PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

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norwegian spirit "western caribbean" cruise report part 2: belize and cozumel 2008-01-22 - 11:48 a.m. all photos © 2008 by elaine radford that yellow shirt is a climber on the high temple that i photographed to give you an idea of the scale of what i climbed, d. was not available to take photos since he was chasing the keel-billed toucan while i climbed Note: You have reached part 2 of my Norwegian Spirit Western Caribbean cruise report. To start with part 1, click right here. Thursday, January 17, 2008 Another long shore excursion, again booked through the cruise line. The Spirit is too large to dock at Belize, so we had to catch a tender -- a sort of ferry boat that goes from cruise ship to land and back again -- in order to catch our tour. Here, we had to catch a bus to our riverboat. As we drove through Belize City, I nudged D's shoulder until he caught sight of the beautiful male Vermillion Flycatchers perched here and there along the way. The New River was not so wide, at least not along its whole length, as the Rio Dulce. We could glide up close to iguanas, crocodiles, and water-lily pads supporting Northern Jacanas. A Snail Kite studied our boat, and an Osprey circled it low overhead. Belted and Ringed Kingfishers darted here and there. Of course, there were the usual suspects from the heron/egret group. And, one of the best birds was a Limpkin that came surprisingly close. There was also a tree trunk where 17 tiny small bats were snoozing the day away. new river from the top of the high temple at lamanai, that flying blur is, i think, one of the amazon species that squawked by while i was at the top, but i didn't see which species Around lunchtime, we reached the entrance to the Lamanai site, so we paused to eat. Here, the food was actually good, but they were incredibly stingy. I was not going to eat a raw cole slaw or a dessert tart, so I was left with a scoop of beans and rice and a piece of chicken. And by a piece of chicken I mean PART of the wing of a very SMALL chicken. I complained. The lady ungraciously ladled out another piece, equally small. I complained again, saying, "Look, I'm not eating the dessert, you can give me another piece of chicken." I mean, it was simply ridiculous. These were teeny, tiny, bantam chickens, with teeny tiny chicken wings with one bite of meat on them, and I was one of the last people in line, so it wasn't like they were going to run out. It was, in fact, suspiciously like they got to keep and take home all the uneaten food themselves and hence were motivated to give some attitude if you complained. They simply didn't want to ladle it out. Fortunately, after yesterday's debacle, I had also brought along a box of cereal. But, honestly, they should hire different caterers, who understand that people who are going to be hiking up Mayan pyramids actually need a meal of more than 200 calories. I heard plenty of other people complaining too, so it wasn't just me. Most of the people didn't have the gonads to demand sufficient food however. They just slunk away and grumbled behind their backs, leaving me and D. in the unenviable role of Oliver Twist. At the first Mayan pyramid, the Mask Temple, we spotted a small troop of active Black Howler Monkeys. Actually, they weren't real hard to spot, considering the ruckus that they raised for the entire time that we were hiking in the forest. Apparently, this isn't the same species I observed in Panama or Costa Rica, because the females and young ones are also black. The male let himself be known by thrusting out his testicles, though, a behavior I definitely remembered from trying to photograph a male in Costa Rica. As I started to climb the High Temple pyramid, I heard the call of "toucan." I made the executive decision that it was a Keel-billed Toucan and decided to continue scaling the pyramid, since I've got several good sightings of Keel-Billed Toucan and I had particularly wanted to climb this structure. D. headed off toucan-ward and later informed me that I was correct in my guess that it was, in fact, a Keel-Bill. Anyhoo, I did succeed in getting to the top, where I could overlook the New River and the forest for a long way. As at Chichen Itza, I came down the narrow steps on my butt. It just seems to work out better that way than gripping onto a rope that's placed really at the wrong height to make me feel secure. At some point, the riverboat captain realized that we were birders, and he tried to find us a few, but we had some frustrations. We spotted several hummingbirds -- female hummingbirds, which neither of us could identify. (My stupid book didn't even have pictures of the females!) He heard the jacamar calling, but we could never get the glass on it. However, I did find a nicely perched female Slaty-Tailed Trogon, and I think D. was suitably impressed by its colorful red belly. I also found a Worm-Eating Warbler, picking around quite close to us in the bushes. On the way back, the riverboat captain made a stop for the Jabiru nest, which I have to assume was for our benefit, since it was too far to be appreciated without binoculars. It took some doing to find the bird with them, since it was sitting quite still and, being so large, actually gave the impression of not being a bird at all, but once I found it, I was suitably impressed. It had its big black bill open and gaping in the heat of the afternoon, no doubt the approved Jabiru method for air-conditioning. My life bird on the bus ride back was the small flock of Brown-Hooded Parrots. Check out those bright red "armpits." On the tender back to the cruise ship, the captain chatted about how, according to him, the government of Guatemala is working on its slow plan to annex Belize, by the simple measure of sending squatters to cross the border, cut down the trees (even in the reserves), and start Spanish-speaking villages there. As he says the Belizean army would last only a few hours against the Guatemalan army, there's apparently you-know-what-all to be done about it. He seemed resigned and said that Belize wouldn't be a primarily English-speaking country for very much longer. He got on the topic of language because he was speaking to a crew member in the local Creole, and one of the eavesdropping passengers didn't realize that it was English. "These are English words," the captain said. "Just bad English." Drinks diary: One 12 ounce bottle Belikan beer (hey, I had to support the local economy), 1-1/2 ounce vodka grapefruit before dinner drink, two 5 ounce glasses of wine with dinner. Oh dear. I'm officially back in the spirit of the Spirit again. My Belize Bird List: Neotropic Cormorant Magnificent Frigatebird Great Egret Little Blue Heron Snowy Egret Cattle Egret Green Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Wood Stork Jabiru -- on a stick nest, big bill gaped in the heat of the afternoon Black Vulture Osprey Snail Kite Roadside Hawk Limpkin Northern Jacana Rock Dove Brown-hooded Parrot -- a small flock, second life bird this day after Jaburi Slaty-tailed Trogon Belted Kingfisher Ringed Kingfisher Golden-fronted Woodpecker Vermilion Flycatcher Mangrove Swallow Tropical Mockingbird Brown Jay Worm-eating Warbler Great-tailed Grackle Friday, January 18, 2008 Today we docked at Cozumel. Too easy to get around here to need to book a shore excursion. We strolled along until D. made the various purchases he wanted to make -- internet, bathing suit, Mexican onyx chess set -- and then we caught a taxi to the Palmar Beach Club on the Dzul Ha reef, where we rented a locker and some snorkeling equipment. It's a limestone beach, all shell turned or in the process of turning to stone, so a bit tricky to walk on, and trickier still in the snorkeling fins. Still, it was all worthwhile when I dived in and began to follow a large fluorescent blue fish. The variety and numbers of the fish were amazing. I wish I knew more about the fish species, but there were several kinds of angelfish and at least two kinds of large, garish parrotfish. I snapped away with my underwater camera, but since I had trouble seeing in the viewfinder, I'm not too sure how the photographs will come out. It was an astonishing thing to experience in person. At one point, I seemed to be at the epi-center of a mixed species school. None of the fish were bashful. The cynical, seen-it-all fish of Cozumel are used to the tourists, with dozens snorkeling just that reef in a single day. The water was so clear that you could see for a long way but, honestly, there was always a colorful fish or twelve close at hand to examine. I saw more varieties of day-glo blue and purple than I ever knew existed in the world. After I ran out of film for my underwater camera, I realized that huge, thick schools of yellow and dark striped fish congregated in various structures and would have made an easy photo even with my poor control of the viewfinder. Oh well. It's something to aim for another day. And it wasn't just fish, there were corals, anemones, hermit crabs -- who knows what all. The water wasn't cold, but after a couple of hours, it took the strength out of me and I started to shiver, so I got out and rested in the sun. D. lasted a little longer and was able to see a barracuda attack another fish. Actually, I suspect he could have lasted a lot longer, but I guess it isn't wise snorkeling practice to stay out there too long alone. On dry land, there were some large gray, banded iguanas hanging around, which looked to us as if they might be a different species from the "green" iguanas of Belize. We enjoyed a Negra Modelo on the beach, while examining the various para-sailers in the distant blue sky and the several snorkeling groups closer by. We also observed the Segway class, where contrary to their advertising, one of the tourists had fallen flat on her face in the middle of the road. They helped her up, and I guess she was unhurt, because pretty soon she was riding the thing into the beach club. But that's for sure a tour I think I'll skip. Another short taxi ride back, and we picked up D's chess set, then climbed some stairs to visit a restaurant and bar overlooking the ocean. To be honest, I didn't really like my fish tacos. They just didn't have the sparkle and sauce of some I've had out west. But the margaritas were excellent to sip while overlooking the sea. We had time for a quick stroll around the flea market, but most of the prices were out of my league. Behind a small shop where I was quoted $22 for a bottle of Kahlua -- more than I'd pay at WalMart -- we found a winter-plumaged Palm Warbler, which seemed an odd thing to find behind a shop in Cozumel. Eventually, a Great-Tailed Grackle chased it off, but we had a long, close look and have great notes and that's what we saw. Fortunately, not an unusual wintering bird in Cozumel, I have learned from teh Google, so I don't have to second-guess myself. I was about to give up on the shopping, but a man invited me into a shop to taste some tequila, which I did, thinking, gosh, there's got to be some tequila cheaper than Kahlua. Ha. It was very smooth, but the price was $45. All I had in my little water-proof tube of money was $13. I felt ridiculous and even said, "I don't want to insult you but you see that's all I have left," but after some back and forth, he actually did sell it to me for that price -- which suggests that there is considerably more room for negotiation in price in some of these stores than you might have imagined. The cruise ship, being a floating bar, holds any outside liquor for you until the last evening, but that was OK with me, since I planned to bring it home unopened and save it for some special margarita-making occasion. Drinks of the day: One 12 ounce Negra Modelo, two 1-1/2 ounce margaritas on the rocks, 1 shot (about 1 ounce) of tequila from the tasting. Definitely a day to turn in early and dream of the multi-colored fishies. Photos? Well, they're on film, so if they come out, I'll have to add them at a later date. Saturday, January 19, 2008 A lazy day at sea. D. entered another Texas hold 'em tournament, which he didn't win, and the Suduko tournament, which he did, first place. Unfortunately, the prize was junk like a flashlight and luggage tags. Come on, people, at least buy the man a free bottle of beer for his efforts. The chocolate buffet was from 2 to 3 PM, only an hour, which meant that all the cruise ship crowded into the place at once. Some people brought their cameras, and I wish I had. You never saw so many chocolate sculptures -- owls and leaping dolphins, various sea-dragons, two bird houses ornamented with any number of birds coming out of all the doors and windows, and so on and so forth. There were some ice carvings too but they didn't really hold a candle to the chocolate. As I'm not much of a chocolate eater, I sort of picked at the various cakes and candies. I actually think I enjoyed the chocolate dipped banana the best of all. The sea got extremely rough in the afternoon and into the evening. It was difficult to walk, and I became quite dizzy and had to take a motion sickness pill. We watched "Con Air," while I tried to hold my head as still as possible, and D. stared aghast at the liberties taken with Vegas geography. We had dinner late, at the Italian restaurant. To be honest, my main course was way too salty, but the rest of it was OK, especially the selection of cheeses at the end. Drinks of the day: One 1-1/2 ounce vodka with grapefruit juice, two 5 ounce glasses of red wine. But don't worry, I didn't have to cart home any leftover vodka, because D. helpfully had, hmmm, more than one vodka screwdriver himself. Sunday, January 20, 2008 A bitterly cold day to return to New Orleans. There was ice on the upper deck and I couldn't walk to the buffet for breakfast without going down a floor and through the hallways past other people's cabins. Yikes. It was hours before "purple" tags were called, so that we could exit the boat, but I had gotten involved in the book I was reading and didn't care. Once we did disembark, we found our luggage and went through customs quickly. Since we had only one bottle of alcohol between us, the Customs guy didn't even bother to look at it. He just waved us on to the bitter cold and cruel outdoors where we phoned DH to pick us up in a hurry. Poor D. had packed his winter cap and ended up wrapping one of my scarves around his ears to keep them from freezing off. I had no winter hat in the first place, so I too was wrapped up in a scarf. We probably looked pretty funny. And now my face is flaking a little from some mild sun and/or windburn, but it's all worth it, because we saw more species of colorful fish than you can shake a stick at and added some good birds to the life list. back - next All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2002-2017 by Elaine Radford