A little over a year ago while doing research for our cruise vacation, and particularly the port of call in Belize, I stumbled over a video of cave tubing in Belize. It was made by a guy named Jason who also goes by the handle Gatorclaw. The video was made up of stills and short video clips. There was music, and all kinds of dynamic special effects to bring even the still pictures to life. Then I discovered this was just one segment, and that he had done a video documenting the whole cruise. The video is titled Voyage Of Valor (since they were on the Carnival Cruise Ship Valor). I don’t know Jason or his girlfriend Pepper other than through the video, and a couple swapped emails. But I really enjoyed watching their vacation videos! Jason seems like a nice guy, and Pepper is really, really cute!
Well, I just got an email from Jason telling me that he has created a new video! This new video is titled Islands Of Liberty, and documents their cruise on the Carnival Liberty. Jason and Pepper do an eastern Caribbean cruise along with Jason’s parents. This cruise takes them to Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Nassau!
These videos are a ton of fun! I even just discovered that Jason made a video of an earlier cruise that I haven’t even seen yet.
Also, it looks like Jason has started a business making videos from still pictures. You can check out his web site at gatorclaw.com!
And check out his cruise videos!
Costa Rica is a lush rain forest, and so has many rain forest and ecological related excursions. Our group chose to do the Canopy Tour Adventure which is zip-lining through the Costa Rican jungle. My wife, who had recently pulled a muscle in her neck, opted for the more sedate Sloth Sanctuary And Canoe Adventure. We all had a blast!
Here are the ones listed in the Carnival shore excursions book. Not all excursions will be available for every cruise, or during every time of year. Other cruise lines probably offer the same or similar excursions.
Excursions can either be booked through the cruise lines ahead of time, or while on ship. Booking the excursions directly with the operators is also an option. This can save you money, but involves risk if there is a problem.
Aerial Tram Tour (5 1/2 hours)
A Hacienda Experience (5 1/2-6 hours)
Tour a family owned farm.
A Taste Of The Tropics (4 1/2 hours)
Visit a pineapple plantation.
Biking Through A Caribbean Village (4 1/2 hours)
Banana Plantation & Coastal Highlights (4-4 1/2 hours)
Canopy Tour Adventure (5 1/2-6 hours)
Zip lining through the jungle.
Caribbean Train, Boat & Bus Experience (4 1/2 hours)
Costa Flores Tropical Gardens (5 hours)
Golden Bean Coffee Tour (6 hours)
Horseback Riding (4 hours)
Limon’s Fun City Tour (1 1/2 hours)
Off Road Adventure (4 1/2 hours)
Explore the mountains of Costa Rica in a Terra-X6 US military type truck.
Pontoon Jungle Ride (4 hours)
Rain Forest Kayaking (5 hours)
Rain Forest Wagon Expedition (3 1/2 hours)
Shaman’s Land Nature Walk (4 1/2 hours)
Sloth Sanctuary And Canoe Adventure (5 hours)
The Green Train (2 1/2 hours)
Ride a narrow guage jungle train from Limon to Bananito.
Tortuguero Canals (4 1/2 hours)
White Water Rafting (6 1/2 hours)
The cruise lines have started to include snuba excursions. But what is snuba? Snuba combines snorkeling and scuba. When you snorkel, you are forced to stay near the surface. Not only to breathe, but also because of the natural buoyancy of the human body. Scuba diving requires that you have an air tank strapped to your back, as well as a regulator in you mouth, and weights around your waist. Due to the potential dangers of scuba, certifications are required.
But some people would like to do more than snorkeling around the surface, but don’t want to go through the time and costs to get the scuba certification. This where snuba comes in.
With snuba, you wear a mask and breathe through a hose that goes to a tank on the surface. You also wear a weight belt which makes you neutrally buoyant.
Snuba allows you to dive to 20-25 feet deep. It only requires 30 minutes or less of instruction. Children as young as eight can participate.
Snuba is great for people on vacation that want to explore the marine life without making the major commitment to get scuba certified. Snuba is also less expensive than scuba.
So next time you are on a cruise, and have an opportunity to try snuba, consider giving it a shot.
We visited Grand Cayman a couple years ago. There were a wide variety of great shore excursions to choose from. We chose the Stingray Sandbar, Hell & Turtle Farm Experience. I would happily do the same excursion again on our next visit.
Here are the ones listed in the Carnival shore excursions book. Not all excursions will be available for every cruise, or during every time of year. Other cruise lines probably offer the same or similar excursions.
Excursions can either be booked through the cruise lines ahead of time, or while on ship. Booking the excursions directly with the operators is also an option. This can save you money, but involves risk if there is a problem.
Aqua Boat & Snorkel Adventure (3 hours)
Atlantis Deep Explorer (1.75 hours)
Submarine dive to a depth of 800 feet.
Atlantis Submarine (1.5 hours)
Explore underwater park in submarine at 100 feet deep.
Beginner’s Scuba Diving (3 hours)
Butterfly Farm & Beach Adventure (3 hours)
Cayman 7 Mile Beach Break
A day at the beach.
Certified Two Tank Dive (4 hours)
Coral Reef & Stingray Safari (3 hours)
Fisherman’s Rock Swim & Snorkel Adventure (2-2.5 hours)
Grand Cayman Highlight Tour (2 hours)
Grand Cayman Island Tour (2 hours)
Crand Cayman Kayak Safari (3 hours)
Grand Cayman Snorkel Tour (2 hours)
Reef & Wreck Snorkel Tour (2 hours)
Sail, Snorkel & Stingray City (2.5 hours)
See & Sea Island Tour (3 hours)
Shore Snorkel Experience (2 hours)
Snuba (1.75 hours)
Snuba combines snorkling and scuba to allow diving deeper than snorkle without tanks.
Stingray City & Island Tour (4.5 hours)
Stingray City Tour (2.5 hours)
Swim with stingrays!
Stingray Sandbar Tour (2.5 hours)
Swim with stingrays!
Stingray Sandbar, Hell & Turtle Farm Experience (4.5 hours)
The Trolley Roger (1 hours)
The Ultimate Undersea Adventure (1 hours)
Explore the marine life in a semi-submarine.
Brittania Golf Club
On our visit to Belize, we had the hardest time trying to decide on which shore excursion we wanted to do. Belize has so many cool sounding shore excursions. We finally chose the Cave Tubing & Rain Forest Exploration which was an absolute blast. My brother and his family did the Goff’s Caye Snorkeling. They thouroughly enjoyed themselves.
Here are the ones listed in the Carnival shore excursions book. Not all excursions will be available for every cruise, or during every time of year. Other cruise lines probably offer the same or similar excursions.
Excursions can either be booked through the cruise lines ahead of time, or while on ship. Booking the excursions directly with the operators is also an option. This can save you money, but involves risk if there is a problem.
Airboat Adventure & City Tour (2.5 hours)
Altun Ha & Belize City Tour (4 hours)
Altun Ha Maya Site/River Wallace (5.5 hours)
Baboon Sanctuary & Belize City Tour (4.5 hours)
Baboon is creole for Howler Monkey.
Barrier Reef Snorkeling At Rendezvous Cave (3.5 hours)
Belize City Tour (2.5 hours)
Belize Zoo & City Tour (4.5 hours)
Biking In Belize (6 hours)
Cave Tubing & Rain Forest Exploration (7 hours)
Tube down a jungle river through limestone caves.
Goff’s Caye Snorkeling (3.5 hours)
Horseback Adventure & Nature Walk (7 hours)
Horseshoe Reef Snorkel Combo At Caye Caulker (4 hours)
Jungle Buggy Advneture & Mayan Cave Exploration (5 hours)
Land Rover & Cave Expedition (5 hours)
Lost World Canopy Tour (5.5 hours)
This is zip-lining through the jungle.
Power Snorkel At Rendezvous Cave (3.5 hours)
Use a handheld motorized power unit to pull you through the water faster than you can swim.
Private Island Beach Break (4-6 hours)
Reef Bottom Fishing (4 hours)
Fish for Snapper, Grouper, Barracuda, or even shark.
Sergeant’s Caye Snorkel Adventure (3.5 hours)
Sights & Sounds Of Belize (3 hours)
Snuba At Rendezvous Caye & Beach Park (3.5 hours)
Snuba combines snorkel and scuba allowing you to stay below the surface longer without scuba tanks.
Spanish Bay & Mangrove Kayak & Snorkel Adventure (5 hours)
Turneffe Atoll Two Tank Dive (5 hours)
Xunantunich Maya Site (7 hours)
Caye Chapel Golf Resort