Cruise Day 4--Belize

Belize was "un-Belize-able." I didn't come up with that, that's the slogan of the tourism industry in Belize.
Small boats tendered us from the cruise ship to the shore in Belize City. Then we took a bus inland for about an hour while our tour guide told us interesting things about the landscape we drove through.

 Gearing up for the zipline. Casey and I hadn't done zipline in Belize before, just Roatan. It turned out to be a really good course--jungly but with some long stretches.

Nesting hummingbird we saw on the way up to the first platform.

There were a lot of people to get through and the guys at each platform were chucking us down the line almost faster than the receiver could unhook the last one.

This was a really long rope bridge that leaned to one side as you walked across it.  The zipline just after we crossed over was my favorite. It was the longest (and highest) stretch of all and crossed over a river and then passed by an enormous tree that you could just touch the farthest branches of as you zipped by.

Then the bus took us a few miles down the road to the cave tubing site where we geared up for the water. Only after looking at this picture did we realize Lissa and Rosie should have traded life vests.

We had to walk for a couple of miles to get to the caves. On the way our guide told us about the local plants. 

Pineapple

Cave tubing here has increased in popularity since the time we came 12 years ago.

Our river guide, Barry, basically had to swim us through the caves by the strength of his arms. The current is gentle and there were so many other groups there that we were all bunched up inside. 

 

It kind of felt like an amusement park ride with how closely packed we were.

The view of "the sphinx" as daylight disappears behind you.

A break in the darkness about halfway through the cave. We all had headlamps, so we could see the features on the low ceiling. 

 Meri was the only one with a hole through the bottom of her tube.

Meri and Rosie got out and swam behind once we were out of the cave. Eventually everyone else took a swim, too. Except me--I felt so relaxed, I just wanted to stay where I was.

Normally they would have fed us lunch at tour headquarters, but half the bus (not our half) had to leave port an hour earlier than usual so they fed us on the bus. Yummy chicken and rice and beans. Even our picky eaters liked it.

(not one of our picky eaters)

And, of course, Rosalie bought something at the little flea market outside the cruise terminal--a conch shell. When we went through security the man checked it very carefully to make sure it was really dead. 

Back on board we tried to go to the Shanghai Noodle Bar, but it was so tiny that the wait was an hour. So we had dinner in the Buffet. Rosalie was thrilled to not have to wait for her burger and fries.