Kaw2134

My husband were on the Norwegian Jewel that stopped there October 15th. This port is still under development with a lot of the shops in the port itself still empty. We chose to walk to the town. It was about 15 minutes of flat walking along a road and then up one big hill. The hill is steep but manageable. The town had a festival to celebrate our arrival with a large open air market place with local artisans selling their goods. This was the best shopping, the actual shops in town are where the locals buy their clothes,shoes etc and don't have tourist goods/souvenirs. There were also demonstrations of folk dancing, clothing and the marching band was playing. It had a very festive and upbeat feeling to it. Everyone we met was very friendly and welcoming. We felt safe wandering around on our own. We went into the fort which cost $3 US each. It is very small, maybe only 3 rooms. A lot of the signage is in spanish only still. It, along with the church, were nice quick things to see but don't take longer than a few minutes a piece. There is a beach on the walk into town that is lined with restaurants and bars. The lounging options are minimal with only one partially constructed place having lounge chairs to rent for $5 each for the day. If you want to swim wear your swimsuit off the boat as we couldn't find anywhere to change. Also it should be noted the water is not the crystal blue of Belize nor are the sands white. The beach is also somewhat narrow. You should also have lots of singles on you as many places don't have US change. Be aware of what the conversion rate is or you are at the mercy of vendors picking numbers out of the air when converting prices, especially at restaurants and bars. There were lots of people just outside the port offering private tours and excursions but as it is such a new port without business ratings we chose not to take any as we didn't want to have any problems returning to the ship on time. I take non cruise-ship excursions in other ports. Overall it was a fun day but if the festival hadn't have been going on there isn't much to do.