Year 2 Day 287 – “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 2/09/2023. Day 5 of 7-night MSC Meraviglia Caribbean cruise. We are in Belize City today from 8am to 5pm.
This is a new port for us. It is a tender port. Last night we set our clocks back one hour. Belize is located in Central America, is bounded by Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The country has a 174-mile coastline.
At 6:30am we pass by “English Caye Light”. This is an active lighthouse on a small island in Belize. The white lantern is mounted on a 62-foot-high framework tower. The lantern is solar powered and has a 13-mile range.
After passing this light house, we slowly meander through little islands for two hours before anchoring offshore.
As we get closer and closer to shore there are more and more boats starting to travel along side of us getting ready to transport us to the mainland. It is a big money day for the people doing excursions.
These are the things I learned about Belize today. Belize was known as British Honduras until 1973. Roughly half of the entire country is covered in jungle and 80% of Belize’s rainforests are protected by the government. There you will find jaguars, tapirs, crocodiles, ocelots, more than 500 species of birds, and thousands of flowers. Belize is known for having one of the largest sinkholes in the world. The Great Blue Hole is a giant underwater sinkhole that spans 1,043 feet across and 407 feet deep. Belize is also known for having the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere. The Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest barrier reef on the planet and attracts over 260,000 people a year to dive and fish. Interesting enough Belize has no Walmart. English is the official language of Belize, but most of the population also speaks a creole patois. Tap water in all Belize locations is not necessarily safe to drink and most restaurants provide bottled. The US dollar is accepted, but the Belize Dollar is the official currency and it’s pegged to the US dollar on a 2:1 ratio, and the two are used interchangeably. We haven’t seen really any advantages of being a gold member on MSC before today. Last night we were provided Priority tickets to board the tenders anytime. It’s a little perk.
The tenders are operated by Belize City Tenders LTD. We got in a tender and sat downstairs. We were about three feet above the water. Once the tender started moving it was going so fast you could have water skied behind it.
This is the farthest we have ever tendered into a port. It took about 23 minutes from ship to dock.
All cruise ports seem to have a Diamonds International. It is a staple of the cruise ports. Wonder if they have these in Europe also.
First thing I wanted to do was to be sure and add a Belize pin to my collection. Found one in the first souvenir shop we visited. It was $5.00. Of course, in the next store the same pin was $2.50. We spent the morning walking along the dock
where there were many stores, bars, restaurants,
and these cool swings.
I am amazed that people sell and buy these items.
We did the Calypso Train Tour in the afternoon. It was an hour-long open-air trolley tour of Belize City. It meandered along the waterfront and then through the city and back to the port.
This is a car wash!
Since it was the afternoon, we saw many students leaving school and walking home. Most of them enjoyed waving to us. There seems to be a lot of schools in this city.
All through the tour at every stop people came up and tried to sell us souvenirs. The tour provided us plantain Chips and bottled water.
The Toucan bird is the national bird. Unemployment rate is 3 %. In the Creole language you eliminate the er at the end of words and put an a. A lot of young people are hired by telemarketers and a lot of the phone calls you get from telemarketers are coming from Belize. We passed by RCCbpo which is a call center located in Belize. RCCbpo offers 24/7 service from native English-speakers. They have over 17 years of experience and provide customer service, sales and support options for industries located in North America, and Canada.
You are considered rich if you own a home valued between $200,000 and $300,000. Football is the national sport. Leading religion is Catholic. Education is not free in Belize. No one pays for medical care. It is a three-hour drive from Belize City to the Mexican border. There is no government assistance in Belize at all You have to work. Belize exports seafood to the United States and Canada. Mahogany is the national tree. 90% of the products sold in Belize are imported and most shops are owned by Indians. Here’s a little video at the end of the shuttle ride.
After the tour we took the tender back to the ship.
Dress for dinner tonight is white and we are headed to Cozumel, Mexico for tomorrow.
Today’s product recommendation is for the Rev-A-Shelf. I love this for my pots, pans and lids. The one we recently installed is the 21 inches with a spot on the top shelf for the lids. We will also be installing a smaller one for baking dishes. These are awesome. https://amzn.to/3CzOwwq https://amzn.to/3ZcBuyq
To view the complete daily diary, click here: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count