A History of Seth: Cruise Day 5

Day five started just off shore of Belize. I do not know if this is technically part of Belize or not.

This is the coast of Belize.

This is more of the coast of Belize.

And this is the last bit of developed coast.

We're still a bit off shore because Belize did not cut a channel in its reef big enough for cruise ships to sail through.

So these pictures are a bit of a reach. There's a flag in this picture that I have a better picture of. More on that later.

We were not alone in Belize. The three hurricanes I sailed through were wreaking havoc upon the schedules of the cruise lines. The Carnival Liberty was also in Belize. I cannot say I was on the bigger ship this time. The Liberty is a sister ship of the Glory.

The water off the coast of Belize. No dock here, just water.

To get to shore, we had to tender.

I'm not sure if this is the boat I wound up on, but if it is not, it was one very much like it.

Off it goes toward shore.

This is basically what the boat looks like next to my boat.

Looking up at the life boats from in the water. That is not a good spot to be in, unless you are on a boat--which I was.

A picture of the Glory in the water from on the water. Hmm. Yeah, I think I said that right.

The waterfront rooms of the Bellevue Hotel.

Would you believe there is a cache right here? You'd better believe it, because there is! Or at least there was when I took this picture. I signed the log and replaced the cache. I hope no one watch watching too closely.

This is the map of the port facility here in Belize.

It is the Fort Street Tourism Village. Someone said the facility is owned by Royal Carribean. I have no idea if that is true or not. Note: as the sign says, I was there.

The aptly named Tourism Village Pharmacy. I take none of these meds so I do not know if the prices are good or not. But the sign says they are "cheap cheap cheap!" And I could get a bag of Snyder's mini-pretzels . . . in Belize? I guess so. I didn't go in the pharmacy.

This is one way the tourism village welcomes people.

Here's the other. Welcome to the end of the port facility. I could not be sure, but not only was there razorwire--not barbed wire, razor wire--on top of the wall, I believe it was electrified razor wire. But hey, the wall is a nice pastel shade of red.

Maybe that gate was there to keep out pirates?

Well, and this one.

And this one.

I stuck my camera through that gate and took a picture. Life is better behind bars?

The bulletin board in the tourism village.

Don't remove the notices.

Seriously, don't remove the notices.

The Carnival Valor must not have been able to dodge the hurricane like we were.

As you can see, Carnival made it up to them by parking two of its largest ships right outside the country.

I decided to take a city tour from one of the vendors walking around the port facility instead of just walking through one of the many gates around the city. Four or five other people and I were herded into a minivan and driven around Belize. This lighthouse is one of the first things I took a picture of.

The boat on the right looks bigger than the two Carnival ships. Trust me. It's way smaller!

Here is the flag of Belize that was so tiny in my other picture. This is not quite as nice as Cozumel, but they've got the right idea. We were told that the country is renting the crane day by day to display the flag.

This is the house of somebody important in Belize. I forget whom. Maybe the president, or maybe a prime minister.

A Tiger Mart! Just like in the U.S.! I guess. I didn't get out of the minivan.

Downtown Belize.

The last stop on the tour was Old Belize. This is just a tourist destination.

This guy was roaming around, greeting the tourists, I guess.

Maybe he was guarding the post office.

You must be this tall to ride for $5. We wandered around a little bit at the shop, but we really did not wait around too long. I at least had to get back to my ship.