CARIBBEAN CRUISE- CAVE TUBIN IN BELIZE

Well, Day 4 started before the sun got up. I decided I wanted to see a sunrise, which I'll show you in some pics to come soon, but in the mean time, I offer these two photo collages of our trip to go cave tubing in Belize: a country south of Mexico and right next door to Guatemala in Central America. They speak English as their national language because it used to be a British Colony. Anyway, this cave tubing thing was one of the things we signed up for the very first day on the boat. And it turned out to be quite the memory maker. Here's the trip:

• Take a boat to the shore. We had to anchor off shore and then they send a "tender" boat to come get you and take you the 2 miles to shore. This does not mean the boat was gentle. It's just one of the many new lingo terms you should get used to if you're going to go cruising. Aft. Starboard. Muster Station. Tender. yatta yatta.

(side note: some knucklehead jumped off the same boat we were on at the same itinerary we had this week. 2 am. Pitch black in the Caribbean. Somehow they were miraculously seen "falling" into the water and then got saved after several hours of searching by the ship and it's rescue boats. As an FYI- you don't "fall into the ocean" off a cruise ship... you end up in the water cuz you jump. Which is why we have decided they won't let us [us being the men of our cruise party] rent an expensive suite with a balcony off the back of the boat. 1. cuz every morning when we woke up, we'd pee off the back. Just cuz it sounds like a lot of fun. 2. Upon arrival to port, when it comes time to disembark, we won't need the ramp. We WILL be jumping in. Guaranteed. 3. Upon port departure, someone will likely bare their buttocks. Not me of course. But someone would be tempted to do that as you were leaving... especially ports that have other cruise ships watching you leave.)

• ok.. back to my story. Upon arrival at the port, we got in line and got on a hour long bus ride to the caves we're going tubing in.
• 45 minutes into the ride. Our bus blows an oil cooler- engine is broken beyond repair.
• They have us exit the bus and wait on the side of the road in the shade of the bus. Driver climbs on the roof to call for help using his cell phone.
• 5 more minutes go by and another tour bus comes by and says they'll go the extra 10 minutes up the road, empty their passengers, and come back to get us.
  
• 20 minutes go by and no bus.
• now American tourists show what spoiled rotten idiots we are.... and some of our bus starts demanding they get a refund from Saul, our guide. Cuz their perfect vacation just got a little bumpy.
  
• 5 minutes go by and the Belize army comes by. Our driver asks them to take him take to go fetch another bus
• Andrew and I start a rock throwing competition and try to see who can hit a tree stump first. Andrew's been to Iraq to serve in the Army. Andrew is not rocked by the fact that our bus blew up it's engine. Big freakin' deal. I love Andrew. Perspective is everything for me these days.
  
• Now we've been on the side of a dirt road for 30 minutes. I think some people are going to call the US embassy and demand an international subcommittee get on this problem.
• 35 minutes and then we get a ride in a "new" bus. Our group picks the name "busted group" for our trial hike and code word in the caves.
• We arrive at our destination, Jaguar Paw, and are given a life vest, head lamp, and an inner tube and we hike 20 minutes or so in the jungle.
• We then go down to the river and jump in the water and on our tube.
  
• Float for a couple of miles (about an hour) inside two major tunnels where there is no light and lots of cool rock formations. Some bats. A couple of occasions where there's a hole in the tunnel in the middle of it and you can see the jungle coming in from the side.
  
• Float ends much closer to the starting point. So you only have to hike like 200 yards on the end of the trip and then you're done.
  
• Beautiful vegetation. Amazing rocks and stuff. Lots of fun. Chance to see some of the world in ways I never would get to otherwise. Very cool.
• Re-board the bus for an uneventful hour long ride back to Belize City for some shopping and lunch.
  

Pictures of the float portion are a little fuzzy cuz my cool water proof camera feature works awesome while under the water, but I've got a learning curve on how to make sure there's no water spots to blurry the photo when it's not submerged and needs a flash... which is the case for this whole excursion inside the caves.

'aight... enough yappin'.... here are the pics: