Caribbean Islands Travel Adventure
Somehow we all dream that at least once in our lifetime we would go to a beautiful island with white sand, turquoise sea and palm trees on the beach …. for some it may still be a dream but my dream has turned into reality :). Caribbean cruise – an opportunity not to be missed so I grabbed it. Two weeks of paradise, warm sea and enjoyment. I flew alone from Zagreb to Miami which was my first time taking such a long flight alone! Talk about courage :)! In Miami I board a ship and the adventure of a lifetime has begun. My first destination and port of embarking on these cruiser was Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I arrived there the day before so I wouldn’t be late for the ship. It was extremely hot and humid but that didn’t at all diminish my excitement.
I visited several destinations in my 2 week cruise and each was wonderful.
Cayman Islands….It always seemed unattainable to me, and all of a sudden there I was. The dream came true. We all know that the Cayman Islands are a financial mecca, they also call them “Cayman Switzerland” but to be honest I don’t know where all that is located because I only saw one building that I could connect with the bank :). It is also interesting how the Cayman Islands got their name – after a species of lizard that Europeans initially mistaken for caimans, a subfamily of the alligator family.
Traditional island house.
I decided to take a tour of the island since we had a couple of hours of „free time“ and I really wanted to do something other than swimming. The capital Georgetown turned out to be completely different from what I have imagened it to be. It is a financial center of the Cayman Islands but my vision was to expect a very wealthy town with big luxurious building. It turned out to be a small, modest town with traditional island houses. Nothing out of the ordinary. But maybe that’s the key to having and retaining money :). But that taught me not to have big expectations in my head and enjoy what life gives you ;). Seems like that’s enough for the people living in this rich area, so it is definitely enough for me!
Hell place
The most popular beach is called “9 miles” and you can guess why? Because the length of that beach is 9 miles with beautiful white sand and turquoise sea. I’m sure that’s how most of us would imagened paradise.
The waves took me further to Roatan. An island belonging to Honduras. Roatan is known for its large coral reef which is the second largest in the world.
I couldn’t get used to the fact that these are actually animals that won’t harm you, but I couldn’t help the fear. Always on guard :).
Something like that :).
It is time for the waves to take us to the next destination and that is Belize. I have to admit that the very entrance to Belize did not delight me because the first thing I saw was not a turquoise sea but a muddy water. But that in no way diminished my curiosity to get to know that country as well because I knew I was going to have a great time.
As we were told, this river is a home to crocodiles, but people stil built cottages and swam here. Brave, isn’t it? Despite the extreme heat it didn’t occur to me to throw myself in the water.
A pet in the yard. Did you spot him?
Priceless. When your tour guide picks up fresh mangoes right from the trees. You know the feeling, right?;).
It is interesting that the Mayan civilization inhabited Belize as far back as 1500 BC. It was time to visit the remnants of that civilization. Very intriguing.
The locals introduced us to their culture and language called Belize creole (it’s the English they actually adapted to themselves). It is very difficult to understand it but interesting to listen to. Otherwise the official language is English however the majority of the population speaks Creole.
The road takes us further to the island of Conzumel. We were spendig whole day there so I decided to take to the interior of Mexico. The city we came to is called Tulum, but we didn’t come there for a party 🙂 (in Croatian slang„tulum“ is a word for party :)), but to see the history of Mexico. Tulum was one of the last cities that was built and inhabited by the Mayans.
I was horiffied by the pollution of the sea. There is this one kind of algae that spreads through the Caribbean Sea and causes a lot of trouble (as you can see the brown color of the sea). Large quantities of this seagrass floats to the shore and make it unattractive. However, the locals managed to make a business out of it. They collect that grass and if my memory serves me well, they use it to make shoes. This is how a natural disaster can be turnd into a local business. However, the entire Caribbean community is working to eliminate this problem, and I sincerely wish them to get rid of this monster as soon as possible so that they can enjoy the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean next time.
Some strange animals whose name I couldn’t remember but are currently living in the National Park because tourists give them food :).
After Tulum it’s time to rest my feet. Bahams are calling :). I’m glad my feet touched that part of heaven too :).
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of pictures of the beach because my hands were wet and sandy so the camera was left aside 🙂 but believe me when I tell you it’s paradise :).
One more paradise for eyes which belongs to Caribbean Sea is St.Thomas which is part of US Virgin islands.
Always fascinating traffic signs :).
After St. Thomas, the time has come for St.Marteen, a very interesting island because it is quite hilly compared to the Bahamas and others which are quite flat. I was sorry that I didn’t get to their famous beach there… but some things need to be left to “come back to”.
What to say at the end of the whole trip except that it was one of the most amazing trips I’ve had. Thanks Caribbean. I’ll be back again :).
Caribbean Islands Travel Adventure
