Our Caribbean Cruise

APX (the company that Kyle sold alarms for in the summer) paid for us to go on a cruise in the caribbean.  It was a five day cruise that departed from Ft. Lauderdale and went to Cozumel, Mexico then onto Belize City, Belize and then back.  This was our first cruise we have taken and we absolutely loved it.

Here is our boat, The Navigator of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International

We sailed out of Florida on Monday evening and at sea all day Tuesday.  All day at sea sounds lame I know, but there was so much to do on this boat.  Daily acitivities included: Arctic Zone Ice Cream Cones, Ping Pong, Basketball, Rock Climbing, Casino, Dancing, Numerous Pools to just chill at, but don't throw anyone in the pool late at night with their clothes on.  Kyle received an official warning from Royal Caribbean International for doing just that (Britt was the victim).  Oh and the food, there is endless amounts of excellent food.  Tastes great, but way too much available to just gourd yourself.

First stop was Cozumel, Mexico.

Here we boarded a small boat and went for a short cruise up the coast to a National Marine Reef Park.  After a short training on snorkeling, we all plunged in the warm salty ocean and set out for a great afternoon of snorkeling.  We saw all sorts of beautiful fish, coral and cute little baby sea turtles that looked just like Buddha!!  After about an hour of snorkeling we swam over the "ledge".  There is a part of the park that drops off from 25 feet deep to 3,000 feet deep!

After the snorkeling trip it was off to "Playa Mia".  Which was a private beach resort that had an open bar (all you can drink daquiri's and colada's... virgin).  The beach had canoeing, snorkeling, water trampolines, rock climbing (floating on the ocean), beach volleyball and a great mexican buffet.

Our camera ran out of battery, so we don't have any pics from this leg of the trip. Sorry.

After that, we boarded the ship and got ready for the Captian's Dinner.  I called it the James Bond Dinner.  Basically, it's a formal, swanky dinner where everyone gets all spiffed up and goes to an amazing dinner together.

The Next day we stopped in Belize, if you don't know where it is, it's right below Mexico and next to Guatemala.  


Everyone in our group had purchased an excursion to go on zip lines through the jungle, and float on tubes through underground rivers.  We decided to do another one, and we were so glad that we did!  We took a tour of Xunantunich, an ancient Mayan ruin on the border of Belize and Guatemala.


To get the ruin site, we had to take a long bus ride (about an hour and forty five minutes). The bus ride to the site was okay. The bus looked like an old retired Greyhound bus from the seventies. The A/C worked well though so it was nice. Once to the village (San Ingnacio) we had to take a ferry across a river.


All those guys on the side of the road were selling hand carved slate rocks. We bought one after the tour.

The ferry ride was very short as you can see, but fun. It was on this ferry that we realized that we were deep in the jungle of Belize.

After the ferry, we hiked a short hike up the hill to the ruins. During the hike we came in contact with the Belize National Border Patrol Guards. It was very scary at first, cause we had no idea why these men were dressed in complete camo and were strapped with massive machine guns. After a quick scare, the tour guard explained that the men were here to protect tourists from the Guatemalan rebels (that were only a half mile away) I guess a few years ago they had a huge problem with rebels kidnapping tourists and demanding ransom of something like that.

At the top of the hill, we saw this:

This place was built like around 600 B.C. The name Xunantunich is actually pronounced is (shoo-NAHN-too-nich). The tour guide gave us tons of interesting facts about the site, he said that the original Mayan name of the site is unkown, this name, Xunantunich, comes from the ghost that numerous people claimed to have seen while at the site. We saw nothing of that nature, but the facts did make our trip more interesting.

The steps up the front of the ruin were incredibly steep! The Mayan people were only like five feet tall, but their steps were crazy huge and steep, they claim that this was to show reverence and humility to their gods

Here is a cool shot of just how steep the steps were, check out our shadows on the steps:

On the way to the top we came across some sweet Mayan art work on the side of the ruin.

And finally to the top of the Ruin, this village in the background of the photo is in Guatemala.

That's how close this is the the border. The whole time I was looking for some crazy rebels hiding in the jungle. Serious though, the jungle was so thick and close to the site, I am sure that some crazy rebel could just nab someone from the tour like Jason Bourne, and no one would ever know.

After reaching the top, our friends wanted us to dangle our legs off the side of the ruin for a picture. It really freaked me out to do this, I am terrified of heights, and this didn't help. So here is a shot of everyone laughing at me creep to the edge all while shaking and sweating.

Finally made it to the edge

Our decent

More architectural details and artwork on the side of the ruin

In the jungle on the way down the mountain we saw these crazy leave carrying ants. There were over a million of them, they had cleared a path through the jungle floor like a freeway to transport these leaves that were like ten times their size.

All in all it was an awesome trip, and we believe in cruising (brainless travel as we heard it described by others) and we have the sunburns to prove it.