit Harvest Caye on a Norwegian cruise that we took a few years ago with our son, Matt, and his family.  On that occasion, as we approached the island in the morning the winds were quite high and they eventually announced that it would not be possible to dock there.  So we waved goodbye to the island as we turned and sailed away.

This time it seemed like deja vu all over again.  As I was on deck for my morning jog, I could see that we were just sitting in the water as the wind blew.  However, this time, they announced that, while we could not dock, they would be using local boats to take us ashore.

So, by 10 am we were on the island and heading for the beach.  We wound up spending about 4 hours there, lounging, swimming, and eating lunch.  It was warm, but the constant breeze off the sea kept it comfortable.

The beach was well stocked with life guards whose main job was to assist the old folks who fell while trying to get out of the water!

The day definitely qualified as the epitome of the saying, "Life's a Beach".

Today, Sunday, was a different story.  We were anchored quite a distance from Belize City which made for a 20 minute tender ride, again using local boats.

We booked an excursion through a new, to us, provider, ShoreExcursioneer.  It was to be a tour of the Altun Ha Mayan ruins, a tour of Belize City, and a "delicious Belizean lunch".  Let's start with the good - our guide, Wallace, was nice and competent and the other couple that was to join us was a no show so we had a private tour.  Everything else was a bust.  Wallace's care was a 1980's vintage Nissan with massive cracks in the windshield, doors and windows that didn't work, and marginal air conditioning that eventually gave out.  Check out my door handle:

Oh yeah, the car ultimately completely died but fortunately we were just a 2 minute walk back to the pier when that happened.  

It was about an hour drive to the Altun Ha Ruin and the visit was good.

As for the "delicious Belizean lunch", Wallace said that, since it was Sunday, the restaurants were closed and there would be no lunch!  

As soon as we returned to the ship, I sent off an email to ShoreExcursioneers detailing the failures.  We'll see what they say, but it is unlikely that we will be using them again.

Tonight, it's off to Mexico with stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel before sailing to Miami.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry