Belize, 2006
Submitted by Tom Ogden
click to enlarge
Thursday, February 16th, we arose before 3 a.m. Brenda Battin, Jim Ledtke, Bill McCormick and myself had all camped out in various parts of Joy Lovio's home. (This is what happens when you live closest to the airport.) After processing we had some time to kill and took a ride on the train inside the DTW terminal. Joy had a later flight than the rest of us, but was able to talk her way onto our flights, both out of Detroit and Houston. (On the way home the airline gods will get even.)
After clearing customs in Belize, we were met by Juan Carlos and transported to a hotel just outside Belize City. We spent the afternoon swimming, basking in the sun and sampling the Belizean national beverage, Belikin Beer. At 5:30 the, too full, bus returned to take us to the Tropical Education Center (TEC) 45 minutes west of Belize City.
Our entire group, including Barb Decker. Kathy & Joe Skornia ( who will arrive Friday), were housed in one building. Our living quarters consisted of 4 bedrooms and a community room. The showers were about 10 yards away and necessary facilities were 10 yards further. Lighting was by kerosene lanterns but there were electrical outlets for the fans. The dining hall was about 50 yards down a lighted path.
Friday, morning we did an inflatable kayak trip on the Caves Branch River. The river was wide and fairly fast. Along the river we saw 2 men in a dugout canoe, going up stream, several different animals and birds. Near the end of the trip, high in a tree over the river, Brenda spotted a fury ball with a rat like tail. This turned out to be the Belizean version of a raccoon. At the take out there was a group of Mayan farm workers, bathing and washing clothes on a large rock. The kids were fascinated by the replay of pics Jim had taken of them.
That afternoon we visited the Belize Zoo. All the creatures in the zoo are native to the country and are either wild animals injured in the wild, pets that owners could no longer take care of or trades made with other zoos. The zoo, though not large, is a must visit if you are in the area.
Barb, Kathy and Joe arrived about 5:30. After supper it was back to the zoo for a nighttime tour. Beside seeing the nocturnal animals, we held a Boa Constrictor and fed a Jaguar and Alligator.
Saturday morning it was back into the bus and we headed to the Actun Tunchil Muknal (Cave of the Stone Sepulcher). After a 45-minute jungle hike with 3 river crossings we arrived at the cave. Entering the cave required a 20-yard swim. Once in the cave, we weren’t out of the water yet. This was not a dry cave; a river ran the length of it. We walked over a mile up stream in water up to armpit deep. This was 3” over Joy’s head so we had to keep an eye on her so she wouldn’t float away. This cave was only discovered in 1991 and the portion we were allowed to visit has only been open to the public, accompanied by guides, for only a few years. When we reached the end of our portion of the cave, our guide shined his light high in the cave and said, “That is where we are going”. Well that was easy for him to say. But, for someone that has a great fear of falling and a hard time with equilibrium in dim light, it was a tentative death sentence.
To get to "That’s where we’re going", we had to, first, climb a, much taller than I, boulder and leap or step across a gap onto a ledge. Once there, we removed our shoes and proceeded in our stocking feet , Juan Carlos directed us on where to step.
'Our' cave was a ceremonial and sacrificial cave belonging to a matriarchal society. As we walked higher we saw pottery and cooking utensils used by the ancient Mayan’s. We moved further and saw skeletal remains of male sacrificees. Those sacrificed were usually volunteers. For it was an honor to be selected. Further in we discovered the remains of a guy that we assumed didn’t go willingly. He was on his knees, face against the wall of the cave and his hands were still behind his back. You ladies sure have a way of keeping us guys in our places.
The cave was more than I had expected. I thought it would be another cleaned out cave like we visit here in the U.S.
After a bag lunch, 3 river crossings, a ride back to the TEC and between sips of the worlds finest box wines, we packed our bags for our early morning trip to Dangriga and the beginning of our kayaking adventure.
8:30, Sunday morning, we were packed, fed and on our way. Arrived in Dangriga about 10:00 a.m. We were herded onto a boat and taken out to our first island in the Tobacco range. Our tents were already set up and contained enough sand to let us feel right at home. We met our guides, David, from B.C.Canada and Lorette, who is from Dangriga.
While we tried to organize our disorganized gear, Lorette and Dave prepared lunch. After lunch, we did our dishes and put them in a hammock to dry. Then it was down to the boats, all tandems, we were given basic paddling instructions, had to flip and re-enter, than off we went to explore our island by water. We paddled to a lagoon on the far side of the island and through the mangroves. We saw lots of birds, mostly Man- o-War and some upside down jelly fish.
Back at camp, we helped prepare food for dinner. Each evening the wind picked up, eliminating most of the bugs and sand flees. This was a blessing. Also, we had an additional 1½ hours of daylight, which gave us more playtime.
Monday morning we headed out to the barrier reef to snorkel. We could hear the waves crashing on the reef 100 meters away, as we snorkeled in calm clear water. Some of our sightings were stingrays, moray eel, a large array of smaller colorful fish and variety of coral. I also saw a large barracuda attack and kill a good size fish,
We ate lunch on Tobacco Cay. It included a banana flambé dessert. Snorkeled off of the cay and headed home.
Tuesday morning, we took down our tents loaded our kayaks with our personal gear and about a cubic yard of community equipment, food and water, erected our sails. Using six struggling people per kayak, we put the boats in the water. After receiving instructions, we sat back, relaxed and sailed off to South Water Island for lunch.
After lunch, which included conch, which Dave and Lorette had gathered, we headed for Billy Hawk Cay. We were advised, that because of the wind direction and speed, that it would be best if we paddled. Well, being the experienced sailors that we were, we all hoisted the sheets and zig zagged and looped de looped our way, kinda towards Billy Hawk. When Bill and Barb made a right turn and headed toward Old Mexico, Dave had us bring down the sails. He chased down the wayward boat and we continued on, paddles in hand.
Wednesday we were off to Bread & Butter Cay and a snorkel on Fringe Reef. This is where we spotted a nurse shark. When swimming back to the beach, Dave swam into a school of thumbnail size jellyfish and received at least 2 dozen stings. He went the rest of the week without his shirt. I think to show off his war wounds,
Thursday, we moved to Coco Palm Cay. We saw hundreds of little fish jump out of the water, in unison and larger one dance across the water on their tails. This was the 1st day that we paddled in some nice sized waves. Again that evening, Lorette provided fish for our supper.
Friday, our last day on the water, we headed back to our original island. We paddled by a Man- o-War rookery, snorkeled a sink hole and I received a rather scattered tattoo on the leg from a sea urchin. We were water taxied back to Dangriga, walked to our hotel. There we showered and showered and dressed for the evening. Dave & Lorette drove us to a home at the edge of town. There we had a delicious, roof top dinner, went to a native drumming and did the “Dance of the dead man”.
Saturday morning we took the 8:00 chicken bus to Belize City. Then took kamikaze taxi’s to Old Belize for lunch and then to the airport. Joy’s plane left before ours and we thought that was the last we would see of her. She was waiting for us in Houston (airline snafu). We had a 12-hour lay over; Joy had a free hotel room. We all piled in, ordered pizza, drank Joy’s duty free Amaretto and got a couple hours sleep. Back to the airport at 5:30 a.m. Off to Detroit we went. Well,,,,,,,,,, all except for Joy.