The day after Miami was a sea day. Gave us chance to get settled back into our cabin. In the evening there was an epic thunderstorm. It started before sunset when the ship changed course by 20° to avoid the worst of it. Rattled on until after 10pm and made for an excellent evening’s entertainment.
In the morning, we arrived in Belize. This is a tiny, little country that many people have never heard of. 280 km top to bottom, 100 km wide, population 400,000. The country was claimed by the Spanish in the 16th century but was often used as a base by English pirates attacking the Spanish. A British settlement became established there 1716. The British did not acknowledge Belize as a colony but at the same time the Spanish starting thinking of it as British. Whenever war broke out with the British in 18th century, the Spanish would have a go at the country now becoming known as British Honduras. Britain formally declared it a British Crown Colony in 1862. In 1973 the country was officially renamed Belize as a step towards independence in 1981. Although now self-governing, the official head of state is still King Charles although he has very little to do with running the place and probably could not point to it on a map.
The Amundsen anchored a little way off the custom-built cruise ship terminal outside Belize City. This terminal appears to be dedicated to attracting cruise ships. There is an array of shops selling variously duty-free goods, burgers and tourist tat. Fast catamarans collect the tourists from their ships and bring them to the pier. Here you meet your guide, in a diamond shop. Then you get taken out of the other side of the complex to an area where the coaches can circulate. We chose a trip on an airboat through a mangrove swamp. The preliminary was still ten minutes in a diamond shop where were offered rum cocktails and iced water. Then a 30-minute coach ride to the swamps. Before we could board the airboats, we were serenaded by a three-piece drum ensemble. Serenaded is possibly not quite the right word. My ears were ringing afterwards.
The boats are flat bottomed and driven by an aeroplane propellor. They have a very shallow draft and no underwater protrusions. Ideal for a swamp. They can skim over patches of weed, reeds and other vegetation without causing any damage. Our boat was powered by a large V8 engine. They had opted to leave out an exhaust silencer. It was incredibly loud and we were all issued with ear defenders. Before we set off, there was a brief introduction to crocodiles and manatees. In the event, we saw neither. I did not think this was very surprising, giving the amount of noise the boat made. Quite impossible to sneak up on anything. We had a half hour tour round the swamp. The boat was quite fun and we saw a few birds. In general, anything we saw was heading away from us and the racket of the engine, extremely fast. At the halfway point, the engine was switched off. A crocodile nest was pointed out to us and one of our guides caught a fish. Another quarter of an hour whooshing around swamp and we were done. Next stop was the souvenir and local rum shop.
On the way back to the cruise ship multi-terminal, we got given a discount card for the diamond shop. Leaving the coach, a man tried to sell me cigars and then we were back in the diamond shop. Nothing in the shop had a price tag. I found that quite disconcerting. Neither of us had any desire to buy diamonds. I doubt I could tell the difference between a diamond and a piece of glass. Diane bought a coconut but suffered buyers regret. The coconut milk was not especially nice and definitely not worth $7, however exotic it appeared. After a quick go on the swings, we headed back to the ship. Next stop would be the little island of Guanaja.
