Belize
Bro it is fecking long and boring read so don’t bother and spend time with family instead ;-)
Belize hmmm what to say the whole trip started actually at Ireland with planning and then flying from Taipei to Houston with airline of first woman aka Eva air which I have to admit was really good, not as good as Japanese airlines but still good and since I cannot sleep on planes u just dozed off but nicely and watched movie until I was happy to walk around to stretch legs a bit what was easy as the lovely check-in girl at Taipei airport was so kind and when I asked for emergency seat she was so great that she allocated for me the emergency seat in the middle of the plane right front of emergency exit and toilets so I had two main things covered AHH I mean three as the middle of the plane is also refreshing station so woo hoo best spot in economy class for me and I was and I am grateful and thankful for that as I do not need to disturb anyone when want to leave my seat and have a space to rest my legs on as the emergency door has nice thick ledge of inflatable slide compartment or at least that is what I think it was. The main thing is that I could put up my feet and snooze without sliding down from the seat. Sat all the way to Houston but really after so long flight I was happy to get out of the plane and stretch so this time I joined the group of premature stand ups who jumped to stand up so fast that air hostess has not even had time to finish her announcement about this and started pulling the hand luggage from overhead lockers as if it was life and death situation or as if it was sale of Manolo shoes for €100 each for girls and free booze for life for blokes. Best ones are those who throw luggage few rows front of their seat and then try to sneak up for a luggage as if they gained some special advantage. Anyhow it was late evening landing 21:00 and the airport seem to be empty as we were marching towards the passport check at immigration booths. The snake of people waiting for immigration check was long and process was slow as I expect at U.S immigration so just have patience and make use of airport free wi-fi while waiting to get in line. I have to say fair focks to the fella at counter who checked me in as I had few trips to U.S and I was expecting the usual stone cold face with annoying questions as if some statue or robot was sitting there but hey this guy was exceptional ! I mean he was SMILING what I thought is forbidden or maybe even amended by some kind of brain surgery for all immigration officers based on previous experience. He was also jovial and warm welcoming with humour and observation as I passed my passport over to him he sees my scuba diving rubber bracelet and asks if I'm diver 'well also I drag a not small suitcase branded Dive Pro' and we struck some sort of understanding as he was an retired army diver and therefore we had connection on some level as much as I'm just recreational diver but we chatted all the time and if he would not said welcome in U.S. and handed me my passport we would probably be still chatting till late. Have to say that this was THE BEST immigration process ever I have experienced on my travels across all the countries I have flew into.
Got to the parking lot and could not see any shuttle bus as well as I was tired so I just took a cab and $15 and 10 min later I was at Ramada airport hotel ready to hit the pillow and sleep in proper bed to catch up on jet lag and tiredness. Got into reception and there was barely space to get in due the fact that receptionist filled the space with her breasts nicely wrapped in tight black t-shirt so I was afraid that I would need to save them from popping out and rolling away like bowling balls. Well she had a nice smile too and personality as well and the t-shirt hold those bowling balls together so I was saved from emergency breast saving action. Squeezed pass the nipples I grab my key card and head off to the room as when she asked what room I want I nearly said ‘yours’ but self-preservation and tiredness helped to say the most quiet one so I could sleep. The sleep came rally soon after I hit the pillow and turned off lights and I woke up twenty minutes before alarm refreshed and recharged after long flight. As I went to shower I turned TV on as I wanted to see what is on as the TV culture is huge in U.S. first was some morning show where for whole glad an hour discussed the opening of new burger dinner and which one is better and who prefer which 🤦 but that was nothing as later there was program 'Sit in chair and be fit' where some people came in to the room and sat on chair doing some stretches. Well if you are paraplegic fair play but this seems to be directed on different sorts of clientele I think. Well breakfast of scrambled eggs and roasted potatoes with chilli sauce get me fuelled for a trip so here we go after one night of good sleep in huge queen size bed I was on the way to leave Houston heading to Belize and trip to US will not be completed without espresso from Starbucks at airport to keep me going while downloading latest episode of Simpsons at gate to kill time on board in case the typing article will not go well.
Well the article typing had not happened due the fact that a beautiful lady from Houston sat at my row on window seat and start chatting as soon as my ass touched cushion and we have conversed all the way with slight pause when the plane dropped a bit during turbulence when she gripped seat handles and went silent with face become pale. Later when she regained consciousness she mentioned that she experienced emergency landing with the slides and all so now I understand her reaction and if I had experiences the same emergency landing I would probably need to leave plane last one as the emergency slide would have brown line going down. Anyhow she was so interesting that we have not shut up all the way and agreed that we get a lunch / dinner together before she will head off to San Pedro Island as she was there only for long weekend and her accommodation was already booked and paid for. Dropped suitcases in my room and went to dinner at CELEBRITY restaurant what is the name not that there were any celebrity except me of course 😊 the first impression was good as when I opened door there was a small coffee table front of door with book POLICE VISITS LOG BOOK what is funny since I was expecting menu or some sort of welcome sign but not police log book. Food was great I have to admit and as we finished the rain started and as we deliberated how to ger to hotel there was couple who offered us a shared taxi ride as they already arranged taxi and so we hopped in got luggage and dropped her at harbour just few minutes before departure of last boat to San Pedro. Exchanged contacts and she mentioned that if I will ever come to Houston to give her a call as she is managing hotel and get me a deal for a room, she has no idea that this might happen sooner rather later as I’m planning to go there if my friend get me permission to get into NASA mission control room as part of tour of spacer centre at Houston. Well she is gone and now is time for me to sleep so that I’m fresh tomorrow when boarding liveaboard Belize Aggressor 3 woo hoo cannot wait.
Sea Breeze Guest house is nice simple but clean and comfy place to stay for reasonable price in one of the quiet street with police check point at the end of it 😊 True to my believes no air condition for me just fan and two open windows were all I have got. Sitting on the porch and relaxing before the bed time I checked my emails and all the necessary things online when my ear and brain kind of got surprised as the language from next table was not English and as I focused on it I realized it is Slovak so surprised I said hello and struck conversation with Slovak couple who are travelling Belize and are living in Belgium. Have to say I’m the one looking for Slovak people on travels but they were different and it was nice to chat about travels, Belize, life and all until his better half signalled ‘bed time’ to which he responded as any of us men do, stand up and went to room while saying good bye. Briefly there was American girl who passed through the porch, said hello and went in the room but we had meet up next morning strike quick conversation, exchange contact details and she was off to forage for food since she was leaving to San Pedro to meet up family. The funny fact is that I realized that you can sell anything in US as she was a sex therapist what sound to me more like sex addict who is trying convict overworked and stressed out people to enjoy sex more so that she can get laid more often but hey I might be wrong in first impressions. Anyhow I got my bags and started to walk towards the Belize Aggressor 3 anchored at pier front of Radisson Hotel in anticipation to get on board and get diving ! I was so early on board that I left my bags there while the boat was cleaned and went to the Radisson for a bit of grub and drink as it is oven hot here as if they trying roasting the turkey for thanksgiving on the sun so save gas / electricity for cooking. Sat there when bloke in long black jeans and black t-shirt sat beside and just seen him caused my body sweat more and I was afraid that someone come and start sprinkle spices over me and stick a fork to me to see if I’m well cooked. Anyhow we talked and he was Greg originally from UK but living in New York for past few years and he was part of the diving group of liveaboard at Aggressor 3 so we chatted while I was waiting for Jiri pal of mine to let me know if he landed or not as we have not see each other for about ten years so I was happy to catch up with him and go diving as well. Had some lunch, drink and then text arrived that Jiri landed and is waiting for shuttle to harbour so me and Greg headed to the boat get our berths allocation.
I could go on for ever typing about diving but lets get short as I have memory and some photos but the liveaboard is nice thing for diving since you are on the dive site first and there is no hundreds of divers around and with five dives per day it is nice diving experience. The group was nice consisted from Americans, Swiss guy, and two of us. All the sharks we met ahhh from now if anyone mention shark I just say whatever as I saw it all and I have to be honest all those sharks were so beautiful but one day I’ve got scared as the one came to us close from distance and repeatedly from below or above and left when we went vertical or point a torch on it. I had feeling that this one is not to mess with as it might searching for snack so we better kept ourselves to the reef as close as possible, following the grouper fishes. This was actually what our divemaster said to us, see the groupers behaviour when sharks are around as groupers as pretty big and cool swimming in the ocean but when the sharks are around they are pretty fast swimming to safety of reef and hide in it. Well let’s say as much as I admire sharks and their beauty I have a lot of respect too. Otherwise great corals, huge lobsters, crabs size of hand luggage, shrimps, and friendly groupers who swim with you but the eagle ray is my favourite as is gliding gracefully and slowly around until something approach it and then is like UFO just disappear in seconds. Hawksbill turtles feeding below and swimming with hitchhikers remoras on back, nursing shark sleeping on the reef not bothered by us hoovering above and taking photos. One day when we were diving me and Jiri performed some sort circus on the bar submerged underneath the boat as safety line where we sat and then hang by our knees and watched grey ray gliding the length of the boat ish 2 meters below passing us on sitting on bar, remind me siting on porch watching life going around. Food on the boat was plentiful as much as wasteful and the bell ringing was training us to Pavlova reflex as every time the bell rang it was either food time or dive time and we were running down or up depending where on the boat we were. WE were laughing that it is hard to het back to real life since no one will ring the bell for food and serve you all the delicious food under your nose. Jesus it was like feeding time in ZOO but diving makes you hungry for sure. Great time after dive on the sun deck snoozing in the sun chairs, no matter how long we slept during the night. Chatting at evening was more less reduced to fifteen minutes after dinner as afterwards people just disappeared to berths for sleeping. Since most of the nights we were in bed by 21:00 I was up to see the beauty of sunrise above the ocean horizon, what is great sight especially if you are on top deck on your own with mug of hot tea / coffee and in silence watching the greatest show ever as the sky is becoming orange, purple, red and the clouds are playing various colours from grey to white through the whole scale of red. It is the moment what take your breath away as well as when we dove in the Blue Hole what was amazing and I wish I could go back again with twin set of air and explore it for longer. Kind of dark blue swimming between stalagmites looking upwards it was like half cave / cove in forty meters. Last night is here and we are on cheese & wine party to say good bye to the boat and Belize and the drinks were pouring, so after the James Bond movie we moved upstairs to enjoy music and free drinks on the sun deck, dance a bit, talk a bit, drink a lot before the time came when AV was in auto shut down mode and I went to hit the pillow in berth for the last time. Not that I will miss those Hershey’s chocolates on pillow every night but they were so tasty in the morning with coffee when watching sunrise as first breakfast before the real fruit and bran flakes were ready at 6:00 so that I have no heave belly for diving as when I tried eggs and bacon ones it was like stone in belly and burping in horizontal position is not really easy. Well emails exchanged and back on dry land want for some reason was moving / rocking as we were walking down the pier and then around town a bit until we sat down in coffee place and chatted more before headed to pool side at hotel until time had come for Jiri to hop on the shuttle bus to the airport and I went to hotel to sort photos and do some planning of next leg of my travels. One more day here in Caribbean paradise so I decided that Sunday is for day trip to Caye Caulker island one hour by boat from Belize City. I tried to get to bed but the DJ next door put a show on till 2am that must be heard in Mexico as even the ear plugs could not draw the noise what usually they do silence everything. Anyhow this is Belize and even this is part of it and I woke up at 8:00 and after Belizean breakfast in the harbour I boarded water taxi and went to Caye Caulker island where after walking the streets and taking some photos I realized that purpose of this trip is to find hammock on the beach under the palms and swing there for rest of the day, what is exactly what I did from 12:30 to 16:00 and what a relax day it was. If I would not need to answer nature call and get on the last water taxi I would stay there. Ahh what a great day to finish this Belize trip. I would like to come back once more to see it more of jungle side of Belize and explore more islands but this time less touristic and more remote ones. Anyhow here at airport waiting for a flight to San Diego with stop at Miami I’m happy I was here and that I dice here. Nice laid back life style with lot of sun and heat suited me well.
