Blogs from Belize, Central America Caribbean

This is a pretty little island. We hadn't signed up to any tours so decided just to walk ashore. It turns out that this island is owned by the Norwegian Cruise Line and the resort has been built specifically for it's various cruise lines visiting here. Apparently all the major cruise lines are doing this in the Caribbean. At least it means your passengers are entertained and looked after safely. So it organises lots of fishing, snorkelling etc tours none of which we fancied. The resort however is very pretty. Lots of little shops and bars. A lovely pool area with cabanas and sunbeds and a huge sandy beach with a zip line over it. Our ship is small so the place was relatively empty. However when the huge ships come in apparently it is full. ... read more

After three long years of minimal travel, it feels amazing to be back on the road again. Plus. I am newly retired. My career as a Correctional Officer done & dusted. Health, check. Attitude, check. Wallet, check. Time to go explore. But. Where to go next? The list is super long. For the past three months, I’ve been all over Mexico enjoying my new gig as a Pet & House Sitter extraordinaire. Christmas, as usual, was with my parentals in San Jose del Cabo, followed by a three week sit in Playa del Carmen. That’s when I found myself between assignments, so I decided to hop across the border and check out Belize. Easy peasy Belizey. Effortlessly, I hitched a ride on a luxurious ADO bus and headed south to Chetumal with the hopes of boarding ... read more

Note: This is a rerun of a previous blog published a week ago that had formatting problems and to which I was unable to add any photos. Many thanks to Ali for resolving both problems and restoring my faith in the TB platform! So, here we are ‘back on the horse’ of international travel again after a frustrating three year hiatus. Joan and I have just completed three weeks with the grandkids in Virginia/Washington DC, with a number of visits to the latter, but I haven’t bothered to post a blog about it as no one wants to see pics of the White House, apart from Donald Trump, who wants to live there again! Now the six of us, three generations in Damon & Sarah, Elliott & Layla, Joan & myself have ventured over to Belize ... read more

Sunday morning, 7 am, and we can hear African drumming drifting along the beach, Garifuna drumming to be precise. We are in Hopkins, a village set up by slaves who had escaped from the sugar plantations. Hopkins is now a centre for Garifuna drumming, a tradition that the slaves brought with them from Africa. Our little guest house is on the beach and in the heat of the day we are able to stay cool beneath the coconut palms. Small boats set out from the beach every day to fish on the reef, 20 miles out to sea. The fishermen stay away for two or three nights, camping on the reef's sandbar islands. The beach bars all sell fresh fish dishes – red snapper is the only fish we actually recognise! Also fishing here are brown ... read more

JOHNNY'S JOURNEYS: MEXICO, HONDURAS and BELIZE... 2021 November 28, 2021 (Sunday) Happy birthday Janet. We say good-bye to our daughter and leave at 8:15. About 130 miles later and we're in New Orleans looking for the cruise ship terminals. Driving past the Norwegian ship, we find the closest parking lot and prepay for 7 nights. One shuttle picks up our luggage while another shuttle takes us to a nearby building for our required Covid tests. Plus, we had to show proof that we had each received both Covid vaccines. On the sidewalk was a plaque which commemorated the 1984 World's Fair. We each had come to New Orleans that summer of 1984, to enjoy the World's Fair, before we had met. Our test results took about 15 minutes, then we were boarding the Norwegian Breakaway. After ... read more