We got to the Fort George Hotel, Belize City, Belize on January 24, 2001. We stayed for one night at the Radisson Fort George Hotel for one night. We walked around and Kurt got a new pair of swimming skins at one of the two still operating dive shops. From the Fort George into the center of the town is a short walk by renovated British colonial houses from the time when Belize was British Honduras. Now, part of the Commonwealth, Belize is like Canada or Australia, but many magnitudes smaller.

On the 25th we took another walk in the morning along the water's edge and saw pelicans and assorted other birds sitting on posts sticking up from the water. There was vermilion flycatcher on a fence, but not as brilliantly scarlet as those we saw in the Galapagos. Our walk took us by an area set up for exhibits of Army equipment for some special commemoration. A young soldier proudly showed us the guns, uniforms, tents, jungle camouflage, and an example of a sandbag machine gun bunker. He told us that he had trained at an Army base in Georgia. We dropped off all but our knapsacks at the Niagara Prince boat, had a "cliff-hanger" lunch at the hotel bar (Service was so slow, Kurt had to run up the room, get our stuff and check out while we waited and waited for our food to be served.) and got a cab back to the airport.

We flew to Guatemala as the only passengers on a 13-seat Tropic Air airplane. Because we were there and because we were the only two on the airplane, the plane left at least 20 minutes early. We got to Flores, Guatemala and were taken to the Isla de Flores Hotel. We had to walk up four flights of steps to get to our room, which had a view of Lake Peten Itza. Fortunately all we had were knapsacks. We went downstairs in late afternoon to walk around the island and visited the large church, which was not ornately decorated by any means. We continued strolling around and went to the shore of the lake to get a picture of the sunset when a man asked us if we wanted to take a boat ride on the lake.

It was too early for supper and we thought, "why not?" The deal we made with Carlos was for about 15 or 20 minutes for $10. The two of us sat in a long tourist boat and Carlos took us on a lovely sail around the island with the sun setting colorfully. He pointed out where he lived on the other side of an arm of the lake, as well as the other communities that bordered the lake. The twenty-minute ride lasted as least an hour; he got a nice tip. We had planned to eat at a restaurant called "The Jaguar" which had been pointed out to us by someone from the hotel. When we saw a restaurant called "El Gran Jaguar" we thought it was the one, so we went in. There were only a few people in the restaurant and the service was so slow that a couple of tables of people got up and left. We were not in much of a hurry and persevered. We had delicious, fresh lake white fish. We had to beg the waiter to bring us some bottled water, asking many times for it. However, it was probably the least expensive fish dinner we have ever eaten anywhere in the world. Walking back to the hotel, we passed the restaurant we had meant to go to. January 26. At the hotel there was some confusion with the desk about what time we should wake and how we were going to get breakfast, since the hotel was not planning to provide any. They spoke only Spanish and I had two years of Spanish in Junior High School more than 50 years ago. We asked to be awakened at 6:15 a.m. to be picked up at 7:00 a.m. for a ride to the airport where we would have breakfast. We were called at 6:30 that our ride was there. Fortunately, we had awakened around 6 By 7:30 a.m. we were sitting by ourselves on a big tour bus, with no one else nearby. A while later we were joined on the bus by 5 other people, who happened to be an American, volunteer surgical team who were going to be operating in Guatemala the following week. Several more showed up and we left for Tikal.

At Tikal, we had a somewhat long walk in the jungle with a course in botany, which was interesting. A fairly large number of the plants we had seen in other places in Central America. We finally arrived at one of the ruins of Tikal. We climbed up a steep slope at the back of the ruin in the Grand Palace area and looked down on a square flanked on each side by a tall pyramid ruin. We looked at each of the buildings and there were very few carved stone decorations, unlike Chichen Itza or Uxmal. The buildings, nevertheless, were very big. While we were walking to the square of the Grand Palace, we were passed by a pretty large number of Maya, brightly dressed, some carrying large bundles. While we were at the square the Maya held a religious ceremony with fragrant woods, colored candles and prepared a site. The site was lined up with the four directions and dozens of candles were laid on the wood, a different color for each direction. They lit the bonfire and formed lines, first along one side of the square and then on another until they had lined up in rows at each direction, actually several times and prayed. We enjoyed walking through the jungle. We saw coatimundis, a number of birds, Spider monkeys cavorting in the trees and heard Howler monkeys, but didn't see any. We had lunch at a jungle lodge restaurant before getting on the bus for the ride back to Flores, the flight back to Belize City, and embarkation onto the Niagara Prince.

We got on board the boat around 5 o'clock in the evening. Our friends were already on board and were waiting for their son, who had gone scuba diving during the day. The cabin we were in was on the lowest deck. I was surprised that we had a window. I was expecting only a porthole. The cabin was not quite as big as the one we had had on this ship before, but it turned out quite adequate for our needs. We kept some our things in our suitcases, which were stashed under the beds. We had a good steak dinner and slept well.

	Saturday, January 27. We sailed away from Belize City during breakfast and went to Goff Cay. The snorkeling wasn't half bad and we saw a lot of different fish. The side of the island where we had swum on the previous trip was too turbulent, so where we swam this time was different. Also the hurricane had leveled almost all of the staghorn coral, so there was no "picket fence" to try to swim through. Our friends said they saw a couple of crabs and a lobster. In the afternoon one of the passengers showed a video that had been taken on an OAT trip to Thailand. It was the same trip we had taken, only about two weeks later. One hour of viewing was sufficient for us since "we had been there and done that." Later on in the afternoon we were in the vicinity of the Tobacco Range of cays and circled around a bird island, seeing lots of frigate birds and a few boobies. The fun part was seeing dolphins near the boat. The boat anchored at the Tobacco Range. We went ashore and walked around Placencia for a short time, dodging raindrops for a short time. We had a welcoming party and dinner. The cocktail party was very nice. There were huge shrimps, smoked salmon, mussels, cheeses etc. The shrimp were out of this world. They fixed you whatever drink you wanted. Luz, the naturalist on our previous ACCL trip, was the naturalist this time too.

Sunday January 28. We went to Laughing Bird Cay and rode in the glass-bottom boat. We could see the lovely coral, but the boat scares away most of the fish. The gas fumes from the outboard motor weren't too pleasant. The snorkeling here was just excellent and there was lots of beautiful coral. There were lots of sea cucumbers, too. We had a roast pork meal at dinner and it was very, very good. We have been getting very good food on this trip. Monday, January 29. We spent quite a bit of time on ship waiting to clear customs to leave Belize. That done, we sailed for Lime Cay, which is still in Belize. There was quite a bit of swell to the seas and we were told not to go to the area where the snorkeling is the best because of the waves and the current. Where we could go was turbulent as well and not very interesting. This was not the best day of snorkeling we have ever had, but the water is wet. We walked across Lime Cay, which was a tiny, little island, and in the water on the other side we saw three crabs. Lime Cay is a camping area and there were a few tents and one or two vendors selling food. A hammock was stretched between two palm trees and it looked inviting. From Lime Key we sailed to Roatan. This took us out into open water and the ship lurched around all night long until we got to Roatan in the morning. Kurt took two Dramamines and immediately went to bed. It didn't bother me, but it was hard to walk around, so I lay in bed and read.

Tuesday, January 30. At Roatan, we took a tour of the island in the morning. It was possibly the worst tour of any island we have ever taken. The driver-guide had no microphone and only the girls sitting next to him on the front seat could hear anything he said. We were told we were going to go to a dolphin show, but what we actually did was see where the dolphin show was going to be held. We got back at lunchtime. In the afternoon we walked from the boat, which was tied up at a dock in front of the Fantasy Island Resort, to an area where we could snorkel from the beach (actually a little gazebo sticking out over the water.) People where using this place to begin beach scuba dives as well. We snorkeled in some waters which were close to a boat channel. We were told to be very careful and not go near the boat channel because the dive boats go in and out of there. The snorkeling in this area was only so-so. In the evening we were told that they were going to try to get some boats to take us out to a better area. We had heard from a friend that the diving was superb.

Wednesday, January 31. In the morning we were told that they wouldn't take any boats out because of the condition of the water. We went back to that area, but this time they allowed people to go across the boat channel and the snorkeling on the other side was lovely. Sometimes they escorted people across the channel and sometimes they just told us to swim like hell to get across as fast as we could. I can vouch that seeing those dive boats "hauling A" down the channel was pretty impressive. By one of the buoys marking off the channel, there were some baby triggerfish. I had never seen a triggerfish before. These weren't very big, but . . On the other side of the channel we saw many trumpetfish, big ones. I also saw a porcupine fish, looking out at me through a little hole in the coral. It had great big eyes and blubbery white lips. He did not raise his spines. There weren't quite as many fish as one might expect, but the excellent coral formations made up for it. By the time we decided to return to the ship across the channel, the water had become murky. Once again there was no boat in the afternoon, so we went back to same place, and I went across the channel with others, while Kurt explored the area along the beach. At one place Kurt was told he might see flounder, but I don't think he saw any. Later in the afternoon, we sailed for Utilla.

Thursday, February 1. There was no snorkeling in the vicinity of the boat, which was tied up a dock. They said that would not take us out in a boat this morning either. They offered a tour of the island, but after Roatan, we decided to walk around a bit and to sit on the deck and read. Kurt and I walked around Utilla early in the morning. Utilla is mostly inhabited and somewhat trashy. We went up some steep stairs and then further up. We saw the school and a few big houses from earlier days, but were not impressed with Utilla. The people are of Scotch-Irish ancestry and they speak with an Irish brogue and a Caribbean lilt.

We were reading up on the deck when our friends came in and said there was a t-shirt shop on the main street that had a t-shirt with the track of hurricane Mitch which sank the Fantome, a windjammer we had sailed on. We immediately went down and went looking for that gift shop, which we found. We bought the t-shirt. Unfortunately it was a Medium and doesn't fit either Kurt or me. We walked further down the main street to the airport and then headed back. We met some fairly young people from Seattle who are retired and live on Utilla 7 or 8 months of the year. Obviously, they like it. In the afternoon we did go out in a tender to a place they called the lighthouse. It really was a light buoy. We went snorkeling in that area and it was very interesting. The coral was quite beautiful, with stands of opalesque bar coral. It was pale blue, pink, lilac, just like an opal. There was not a lot of it, but there was certainly more than one. I saw two fish I had never seen before, a scrolled cowfish and a scrolled filefish. The cowfish looked like it was painted with camouflage, olive green to light green and then changed color to a bright blue with some pink as its surroundings changed. There were queen angelfish and some people saw an eagle ray. I went out in the first boat and came back in the last one. Needless to say, my estimation of the snorkeling in Honduras had improved immeasurably.

February 2. We went from the main Utilla island to West End Cay, still part of the Utilla group. We had time in the morning and in the afternoon to snorkel. It was pretty bad going out over the broken pieces of coral to get to water that was deep enough to swim in. The live coral, once we got to it, was very pretty and there were lots of interesting things to see. I saw that opal coral again. There were huge brain coral. You could swim along the wall edge of the island. Just beyond it got very deep. There wasn't much to see out in the deep water, but I was hoping I might see a turtle or a ray or something. We were supposed to leave the island at 3:30, but we headed back to the boat a little bit early.

	As we were sailing back to the ship another skiff came out and the crew were yelling at everyone in the water and on the beach to hurry and board the skiff to get back to the boat. The winds were getting worse and we had to get out of there. Very shortly thereafter everyone was back on board and we were under way. We sailed all that afternoon and night on rolling seas February 3. We arrived at Punta Gorda and waited some hours until we had cleared customs going back into Belize. That done, we walked around Punta Gorda and had numerous boys and girls trying to sell us little baskets. During lunch back on the boat, we were told that the wind and waves were such that there would be no snorkeling at West Snake Cay. We had a talk by one of the crew members about the medicinal properties of all kinds of plants. I didn't take any notes so I am not going to pass on very much. However, there was one plant that you make a tea out of and give it to kids to keep them from wetting their bed at night. We tied up early at Pt. Ignacios and saw a video that Luz's son had made on undersea animals. It was a marvelous video with great footage of dolphins.