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(中文版請看以下連結 / for Chinese version, please click on the link below:
If you missed our last travel blog, please read it here first:
https://fashionecstasy.com/diving-in-the-worlds-most-dangerous-site-the-great-blue-hole-travel-blog-a-week-in-belize/
In my last post, I forgot to mention The World’s Famous Chicken Drop in San Pedro, Belize, a popular event among the locals, which we participated in on Day 2 (Thursday), so here it is.
This happened on Day 2 of our trip when we toured San Pedro Town, which I forgot to mention in my previous post.
The locals kept stressing that we must go check out “The World’s Famous Chicken Drop,” an event hosted in town every Thursday. After asking around, we learn that it was hosted at Wahoo’s Lounge Belize in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. The World’s Famous Chicken Drop is like a bingo game where players place bets and winners pick up chicken shit to claim their BZD $100 prize. We arrived before 7:00 pm and ordered some drinks. The crowd starts arriving close to 7:00, by 7:00 pm, two guys, each holding a live chicken, came out, gave the chickens a little shake, and dropped the chickens into the betting ring. The crown then cheered and waved to lure the chickens to the number they bet to shit on—finally, contestants who bet on the number where the chickens “dropped” on won. But not so fast yet; winners had to “clean up their own shit” before claiming their prize.
We stayed at Las Terrazas Resort and Residences City for the rest of our trip, which cost about $700 CAD/night. This luxury resort is a paradise with a clear 70-foot outdoor pool and an excellent restaurant. Our accommodation was a 2-floor building with three bedrooms. Each bedroom is designed with a different theme. The building has two full-size bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen featuring high-end stainless steel appliances, a dining room, two flat-screen TVs, a living room decorated with Belizean handicraft furnishings, and a large balcony with a round lounge chair where we sipped champagne while admiring the sunset. The restaurant at Las Terrazas was also excellent to the point that we didn’t even bother to leave the resort for food. We dined three times a day there for the stay. I remember having sushi outdoors by the pool and excellent steak indoors. We crossed the hustle and bustle at downtown San Pedro off the list. We were all prepared for full of nature and adventures for the rest of our trip. We joined an expedition to swim with the sharks at Shark Ray Alley.
Although they say nurse sharks are safe to swim with, but with wildlife, there’s always a risk. We didn’t expect more sharks than human beings when we jumped into the waters. To make things scarier, the staff started to throw fresh, bleeding fish at us, and the sharks went at us with no mercy. After a round of screaming and shouting, we climbed out of the water to wash off our bloody bodies.
The next stop was Caye Caulker for lunch. Caye Caulker is a small and narrow limestone island off the coast of Belize. The locals recommended we dine at The Lazy Lizard Bar & Grill, a seaside restaurant that requires walking to the end of the island to The Split. The Split is a narrow waterway located at the end of Caye Caulker island that divides the island into two. A sign that read “No shoes, no shirt, no problem. No money, BIG PROBLEM” made me realized that I was a BIG PROBLEM in Caye Caulker.
The Lazy Lizard Bar & Grill serves hearty comfort food, which was perfect after an intense round of “fin fight” with a bunch of sharks. We ordered a “Fried Chicken Burger ($24),” which came with thick-cut French fries and a “Lobster Ceviche (Seasonal, $31),” which came with tortilla chips.
The beach at The Lazy Lizard is serene. After loading ourselves with calories and booze, travellers spend up to hours lazing and lounging by the beach and snorkel for free until itis wears off. It’s a perfect way to calm down and put ourselves back together from the trauma we had just experienced with the sharks.
I have no recollection of our schedule from day 4 to Day 5, but we hired a private chauffeur to tour Belize or Belize City for some deep travels and learned so much about Belize. So I assume that happened on one of these days.
We spent the other day joining some other tours, with one including a flight, apparently, from the clip I dug out.
Here are some interesting stuff you probably wouldn’t know about Belize ( to the best of my recollection):
Belize (or Belize City) ‘s low-lying topography makes it vulnerable to floods during hurricanes and heavy rains. Hence, no matter how many times the government has tried and how much money they put in to rebuild everything, recurring floodings continue to wipe out buildings and damage the city’s infrastructures, making it hard for Belize (or Belize City) to grow economically. However, the flooding doesn’t stop Belize from growing some rare, expensive wood like Dalbergia stevensonii (aka Honduras rosewood), which we passed by as our chauffeur explained. Then as we drove along the coastline, our chauffeur pointed out a house (or mansion) and told us it was a property of a rich man, who fought with the government to change the infrastructure before his property to gain direct access to the beach, and which, the government approved.
It was the second to last day of our trip, about time to cross The Great Blue Hole that we came for off that list. The Great Blue Hole is a full-day tour. We arrived before 6:00 am at our service provider’s location, enjoyed a local breakfast prepared by the staff, and set sail for our great expedition.
I don’t remember what the staff prepared for us for breakfast, but here is a photo of the Belizian breakfast‘s menu to give you an idea of what a local Belizian breakfast looks like:
As you can see, a “Belizean Burrito ($12)” is a “flour tortilla stuffed with scrambled eggs & bacon topped with cheddar cheese” and a “Belizean Breakfast ($20)” is served with “eggs your style with fried beans and your choice of jurney cakes, tortillas or fried jacks (bacon, ham or sausages) served with fruit platter and juice, coffee or tea. So Belizean breakfast is pretty similar to North American breakfast mixed with English breakfast.
Belizeans have quite a sense of humour. Many bars have signs that read jokes like “If you’re drinking to forget, please pay in advance,” and “Men: no shirt, no service; women: no shirt, free drinks!”
Our charter was quite a full house. However, once we climbed into the boat, we looked like a couple of hobbits. Even he who’d travelled to Thailand every month to train for Muay Thai looked like Vin Diesel standing beside Dwayne Johnson in Fast and Furious. We chatted and found out these big guys are all from the Marines. Duh, “the world’s most dangerous diving site,” figures.
The Belize Barrier Reef is filled with Yellowtail snapper, banded butterflyfish, White Grunt, several kinds of Parrotfish and angelfish.
It was about a 2.5 hour of super choppy boat ride on the open waters. With every rock, passengers on the other side bounced up from their seats until their heads hit the ceiling. The newlyweds on their honeymoon couldn’t stop laughing. I also had to take out my camera; it was too epic not to film. However, as I said in my first post, my films, photos, and all my other valuables are robbed by that A-hole of an ex while I was hospitalized.
I might have been the tiniest Asian on board, but heck, I was the strongest one sitting. All the big boys took turns to go to the deck to throw up from seasickness. I was the only one who sat, or should I say, “bounced,” through the whole trip without having to wobble my way to the deck to puke. Still proud of it to this day.
We made several stops to dive, snorkel and spearfish on the way.
Our guide was a young beach boy. “Hey! You! Pretty girl!” he yelled. We met eyes, but I doubted he was talking to me. “Hey! Pretty girl in the blue bikini! He addressed me while pointing his finger at me. “Come here!” I followed his instructions and walked to him. He then took my hand and jumped into the waters with me without letting go undersea. That was pretty ballsy, considering that my ex with a full body of tattoos was witnessing all this. I have to admit, though, that was the first and only time I had butterflies during our 4-year relationship. I mean, Who can resist a Baywatch boy with a dash of bad boy? That was also the only time Pinokio (character in my book) got jealous and swam up to snatch my hand away from him. Baywatch boy explained every species we see as we dove and snorkelled. He dove deep with some bait, then ascended like a floral stigma with groups of colourful tropical fish surrounding him and spreading out like petals blooming out of the water. It was a magical scene instantly turning marine fauna into flora. He was a merman. Next stop, all passengers were kicked off the boat because the staff told us there was a “surprise” for us. We followed him and swam under the waters until we saw something grey and massive moving slowly. “Is it a seal? Is it a sea lion? Nope, it’s a mermaid!” (well, namely, a manatee). Everyone was super excited to see a manatee. But if you ask me, the merman won hands down.
Although my photos were robbed from me, I managed to do a painting of what I remember while I was hospitalized in Toronto Western Hospital after my stroke, which, I gifted to a very good friend of mine:
Next stop, the big boys went spearfishing. I don’t believe in killing, so I skipped this one and just snorkelled. These Marines can free dive up to 150-200 metres. He who thought a month of training every year in Thailand made him a Marine didn’t want to lose and came back out the water with a super bloody nose (know your limits).
It turned out; I missed a lot skipping the spearfishing. A guy from the United States Marines came out all excited and told me what I missed.
He said he spotted a lionfish, a kind of fish with venomous spiky fin rays, commonly seen and eaten in Belize. As he tried to spearfish that lionfish, a shark came in between to block and protect it. I almost burst into tears. It is lucky to witness all this through Marine‘s eyes as I would have never been able to free dive that deep.
After finally arriving at the Lighthouse Reef Atoll, where the Great Blue Hole is located, we stopped by the Half Moon Caye to enjoy a lunch buffet at the white, wooden tables by the coconut palm trees prepared by the staff. Half Moon Caye is a natural monument island of Belize. It is a sandy crescent-shaped island located at the southeast corner of Lighthouse Reef Atoll. Half Moon Caye was Belize’s first nature reserve and is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System World Heritage Sites under UNESCO and the first marine protected area in Central America. It was first designated as a bird sanctuary in 1924 to protect the habitat of the red-footed booby birds. Coming from Canada, the heat was almost unbearable. However, a dip in the crystal-clear beach is always a nice way to cool down.
A romantic beachside meal is a must on all of our travels.
Belize’s Great Blue Hole is home to a staggering wealth of biodiversity, even I got to see something new! Watch our Youtube vlog first:
The Great Blue Hole is a giant marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef. The hole is circular in shape, over 318 meters (1,043 ft) across and 124 meters (407 ft) deep. It is the world’s most giant natural formation of its kind. The Great Blue Hole is part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
There are so many species to be discovered in The Great Blue Hole. You can cross every sea creature you want to see in this one destination. Its stable year-round conditions support some of the most crowded and varied communities here.
After dining at Las Terrazas Resort‘s restaurant for the past few days, we figured its time to cross that beachside meal off our list. We drove our golf cart along the coastline in search of a restaurant with a romantic atmosphere and landed at Rain Restaurant & Rooftop Terrace. Rain Restaurant is a rooftop restaurant with picturesque views of the Caribbean Sea and enjoyed exquisite seafood while admiring the reflection of the sky’s colour changes as the sun sinks the sea.
Although Lionfish are venomous, they are safe to eat and a specialty of Belize. Exotic foods are always on my bucket list while travelling. Since it was our last night, we had to. So despite having had dinner already, we forced ourselves to the Lionfish Grill at Hatchet Caye, an open-air seaside restaurant known for its lionfish and crossed that lionfish off our list. We enjoyed the restaurant’s Caribbean ambience. However, as for the lionfish‘s taste, I do not remember much.
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