Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Travel to Guatemala - Jungle Zip Line
Sunday 2/20/2011
As the day progressed, I got sicker and sicker which probably partly explains the lack of photos at the border or on the drive into Guatemala. Ed drove. I snuffled, blew and sneezed. We got through the border which included a ceremonial spraying of the car for pests that cost about $5 US each way plus several other fees. Then we headed down a sparsely traveled, intermittently paved road toward Tikal National Reserve in Guatemala, a must see. 
When the pavement gave out and we were the only car on the road for what seemed like a long time but was probably only five or ten minutes, we got nervous. We were afraid we were on the wrong road, even though it was really the only road. Ed make a U-turn to go back toward Belize to find somebody to ask. Being in Guatemala, we were a bit nervous about possibly driving off into the jungle away from the established the tourist path. As we started heading back, another van, obviously carrying tourists came our way. We flagged it down and asked if this was the way to Tikal. The driver said "Yes, yes! Follow me." It was a blessing and a curse to follow him since he drove at break neck speed and keeping up with him was a challenge, not to mention the speed bumps to avoid which popped-up in unpredictable places where there might be a "pedestrian crossing" on the outskirts of a village. We did finally make it to Tikal and the Jaguar Inn where we were spending the night. The plan was to do the zip line in the afternoon and tour the ruins on Monday. Belize is a small country and we were checked into the Jaguar Inn by early afternoon. We had lunch at the nice little cafe at the inn but I felt so awful I begged off on the zip line and went to bed. Ed headed out on a bus for the zip line tour. Amazingly, he was the only person on the tour. I wish I could have gone, but there was not way.
Mopan River Ferry to Xunantunich Ruins
Sunday 2/20/2011
We followed our plan visit Xunantunich in the morning and then cross the border into Guatemala and continue on to Tikal. The hand cranked ferry ride across the Mopan river was fun. We picked up a guide at the ferry crossing who took his time as he guided us through the impressive ruins, our first of many on this trip. The Mayan empire must have been truly amazing when it flourished, from around 300 BC to 900 AD.
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Crossing the Mopan River on hand cranked ferry. |
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| Boys playing in the river. |
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| Xunantunich |
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| Xunantunich Stella |
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| Mayan Ruin touring involves much stair climbing. |
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| Mayan frieze on El Castillo which rises 130 feet high, almost as high as we went down scuba diving. |
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Belize - To San Ignacio and Lost in Belize
Saturday 2/19/2011 – By our trip inland Saturday, I was in bad shape. Poor Ed had to put up with my hacking and blowing of which he was admirably patient. Shortly after we left the airport in Belize City in our rented Suzuki X7 4-wheel drive with not enough power, the rain started. It poured our entire drive inland. We darted into a gallery and café for a cup of tea in need of a break.
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| Table at the restaurant where we had lunch. |
The place, called "Orange Gallery and Gift Shop", turned out to have lots of art out front and a quaint little restaurant behind.
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| Children play in outside kitchen at "The Orange Gallery and Gift Shop" |
We watched a group children of mixed ages and race play together near the kitchen. They batted each other with balloons, jumped on hopscotch squares and danced under a limbo stick which moved as required. Then, they sat down with the restaurant owner, and presumably the father of some of them, for a quiet, well-mannered lunch. Behind us in the restaurant area was a banquet of noisy Japanese.
We continued on along the "Western Highway" to San Ignacio, the last city in Belize before Guatemala. We had reservations at Martha’s Guest House which was supposed to be easy to find, "right on the square". We turned several nerve wracking circles around the wet, narrow streets, up a hill then back down to the river careful to navigate the congestion of people, vehicles and bicyclists. Finally, we stopped at aTexaco (where else) station on the corner across from the ornate San Ignacio Administration building for directions.
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| Streets of San Ignacio |
It was about 2 pm when we found our hotel and the room wasn’t yet ready so we wandered the streets for a half hour, bought some bottled water and throat lozenges which I was glad to find.
Our Belize guide book suggested several tourist attractions near San Ignacio so we asked the hotel receptionists about them. After much hand waving and map pointing, we thought we understood how to get to Xunantunich, a Maya ruins the name of which rolls lyrically off the tongue of the countries people and is pronounced shew-nan-two-niche. We dumped our stuff in the room and headed out.
Our directions, as we understood them were to: Go up the hill on the street outside the hotel and follow the two way street. In about 10 miles we’d come to a village. Go over three speed bumps (in Central America, like Mexico, the speed bumps are tall and wide) where we would see a ferry crossing. We were to take the ferry across the river to get to the ruins. There would be people selling trinkets and souvenirs at the ferry, after the three bumps. The three bumps, one, two, three, were important.
It was only supposed to be 10 miles. We were to drive slowly down to the ferry according to the hotel people who indicated with their hands a dip to the river. We followed their directions, drove up the road and continued on a two way road a few miles. It soon turned to gravel and presented a Y. One route went across a bridge, the other into a village. After trying both directions, we settled on the bridge crossing because somewhere in the conversations we heard that we would follow a river to get to the ferry. Seemed logical. On we drove, out a gravel road past groups of people neatly dressed waiting for the bus to take them into town on Saturday night and people on bicycles and mopeds. The sun began to drop low in the horizon over the fields of crops we didn’t recognize
In each little town we faithfully counted the bumps and looked for a ferry crossing or people selling trinkets. In one small town (after the third bump) we passed a group of teenage boys with bikes hanging out on a corner and looked expectantly at them to see if they were selling anything. Finally at about mile 9.5 we decided this couldn’t be right made a U-turn on the dusty, gravel road.
We again came upon the group of boys hanging out on the corner and stopped to ask them how to get to Xunantunich. They were friendly and helpful. Drive to San Ignacio they said, then take a right turn on the road with two-way traffic. The hotel clerk had neglected to say we needed to TURN on the road with cars going both ways, or the turn part was lost in translation because the road we followed out to the farmland definitely had traffic going both ways.
I asked the boys the name of the street we should take “toward the border” which is also toward Xunantunich. We also needed to find this road tomorrow to Guatemala. They told us “Joseph Andrews Boulevard”. Back we went to San Ignacio, filled up with gas, and turned right on a street with cars going both ways, and a scraggly grass medium for several blocks. The description about cars going both must have been a way of expressing “boulevard”.
Now on the right road it was a short 10 miles on paved road, albeit still congested with pedestrians, bicyclers and buses, to the three bumps, souvenirs and ferry. We pulled up to the ferry with the intention of going across, but a enthusiastic salesman/guide told us the ferry closes at 4 but we should come back tomorrow and he would give us all the information we needed for not only understanding Xunantunich, but the ruins in Guatemala.
Back to San Ignacio we went with a plan for the next day. Confident now that we knew the way, we’d get going early, take the ferry to Xunantunich and hire the tour guide to show us around, then drive on over to Guatemala where we’d spend the night in the Tacal National Park, hopefully take a guided tour of the park and head back to Belize.
Dinner at Martha’s Guest House was enjoyable both in its taste and ethnic flavor. It was really the first taste we found different than home. We ordered several dishes and shared. First was tamale cooked in banana leaf including chava, a local green that reminded me a bit of seaweed. Then we had a “Mayan pizza” which was steak, tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno peppers on a large flour tortilla. Both were unusual and delicious.
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| Balcony at Martha's Guest House. |
By the way, if you plan on staying in San Ignacio on Friday or Saturday night, don't stay downtown. There was a VERY LOUD dance band playing all night at a bar right next door to Martha's. The base guitar rattled the building. We couldn't sleep until we finally remembered the ear plugs Ed had packed. If I hadn't been sick we probably would have gone out to check out the activity. Traffic was loud all night also, mostly it seemed to be people coming and going from the bar, but some truck traffic too.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Belize - Heading for the Interior
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| Last morning at Ramon's. We're heading inland today. |
Friday, February 18, 2011
Belize - More diving fun
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| Relaxing at Hurricanes after diving. |
Thursday we again went to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and dived Boca Chica Canyon, then a shallow dive through the Hol Chan (little channel) where the schools of fish, variety of marine life is just amazing. We had fun playing with the plume worms as they disappeared when we brushed with water. And spaghetti worms disappeared when touched. A little white fish blended with the sandy bottom and suddenly disappeared into a hole. Turiano killed a pesky lion fish and then fed it to a moray eel. The eel chomped on it, spit it out, turned it around, chomped again, spit it, chomped again and swallowed. Fun to watch.
The current was quite strong flowing out so we drifted like jelly fish through the channel going out, then had to stay close to the reef and bottom to swim back against the current the "little channel" (Hol Chan) to the boat.
We had nachos in the late afternoon at Hurricanes and ended up not going out to dinner as I've come down with a cold and wanted to get some rest.
Today, Friday, we did two more dives, the first Cypress Canyon had several gorgeous swim throughs and deep canyon walls. Second, Esmeralda sported large nurse sharks, grouper and schools of sky blue fish and giant moray eels on each side of the canyon. Spectacular.
Belize - San Pedro day
Wednesday 2/16/2011
We decided to take the day off diving today after two three dive days. We were tired and felt like our bodies needed a break. So we explored the little town on Ambergris Caye, San Pedro and engaged in naps and beach reading. Perfect, relaxing day. Here are some photos of San Pedro.
We decided to take the day off diving today after two three dive days. We were tired and felt like our bodies needed a break. So we explored the little town on Ambergris Caye, San Pedro and engaged in naps and beach reading. Perfect, relaxing day. Here are some photos of San Pedro.
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| Friendly Belizian waves as Ed poses under flowering tree. |
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| We had lunch at this quaint restaurant. A shop girl recommended it to us. Conch fritters with beans and rice were excellent.  |
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Belize - The Blue Hole
02-15-2011 Tuesday
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| Inside the boat |
Today we took a boat trip out to the Blue Hole to make a 130 foot dive down the side and swim through the stalactites that ring the hole at that depth. This was a special charter trip on a big boat with about 30 people and four dive masters. The trip included three dives and lunch at Half Moon Caye where you could see the Red Footed Boobies nesting on the protected isle.
We waited at the dock at 5:30 am to be picked up for the trip. When the water taxi arrived it was just beginning to get light. We tossed our gear into the boat and it wasn't but a few minutes and we were at a large dock where a group of excited people from several countries milled around as the dive leaders organized the gear.
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| Ready to go |
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| Karen and Chad of Utah whose camera we shared this day because somebody working on a blog forgot to put the chip back into our little camera so we had no memory to use. |
It only took a minute to descend to the required depth and begin a slow procession through the giant stalagtites protruding down from a cathederal like cavern formed in the wall of the hole. By the time we'd meandered in and out of several it was time to head for the surface for decompression at 30 feet. All in all it was a awesome experience.,
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| You can make out the rim of Lighthouse Reef which surrounds the Blue Hole. |
From there we went to do a lovely drift dive along "Half Moon Wall". We coasted over a variety of huge barrel sponge, giant tube sponge, fishes and coral. It was a special treat to encounter juvenile drum fish dancing in several crevices. From there we went to lunch at Half Moon Caye where we saw the red footed booby and frigate bird rookery. Amazing.
After lunch, another wall dive, this time eagle ray wall to the aquarium. It was truely amazing at the end of the wonderful drift dive to hang in the aquarium to decompress. It felt like you were in a livingroom aquarium except the immense variety of colored fish and coral.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Belize - Hol Chan Marine Reserve
On our second day we dove the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Belize has set aside acres of ocean reef to protect it from humans. This preserve is at the south end of Ambergris Caye, about a ten minute boat ride from the resort. There were four of us diving Monday with Turiano as guide.
We set out at about 9 am prepared for a two tank dive. The plan was to return to shore, have dinner and then head out again for a night dive. The couple diving with us are from Utah, Karen and Chad. The sun decided to only appear now and then for the second day, but the weather was improving.
The first night we had rain and wind, but not a drop came through the thatched roof over head. Later I visited with a woman staying in a newer hotel. They had trouble with windows not closing and rain coming through to soak their bed. I am amazed at the efficiency of the thatched roof to provide a cool and dry shelter.
The first dive of the day was Boca Ciego Canyon outside the Hol Chan reserve reef. This was a gorgeous dive through sandy bottomed canyon where many multicolored baby fish were nursed. We also saw several spotted eagle rays. Mostly the scene up the canyon from 90 feet was spectacular, like looking at a valley from a mountain top. We spent about 50 minutes below the surface and performed a safety stop at 20 feet as required, but my dive computer didn't agree.
Dive Computer Woes
My dive computer woes started with the first dive when I discovered the battery was dead. Ramon's dive shop didn't have a battery, so I had to switch out my computer for a simple gauge that only shows depth and amount of air left in the tank (psi). For those that don't dive, the dive computer is a neat gadget that keeps track of each dive, how long, the depth, the temperature, decompression stops, surface interval, along with the air remaining in the tank. It's a fun thing to have.
By the 2nd day, this day I'm talking about, Ramon's shop had managed to find me a battery. Minutes before we took off in the boat I was happily able to reattach my computer to my regulator and BC. This was all well and good, but by the end of the first dive at Hol Chan, the computer didn't think I'd decompressed enough, or at the right depth, or some damn thing. On on the second dive it showed an Er (for error) instead of the expected calculations. This was very irritating. It renders the computer to be no more than an expensive gauge.
It turns out I have to keep the dive computer safe and dry for 24 hours after it disagrees with my decompression before the error will clear and render it usable again. Which means, of course, I haven't gotten to effectively use my computer yet. Oh well, I'm with experienced guides so it really isn't a problem. I'm just missing out of the run of using the device.
The 2nd dive we stayed inside the reef and swam through then channel. This dive was full of schools of fish swimming in the coral formations. Also, we swam through a coral cave inside of which was a large red snapper and smaller fish taking shelter. Several moray eels were resting in their rocky hideouts. This was a shallow dive along the reef but we probably saw more marine life than anywhere else.
a
That night, at 5:30 pm, we headed out to Hol Chan, the same location as the previous shallow dive, to do a night dive in the active reef. The hope at night is to see some of the nocturnal animals like octipus and hunting morays. For this dive two other divers joined us so we had seven including our guide.
We did see some spectacular sea life, a nurse shark squirming upside down to get some creature out from under a rock, a little puffer fish all puffed up to defend himself, a fascinating dance of a large red snapper and moray eel as they scoured inside and out of a coral wall searching for prey. The moray would nip at the snapper, then the snapper would take a pluck at the moray. It looked like they were hunting together, but Turiano thought the snapper was just looking to freeload a meal once the moray caught something.
We swam through the same cave as we had in the afternoon, but this time there was a turtle sheltered inside and also a large logster backed into a crevice. Lots of hermit crabs meandered sideways along the bottom and sand stingrays were abundant.
The first night we had rain and wind, but not a drop came through the thatched roof over head. Later I visited with a woman staying in a newer hotel. They had trouble with windows not closing and rain coming through to soak their bed. I am amazed at the efficiency of the thatched roof to provide a cool and dry shelter.
The first dive of the day was Boca Ciego Canyon outside the Hol Chan reserve reef. This was a gorgeous dive through sandy bottomed canyon where many multicolored baby fish were nursed. We also saw several spotted eagle rays. Mostly the scene up the canyon from 90 feet was spectacular, like looking at a valley from a mountain top. We spent about 50 minutes below the surface and performed a safety stop at 20 feet as required, but my dive computer didn't agree.
Dive Computer Woes
My dive computer woes started with the first dive when I discovered the battery was dead. Ramon's dive shop didn't have a battery, so I had to switch out my computer for a simple gauge that only shows depth and amount of air left in the tank (psi). For those that don't dive, the dive computer is a neat gadget that keeps track of each dive, how long, the depth, the temperature, decompression stops, surface interval, along with the air remaining in the tank. It's a fun thing to have.
By the 2nd day, this day I'm talking about, Ramon's shop had managed to find me a battery. Minutes before we took off in the boat I was happily able to reattach my computer to my regulator and BC. This was all well and good, but by the end of the first dive at Hol Chan, the computer didn't think I'd decompressed enough, or at the right depth, or some damn thing. On on the second dive it showed an Er (for error) instead of the expected calculations. This was very irritating. It renders the computer to be no more than an expensive gauge.
It turns out I have to keep the dive computer safe and dry for 24 hours after it disagrees with my decompression before the error will clear and render it usable again. Which means, of course, I haven't gotten to effectively use my computer yet. Oh well, I'm with experienced guides so it really isn't a problem. I'm just missing out of the run of using the device.
The 2nd dive we stayed inside the reef and swam through then channel. This dive was full of schools of fish swimming in the coral formations. Also, we swam through a coral cave inside of which was a large red snapper and smaller fish taking shelter. Several moray eels were resting in their rocky hideouts. This was a shallow dive along the reef but we probably saw more marine life than anywhere else.
a
That night, at 5:30 pm, we headed out to Hol Chan, the same location as the previous shallow dive, to do a night dive in the active reef. The hope at night is to see some of the nocturnal animals like octipus and hunting morays. For this dive two other divers joined us so we had seven including our guide.
We did see some spectacular sea life, a nurse shark squirming upside down to get some creature out from under a rock, a little puffer fish all puffed up to defend himself, a fascinating dance of a large red snapper and moray eel as they scoured inside and out of a coral wall searching for prey. The moray would nip at the snapper, then the snapper would take a pluck at the moray. It looked like they were hunting together, but Turiano thought the snapper was just looking to freeload a meal once the moray caught something.
We swam through the same cave as we had in the afternoon, but this time there was a turtle sheltered inside and also a large logster backed into a crevice. Lots of hermit crabs meandered sideways along the bottom and sand stingrays were abundant.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Belize - First Dive Day
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| Carolyn and Ed wait to go diving. |
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| Our dive guide, Turiano, demonstrates signal for spotting a ray. |
Turiano, Karen and Ed chat while I get my dive gear together.
02-13-2011 Sunday
It wasn't sunny today which is unusual for Belize, but, it really doesn't matter if it is raining when you're under water except that the colors will be a bit muted. We did two dives on our first day, Tackel Box and Toffee Canyon.
The sea was a bit rough but once we dropped down below surface it was not noticable. Both dives were excellent with swim throughs and lots of reef life. At tackle box we swam through a coral tunnel to enter the tackle box canyon where we watched common reef fish dart and swirl in the water. Our guide speared a non-native lion fish with a small sling-shot type spear gun. He chopped it up with and fed it to observing natives.
At Toffee Canyon we spotted a sea turtle cruising along silouetted at the surface, followed by a school of little fish. Later he came down to the bottom to join us. We also watched the graceful, fluid progress of an eagle ray as it swam up the canyon.
Some photos of the resort.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Belize - MADE IT!
Saturday 02/12/2011
Who arrived first? Brother Ed wanted to take the water taxi from Belize City to Ambergris Caye. I wanted to take the air taxi. He wanted to enjoy a leisurely boat ride. I didn't want to haul my luggage from the airport to the port. So, he took the taxi and I took the air shuttle. We planned to meet at the resort.
There was a unspoken brotherly/sisterly competition of who would get there first.
Carolyn's Trip:
My trip started perfect. The prop plane left Medford exactly on time and arrived in San Francisco a half hour early. I easily found my way to the Continental terminal and settled in for a two hour wait for the flight to Houston. Since airplane food is no longer available without a charge (thankfully, it really was awful), I decided to get a dinner at the airport. The $8.95 for a hamburger and fries didn't seem too bad for airport prices. My mistake was also having a beer. Total price for a good old hamburger and fries plus one beer: $18. Oh well, the beer was worth it.
The flight to Houston took off at 5:41 as expected. We were settling in for the four hour flight. I had just swipped my card to rent a movie when the captain came on talking about a drop in oil pressure in one of the engines and the necessity to turn the engine off. We turned back to San Francisco. It would take about 15 minutes and we'd be on the ground again, he said.
That might have been the longest 15 minutes of my life and the lives of the other 200 people on the plane. The pilot brought the plane in slowly. Before we landed he announced that we would have emergency vehicles following us as we taxied. The people were quiet but calm as he gently set the plane down, back where we started. We sighed a collective sign of relief and applauded his excellent landing.
Two hours later we were aboard another plane headed again for Houston. This, of course put us into Houston at 1:30 am instead of 11:30 pm. At that time of morning there are no hotel shuttles so we all had to grab a taxi for a short night sleep.
The flight to Belize City Saturday morning was uneventfully crowded with lots of excited people, anxious to start their tropical vacation. After much sorting out in the tiny Belize City airport, those of us headed for Ambergris Caye awaited our shuttle to the island. The flights to Ambergris are numbered: 70A, 70B, 70C, 70D, 70E, 70F, 70G, 70H. It appears you get your seat on a first come, first served basis, mine being 70G, the second round of flights. But my turn finally arrived. I climbed aboard the about 12 passenger shuttle for a lovely flight to the island over reefs and cayes.
Edward's Trip
Boston to Ambergris:
I decided to do the trip in one day which meant leaving Boston's Logon airport at 5:30 AM. Well being a little excited about the trip, I woke up at 2:00 a half hour before the alarm, and caught a taxi at 3:30, got to the airport a little after 4:00 and boarded the 5:25 flight to Miami. The flight was packed. So packed that you would think Boston was 25 degrees F with three feet of snow on the ground, which was true.
The flight was smooth and arrived on time, but without any food, just coffee for me. The connection to Belize city was tight, so no snack, no drink, just hussle from one end of the airport to the other, wait 10 minutes and board. Then wait, and wait, listen to the pilot contend that we would leave in 10 minute, and wait and wait. A full hour on the plane and still at the gate. Leave an hour plus late, for the 2 hour flight and arrive Belize City at noon.
I decided to see a bit of the city and take the water taxi. I took my bags outside the airport and there were taxis waiting. I took the first one. $25 US for the twenty minute ride to the water taxi terminal on the lesser side of town, where everyone knew my driver. I think there are two water taxi ports, a new and old. This one was not the new one shown on the web. I did not feel that I was in any danger, it was full of other tourist as well as locals. Well, I wanted to see some of the local color, and I did. There was a wait for the next scheduled departure, and I had only about three hour sleep for 12 hours of travel.
The water taxi was a low wide cover boat with seat for about fifty down the center and benches around the wall. The boat was full of about 100 women, children, men and tourists, with priority given to tourists for seats, then locals lining the wall and standing. As we pulled away from the dock I notice a strong exhaught fume oder. The window at the front was open and soon cleaned the air, then it start to rain so they closed the window by putting a stick under the edge of the upper pane. The trip was to be 90 min. The water was rough, the sky full of rain and the engine noisy. This was not what I had in mind, when I decide to do the water trip.
After about a half and hour of bouncing and rocking, the captain, if that what he is called, cut the engines and the crew started looking at the engine. I could not see what if anything was done, but there we sat. After a while they started the engine back up and continued for about fifteen minutes, then did the same again, in the rain and waves and the fumes. Start up again and continue on. We reach Caulker Caye after about an hour and 75 of the 100 people on board get off.
I move to the back of the boat stretch out in about three seats and watch them work on the engine. They take out what looks like a filter cage, and leave it on the deck, start the engine, make adjustments and decide that is OK. One of the workers takes the cage and leaves.
The rain has eased and it is no longer uncomfortably crowded, so I am enjoying the ride. The sea is rough but the boat is throwing a spray 8 of 10 ft in the air, so it's OK. If it had been sunny it would have been ideal.
We arrive at San Pedro after 2 hours and change. I find a rusted out van that calls itself a taxi and decide to pay the 5 dollor US fee to Ramon's. I share the van with an older woman, that could have been and expat or local, could not tell which. Along the way we added a local to the front seat, drive by the airport about a hundred yard or less and there is Ramon's.
Carolyn Again
When I arrived at the Ramon's resort, I stood in line behind several people I met waiting for the plane at Belize City I turned to check out who had joined the line behind me and, after several beats, recognized my brother. He had arrived about 2 minutes after me.
So, technically, I won. But really, we arrived at the same time, him from Boston and me from Southern Oregon. What great timing!
Who arrived first? Brother Ed wanted to take the water taxi from Belize City to Ambergris Caye. I wanted to take the air taxi. He wanted to enjoy a leisurely boat ride. I didn't want to haul my luggage from the airport to the port. So, he took the taxi and I took the air shuttle. We planned to meet at the resort.
There was a unspoken brotherly/sisterly competition of who would get there first.
Carolyn's Trip:
My trip started perfect. The prop plane left Medford exactly on time and arrived in San Francisco a half hour early. I easily found my way to the Continental terminal and settled in for a two hour wait for the flight to Houston. Since airplane food is no longer available without a charge (thankfully, it really was awful), I decided to get a dinner at the airport. The $8.95 for a hamburger and fries didn't seem too bad for airport prices. My mistake was also having a beer. Total price for a good old hamburger and fries plus one beer: $18. Oh well, the beer was worth it.
The flight to Houston took off at 5:41 as expected. We were settling in for the four hour flight. I had just swipped my card to rent a movie when the captain came on talking about a drop in oil pressure in one of the engines and the necessity to turn the engine off. We turned back to San Francisco. It would take about 15 minutes and we'd be on the ground again, he said.
That might have been the longest 15 minutes of my life and the lives of the other 200 people on the plane. The pilot brought the plane in slowly. Before we landed he announced that we would have emergency vehicles following us as we taxied. The people were quiet but calm as he gently set the plane down, back where we started. We sighed a collective sign of relief and applauded his excellent landing.
Two hours later we were aboard another plane headed again for Houston. This, of course put us into Houston at 1:30 am instead of 11:30 pm. At that time of morning there are no hotel shuttles so we all had to grab a taxi for a short night sleep.
The flight to Belize City Saturday morning was uneventfully crowded with lots of excited people, anxious to start their tropical vacation. After much sorting out in the tiny Belize City airport, those of us headed for Ambergris Caye awaited our shuttle to the island. The flights to Ambergris are numbered: 70A, 70B, 70C, 70D, 70E, 70F, 70G, 70H. It appears you get your seat on a first come, first served basis, mine being 70G, the second round of flights. But my turn finally arrived. I climbed aboard the about 12 passenger shuttle for a lovely flight to the island over reefs and cayes.
Edward's Trip
Boston to Ambergris:
I decided to do the trip in one day which meant leaving Boston's Logon airport at 5:30 AM. Well being a little excited about the trip, I woke up at 2:00 a half hour before the alarm, and caught a taxi at 3:30, got to the airport a little after 4:00 and boarded the 5:25 flight to Miami. The flight was packed. So packed that you would think Boston was 25 degrees F with three feet of snow on the ground, which was true.
The flight was smooth and arrived on time, but without any food, just coffee for me. The connection to Belize city was tight, so no snack, no drink, just hussle from one end of the airport to the other, wait 10 minutes and board. Then wait, and wait, listen to the pilot contend that we would leave in 10 minute, and wait and wait. A full hour on the plane and still at the gate. Leave an hour plus late, for the 2 hour flight and arrive Belize City at noon.
I decided to see a bit of the city and take the water taxi. I took my bags outside the airport and there were taxis waiting. I took the first one. $25 US for the twenty minute ride to the water taxi terminal on the lesser side of town, where everyone knew my driver. I think there are two water taxi ports, a new and old. This one was not the new one shown on the web. I did not feel that I was in any danger, it was full of other tourist as well as locals. Well, I wanted to see some of the local color, and I did. There was a wait for the next scheduled departure, and I had only about three hour sleep for 12 hours of travel.
The water taxi was a low wide cover boat with seat for about fifty down the center and benches around the wall. The boat was full of about 100 women, children, men and tourists, with priority given to tourists for seats, then locals lining the wall and standing. As we pulled away from the dock I notice a strong exhaught fume oder. The window at the front was open and soon cleaned the air, then it start to rain so they closed the window by putting a stick under the edge of the upper pane. The trip was to be 90 min. The water was rough, the sky full of rain and the engine noisy. This was not what I had in mind, when I decide to do the water trip.
After about a half and hour of bouncing and rocking, the captain, if that what he is called, cut the engines and the crew started looking at the engine. I could not see what if anything was done, but there we sat. After a while they started the engine back up and continued for about fifteen minutes, then did the same again, in the rain and waves and the fumes. Start up again and continue on. We reach Caulker Caye after about an hour and 75 of the 100 people on board get off.
I move to the back of the boat stretch out in about three seats and watch them work on the engine. They take out what looks like a filter cage, and leave it on the deck, start the engine, make adjustments and decide that is OK. One of the workers takes the cage and leaves.
The rain has eased and it is no longer uncomfortably crowded, so I am enjoying the ride. The sea is rough but the boat is throwing a spray 8 of 10 ft in the air, so it's OK. If it had been sunny it would have been ideal.
We arrive at San Pedro after 2 hours and change. I find a rusted out van that calls itself a taxi and decide to pay the 5 dollor US fee to Ramon's. I share the van with an older woman, that could have been and expat or local, could not tell which. Along the way we added a local to the front seat, drive by the airport about a hundred yard or less and there is Ramon's.
Carolyn Again
When I arrived at the Ramon's resort, I stood in line behind several people I met waiting for the plane at Belize City I turned to check out who had joined the line behind me and, after several beats, recognized my brother. He had arrived about 2 minutes after me.
So, technically, I won. But really, we arrived at the same time, him from Boston and me from Southern Oregon. What great timing!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Belize - packing
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| I'm ready when you are... |
Departure soon. So much to do. I have a giant suitcase full of SCUBA gear and a small one for clothes and everything else. Now is the time to plan. I'm going to make a plan based on activities and on one time washing clothes.
Okay, here's the list (excluding dive gear). Comments welcome from those that have traveled to tropics.
Boat Rides and Diving
swim suit
crocs
cover-up/jacket (sun protection and warmth in mornings and evenings)
nylon pants (early mornings and night dives)
hat
seasick patches
Touring
good walking shoes
backpack or fanny pack
mosquito repellent
1 pair shorts
1 pair capris
2 short sleeve tops
1 pair jeans
1 long sleeve top
socks
use same jacket as used on boat
sunscreen
Other:
camera
laptop
Kindle
iPhone
money
passport
copy of passport
personal hygiene stuff
supplements
other medications
Monday, February 7, 2011
Belize - 4 days to go - Reconnecting
My brother, Ed, and I had such fun traveling with our folks back then, planning this excursion took us both on a trip through nostalgia land. One of our first real scuba diving experiences was in the Golf of Mexico. We stayed at a town called Tuxpan on a river that flowed into the gulf. It was a beautiful, adventurous, fun time.
Here's an old photo of me as a teenager on that very trip.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Belize - 8 days to go
Now I know what else will be needed (see blog 1) - Hundreds of dollars worth of shots and medications for travel in a developing country. I really wonder how much of this is necessary. But I'm a Midwesterner at heart, generally trusting the old Boy Scout motto, "Be Prepared". Especially on vacation.
Who wants their vacation ruined by a bout with Hepatitis A, typhoid, or malaria. Off to the Jackson County Health Department for "travel vaccinations" I went. I've long been grateful to JCHD services and yesterday was no exception. . .once I found the right door.
The greetings were pleasant. I didn't wait five minutes to be called by the nurse. She pragmatically answered my difficult questions like: "What are the side effects?" I felt so good. I wondered why I went by for a shot that might have destroyed the delight. I think that the good vibe was related to anticipation of THE TRIP. Going to the health department for a shot made it real! oh yeah.
Walked out $115 poorer, but that included a flu shot. Then I still had to fill a prescription for malaria medication (chloroquine) and pick up my ear patches for sea sickness, donating another $72 to Freddies pharmacy. And I haven't gotten the all important contact lens prescription refilled which I need to be able to SEE under water. Also, just remembered I need to stop by AT&T to check on cell phone service in Central America.
Gosh this is complicated.
Who wants their vacation ruined by a bout with Hepatitis A, typhoid, or malaria. Off to the Jackson County Health Department for "travel vaccinations" I went. I've long been grateful to JCHD services and yesterday was no exception. . .once I found the right door.
The greetings were pleasant. I didn't wait five minutes to be called by the nurse. She pragmatically answered my difficult questions like: "What are the side effects?" I felt so good. I wondered why I went by for a shot that might have destroyed the delight. I think that the good vibe was related to anticipation of THE TRIP. Going to the health department for a shot made it real! oh yeah.
Walked out $115 poorer, but that included a flu shot. Then I still had to fill a prescription for malaria medication (chloroquine) and pick up my ear patches for sea sickness, donating another $72 to Freddies pharmacy. And I haven't gotten the all important contact lens prescription refilled which I need to be able to SEE under water. Also, just remembered I need to stop by AT&T to check on cell phone service in Central America.
Gosh this is complicated.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Belize - Ready, Set...
First step...new gear bag, a must after last dive trip (2007, so long ago) when hauling ancient suitcase full of gear through hotel and to and from dive locations proved to be a major pain. See old bag and new bag below. Size isn't much different, but new bag is much lighter and has sturdy zippers and clamps. Not to mention side pockets to carry flippers and booties.
Next, anticipation begins to rise as I fetch my gear from the storage unit. I have most everything I need, having already invested in BC, regulator, mask, fins, wetsuits (3 actually), and SCUBA accessories. A diver never has quite enough gear.
Ahhh, I love the crocs, the color of the ocean in Honduras, and they matched the deck of the boat we dove from way back in 2007. I bought them in the airport in Houston before boarding the plane for Honduras. One of my most loved memories, splurging on those thongs. So soft and comfy and they don't slip on a boat deck. It's the little things.
Of course, no one can make a trip out of the country without the right technology. I have been wanting a Kindle. You know, just 'cause, but the trip provided the required justification. If I had a Kindle, then I would not need to haul around those heavy books for reading on the plane and interminable waits in the airport. Bingo - a new Kindle it is.
But wait! If I'm going to blog about the trip, I'm going to need a laptop also. One that will handle the photos, have useful keyboard, etc. New laptop required!
Not sure how I came out on the weight issue. The Kindle is definitely lighter than books, but the laptop adds five pounds. Seems like I lost on that one. See new items below. Fun!
Oh dear! It's still 11 days until departure. Wonder what else will be needed!
Next, anticipation begins to rise as I fetch my gear from the storage unit. I have most everything I need, having already invested in BC, regulator, mask, fins, wetsuits (3 actually), and SCUBA accessories. A diver never has quite enough gear.
Ahhh, I love the crocs, the color of the ocean in Honduras, and they matched the deck of the boat we dove from way back in 2007. I bought them in the airport in Houston before boarding the plane for Honduras. One of my most loved memories, splurging on those thongs. So soft and comfy and they don't slip on a boat deck. It's the little things.
But wait! If I'm going to blog about the trip, I'm going to need a laptop also. One that will handle the photos, have useful keyboard, etc. New laptop required!
Not sure how I came out on the weight issue. The Kindle is definitely lighter than books, but the laptop adds five pounds. Seems like I lost on that one. See new items below. Fun!
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