Harvest Caye, Belize (Thursday, February 15)

Harvest Caye is a private island owned by Norwegian Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.  The hype was that the company spent $50 million making it a resort stop for its ships. This held little appeal for us given that we had never been to Belize before, so we opted for a mainland tour.

- - - - -

Today's Tour:  RAIN FOREST RIVER TUBING

This river tubing adventure is fun, refreshing and scenic. It’s an experience the entire family can participate in and enjoy.

It’s a 30 minute boat transfer from Harvest Caye Marina to the mainland of Belize where you will board your air-conditioned bus and travel another 30 minutes to the Jungle Camp Outpost where your river tubing adventure will commence.  On route, you’ll see picturesque mountains and pass through an authentic Mayan village.  Jungle Camp Outpost is located on the river’s edge, right in the middle of the jungle, at the foot of the Maya Mountains. Upon arrival, you’ll be greeted by your local guides who will prepare you for your journey down the beautiful river that they grew up on.

Sit back and relax in your tube as you float down the river, taking in the wonderful scenery and perhaps sighting some of the local wildlife along the river bank.  Following your river tubing, you’ll come ashore at The Maya Landings. Here, you’ll have a chance to relax and purchase a snack, refreshment or even a Mayan work of art from the women displaying their handicrafts before retracing your route back to Harvest Caye.

- - - - -

The description inferred that we would be docked at Harvest Caye.  In reality, SIRENA was anchored well off the island.  The good news was that contrary to the tour description, we were taken directly to Mango Creek on the mainland rather than having to change boats at the Harvest Caye dock.

Once aboard the bus, our guide Elvis mixed information and humor to help pass the time on the not 30 but 60 minute ride to the camp.  

At the base camp, we stripped down to our swim gear and reboarded the bus for a trip upstream.  At the launch site, we donned our life vest and carried our tube down to the water's end.  After getting into my tube, it was lashed together with Pam's and several others.  Our guide navigated us out into the current and we were off.

It was fun.  The water was neither warm nor cold.  Trees shaded much of the river.  The current flowed at about 2 miles per hour moving us along at a polite pace.

After about 30 minutes we pulled into a small tributary.  As we moved up it, the water got markedly warmer.  The source of the warm water was an underground hot spring.  

Pushing back out into the main river about 15 minutes later, we floated along for another 10 minutes before reaching the camp where we had left our gear.  

Once ashore, we followed a short path to the camp.  Along the way our guide pointed out various plants and trees.

Swim gear off and clothes back on, we had something to eat, then boarded the bus for the return trip to Mango Creek.  The bad news was that this time we did have to change boats at Harvest Caye's dock.

The trip down the river was entertaining and relaxing, although we saw no wildlife. The bus ride to and from the camp allowed us to see some of interior Belize, a very small country with a population of less than 450,000 people.  During the course of the day, Elvis taught us some things about his country.  It was a lot of travel time for 50 minutes of rafting, but we had a good time. 

Tomorrow, Guatemala.