Blogs from Belize, Central America Caribbean

Le 8 août 2023, Aujourd'hui, c'est journée en mer. Au programme, farniente et bronzage. Mais tout d'abord, on réserve notre brunch-déjeuner. En attendant d'être appelés, Papa et les filles s'adonnent à une petite session de chasse aux canards entre la bibliothèque et les lounges adjacents à la salle-à-manger: ils ramènent pas moins de 6 petits trésors en plastique. On s'attable enfin. J'hésite sur mon choix de repas et le serveur me recommande chaudement la salade césar... Hummmm... je veux bien, mais à 9:30 le matin, ce n'est pas ma tasse de thé. J'opte pour une option plus digeste à cette heure... mais bon, comme tout le personnel à bord, notre serveur est aux petits soins: il m'apporte mon assiette de pain perdu ET une énorme salade césar... Un mix incomparable de saveurs, mais devant cette belle ... read more

For this excursion we actually went directly through Carnival. Some of us decided on cave tubing and others chose snorkeling so the group will be split up today. We went through Carnival this time because on all the excursions you have to travel away from the port and if you book from Carnival and the tour is late the ship will have to wait for you. This is a tendered port but since we booked directly through Carnival we did not have to get a ticket to get off. Our time to report to the auditorium was 7:30am. That was an early wake up time! We all ate breakfast and arrived on time. Can’t say we were all in the best moods but we made it and we were ready for an adventure. Roatan and Belize ... read more

Note: Our original blog from Belize (below), which had formatting problems and in which we couldn't download photos, has now been updated and republished below (Previous Entry). The 90 minute trip from Ambergris Caye back to the mainland in the water-taxi occurred under threatening skies but fortunately the thunderstorms held off. We had arranged a rental car for the remainder of our trip, but somehow retrieving our luggage from the ferry and signing up for the car lost us another 90 minutes. So we decided to take in a good lunch and then make our way directly to San Ignacio (a 90 minute trip) instead of stopping off at the Belize Zoo midway as originally planned. ... read more

The view from our two-storey cabin is of Caribbean blue sea and a few moored boats; on the shore are palms and mangrove trees. We've been woken by the great-tailed grackles who roost in these trees and like to sing and quark soon after sunrise. It is hard to be upset by their calls, the morning air is pleasantly cool and we will breakfast on the first floor terrace and take in that view. Getting to the island of Caye Caulker meant a 50 minute high speed ferry ride from Belize City passing many smaller islands. Most are uninhabited sandbars, covered in mangroves which hold the island's soil together – you now need a license to remove mangroves, so essential are they to the islands' existence. A few are privately owned and beautifully manicured – there ... read more

Our first floor balcony in Crooked Tree village is set amongst tall green trees with huge red flowers that really stand out in this lush green jungle of palms, pines, cashew nut trees and mahogany. The air is full of bird song, of parrots' squawks and buzzing wings of passing hummingbirds. Beyond this we can hear the primeval sound of howler monkeys calling to each other. The monkeys are perhaps a mile away today, they are getting closer - their calls carry for up to four miles. In the blue sky above, vultures are circling; something may be attracting them or are they just enjoying being able to effortlessly glide in the warm air? Getting to Belize took two full days and plenty of paperwork – much of it never looked at. When we turned onto ... read more