TheBeams

Today we go on our snorkeling excursion. We’re going with Ragamuffin Tours based on the reviews and recommendations I have read. They offer two different snorkeling trips, a 3-hour half-day and a 6-hour full-day. Both trips consist of three stops and you are in the water for the same amount of time on either. There are two main differences however; the half-day is about an hour roundtrip on a motor boat where you will see stingrays and lots of small colorful fish, the full-day is about 3-4 hours roundtrip on a sailboat where you will see stingrays, sharks, and lots of big colorful fish. I tell the lady that we have kids, and ask her for advice. She doesn’t try to sugar coat it. “Some kids don’t do well on these sort of trips” she warns. ... read more

By morning, our water bottle still hasn’t arrived so I decide to go in search of Haywood. As promised, I find him easily. Before I can even say “hi”, he launches into apologies and springs into action “Hey!, sorry about that, I’ve got your water right up here, just haven’t had a chance to get down there yet. I just need to get this crew started. Ill run it down for you right now, sorry about that!”. As he is talking, he is grabbing a bottle from a line of about six water bottles on the porch and loading it onto his bike. As I watch and listen, I imagine five other houses in Caye Caulker wondering where there water is too. “No problem”, I finally squeeze in, “I can take it, you don’t need to ... read more

This morning we again joined Dave and Barb for breakfast. Before coming to Caves Branch, they spent several days at Caye (pronounced “key”) Caulker, which is our next destination. We take this opportunity to do a little advanced scouting for our next stop. What should we do? What should we see? Where should we eat? They are full of suggestions and recommendations. From the sounds of it they loved Caye Caulker and are confident that we’ll love it too. They are leaving today and heading to San Ignacio to see a traditional Belizean market. I know how much I love seeing these roadside stands filled with all the colorful local produce and can only imagine how much it must excite them. At 9:00am we meet our guide for the Xunantunich Ruin tour. His name is Arnold. ... read more

We are met at the airport by our driver Enrique. He greets us with a warm smile and a friendly handshake. Enrique is taking us to “Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Adventure Co. and Jungle Lodge” where we will be spending the next three days. Caves Branch offers nearly 30 different adventure excursions from basic stuff like jungle hikes, mountain biking, and kayaking to more unique adventures like cave tubing, waterfall climbs, and the famous “Black Hole Drop” where you hike up the side of a mountain and repel 300ft down into a natural sinkhole at the top. They even offer week-long jungle treks called “Ian’s Bad-Ass Expeditions” where you learn survival skills, build your own shelters, and live off the land. The website for Caves Branch boasts “Be prepared for a one of a kind adventure ... read more

Today we’re going to go for a float on the river. We’ve brought two kayaks and two inner tubes. The lady at the front desk told me yesterday that the river was “very, very low” and there was only one 3-mile section of the river (#16-#19) that was “even runnable”. She warned, “you wouldn’t even want to attempt to do any of the other parts”. Coincidentally (or not) this also just happened to be the section they were offering transportation to that weekend. For $60.00 they would drop us off and pick us up. Sixty bucks? We didn’t even need our boats transferred. All we needed was a ride from the end back to the start. We saw numerous people on the river yesterday. It couldn’t possibly be as bad as she described. After yesterday’s experiences ... read more