Today's Apocalypse Sign: The End Of The Belize Road - Finale

The end of any trip is always somewhat of a let down. The relaxing is about to end. The adventure is about to end. The break from the everyday grind is about to end. And the travel FROM is not nearly as well tolerated as the travel TO.

Hey, at least it wasn't raining when we LEFT Belize!!!

I digress...on Friday (last day at sea) there were two morning dives and then after lunch the boat headed in for the final drive towards land. We arrived early afternoon back at the dock and pretty much had the rest of the day to ourselves. Several of us (about 8 or 10 total) decided to venture into town for a look-see. And by "venturing" I mean walking. We had already heard about Belize City . Belize is not a "tourist town" it is not that clean and supposedly not that safe at night (and the day was a little suspect too, if I might say). With no cruise ships in port our group of few were like fresh meat everywhere we walked.

We had the typical horror movie cast of characters in our group...the old woman and her daughter-in-law, the young bucks just out of the military, the hot babes attracting leers from locals, the goofball to whom nothing bad ever happens even though he should die in the first scene of every movie, and the wise watchman of the group (me). As factions get culled off here and there as we walk into town the scene is set for bad things to happen and some of the group never reappearing, rather ending up in white slavery...hey, this could be a good story!

After a short while in a steamy not so nice town such as Belize City, we are all ready to head back to the boat...but the goofball and the old lady's D-I-L head off on their own deeper into town...no sure if we shall see them again, the group heads the other way.

Here are a few shots of the city (there would have been more but my memory card somehow was full):

Apparently we did not arrive on Craft Market day...deserted

Goofball...army guy...hot babe...old lady...daughter-in-law

Two of our group are laggin behind already!! Army guys...

Quite the succinct menu offering...

Yes the birds were out to welcome us. I thought maybe this was a cockfighting arena

This could be several parts of south Dallas...notice gang tags...comforting

Housing on top.....business below

Lobster boats waiting to head out

Can never get enough Irie Goat...ya mon!

Is that an extra dose of LOVE???

Not even Jesus could save this mess



 

Once we return to the boat and get cleaned up we have a lite snack and viewing of the video put together by our hostess that documented the week-long trip. Here is the link if you are so inclined to view it:

Belize Live Aboard

It's a nice touch and it is how they make some of their money so for $65 a pop we bought one...but we did get a CD of a lot of the groups pictures they made at no charge. So in all they were nice reminders of a great week.

We had a late dinner at the Radisson since the chef was home for the night and not cooking on the boat. The service was lousy, the wait was forever and the food was terrible. My wife and several of the others were ready to openly revolt. Only bad two hours of the trip.

After dinner we packed and spent the last night aboard the Sun Dancer. Great group camaraderie and a few drinks and everyone was off to their cabin. We had to be off the boat shortly after 8 the next morning.

Our flight wasn't until 3PM or so, so we spent 3 hours at the Radisson before the shuttle came to take us to the airport. Another vacation in the books.

Parting underwater sights...

A gaggle of sponges

The beautiful and deadly lionfish...scourge of the Caribbean

I'm watching you watching me...everybody loves ray(mond)

Fascinating undersea formations

Hermit crab just hanging out

Very tiny shrimp

A remora fish...these are the ones you see attached to sharks symbiotically
They look like they are upside down

If you are interested, there are more dive pictures on the Belize Dive page at the top of this site.


Well, that ends the reporting of the Belize trip I took this past June. It was a really great and different kind of vacation and I loved it for that reason and I got to see my wife really enjoy herself doing what she loves. It was win-win for both of us (except for the part where she got sick).


Until next trip...adios

Today's Apocalyse Sign: Belize Recap Part Tois, Gracias

Sorry for the delay and I don't blame you if you lost interest weeks ago, but here is the next installment of my Belize trip. At least it's not long!

And I must clear something up for Hootin' Anni, I was not on a cruise. This was a 138-foot long diving live-aboard boat. Holding only 20 paying travelers and 8 crew.

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Yes I am multi-linguistic...basic English, hacked French, and butchered Spanish...sometimes all three at once!

Okay so part three of my Belize adventure will comprise the middle part of the week as one unit and then a few more pictures, okay? Part four will deal with the return to land and departure. That will wrap this saga up and we can all move on.

On Monday the weather finally broke and we had partly cloudy skies for pretty much the rest of the trip until we got back to the dock. The eating/diving schedule was the same every day. Since diving requires a certain amount of "surface time" to off-gas nitrogen buildup, the routine has to be pretty much the same. So the typical "schedule" for the next 5 days, which was marked by the clanging of a large bell, was as follows:

7AM   Breakfast. Chef prepared eggs, omelette's, bacon, sausage, waffles, etc. Excellent food.

7:45AM   First bell signaling the preparation for the first dive of the day, in the water by 8AM

9AM   Most divers have returned and this varies based on oxygen consumption. My wife is usually the last one up and has the most air left, for a smoker...go figure. She is a calm diver.

9AM -10AM   A snack of some kind is served: fresh chocolate chip cookies, fresh tropical fruit, muffins, etc.

10:15AM The bell sounds for the next dive and most everyone is in the water by 10:30.

11:30ish   All divers are back on board and preparing for lunch which varies from full course layout of tacos and tostadas to fresh fish.

12:45   The bell for the afternoon dive sounds and everyone who is diving is in the water by 1 or so.

2 - 2:30PM  All divers back up and another snack has been prepared by the cooks.

3:30PM  The bell sounds for the last afternoon dive and those with the energy suit up and tumble in the water

4:30PM  The divers are back on board and showering off readying for dinner. Time for wind-down and general conversation. Those that are not night diving begin drinking. I of course drank anytime I wanted.

Dinner was usually served around 6PM and then an hour or so later (once it was good and dark) the night dive began. There are many marine animals and fish that do their thing after dark. With that said underwater flashlights are a requirement and photography gets a little trickier. If your flash is not set right you get a nice picture that could pass for the abyss...or the surface of the sun.

Once the divers return to the boat about an hour later we are heading close to the 9 o'clock hour and activities vary from small groups drinking and talking to another group watching movies on the big flat screen in the dining room to reading or just going to bed.

My wife and I usually spent the end of the evening back in the cabin watching an episode of Game Of Thrones that I had downloaded to her iPad. She was asleep every time before the show ended.

The boat would get underway and cruise to what would be the next mornings dive site. Sadly, weather and winds did not permit us to journey to the Blue Hole this trip. But the diving was good and the pictures were too!

Here you go...

Christmas tree worms on a brain coral

Baby drum fish in a barrel sponge

This fish was talking something about Nemo...

The sharp and poisonous urchin

Squidward

Stingray stare down...

A little more story and more pictures to come....

Today's Apocalypse Sign: A Breach Of Maritime Etiquette

The saga continues....

After a delicious dinner, several Belikins, and the ongoing hypnotic boat ride away from the city lights, I stuck iPod buds in my ears and sang my ass off...knowing I was fully drowned out by the throbbing twin diesels down below. Facing the rear of the boat, in an alcoholic haze, I came to full grips with the term "fade to black". For what seemed like forever (several of the group came and went during this time) I was rockin' out and firmly fixated on watching the last shard of light from the city...disappear. With an overcast sky and no moon, it was quite a metamorphosis to go from the dimensional space where light existed, to the deepest black known. If all the boat lights had been off it would have been...nothing. I was so captivated I forgot completely about the unwanted effects of mass quantities of alcohol and a moving/rocking/bobbing boat. Fortunately that had nothing to do with me.

My wife on the other hand, even with the scopolamine patch we  were wearing, chose to have a good time by mixing rum punch, rum and coke, and beer. She forgot the old adage, "beer before liquor, never sicker".  Bad move there. When I had spent enough time jammin' on deck and saw that most everyone had left for their rooms, I (literally like a drunken sailor) pinballed off everything on deck and down the hallway to our room...at the very front of the boat. Once there I was slammed to the wall upon entering the door and flung to the bed...where I proceeded to laugh my ass off at nothing in particular.

Fun time was about to end. I opened the bathroom door and in this little closet of a room my wife was on the floor revisiting dinner and possibly lunch. Thankfully I came in at the end and was able to help her and the friendly wastebasket to the bed. That lasted less than 5 minutes before she asked me to grab the pillow and blanket and take her and them up on deck. I told her I needed the bathroom first and by the time I came out she was already gone with the blanket and pillow. Our stories somewhat differ at this point as to what happened next.

I believe I immediately wove my back up the hallway and onto the deck where she was passed out on one of the bench/table assemblies along the rail and I fell in to the other bench and dozed off myself for an hour or so.

She believes I didn't come back on deck for quite some time (the "hour" she believes was not really possible). During that time she proceeded to redecorate the side of the boat (a serious breach of maritime etiquette) and wail my name to help her...in vain as it appears.

Hey only the sea gods know what really happened. I did end up passing out on the deck bench for about an hour...as the boat powered full speed ever further from civilization. My wife did have to ask one of the deck hands to wash off the side of the boat in the morning so part of her story is true.

Breakfast the next morning was served promptly at 7 and to my wifes credit she was up and eating ready for a full day of diving. I hung out with a couple of the other non-divers as the weather was rainy and a little choppy for snorkling. Read a book on my Kindle and generally recovered from my beer-drinking the night before.

The divers had the opportunity to do 4 dives during the day and then a night dive after dinner. My wife did them all. Here are a few shots from the day.

Yes diving masks make you look weird! Like a bird person or my wife!

Yep, it's raining but she is going to giant stride anyway!

She always finds the best eels to play with

Lobster in a barrel sponge...no giant claws on these guys

Colorful sponges, sea stars, gobies all interacting

Chow line for lunch

More to come....

Today's Apocalypse Sign: A Bit Of Belize

It is hard to imagine I have been back from vacation just about a month and I have posted nothing about my trip. Or about much of anything at all. So I figured it was time I truly set aside my procrastination and get something down before you all left for better reading...and you still may do that :)

I want to share a few photos and a link to my shutterfly site for more pictures and videos from the amazing week in the Carribean far from real land. I will begin my story...

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We're Off...(please ignore my failure to turn the polarizer filter correctly)

Wait, that's not the beginning...

The early flight called for leaving home around 6:30AM. Leaving on Saturday always means light traffic. I of course, spent the entire time traveling to the airport (my wife drove) contemplating what I knew was something we had forgotten. This is something I cannot help doing because there is ALWAYS something forgotten, right? Funny, there WAS something forgotten and I have forgotten what it was! I could drive a therapist into therapy....

We arrived at the carpark and took the shuttle to the airport. Once arriving and entering the international terminal at DFW, we headed to the kiosks where you must check-in before you check your bags. This proved uneventful for my wife and I since she is skilled at working these babies, however, others there in our group were less fortunate.

The best underwater photographer of the group and his wife found the kiosk that would not accept their passports or somesuch and therefore would not issue them boarding passes. Of the four kiosks at any given time, 3 randomly were not working or were being stubborn. The tall lanky Nigerian fellow who was in charge of letting everyone know they had to check in using the kiosk before getting in line to check their bags...was little help. Our photo guy even got a little loud and irrate when the man did not immediately come to help him. The loud, "Hey!" that was uttered in the Nigerian's direction stopped sound for a moment as everyone looked. Still no help.

A couple others in our group (brothers) could only get one of their passports to work. A brother and sister going on the trip found out that when she canceled her flight from Lubbock to Dallas it also canceled her entire itinerary to Belize and back. She ended up having to book a whole new flight for a substantial rate and then worry about straightening it out with AA when she got back. My wife and I were in line to check bags and heard all the grumbling and bitching from everyone (in our group and strangers) trying to get their damn boarding passes. Finally, bags checked and we move on.

Now my wife has to smoke due to the trauma of the kiosks and the baggage line. She got an electronic cigarette for use on the plane but now she has to have the real thing. She goes outside and I head to the restroom. Once we rejoin, we move past the creepiest artsy thing I have ever seen. It is not the first time I have seen it but it is still creepy. Especially for an airport. Check it out...

Make these as big as you want...they only get creepier, the first picture really so

Hands. Hundreds of glass hands. It is from floor to ceiling. The first shot of the bluish and zombie-looking ones are nearest the floor. Somehow how my Rorschach Test - oriented brain immediately sees the images of hands lost by all the people in a plane crash. I told you...creepy. My wife cannot even look at it. Just saying, this is not a time or place to do acid.

The flight was uneventful...thankfully. The landing on the little strip of jungle runway, a little more interesting. Fortunately we had 3 groups of religous youth (complete with chaperons) on board headed to who knows what third-world experience awaited them. The Orange shirted group, the Blue and the Green. I could easily spot the first ones that would be eaten/slaughtered/disappeared if this were an island horror movie.

We disembarked out on the tarmac...nothing resembling a terminal here. Just a straight line building with 4 or 5 "gates". Walking down the rolling ladder with two carryon bags after sitting for 3 hours...interesting. At least we got inside and cleared customs BEFORE...

It started to pour down rain!!! The entire flight of people are standing out in the narrowly covered exterior of the airport. I did not take any photos as the blowing wind and rain was too risky to have the camera out. Finally the shuttle van showed up and took us and our luggage to the Radisson Hotel for a three hour wait before boarding the boat. Plenty of time for a burger and several Belikin ice cold beers!

My wife and our travel monkey

Drunky Monkey

And we could see this huge yacht while we ate and drank...our upocoming home for a week.

This was no SS Minnow...this is the magnificant Sun Dancer II, Belize. One hundred and thirty eight feet of luxury accomodations. Twenty people and eight crew set sail right after dinner for a 5 hour tour ride straight out from land...

The view back towards the Radisson as we pulled away from the dock

The story continues next time...

Today's Apocalypse Sign: Battered, Bruised and Burnt...But Back!

Just a quick note to let everyone know I am back. Not really battered so much and "tossed about". If you have never spent a week on a moving ship at sea (something much smaller than a cruise ship) then you don't know the adjustment time necessary to stand, bend over, sit or even walk on land. Even though most of the ship movement was subtle, there is ALWAYS movement. Then picture taking a shower in a phone booth with the boat pitching from side to side. A couple nights the sleeping was like a baby in a womb...only without the feeling of drowning.

Anyway, I have pictures to process, a journal to finish, some videos to post and a lot to catch up on. Work this week will be the insanest of my summer since the end of the month falls right on Saturday. I will be somewhat scarce this week and then next week back in full action. I'll try and post a few tidbits of the trip this week. Most of this week the temps are going to be in the hundreds so Holy Hell is back on Earth for another summer in Dallas.

I am also thinking of writing the trip as a short story of some kind. And Pat, I read Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas while I was gone and it was fantastic!! I am going to methodically read all of HST books until done.

Until the next time, it's good to be back and I really missed reading you all...I may never catch up. Then, I'll always have something to do!

PS. The Bruise was my LEFT big toe this vacation. If that means nothing to you please read this from last year's trip. The Burnt was my forehead...in case you were not sure, you can peel TWICE from the same burn. Near Equator + 45 minutes in the Sun first day = Arrgggghhhhh!!!!

Today's Apocalypse Sign: Belize It, It's True!

Belize. Sun Dancer Live Aboard. Life is good.

For one week in June this will be home for my wife and I. The 138-foot luxury live aboard Sun Dancer II. Click the link above to take a virtual tour of the boat. It is amazing!

Belize is located just south of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and borders Guatemala to the east and Honduras to the north. The cayes off the coast of Belize are where much of the diving takes place, but several dive spots are a little far out for a comfortable day trip, therefore...the live aboard.

My wife is leading a dive trip of 20 people and gets to travel for free...making the cost of my trip to join her, doable. Every couple could take a vacation like this if only one person had to pay!! This is similar to what we did last year on our trip to Fiji (see page tab above for the exciting Fiji story and it was also my F post for the A-Z last year). And the bonus is once again we will be celebrating our wedding anniversary in an exotic locale! AND everything including alcohol is paid for!! Sweet!

A live aboard is just like it sounds, we will be living aboard this boat (hell, it's a yacht!!) for the entire trip. We arrive in Belize city on June 16th and board the boat that afternoon. It will sail out from Belize to several dive sites over the week we are there (including the famous Blue Hole, which is so large it is actually visible from space. My wife dove this site a couple years ago and has wanted to return ever since, have a look...

Hence the name...Blue Hole!

The Blue Hole is roughly 1000 feet across and over 400 feet deep. It is actually a sinkhole that developed thousands of years ago. It formed off the shore of Lighthouse Reef atoll which is about 43 miles off the coast of Belize. You can see why at that distance the live aboard option is best. Plus the boat will visit other sites that really are only accessible via live aboard so the diving will be exclusive.

Since I am not a diver I am looking forward to some lazy days. Snorkeling, sunning, napping, eating, drinking, repeat. No cell phone, Internet, TV...just actually talking to people and photographing the experience. There is also an older lady going who is not a diver and she was on our Fiji trip so when all the others are under water for their dives there will still be someone to talk to...if I want to. I predict an overall relaxing, decompressing week.

Please check out these two links (videos) and tell me this is not going to be great!

http://bcove.me/ml8n8eas  Belize background and diving (3:44)

http://bcove.me/rhfnkviu  Tour of the Sundancer by the captain (5.04)

The last day before we head home the boat will land and a day of cave tubing will finish off our trip before we board our flight home. I am also hoping we will be close enough to the Mayan ruins that are in Belize to at least see them and get a few photos.

Yeah, you wish you could be there, right? You can bet I'll be reporting in when I get back.

Happy B day!