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Published: February 3rd 2009
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Ell is attacked by a bird...re-enactment!Welcome back to the show ladies and gentlemen. Now we're very privileged tonight to have with us a guest that needs little introduction. She's taken a break from touring Central and South America to be with us here tonight. Would you please all give a warm welcome to Emma Rogers!
Emma, fantastic to have you with us tonight. Now you've agreed to come on the show and give our viewers and listeners an insight into your recent tour of Belize. Now the first step in every trip is getting across the border. How did that go? Well it's funny you ask Parky because it was not without incident! When we arrived in Flores from Antigua all set to kick on through the border and into Belize, we were informed that the border was closed and had been for the last few days, due to the flooding the area had experienced. They were saying it was the worst flooding in a number of years and typically we arrived right in the middle of it! Frustrating given we were keen to get into Belize, but there wasn't much we could do. So we booked back into our hostel in Flores and
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Emma on the jetty waited it out. Luckily, the rains had subsided and we were able to get across the border the following day.
So, you've crossed the border, where to then? We'd read about some great things to do in the small town of San Ignacio, one of the highlights being a trip to the ATM caves which requires wading through waist high rivers. Sounded like fun but unfortunately, once again the heavy rains conspired against us and the caves were inaccessible due to the high water levels. So nothing for it but to head on to Belize City.
Ah yes, the capital of Belize. I'm picturing a modern sprawling metropolis of a city? Ha ha Michael...well I'm guessing you've never been to Belize city then because to put it midly it was not very nice at all. Dirty, dingy and not the sort of place we fancied spending the night. So we instead decided to head straight out to the islands of San Pedro and Caye Caulker. San Pedro is the more touristy and populated of the two cayes so we decided to get that out of the way first. We booked into a pretty cruddy hostel but
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Ell on the jetty did have one of the meals of the trip thus far, a chicken stew with rice & beans that was truly fantastic!
I've heard the other half is a bit fussy with his food, how did he handle the local cuisine? Well, there again Parky you've been mis-informed. Ell is quite the experimenter when it comes to local food and was perhaps even more eager than I to sample some of the typical Belizean dishes.
Well he sounds like a very cultured individual! So what else did you get up to in San Pedro? Well there was one funny situation where we were approached by one of those street marketing chaps who reckoned if we agreed to get picked up by boat and taken to a holiday resort on the far side of the island, they'd give us lunch and a free snorkling trip. No strings attached! Naturally this was a dubious proposition but we thought what the hey? We're on holiday, we have time, what harm can it do! So it turned out that the catch was they were going to try and sell us some timeshare holiday homes but would give us lunch whilst
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Emma poses on the jetty again! we answered questions and they delivered their pitch. Now I must admit, I've never seen Ell working, though I know he's a talented individual, but the way he strung the salesperson along whilst eating his free chessburger and chips was a sight to behold. Not until he'd sealed the free lunch deal did he parry every one of the sales persons advances with the sort of skill and dexterity I'd never before witnessed. So not only did we secure a free lunch, but we also received a free snorkling trip for the two of us.
Sounds like quite a slick businessman. So what was the snorkling like? Fantastic parky. We took a trip out to a sight called Shark and Ray alley known for it's abundance of Nurse sharks and Sting Rays....though I reckon you could have guessed that hey parky! So we did indeed manage to snorkel with some very large stingrays and a nurse shark which was quite amazing. The only dampner really was that it was extremely busy with tourists and there was some unnecessary handling of the sharks. All in all though a top day and completely free!
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Emma on the way to snorkling with sharks! about San Pedro. You also mentioned Caye Caulker which I've heard is much more laid back with golf carts and bikes the only forms of transport, sandy paths etc? How was that?
Well you're not wrong Micheal. Caye Caulker was all that, very small and very chilled. We had some wonderful meals there, barbecued lobster on the beach with rum punch etc...really great. We also found a great beach bar at one end of the island which boasted a rather wonky looking diving board out into the water. Of course Ell boasts some pretty exceptional acrobatic skills on the high board and was quick to wow the watching bar patrons with his moves. On his second dive though he appeared to slip wildly and smash his back and head onto the board before toppling into the water. There was a collective gasp from the bar and I was a little nervous before I realised what had happened. Ell was in fact doing a stunt for the kids! Truly remarkable. He made it look so real, like he'd really slipped and gone arse over elbow but of course it was simply a well calculated stunt...with exceptional delivery.
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Beach bar with diving board in the background will his skills end Emma?
I ask myself the same question everyday Parky...!
So I hear Belize is famous for a dive site called the Blue Hole. Did you managed to squeeze that into your schedule! I'm glad you asked Michael because we did manage to dive the blue hole and it made for one of the most memorable moments of the trip so far. The dive takes you down to +40 metres, down a sheer wall face until you get to an overhang at about 40 metres under which there are some fantastic rock formations, stalactites etc. All this whilst being observed by 7 or 8 sharks circling just off the wall and taking a real interest in what we were doing. The dive felt quite short as you can't stay down at 40 metres for very long so there wasn't much else to see but it was a very memorable experience. This was also Ell's first fun dive after completing his open water certification, quite an achievement I'm sure you'll agree Michael?
Well absolutely, a man of many talents. Did you do any more diving that day? You're quick Parky! The day consisted
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Sunset in Caye Caulker of a further two dives around the reefs which were equally spectacular in their own way. The marine life was amazing and we were fortunate to see turtles, barracuda, massive moray eels and an abundance of fish in very clear water. A wonderful experience. We also had lunch on a remote island, visited a bird sanctuary, briefly, and had rum punch on the ride back to Caye Caulker...a very successful day I'm sure you'll agree Parky!
You said it Emma! So how do you top such a fantastic day? Where to next? Well it's hard to top such experiences but we were going to try! We booked ourselves on a trip sailing down the Belizean coast, inside the reef from Caye Caulker down to Placencia. The trip was to take 3 days with two nights spent on tiny carribean islands - one of which was completely deserted and no bigger than 50 metres by 20 metres at most! But I'll get to that. This was essentially a backpacker sailing trip so the boat carried about 15 people with 3 crew. There was to be fishing, snorkling, sun bathing and reading to while away the days. Sounded pretty good.
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Our lunch stop island after diving the blue hole. The trip missed on a couple of factors but all in all, it was certainly a fantastic experience!
Missed on a couple of factors Emma? Do tell. Well, the fishing was not great and the crew insisted on reeling any fish in themselves so as to ensure we had dinner! So fishing involved holding a rod and having it taken from you once there was a bite...of which there weren't many by the way! The snorkling was also not the best due to the unfortunate weather we had. I´m not talking rain, just overcast skies and ridiculous winds!
Ridiculous winds? I thought wind was good for sailing? Very clever Parky! But I'm talking gale force type winds at night. I'll paint a picture. We arrived for our first night on this tiny deserted island which had paradise written all over it...but for the wind! We had tents to set up on the island where we'd spend the night. The wind was already picking up as we were putting up the tents just before nightfall and it was tough squeezing 9 or so tents onto a small island without adequate wind cover. Having pitched our tent, Ell
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Emma´s late for the boat! and I were quite happy with the result as it appeared we were shielded from the brunt of the wind by other tents with the only apparent danger point being how high up the beach the sea level would come before it engulfed our tent! But the tents were up, the rum punch had been mixed and everyone was getting in the mood for a fun evening. The crew had prepared some ceviche for starters and then barracuda stew with rice for dinner. All in all, not too bad. Numerous rum punch's, a couple of group drinking games later and the beach fire was crackling away. It was at this point that a Canadian chap, Rod, came back to the fire and in his words, didn't mean to alarm us, but a couple of tents had been blown into the sea! Yep, you guessed it...Emma's and Ell's and another dutch couples. We were actually very lucky as only half our tent had made it into the water and thankfully nothing inside was wet! The dutch were not so lucky with their passports, mobile phones, cameras etc damaged by the water. Several rum punches down though and Ell and I saw
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Our tiny island home! the funny side. With help from the boat captain we secured the tents once more and called it a night. Now I've never been mountain climbing Parky, as you know, but the night we spent in that tent would have been similar to a night on Everest! The winds were fierce and howling and the $19.99 K-mart tents were buckling under the force of the wind. Several times, Ell had to get up and bang the pegs back into the sand with a conch shell as the fierce winds threatened to blow the tent away and us along with it! If it hadn't been for the rum, it could have been a very sleepless night!
Wow, that sounds like quite an adventure. I bet you were glad once that night was over? Well, the wind was not the only complicating factor for a good nights sleep. It appears that just over half of our travelling colleagues and indeed one of the crew, had responded badly to what must have been a barracuda getting it's revenge. With no toilets or indeed structures of any kind on the island, this proved challenging...the sea was the last option. As headcounts were
taken in the morning, it became apparent that no fewer than 7 or 8 people, had at various times in the night had to make a mad dash to the open ocean cursing the barracuda that sent them there. In retrospect this makes for quite a funny sight for any fly on the wall, watching person after person leaving their various tents in the black of night and wading into the ocean. The remarkable thing is that even with 7 or 8 people on midnight excursions, not one person bumped into another! Ell and I had no trouble with the barracuda but decided against a morning dip in the ocean!
That sounds like quite an uncomfortable night for everyone. Did things improve for the rest of the trip? Well the weather didn't improve all that much as the skies continued to remain overcast. The evenings shenanigans though had helped in bonding most of the group, so we were all in good spirits regardless. We continued to sail down the coast to our next island destination of Tobacco Caye. The island was larger than the last with a few cabins and a small bar but still very small. The
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Our island paradise..but for the wind! winds were still fierce however and the crew wisely decided that there could be a mutiny if the tents were brought out for a second night! So, we were booked into the cabins for a night in a bed at no additional expense. Again we tucked into some rum punch and settled for dinner of mashed potato and pasta - more aggreable to the unlucky few. The final day, we made the final push to Placencia though once again foregoing the snorkling. The sun did peek out a little and we were fortunate enough to have some guests in the form of dolphins accompanying the boat for a while!
So you made it to Placencia, surviving 3 days at sea. What was the plan from there? Placencia is a small town on the Belizean coast with a few restaurants, bars and basic amenities. We were all a little glad to be back on solid ground and looked forward to tucking into a decent meal and reminiscing about the adventure we'd just had. It was after dinner that Ell started acting strange. Now he's a little strange at the best of times but this was different...and then I worked
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The ¨Ragga king¨...our home for 3 days. it out. Ell had heard rumours of a karaoke night and was conspiring with the other boat members to have this added to the evenings agenda! So there we were, in a small bar in Placencia Belize with a rather aged karaoke system in full swing. Now I've heard Ell sing before and he's pretty amazing as we all know but he was truly out of this world that night. Singing everything from Kenny Rogers to Creedence to well just about everything! I was so proud of him and although he was clearly the rockstar that night Parky, I must admit...I felt like one too!
Haha, I've heard of Ell's prowess on the mic and it seems as though the stories are indeed true! We must have him on the show sometime! Oh you'll never get him on the show Parky...he's very modest.
So I'm sensing we're near the end of the Belizean adventure. Where to from Placencia? Well done Michael, your senses are still second to none! Yep, from Placencia we were due to catch a ferry directly to Honduras but because of the weather, the ferry was cancelled so we were forced to divert
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Emma and Ragga king. through Guatemala. We caught a boat, bus, boat from Placencia and arrived in the town of Livingston on the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. But that´s a story for next time Parky.
So our Belizean adventure was over. We had some good times and some.... interesting times but all in all some wonderful experiences. The Belizean people we met along the way were friendly and helpful which made a great trip all the more memorable.
A truly remarkable story and so well told Emma! Haha, thanks Parky!
So when will we see you again? When do we get to hear the rest of your amazing travel tale? Hold on to your hat Parky, theres more to tell but not for now. I'll send Ell along next time to regale you with tales of diving in Honduras, surfing in El Salvador and scaling volcano's in Nicaragua! Thanks very much for having me on the show Parky.
Thank you Emma and give our fond regards to that amazing, talented and attractive boyfriend of yours. That's all from me. On behalf of my guests, thankyou and goodnight!
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