Our final excursion was the Fury Catarmaran through Royal Caribbean…
While the views were amazing, the snorkeling was good and the beach was good, this felt like something operated by big business rather than a boutique tour. There were about 60 of us on a very large catamaran and picked us up right at the dock in Cozumel. They were well organized and clean. The boat has two bathrooms, shaded areas and plenty of water and soda at no cost. Very comfortable. Not much too it though… they took us to a snorkel spot and we did see fish and coral… however there were way too many people in the water to make it enjoyable. Afterwards they took us to a beach (which I’m guessing they operate) and let us off. Free drinks at a small tiki bar and every water toy you could imagine in the water. Hammocks and beach chairs every where and clean bathrooms. All and all…. This excursion was as advertised…. Just a bit too crowded for my taste. Still fun though.

Cozumel

Coral Breeze Tours (Belize)….
Our second excursion was in Belize and through a private company  (Coral Breeze Tours) for the Shark and Stingray tour at Caye Caulker. This was our favorite excursion…. The belize port isn’t bad (get a drink at the Wet Lizzard), but it’s what you would expect at most ports. Our small staff met us outside the cruise terminal where we were again swamped by hundreds of folks trying to get us to take their tours. Once we found our guide (Star), she walked us over to the other dock where we were finally free of the mobs (other than the other 8 people taking the same tour). Once on the dock, they fitted us with snorkel’s masks and fins. We boarded a little skiff boat and headed off for Caye Cauker (about a 30 min boat ride). If you’ve never been to Caye Caulker, I’d say skip all the tours in Belize and find one that takes you out to the Caye. Gorgeous, very small little island with plenty of great food and things to see. No cars on the island…. Everyone uses bikes or golf carts unless they are walking. The roads are white sand. The tour stopped there first where we were walked over to small little restaurant just off the dock to pre-order food for after snorkeling. We ordered lobster which was ridiculously cheap and I happened to see the lady walk down to a lobster trap and grab our lunch (doesn’t get much fresher than that). While lunch was cooking, we headed off in the boat to the first snorkeling part….. the water was crystal clear without much of a current. Lots of fish and reef. One of the guides led us around and pointed out various fish and areas of interest. About 15 min in to the snorkeling, we came face to face with a barracuda. This was my first encounter with one and there is no doubt about it…. I was freaked out. Our guide was visibly concerned and stayed between us and the fish… asked us to get anything shiny we had out of the water. The barracuda followed us for a little while and then apparently lost interest and we kept on snorkeling. Eventually, we hopped back in the boat and headed over to the “Shark/Stingray” area. This is a spot that has been popular for Nurse Sharks for over a decade. Fisherman used to clean their fish and drop the debris in to the water and so naturally that attracted the sharks and the rays and they became accustom to getting fed there. It’s a very shallow sandbar (4 feet maybe). As soon as we pulled up the guides called out… “here they come” and sure enough… there were about 20 nurse sharks headed our way. They were circling the boat and our guide said… let’s hop in. Most of the folks in our boat were a little hesitant, but I jumped off the boat immediately.  What an amazing experience. They are just like dogs….. they let me “pet” them on the back (same with the rays) and the just swam around us and picked up the fish that our captain was tossing in the water. From there, the staff handed out rum punch (as much as you wanted) and we headed back to that little resturaunt for lunch and some time to tour the island. After about an hour, we hopped back in the boat and did a loop around the island. We ran across a school of tarpon and as our guides threw fish in the water, they were devouring them. Pretty cool to see. Really big and fast fish. The Coral Breeze staff was amazing in all areas, but specifically about keeping us on schedule. The reviews had stated that they are very in tune with the cruise ship schedules and never did I worry I wouldn’t make it back to our ship on time (remember the tender process). More rum punch and another 30 min boat ride and we were back at the pier, on a tender and headed back to the Navigator. If I ever wanted to rent a house for a week on some Caribbean island,..... Caye Caulker would be at the top of my list. The Coral Breeze staff were amazing, informative and fun!

The first excursion was in Roatan with the Pirates of the Caribbean. We purchased their zip and dip excursion which was cheap by comparison and well worth the money. Roatan is a very poor area. When leaving the port area, you are immediately swamped by hundreds of locals trying to get you to take one of their tours. The road isn’t big enough to accommodate the mobs of people as well as the cars trying to navigate the single road that wraps around the harbor. Our guide was holding a hand written sign on a piece of cardboard. We were told what to look for and found him immediately. If you are worried about being in a foreign country, this would be one to avoid taking a private excursion. If you’re the adventurous type…. I say go for it. While poverty was everywhere, I never felt threatened or intimidated. Everyone was very friendly (tourism is their primary source of income). The zip lines were on the other end of the island and so we got about a 30 min tour of the island on our way over. Other than a random bojangles, there wasn’t anything that I saw that was “American”. The Zip line process felt rushed, however the staff was very good. We took a very bumpy truck ride to the top of the mountain, told to watch out for snakes and guided down to the first (and longest) zip line to begin. If you’ve never done it, you have to, but I wouldn’t consider it “AMAZING” or “UNBELIEVABLE” by any means. It was cool though. The views are amazing for sure, but you don’t scream down the zip line at 900mph or anything. It’s a nice leisurely pace across the jungle tops. Each line after that (there were 9) got shorter and shorter as you make your way around the course back to the start. From there, we were drivin to the “Dip” part of the Zip and Dip. Our guide took us to a private resort ParrotTree (https://www.facebook.com/Parrot-Tree-Plantation-Beach-Resort-Marina-124159264300258/) where we had unlimited access to the beach and pool. We grabbed a drink from the bar ($13 for two) and headed for the pool. And it was amazing. This was very relaxing and much needed after the zip line on a very humid day. The resort had everything you’d expect at a beach resort. Staff was amazing, drinks were cold and views were stunning.

Because we didn’t have the pressure to get off right away due to our later excursion time, we took some time to walk around the top deck of the ship.We headed back down to get a tender ticket about 30 min later and both the tender ticket line as well as the line in the stairwells to get off the ship were empty.

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