Belize – Cave Tubing – March 23, 2011

When Lori and I were perusing possible excursions, we came across one in Belize that looked a bit different.  River tubing through caves.  I don’t believe there are to many places in the world that this combination would exist, so, we had to try it.  We book excursions for 1 main reason, not missing the ship’s s departure.  Apparently they will wait for late returning excursions if booked through them, but will not for people who book independently.  The reason being they  have no idea where you are on a private excursion, but know when you book their system.  Basically cheap insurance.

We arrived in Belize City and were surprised to learn that the cruise ships cannot dock there.  Not a problem in any way, just interesting.  Shuttle boats took us to shore, about a 5 mile run.

The Road to Belize City

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Seve Ballesteros – We Lose A Great Golfer

Seve Ballesteros passed away today.  He had been battling brain cancer.  He was a former world #1 golfer.  He won over 90 tournaments on various tours around the world including 3 British Opens and 2 Masters.  He had retired from golf in 2007 after a prestigious 33 year professional career.  The video below shows a clip of an interview that culminated with a trick putt.

The Last Man Standing

As far as anyone can tell, the last man who was in combat in World War 1 has just died at 110 years old.  The article is at the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/europe/06choules.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

He was 110 years old.  I pause to reflect on the contributions made by these men, and the horrors they were exposed to.  I have nothing but admiration and respect for all who fought for their country.  Time marches on inexorably and I hope society never forgets these gallant people who lived in a different time, with different priorities, no matter what one’s personal thoughts on war are.

Listening to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Every now and then you find something when you least expect it.  We were at the Saskatoon Jazz Festival a few years back and Lori sucked me in to go see Little Richard.  100 bucks later, we were in the Bessborough Garden listening to an astonishingly brutal concert by an icon.  Talk about going through the motions. Anyways, I digress, the subject is Sharon Jones. Prior to the start of the concert, they were piping in music, and we’re saying who the hell is that, then more was played at intermission.  The MC says, by the way, also playing tonight at the Odeon (basically a bar) is Sharon Jones, whose music they were piping in.  One of those cases where the recorded music was better than the act, and it was only 20 bucks to get in.  Finally did get to see her live at the Calgary Folk Festival (front row) a few years later.  Well worth the wait.  Click below to get to the video.

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Costa Maya, Mexico – March 22, 2011

Good morning Mexico.  Another new country, although I said I would skip Mexico until it was safer than Iraq, or Afghanistan or at least downtown Winnipeg (joke people..just a joke).  Didn’t have much choice though, our giant really expensive taxicab stopped here.  We got off the ship and headed for our buses to the excursion.  Lori had chosen the “Boat Blast”.  A 45 minute bus ride to a beach where we drove speedboats out to a reef and snorkelled.  Sounds great on paper, but in reality, not so much.  I have driven a boat maybe 5 times, and have never snorkelled, and we were going to do this for basically the first time 2 miles out in the ocean.  What could possibly go wrong.  We’ll see as we progress.  But first, the bus ride.

We got off the ship onto a stunningly beautiful cement pier, jutting out into the bay, put there by the Mexican government to entice cruise ships.  Guess they bribed them as well cause it had all the charm of, well, I can’t think of anything, but it wasn’t nice.

Such a Beautiful piece of Concrete

From here we walked to the meeting point and got on our bus.  I would have taken some pictures on the bus ride, but it would have looked like home to my Martensville friends.  Flat, scrub and lots of rocks.  Kind of surprised me as I thought the Yucatan was jungle.

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Listening to Paolo Nutini (Two for One)

Yes, Italian name, Scottish accent, cute angle.  Sure, BUT, this kid is really good.  This particular song, “Coming Up Easy” is a primer on how to write a song.  There will be much much more good music coming from this one over the years.  Lori discovered him at a listening post I believe (remember those) at HMV.  That was his first album, which is a must for any collection.  This is from his second album “Sunny Side Up”.

i love this tune.

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Artificial Reef With A Twist – Cancun

Surfing the net, I found this article about an artificial reef being built using art in order to supplement the same reef Lori snorkelled off Belize, Cozumel and Roatan. Apparently this is the second largest reef on Earth.

Looks cool, check it out.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/pictures/110105-underwater-sculpture-park-garden-cancun-mexico-caribbean-pictures-photos-science/

Cruising From New Orleans March 21, 2011 – At Sea (Definitely)

I had great plans for this post, but I now know the anguish of both censorship and editorial power.  I have been shut down on what may have been the next viral hits on the net. It is unfortunate, but you got to do what you are forced to do.  Maybe I will get drunk one night and post it anyway (after Lori passes out of course)

Let us see what I can make of this with my material decimated.  We got up, we ate, we got drunk, we ate, we got drunker, we ate, we saw a show, we went to bed.  No, that is not very good.  Let’s try again.

Another beautiful morning on the NCL Spirit. (Norwegian Cruise Line)  We are definitely at sea now, surrounded by the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico, steaming towards our first stop, Costa Maya.  But first a full day at sea to kill.  Let’s see, first step, wake up, then shower then breakfast.  Pub crawl starts at 1 or so, leaving us lots of time for shopping and exploring.  Checked out the shops, got off cheap.  Then the pub crawl.  Since I am not allowed to publish the videos, I will only show the before part.  It was crazy.

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Listening to Sweet Thing

Yet another find from CBC2, while driving to work.  Canadian band from Toronto I believe.  Very catchy tune called “Lazy Susan”.  If the CPC decides to ditch the CBC, I hope they keep the radio, especially CBC Radio 2.  Where will I find new music, aargh!!!

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