2015 Belize
8th January 2015
We docked at Belize where we had booked an excursion to swim with sharks and stingrays. It sounds very daring but considering the ages of people that were allowed to do it, we assumed it was safe enough. It wasn’t till the night before that I noticed that the tour involved a one-and-a-half-hour boat ride each way. After the horrific boat ride the day before I was dreading the journey but it turned out ok. The ship had to anchor a long way out from the port so it involved a 20-minute boat ride to shore where we changed for another boat which was really fast. We stopped halfway to go down a mangrove which was a welcome relief from the bumpy boat and the idea was to spot the occasional dolphin which did make short appearances but only to tell us we were going the wrong way if we wanted to see stingrays.
We finally reached a beautiful island where we were transferred to yet another boat and given a mask and high visibility jacket. We were taken to the edge of what was claimed to be the second-biggest coral reef in the world. There were several other boats in the area so the sea was littered with swimmers. We were split up into groups and each given a guide. We dropped from the side of the boat into the sea which was waist-high most of the time. It was annoying that they gave us masks without snorkels so we were only able to look at the sea life for as long as we could hold our breath but it was still a great experience. The sharks were quite small and looked more like catfish to me. We were warned not to put our hands in their mouths which considering we couldn’t get anywhere near them seemed an unnecessary warning. We were also told not to grab hold of the tails of the stingrays which would also have been very hard to do even if we were stupid enough to try.
The only real danger was the coral and he warned us which ones would give a nasty sting if we touched them. While he was explaining this to us a wave pushed me into a bunch of coral and I could feel it brush up against my knee. It started stinging and I had no idea how bad it was going to get but was relieved when it didn’t last long and turned out to be nothing like as bad as a jellyfish. Whether it was a jellyfish, sea urchin or coral I always seemed to head straight for them like magnets. I still have scars on my body from sea urchin attacks ten years earlier.
I bought a disposable underwater camera but it was very difficult taking photos underwater without a weight belt to help me stay underwater long enough to take photos. It didn’t matter anyway as water got into the camera so I had to throw it away. The packet did say Kodak but I doubt it was genuine. Back on board the boat we were offered a rum punch which was most welcome but considering it had no effect on me, the rum must have been added with an eye dropper. We were then taken to a beachside restaurant for lunch. I had ordered lobster kebab and fries which was good but as we had pre-ordered to save time, my French fries were almost cold. I ate them anyway and later that night I had a very bad stomach ache which must have been caused by the cold fries. For a few days I was convinced I would not eat another French fry for as long as I lived but that resolution soon passed.
As always seemed to be the way, the journey back to the ship seemed much quicker and with a few more rum punches inside us and some good old sing-along pop songs blaring out I was surprised to find myself enjoying the ride. I couldn’t understand why the boat took us back to the shore so we had to change and take a tender back to the ship. I asked why the boat couldn’t take us directly to the ship and I was told that since the 911 terrorist attack, only tenders with licences were allowed to take people to ships.
That night we went to another comedy show. This time it was an elderly woman who I didn’t like at all but Federika didn’t mind. She spent half her act asking women what perfume they wore (who gave a shit?) and the other half talking about poo. We also went to see a show in the very impressive theatre. I assume because the show was called “Divas” and featured a lot of glamorous women it was supposed to be about famous Divas but we hardly recognised any of them. It was one of those shows that was quite entertaining at times because it was so bad. Much more entertaining was the Motown Night in one of the bars where the cruise director animated the large crowd into singing and dancing along with the popular old Motown songs. 
One of the things I liked about the entertainment was that each show was around 30 minutes long which is in line with the golden rule of show business “Leave them wanting.” There is a thin line between an audience enjoying a show and one that can’t wait for it to end.
Even returning to our room each night was entertaining with the towel art performed by our cabin staff. I had seen towels made to look like fans or swans before but in our cabin it was always something different, including a monkey hanging from the ceiling. 
2015 Caribbean Cruise
