[07.01.2016 Thursday]
Today the AIDA reaches the state of Belize, and there the city of Belize City. Culturally, the mainland has a lot to offer and that is why we have booked our longest excursion with 8.5 hours to the Mayan site “Altun Ha” with subsequent boat trip with the possibility to see dolphins, manatees and crocodiles.
Belize has the largest coral reef in the world off the coast after Australia, which is why no cruise ship is allowed to dock at the port here and must follow a zigzag course around the coral. The way to the coast is so far that tender boats from the coast are used which are faster and transport more passengers. Since the diving and cultural offer is very attractive, three giant cruise ships are already docked nearby.
When we arrive at the Theatrium at 10:45, we are shocked at the mass of people. Hopefully the trip will not be too crowded.
Fortunately, we catch a very good tender boat and sit above in the open and can make good photos. At the port we are to follow a local woman and we get again in a boat, there is this time no AIDA guide who is with us. It turns out that we first go by speedboat across the open sea to the Belize River, since we have already experienced a similar very good tour in a more private atmosphere in Jamaica, our expectations are not very high.
34 passengers sit in the boat and the interesting tour lasts almost 2.5 hours! We really see a lot of animals, apart from the manatees that appear only for a second with the nostril, all other animals are good to see: several crocodiles, bats, iguanas, birds and even monkeys. Apart from the fact that the neck and back are very strained, the tour is surprisingly well done, one of the three guides sits in the front of the boat and really spies every little animal, the boss “Junior” briefly explains in English what exactly we are seeing. We are lucky again, because we sit in the first boat and thus no others are in front of us.
We stop in the middle of the jungle and get a typical local meal: Beans and rice with chicken and salad. When we look at the souvenir stalls for 5 minutes, suddenly our group and Junior are gone. We go with another tour group by coach to the Mayan site “Altun Ha”.
The first traces of settlement at Altun Ha can be traced to around 1000 BC. The site consists of two main plazas and a total of 300 proven buildings, including at least thirteen temples. Our new group is accompanied by an AIDA guide who tells us even more about the Mayan site and the beauty ideals of the Mayans. Afterwards we can climb a high temple and take some nice photos. The time is very tight, I quickly climb another temple and shoot photos, then it’s back to the ship.
With the last tender boat around 6 p.m. we go back to the ship quite exhausted.
After dinner, we look very briefly in the ABBA show, but since that is not our thing and we are very tired, we lie down briefly until 21:30. At 10 pm the rum workshop starts, we are a little “grogy”, there are surprisingly many participants present. We taste 6 different rums, should consider what we smell and taste and get interesting stories about the production and about the history with.
Subsequently, a Hamburg evening takes place in the AIDA bar, we also look here briefly, it is all decorated maritime, the costumes of the staff are great (“professionals”, dockers, “ToyBoy”…) and the mood is very good at the late hour. We drink a nightcap with live music (Schlager) and go around 0:30 clock in the cabin.