I Belize in MAGIC! MITSUGIRLY revisits the Western Route. My Novel.

[mitsugirly]

And birds too.

 

 

 

Ah ha! This is what all of the bridges and buildings on top of the buildings was.

 

 

I believe I over heard someone say you had to pay to go up and it was $10pp. That's pretty expensive if you think about it. We were a family of 7, so $70 for us to walk up and play chutes and ladders just to see birds and stuff? Although I would have loved to take Sakari because she's such a bird lover, we were on a mission to get to Blue Kay.

 

This was the bird house and entrance.

 

 

Ok, so how the heck you get out of here now? The entrances/exit that was right there is no longer there. Everything was blocked off. Then I found a sign. "Shuttle to Town". Great. It was actually going in the wrong direction. It was taking us toward the water area, which is opposite of where we needed to go. This is weird.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

This area is along the water. They have a wooden sidewalk and shops along there. I have no idea if there was anything back there before because I never walked back in that area other than to view the dolphin swimming area.

 

 

 

 

 

There were shops up and down this area. Of course every cruise compound you are forced to walk by every shop along the way while you just try to get out of there.

 

 

Outside the restroom...these are the wash sinks. How cute.

 

 

Everything was so pretty here now.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

We circled around and we were almost out of the compound.

 

 

 

 

 

WE MADE IT! We finally escaped Jurassic Park. The shuttles were lined up to take people to the Malecon but we knew from reading the boards that they will take you where they want to take you and probably where they get a kick back from the beach/restaurant owners to bring people there. We were going down the street to get our own cab and go directly where we wanted to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Outside the compound there is a sidewalk that is right down the middle of the street.

 

 

 

There's even area's with some shade, which makes it nice on a hot day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't have to walk as far as we did last time we caught a taxi outside the compound. I was glad for that.

 

We found some taxi's on the side of the road and told them where we were going and piled in.

 

Off we went.

 

 

Ok, so maybe my timing was off about the time we got off the ship because I just found a picture I took of my watch when we got arrived at Blue Kay and it was 9:05am. So maybe we got off the ship at 8am.

 

It was a 6 minute ride to Blue Kay. Super easy. Super quick. They pulled all the way into the parking lot and dropped us off.

 

 

[scuba_ninja]

I think the struggle with getting my ears to pop, trying to get down there and stressing about it took a lot out of me. I looked around to try to find the hubby and didn't see him. I motioned "where's the hubby?" to Andrea and she pointed up. He must have went to the surface.

 

Honestly, I was getting tired. I had no idea how long we had been down there but it felt like hours. Each diving experience feels so much longer than it really is. I'm not sure why. But since the hubby was "up" I motioned her to go up. She looked at me. She shrugged her shoulders and motioned me to "come on". I shook my head no and motioned up again. She gave the "up" symbol and shrugged her shoulders like "ok, we are giving up and going up".

 

 

Loving your review! THANK YOU! Great pictures, descriptions and overall, awesome job! As an instructor, please allow me to give you a few tips (based on common issues I've seen over the years) that might help for next time.

 

1) You're likely tired for one of two common reasons - a) swallowing/gulping air instead of breathing it (happens all the time when divers are new and or excited) and b) kicking from the knees and using your arms to swim. Kick with your knees locked and the power coming from the hip and never use your arms. You're just using way more muscle power than you need. Not that an hour dive is anything to sneeze at by any means. I've had new students drain a full tank in under 25 minutes!

 

2) If you are having ear trouble, coming up and down is actually not only really bad for your ears (and making it all worse), it's also really dangerous. YES, you CAN get decompression sickness in only 30ft of water. Your first 33ft is your most dramatic change in pressure! Trust me DCS ain't pretty. And even your extra special travel insurance likely won't cover those treatments! The books will tell you that sudafed is a nono, but uh.... I don't know a pro diver that doesn't have a bottle of the 12 hour kind handy. Use that information as you will.

[pghsteelerfan]

Eeevvveryyy thing had changed. It didn't even look like the same port anymore. When did they do this renovation? Why did they do it? Did a hurricane destroy it or something? I would never get a straight answer from anyone. When I asked people there, the taxi driver and even the people at Blue Kay, they told me 2007. LOL...not. I wasn't even cruising in 2007 and the last time I was there was 2014 and it looked way different. I have pictures to prove it...trust me. Then at one point someone said they redid it around 2012. Nope, try again. I DID NOT look like this the last time I was here in 2014. How can the people that live there not know when the change occurred?

 

It really HAS changed. We were only in Costa Maya once, in March 2006. In August 2007, Costa Maya and surrounding area had a direct hit from Hurricane Dean. Not positive, but it was Cat 5 at some point but I don't know if it hit Costa Maya as a Cat 5 or 4. We were paying close attention to this hurricane since we had a scheduled vacation in Negril, Jamaica (west coast) about three weeks after this hurricane. Before hitting Costa Maya, it hit the eastern/southeaster part of Jamaica. Fortunately for us, Negril, pretty much escaped unharmed and made out with some cosmetic damage (landscaping). The only thing we noticed when we were there was that the water wasn't as clear as it normally is there (they mentioned that at the resort), but it was still a very pretty shade of blue.

 

 

Back to Costa Maya. Dean destroyed it in August 2007 but it was rebuilt and they started accepting cruise ships in again. I didn't *discover* CC until April 2010, but from pictures in reviews, including yours, the rebuild from Dean looked very similar to what it looked like when we were there in 2006. Colorful buildings, but they definitely did a lot of refurbishing and it had to be fairly recent. Jamman has a review going and they were also in Costa Maya and I could tell there were big changes from his and Patti's review.

 

We were in Roatan in April 2014 (first, only visit there) and also went to West Bay (Bananarama) and although it was sunny, it was very windy and the water was just too rough to get in, with a lot of seaweed on the beach, and since the water was so rough, there was not much beach in front of Bananarama and the other places in that section. I'm curious as to how often the conditions at West Bay are like that. Oh, thank you for confirming that was a porcupine puffer fish that I have pictures of. Still following along and enjoying every minute of your review...shame on me, too much to do but I'm hooked, as usual. :)

[nanners]

I also want to thank you for the review. Will be doing this itinerary, again, in March and want different ideas. As usual, you are a huge help.

 

 

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[djny1077]

Thanks for the excitement. Now I'm excited for your cruise. :D

 

 

Remember...(well, depends how long you've been around reading my reviews), we started Sakari cruising when she was 3 (or 3 years and 5 months) and she has been cruising ever since. She did fine back then and you just have to learn to sometimes compromise with little ones. They are use to a routine (at least Sakari was) and we had to create a routine for her on the ship. We ate breakfast at the same table (believe it or not) each morning. There was only 1 day that someone else was sitting at "her" table and she was a little upset, but we sat next to it I believe. For her after kids club routine, we always went and got her favorite foods (I can't remember but I think it involved a lot of fruits and cheese) and bring it back to the room for her to eat. She knew this routine for the week and it helped with her. By the next cruise when she was 4, she was hooked and did great. She's been going strong since then and is addicted. :')

 

Kam did great. No problems at all. She got a little grouchy toward the end when Kendra wanted pictures (but that's later in the review).

 

 

For taxi's she just rode in a seat the same way we did.

 

Thank you! This is great advice!! Definitely something to keep in mind as I continue to ponder over this. He's not the most well behaved and I fear that I would have a terrible time and ruin it for the others as well. I also don't want to cancel, as this is supposed to be a big celebration (our "Holy ship we're 40!" celebration haha) so its making for a tough decision

 

And Congratulations to Sakari! She is one incredible kid!

 

I've read all of your reviews! Sometimes I think I live vicariously through you! haha

[mitsugirly]

We had arrived and it was beautiful out!

 

 

Things had changed a little. I definitely didn't remember these weird looking chairs. Who could sit in them? They are so low to the ground, compared to the table, that you wouldn't be able to reach if you were trying to eat. They would probably make good sunning chairs though. But after going back to look at my old photos, I guess they were there and I didn't notice them.

 

 

Along the malecon, there were little cabana's for people to rent (2014):

 

 

 

Now they have like a huge "hotel/apartment" type of building there. He said they had just completed it this year.

 

 

 

I think I liked the way they looked before.

 

 

The restaurant/bar area is still the same and they still had the swings up at the bar.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The bathroom area..still the same.

 

 

And once again...no toilet paper in the toilet.

 

 

Last time we were there, they had lockers to put your things in and lock up. Now, it has been replaced with a cooler for drinks.

 

 

Before: (I'm not sure if they moved these to somewhere else or not).

 

 

There used to be a little hut that you rented bicycles at, which looked like this:

 

 

 

 

Now, they had a place to sell things instead:

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

The grounds are still gorgeous of course.

 

 

I don't recall seeing huge tables and chairs last time. This is nice. Nothing better than eating lunch under a palm tree on the beach while listening to the ocean.

 

 

 

Some of the palm trees looked as if they had seen better days.

 

 

 

These chairs are a little nicer.

 

 

Now time to take a look around the grounds again.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I feel as if there was a storm or hurricane that might have hit at some point recently.

 

 

 

 

Now maybe it was just me this time...but I swear there were a lot more palm trees everywhere. I remember it being pretty full and lush on the grounds in front of the beach. If you look at the picture above, it doesn't seem too full right?

 

Here's pictures from 2014 where it appears to have more trees (and bigger):

 

 

 

 

I don't know. Maybe it's just me. I just swear I remember a lot more trees and a lot more shade the last time.

 

See how open this appears? Here another shot of the hotel area they just built. Is it possible they were trying to give them a view of the ocean and removed some of the trees?

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

There was a long palapa type of building built and it had some long tables under it. There was a huge family sitting under there and they had music with speakers playing and a lot of food. Think family reunion type of setting. I didn't want to disturb their area or for it to appear as if I was taking pictures of them so I just snapped as I walked by toward the end of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now, does anyone remember my story about the boat of Cubans that washed up on the shore of Blue Kay right before we had came there in 2014? Well if you don't it was a boat that was built out of various materials, including car parts and it reeked of gasoline. They had built the boat from scratch and escaped Cuba. They were out in the ocean for 9 days and 2 days of that they were just drifting around without food or water. Blue Kay is where they drifted too. The boss gave them food and water (and actually employed 2 of them) after they arrived and were hiding out.

 

Here's the boat when it arrived at BK:

 

 

 

 

This is what they decided to do with the boat after cleaning it up.

 

 

 

It's now part of the landscaping.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Heading down toward the end of the beach:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's nice down here and you would probably be about 99% away from the crowd, but I didn't see any chairs down this way except for one that looked like it actually belonged to someone. Maybe people that are staying there?

 

 

There appears to be a lot more shade here as well.

 

 

 

Our Magic off in the distance.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Such a beautiful place!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

These hammocks are new. However, I'm not sure they are for "anyone" to use. I watched these people get in the hammocks and soon after someone that looked like possibly someone who worked there came over and said something to them and they got out and walked away. Maybe they are for rent or possibly only for the guests that stay there.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

There's those hard wooden slat chairs that everyone complained about. No worries, they come with cushions now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, let's talk about this area along the beach.

 

 

 

 

When we arrived I felt as though something had changed a bit. I didn't remember it being quite like this. We stayed toward the end of the beach and under some palm trees and there were a few "landscaped areas" in front of us but yet we could still see the beach and Sakari playing in the water.

 

This was our view previously....

 

 

Now, this would be our view:

 

 

This is the area, tucked behind the trees and a rope looking at it from the beach:

 

 

And the ropes...

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

To the right of there, it was pretty open.

 

 

When I ask about this area, the ropes, the "different" chairs along the front of the beach, I was told that they had "sold out" or "rented" that area to the beach club next door. GASP! So that now meant that if you are at Blue Kay and in this particular area, you get second row seating and not actually on the beach. I thought that was real crappy. However, no worries, you can always move down more and get beach front property if you need it. Which would be this area...

 

 

 

Both of the areas together:

 

 

Who knows, buy renting or selling off that beach front property, that might have gave them the money they needed to build their new hotel area. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

So...let's start with the review of our day there.

 

When we arrived, we immediately went to the chairs shown in the picture with the rope in front of it. There was a chair for everyone there and it was in the shade and we just came to that place first...so that's where we decided to sit. It was in the area that we had sat in the first time and we had no idea what the rope meant or the chairs in front of it aligned along the beach where. But they guys wanted shade, so it was the perfect place.

 

Of course we put our things down and the kids headed out to the water. The guys headed up to the bar for some drinks and us girls just sat there relaxing. It wasn't long before a guy, with very poor English, showed up and said $7 pp. So I started attempting to talk to him about their pricing. I explained who I was and being on cc and that there is a lot of confusion about their pricing these days. I told him that when I came here last, it was free and you just had to purchase food & drink. Then people started reporting it was $5 with a free drink. Then I told him how others would report it was $6 and some would come back and say nothing was charged. This is very confusing to people and the inconsistency is a turn off. He was having a bit of difficulty determining what to charge from what I could tell. He said "well, sometimes we charge $6 and sometimes we charge $7". Um ok, so how are people supposed to know the charges? You can't just charge some one amount and others another amount. He said he was going to go get his manager.

 

A guy came back, named Robert, that was very nice. I explained the situation to him like I had to the other guy. We talked for awhile and he told us it would be no problem to stay there and not to worry about it. I ask if he was the owner and he said no that he actually owned another beach club down the malecon, but it was being remodeled and moved at the moment so he was working here (I believe as a manager or something). He was from Germany and seemed to be an asset to Blue Kay because he spoke different languages, with one of them being English and he could translate to the staff. I did ask him about his beach club and took a picture of his shirt and told him I would look him up the next time we were in Costa Maya and if they were open, we'd check them out (and I wasn't lying...I will).

 

 

I did look them up online when I got home and it looks like a very nice place.

 

Before long, the "owner" (I guess but not 100% sure) came over (it was a lady) and introduced herself. I guess the original guy (server?) went and got her. Once again, I had to explain myself, who I was, where I was from and the confusion on the boards. Yes, I threw in the reviews that I do and that I was one of the originals that came here right after they changed their name from Blue Bay to Blue Kay before anyone knew of this place. I did tell her that I have brought plenty of people here from the boards thanks to my reviews and I was here to check out any changes and get answers for those on the boards and of course do another extensive review.

 

So, the information that I gathered was cruisers are charged either $6 or $7 depending on the season and how busy they are. That's the difference in price. So, what she told me what the with that $7, you get a $2 mat for the chair. So, that brings you down to the original $5 that people reported awhile back as a price (after it was no longer free). They do not charge for kids. So, then you have $5 left over. She said that is applied to your bill of food or drinks. So, basically it's free people...they just want you to eat and drink there...just like we did the first time when they didn't have a charge. The only thing you are really paying is the $2 for the blue mat for the chairs.

 

I just want to say that I personally think they are totally justified for this charge. When I first came here in 2014, they didn't charge anything. But they are like any other beach club, they are there to make money to stay in business, keep their beach beautiful, make improvements and so on. They do expect you to spend money there. Why wouldn't they? I remember after I did my original review, a lot of people started talking about going there and getting excited about how beautiful it was. BUT...I also remember people coming back (not a lot but some) that gave their mini-review of their stay there and it went something like this...."loved Blue Kay and it was so beautiful there and loved the beach...blah blah blah and we used their lockers and took a walk down the malecon and then we had lunch at _____________" ARE YOU SERIOUS??? That is just RUDE! You use their facilities at Blue Kay, you're using the beautiful beach and probably used their restrooms and such...then you went down the malecon and ate somewhere else? Like that's totally unacceptable in my book. I don't blame BK for coming up with a "fee" to offset this. It's because of people that probably did exactly what other cruisers posted they did that we now have a fee. The $5 is nothing! Spend your money with this place if you are staying there and using their facilities and beach. Plain and simple. Their service is good, their food is good and they are friendly. Why go somewhere else if you decided to come here? I just don't get it. #rantover

 

Anyhow, the owner told us not to worry about paying the $7. I wasn't looking for a handout or freebie, I was just looking for answers. They told us about changes, new stuff/building, sell off of the beach front, talked about the Cuban boat and so on. We paid for our beach mats and between the 7 of us...spent a good amount of cash there, which is exactly what they want. I would never go some place for free and not spend some money there. Just like when we went to The Money Bar. Although we didn't plan to eat there, we did drink a lot between the 7 of us (in both alcohol and pop).

 

Ok...so back to the review!

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Kendra and I decided that it was time to snorkel. We really didn't have a lot of time here so we needed to get moving.

 

Sakari decided that she didn't want to go out with us and said she was snorkeling on her own and ran off with her camera in hand. Well then...fine. She's just growing up so quickly.

 

So here are Sakari's snorkeling pictures she took right up close to the beach.

 

She always manages to see things I don't....but guess what I would see things she didn't get to see....until I showed her that is.

 

That was a pretty big lobster!

 

 

A lionfish...she was excited.

 

 

Oh my gosh!! Do you see the candy cane shrimp? I didn't even notice that until looking at the picture right now when posting it. How cool. I have never seen one of those either!

 

 

Off I went after getting tired of waiting on Kendra to come. Of course she was attempting to sneak away from Kam. Ugh. I guess this is where we are different. I don't sneak away from anyone...if I wanna go, I go. I tell my kid I'm going and to stay with daddy. Like it or not and you won't cry about it or follow me. LOL I don't play those games. Maybe that's why Sakari is so well behaved and structured.

 

Out I went. There was just too much to see to be wasting time on waiting around. I headed to the sea grass area in hopes to find goodies such as a starfish or something.

 

 

For those that don't like the sea grass, think again, you never know what goodies you might find in these areas...such as starfish, turtles, lobster, octopus and so on. I always check them out. Sea grass is not a bad thing!

 

 

 

I seen lots of fish along the way and they were a pretty good size too.

 

 

 

[batchbunch55]

I also want to thank you for the review. Will be doing this itinerary, again, in March and want different ideas. As usual, you are a huge help.

 

 

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Same here on NCL! (So Belize is different, but still)

This is a lifesaver for this type A planner. [emoji7]

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

Every so often I would check to see if Kendra got away.

 

 

Yep, looks like Kendra is sneaking off. Wait, no, false alarm, Kam busted her and she's walking back. Ok, continuing on.

 

 

 

Aww a Goby. I love Gobies. They have the neatest personality and look like they are frowning all the time. I have one in each tank of mine at home and it's funny how I have never noticed them when snorkeling before and this time I would see them.

 

 

 

Just to show how funny these things are...here's my girl "Sandy" busy at work. She does this ALL DAY LONG!

 

g9_PT7pibJQ

 

 

 

 

 

[Brad1972]

your really making me want a salt water coral reef tank again. I used to have a 75 gal Oceanic show tank years ago. Lots of Live rock, Corals, Anemones. feather dusters, Clown fish, Lion Fish, Various Damsels, yellow and blue tangs, hippo tangs, triggers, gobies, shrimp.

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

Of course, just like before...not far from the beach and you can still stand up of course. But...I did spot Kendra coming for sure this time around.

 

 

I motioned her to COME!!! I told her there's a stingray down here.

 

 

She hurried over and we started seeing them everywhere in the grassy area.