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On December 25, 1997, Kathy and Mark left for a 12 day
expedition
to Belize
offered by Betchart Expeditions, and sponsored in
part by the Scripps
Birch Aquarium.
First, we flew to Houston to meet up with the rest of our
group of 28, and then we all flew down to Belize.
Belize
is located in Central America, next to Mexico on the
north and Guatamala on the west.
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We spent the first night in
Belize City,
the former capital and country's largest city.
Part of the adventure the next day was exploring the ruins of a
Maya City, Altun Ha, located about 20 miles from Belize City.
Note: you can click on the pictures to see a larger version.
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Then we spent 8 of the days aboard the Rembrandt Van Rijn, and
had most of our meals there.
During the day we would sail to one of the small sand islands
called cayes (pronounced "keys", and usually written
"cays" in American English).
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We anchored off Halfmoon Caye for 2 days.
We snorkled and explored the island.
The island is the nesting site of red footed boobies and
magnificent frigate birds. There is an observation tower
up at tree level that puts you right amoung hundreds of
the two species sitting on their nests and wheeling
through the air above.
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Other day trips involved boat trips up some of the Belizean rivers.
We sailed up Manatee River to the Southern Lagoon in search
of manatees. The water was cloudy and the sun was not out,
so we couldn't see into the water. We did glimpse the tips
of many manatee noses as they surface periodically to breath.
In the background you can see two different types of mangroves.
The closest plants are red mangrove, and in the distance you
can see the taller black mangrove.
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On January 3, our group of 28 split in 2.
Approximately half went back to the states (or on to
new adventures), while our half went inland to
San Ignacio.
Along the way, we stopped at
the Belize City Zoo.
One of the trip highlights was crossing the border into Guatamala
to visit the Mayan ruins at
Tikal.
The photo below is the view
of the "Grand Plaza" from the top of the
North Acropolis, only a fraction of the whole site.
To the left is Temple I, and to the right is Temple II.
(This poor man's
panorama is actually 3 photos superimposed.)
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Climbing up the steep and tall Maya steps was exhausting.
So only a few of us had the energy to scale the tallest
temple at Tikal, temple IV. Only the very top portion
has been excavated. The way up is via ladders and clambering
over tree roots. This is most of the group who took up
the challenge.
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Back home on January 6, 1998, after many hours delay in the
Houston airport due to bad weather.
Overall the trip was excellent.
Mark Silberstein and Heidi Hahn, who were the expedition
leaders, were great.
We were also very impressed with the skill and knowledge of the
local Belizean guides.
The weather was a little disappointing; we had dreamed of basking
in the warm Caribbean sun. On the other hand, it didn't
really rain on us during any of our outings.
(It did pour a couple of times.)
Just blame El Niño.
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