Day #4 on board was 12-12-12. It was kind of weird being on a cruise, because it totally made me lose track of time and reality. If I had been home, I probably would've done something cool or fun for 12-12-12 (I like fun dates like that), but as it was, we barely remembered what the date was. This day was one that we were all really excited about, though, because we had a cool excursion booked.
The port we stopped in that day was Belize City, Belize. This was the only port that we had to take a tender - or speed boat/ferry - from the ship to the port because the water at the shore was too shallow for the cruise ship to dock in. I guess there are some amazing reefs that are great for snorkeling/diving along the coast of Belize, so that was why the boat couldn't get close to shore. We booked our excursion through a website we found online, and all it said was that you needed to take the first tender off the ship and to go to such-and-such business. The day before, there were a bunch of announcements about how the tenders were going to work. If you wanted to get off during the first few hours that we were docked, you had to have a ticket. They were going to start passing out tickets at 8 am, and the first tender would leave at 9 am (I may be wrong about the exact times, but that's pretty close). We thought, okay, great, we'll go get in line and get tickets really early, and then we would just eat at the buffet and then get on the tender. The timing was going to work out great. Well, we got in line around 7:15 or 7:30, and ended up only waiting about 10 or 15 minutes before they started handing out tickets. We were one of the first ones in line and there weren't even that many people there by that point. We thought, "Sweet, okay, we have plenty of time to go eat some breakfast." We had only been up at the buffet for 5, maybe 10 minutes, when we hear an announcement over the intercom saying that we could start boarding the first tender. We hadn't had time to eat much of anything, but we scarfed down what we could and headed downstairs. I brought a bagel with me and ate it while we were walking. We did make it on the first tender, though, so it worked out okay. I was pretty glad that we had brought some snacks in our bag to eat later so we wouldn't be completely starving.
Josh & I on the tender. I was able to buy some sunglasses in Honduras (the day before) which I was happy about. I was even able to get some "Channel" ones for only $10! ;)
Tyler & Armyn
There were four ships in port that day. These are the two Carnival ships
Our ship as seen from the tender we were on
We were able to find where we were going pretty easily and didn't have to wait very long before we got on a bus to go on our excursion. There were people from all four ships in the same group, and some had been waiting there for a long time. Everything you do while you're on a cruise needs to be based on "Ship's Time" which is the time on board your particular ship, and may or may not be the same time as local time. We had started out on Tampa time and then a day or two into the cruise, we changed our clocks so they were one hour behind what they had been, and therefore on local time when we were in port. The Carnival cruise ships had not changed their Ship's Time and so were still on Tampa time (one hour ahead of what it was in Belize). Because of that, they had gotten off their ship about an hour before we had gotten off of ours, and that's why they had to wait so long.
Josh's & I on the bus. It was a little nicer than a school bus. The chairs did recline a little, but the best part was that it was air conditioned!
Tyler took more pictures of the local scenery. We passed some very poor homes & neighborhoods.
Small stands by the side of the road
While we were still in the main part of the city, we drove past this cemetery. It was very interesting because the road that we were on went right through the middle of the cemetery, and so there graves and markers on both sides of the road.
A mountain formation that we passed. It's supposed to be an old woman lying down. Can you see her big nose and chin? (On the right)
This was our main tour guide. His name was Wentworth (that was his first name) and he was really funny. He had an accent that I found intriguing. His accent sounded more Jamaican than Hispanic, but not fully Jamaican. He said that Belize shared a lot of the same history and culture of the Caribbean. He shared some really cool information and stories.
This is where our excursion was. It was a cool park that had lots of activities that you could do.
Our excursion was a two-parter. We did the cave-tubing portion of it first. We had to walk for about 15-20 minutes with our tubes to get to where we entered the river.
Tyler
Josh, goofy as ever
Josh & I. I think he was trying to hide his whiteness ;)
Armyn on the trail to the river. We all tried out many different ways of carrying the tubes. "Over the shoulder"
Tyler & Josh. "Backpack style"
Self portrait of me. "Double shoulder carry"
Some of the gorgeous view of our walk
Wild bamboo
How beautiful is this view??
We had to cross the river once while walking. I'm not sure this is when we were crossing it, or when we got to the spot that we actually got in.
We started tubing at an entrance to this huge cave
There were several groups that all went in around the same time.
Another shot of the cave entrance
Another one of the activities that you could do was to repel down the side of this cliff
Armyn chillin' while we got the tubes all tied together
Holding Josh's hand so we wouldn't all float away
Going into the cave
Right when we had entered the cave (you can see the opening in the back ground). Armyn, me, Tyler
Relaxing in the tube
This shot is a little awkward, but Tyler took it and he was right in front of Josh
We all had head lamps but it was still pretty dark. At one point, the guide told us to turn off our lamps so we could see how dark it was. This may have been at that time, but you could still see the little lights of the group ahead of ours.
I was trying to get a picture of the group ahead of us, but it turned out blurry. I think it's still a cool shot
We came across this little water fall. If you look above the water fall in the middle of the picture, you can see a tiny triangle of light. This was another entrance to the cave.
Closer-up shot of the other entrance
Better shot of the water fall
Josh
Cool light effect with our lamps on
The ceiling of the cave
We were inside the cave for about half (30 minutes?) of the tour and then we got a great scenic view of the jungle as we rode down the river for the other half of the tour.
It was seriously so amazing!
Me (on the left), and another lady in our group. She and her husband were from Alaska and were not from our ship
Josh & Tyler talking
Me
Armyn
I LOVE this picture!
Me again
Wentworth (from the bus) was our guide. He was a great guide
As we got to the end of the tour, we were standing in some shallow water. Armyn looked down and saw this big guy swimming in the water. We were very surprised to see that tarantulas can swim and to see how big he was up close
A video of said spider. At the end you can see my hand so you can get an idea of how big he was. I tried to get my hand in the shot longer, but he got away from us too fast.
After cave tubing, we went on a bunch of zip lines through the jungle (I think there were 7 total). It was really fun!
Josh waiting to go down the first zipline
Tyler & Armyn
Me at the end of one of the zip lines
Josh
We had to walk a fair amount between some of the zip lines. This one was the one with the most stairs
Armyn & I
Armyn flying through the jungle
Tyler
We ate lunch after we finished the zip line.We had tamales, which people kept joking were iguana (which apparently taste like chicken) & that really freaked Armyn out. I still don't know what was in it, but I'm pretty sure it was chicken. The tamales weren't amazing, but they had some awesome fresh fruit. The pineapple was some of the best I've ever had
Josh, me, Armyn, & Tyler.
One of the houses we passed on the way back to the city. Our guide, Wentworth, told us that many homes like this one look run down on the inside, but if you go inside, it's typical to find nice things like flat screen TV's or other nice amenities. The reason for that is the government can come tax you more if you improve upon the land or the outside of your house, but not if you improve the inside of your house. Apparently, there is a fairly large settlement of Amish people in Belize. Who knew??
Remember when I said that the Carnival ships had not changed their time and were an hour ahead of local time? Well, that came into play later that day. After we had eaten lunch, we waited around for a little while for everyone to get back from their various activities and head back. The bus ride was about 45 minutes getting back. When we were coming back into the city, somebody asked how much longer it was going to take to get back. They explained that their Ship's Time was an hour ahead and it was almost time for the last tender to leave. Cruise ships wait for no one, and if you miss the last tender or don't make it back on time, you will be left. The guides told them not to worry, and that the bus behind us was one that was from their ship as well, so they wouldn't leave them. We got back to port and let all the Carnival people off first. I don't know if they made it or not, but I hope so! We had about an hour before the last tender for our ship would leave, so we did a little window shopping in the port.
Another Christmas tree in 80-degree weather!
The port where the tenders were waiting
Josh got a sweet watch when we got back to the port
The view from the tender as we were going back to the ship
A pig?
An elephant? Or maybe a dog. I'm not sure...
