Belize, Belize

No...not a typo...we were in Belize City in the country of Belize....another country in the Carribean sea...so guess what...it was warm....kim and i wanted to do the cave tubing....BUT....the tour was cancelled cause there had been way too much rain lately and hence the river levels were at an unsafe level...damn...hence we needed to make another choice....so we ended up with a city tour of Belize and an airboat ride...the tour only started after lunch so kim and i decided to go ashore a bit by ourselves....we did not end up doing much...looked at the some souvenir shops...and then of course Belize is known for rum...then again...most of the Carribean is know for rum...so we decided to have a rum and coke at one of the local bars....typical Carribean bar....

Kim enjoying rum and coke

Me enjoying rum and coke

I must say the city tour was quite interesting, it was a bus ride through the various areas and i must complement the tour guide, i think she is the one who made it, she was informative but not boring...she kept it interesting. The start of the tour took us past the lighthouse and the tomb of Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss...commonly known as Baron Bliss (16 February 1869 – 9 March 1926), was a British-born traveller who willed nearly two million Belize dollars to a trust fund for the benefit of the citizens of what was then the colony of British Honduras, now Belize...let me share a pic...

Lighthouse and the tomb of Baron Bliss

We took a drive through the kings area called like that cause it is where the wealthy have their houses, also drove through the south side, where the poor are, the majority of the belize people. Here are some interesting facts about Belize....Belize has about 330 000 inhabitants...the national language is in fact NOT spanish but english...main reason is because it used to be an english colony until it gained independance in 1981. The locals speak a type of language called Creole...and the tour guide, Maria, explained the easiest way to learn it, is is to change every "er" to an "a" and every "th" to a "z", so cleaner becomes cleana...and so on....quite funny...in fact the locals call it Kriol...not Creole.

Belize also has many islands which they call Caye. Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters offshore in the north and 40 kilometers in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300-kilometer long section of the 900-kilometer Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya and up to Honduras, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors.

Ok...enough facts now....after our city tour it was time for the airboat.....we were placed in groups of 15 and received a safety briefing before boarding the airboat...now before i continue let me share a pic of this airboat so you know what i am talking about.....

Airboat

Airboat

We also received these red earmuffs....of course to protect the ears from the noise. This airboat "hops" on the water and the engine is of course outside of the water. The entire tour was almost one hour.....they advertise it as a wildlife tour, but in all honesty, one did not see a lot of wildlife, they should just promote it as airboat adventure....cause people that go for the wildlife will be disappointed. I thought the scenery was quite beautiful and interesting to see, the ride itself was ok....nothing oh my word WOW, but we enjoyed it.....would i do it again, probably not, would i recommend doing it....that depends, depends what you have seen already of belize, depends how much time you have etc.....like i said, it was not bad, was quite fun, but not WOW...time to share some pics with you....

Sitting on the airboat

Scenery

More scenery

After the airboat ride it was time for us to go back to the terminal and take the tender boat back to the ship....to the beautiful Norwegian Jade. Here is a pic of the area where the tender boat drops you off...its called the tourist village....

Tourist village

So...this was not the last time i was in Belize, i guess not too many more though cause NCL has purchased its own private Belize island and as soon as it is finished with the development, we will not be going into Belize City anymore.....so the aim....next time i come cruising with my husband...i wAnt to do the cave tubing and see the rainforest....but for now...airboat was it....time to go to for some lunch...so from me cheers....chat soon.

 

 

 

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