It was UnBelizable

At the start of Feb 2025, Alaskan Airlines had a three day sale to some remote places, one of which was Belize. We had never been there, and we did just renew our passports, so I booked my wife and I a trip, we went near the end of Feb. it was Increasable, or as the people in Belize say, “it was UnBelizable”. We stayed 6 days and 5 nights. Our hotel was the Ramada Princess in Belize City.

Sunrise the first day

On our first day, I had scheduled a “Three in one” tour with Belize Fun Tours, Adrian was our driver, both he and the tours were great, First we went to Alt Un Ha Mayan ruins. It was our first time to a Mayan ruins. Some of the steps were a little narrow, and there were no rails climbing to the top, but it was great.

Second we went to the Belize zoo. If you have ever seen the movie “We bought a zoo”, it kind of got its start similar. There was a lady that want to help the animals, so she started helping and saving them, them it turned into a zoo. Really fun area, good for a family. There were lots of signs and lots of native birds and animals.

Our third stop was cave tubing on a river through a dark cave systems. It was about a half hour hike, carrying a innertube before we entered the river, but it was well worth it.

Our next day started off going on another tout through Belize Fun Tours, this time our driver and guide was Greg. He took us to see a area that had Howler Monkeys living in the wild. That also was a little hike on uneven terrain but again, very much worth it. It the

Afternoon of the same day we went on a Belize city tour, it was educational and we learned how rum was made.

The Third day we took a 1 hour ferry ride to a near by island, Caye Caulker. There we went on a half day snorkeling adventure, with Caye Caulker Snorkeling. I am not much of a swimmer, so I was a little hesitant. Though before we went on the trip I had thought there might be a chance of snorkeling, so I bought us both a full face snorkel mask. Very wise investment, highly recommend if you are going to snorkel. I did not drink any sea water, and the mask was easier to use and easier to learn on. We made 4 stops, the first was bout waste deep and there were sting rays and nurse sharks around us. The second was deeper, though they offered me a fife vest, this one we stayed in the boat. The third was about 4 to 5 feet and it was nice, then they took us looking for manatees, though we did not find any. Then we had a chance to feed both Frigate birds and Tarpon fish. Then we returned back to Belize City on the ferry.

Next day we mostly rested, though I went out and took some bird pictures. We fly back on the day after. Going down we flew from Ketchikan to Seattle to Los Angeles. On our Return trip we flew from Belize city to Seattle to Ketchikan. It was a adventure that if you have the opportunity, we suggest that you do. Belize it or not.

A few more things, First we did not rent a car, and glad that we didn’t, speed limit signs and yellow lines are suggestions there, Drivers there pass each other when ever then want. We only saw one accident while we were there, and were told that they really don’t have too many. In the cities there were bicyclist and a lot of dogs in many of the streets, so drive defensively, if you do drive. Second, there were lots of churches, every denomination that we could think of, it seemed, could be found there. Also many of the churches had private schools attached to them, for the kids. This also was nice to see.

In closing attached are links to the reviews that we did, and a few other links that we did:

Belize fun tours: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d6884552-r995189868-Belize_Fun_Tours-Belize_City_Belize_District.html

Howler monkey tour: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d16858179-r996296210-Smart_Travel_Belize-Belize_City_Belize_District.html

Belize Zoo: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g10158066-d300169-r995187439-The_Belize_Zoo-La_Democracia_Belize_District.html

Cave tubing: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d17701730-r995190666-Cavetubing5star_com-Belize_City_Belize_District.html

Caye Caulker snorkeling: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291963-d27164116-r996299646-Black_Lion_Adventures-Caye_Caulker_Belize_Cayes.html

Some food reviews: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g291968-d12717515-r995186622-MOE_S_Pizza_Grill-Belize_City_Belize_District.html

Some of our other pictures: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/a-belize-male-iguana-steve-speights.html

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/howler-monkey-belize-steve-speights.html

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/panaromic-alt-un-ha-belize-steve-speights.html

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/alt-un-ha-entrance-belize-steve-speights.html

Totem poles near and in Ketchikan Alaska

My wife and I have lived in Alaska since 2000, we have lived in the SE part of the state in Ketchikan since 2008. Ketchikan has a large amount of totem poles. As a photographer I have enjoyed taking pictures of many of them. We recently compiled some of our pictures and placed them in both in a E-Book as well as in a hard copy. The book can be found on Amazon. If you like totem poles or are curious about them, please check it out. Thank you.

3.99 Digital instant download

Digital download Ketchikan Totems

You can download your copy instantly here and save a $ from Amazon.

$3.99

A Hawaiian E-Book

We are fortunate to have another of our books published on Amazon. Its a E-Book, we are still working on paper editions. My wife and I have traveled to HI several times while living in Alaska. These are some of our memories and pictures. You can download a free preview of it on Amazon. Hope you enjoy, if you do please consider leaving a review of it. Thank you.

Digital copy of Hawaii (From an Alaskan’s viewfinder)

Receive your digital download directly from us and save a dollar.

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Our second E-Book, Alaskan Eagles

eagle cover

We finished our second E-Book a few years ago. Several people have been asking where they can get a copy, so here it is. This one has almost 60 pages and about 70 pictures of bald eagles as seen in Ketchikan Alaska, USA. It is listed on Amazon at the price of $5.99,for the eBook version. It is in their format for Kindles. Where we live , eagles can be seen every day, rain or snow, summer or winter. It never gets old watching these majestic birds. This book has some of my pictures that I have captured over the last few years. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for your time.

Digital downloaded copy Alaskan Eagles.

If you want your own copy and would rather not go on Amazon to get, you can save money and download your copy of it here.

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The Ketchikan most tourist never see

Ketchikan Alaska, if you have had the opportunity to take an Alaskan cruise, this may have been one of your stops. My wife and I have lived here since 2008. Ketchikan is a tourist community from usually May until the end of September. We receive many cruise ships here everyday during that time. There are many wonderful and fun tours that are available here, many are outside. The problem is it rains here a lot, like 12 to 15 FEET of rain a year. So when people get off their ships there is a good chance it could be raining. Living here for so long, we know the places that most tours do not take their customers, we know “the locals areas”. Also living here so long I have enjoyed photography, so over the years I have several thousands of pictures. While I can only enjoy so many, we thought it would be a good idea to make some videos,, over the years of some that we observed. After making a few videos, we just combined them together onto a Blu-ray disc. The title of the disc is “The Ketchikan most tourist never see”. We just received our first shipment and we are just trying to sell them by word of mouth, they are not in any stores. This disc has many pictures and videos of whales, bears, eagles, totem poles, waterfalls, nature, lakes, various tours and more. It contains the videos “A day in Ketchikan”, “Kids like Ketchikan” and “The world of Ketchikan”. I will offer them here for $27 (including shipping), selling them locally they are $25. If you have never visited Ketchikan, these will give you an idea of what is here. If you have been through Ketchikan, these will be a good reminder of what you might have seen or things that you may have missed while here. These also would make a great gift for anyone with “Alaska” on their bucket list. Thank you.

The Ketchikan most tourist never see Blu-ray disc

This is a Blu-ray disc that contains many pictures as well as the videos “A day in Ketchikan”, “Kids like Ketchikan” and “The world of Ketchikan”. It has a slide show that displays most of the local totem poles. There are many pictures of eagles, whales, bears. This is the Ketchikan most never see while they visit here.

$27.00

The dead in Christ

In the Bible, in 1 Thes 4:16, it says: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first”. This is the picture that I made reflecting that verse.

This picture displays what is know as the Rapture, when Jesus will return for these that believe in Him, both the living and those that are dead. There are many scoffers out there, saying such things “people have been saying Jesus return hasn’t happened, where is His return?” There are many verses that talk about this also. But just like much of the Bible has been proved by archeologists, historians and science, this too will come to pass. God is not slow with His return, His will is that none shall parish, He gave us free choice, free will. There is so many lies out in the world today, every day is worse then the day before. Once He returns it will be too late to make a choice. A choice not made to accept what God says in the Bible, is a choice against God. Please don’t let this be you. I understand that many people will unfollow me because of this message, that’s your choice ,your not rejecting me, but God. There are many Bible believing churches out there, find one, if you haven’t, ask questions, make informed choices.

Tourist

“Tourist” is not a bad word. It can be said, at times, so that it does sound like a a bad word. “look at how they are driving, they must be a tourist”, “That person has a few cameras, they must be a tourist”. “Tourists, should go home and leave our town/city/state alone”. Traveling is and can be fun. Being a tourist can be exciting and fun also. AS a tourist, I have hiked, snuba dived, in the Bahamas, explored caves and caravans in Mexico, I have zip lined, Used a wave runner in the Bahamas, Explored volcanoes in Hawaii, took a tour of Puerto Rico, took another tour in Mexico, walked the beach in Haiti, walked the beaches in Hawaii, traveled across the international date line, took many of pictures, and spent money in each and every community we visited. Tourism can help states, countries, and the local economy. Yes it can also hurt the same, it can destroy nature, it can cause many of headaches. Living in a tourist area, I have seen both good and bad. Every where my wife and I go, we are always telling those that we meet that we are from Alaska. Often it will open a chance for people that have not been to Alaska to ask questions. Sometimes we share some of the lies and misconceptions about our area (Ketchikan). Alaska is on many peoples bucket list. We are proud that we have had a chance to live here. We enjoy being a traveler, a tourist, but we also enjoy being an ambassador for Alaska. There often is a energy and excitement when people travel. Our advice to those we encounter is just to make it happen, don’t continually put it off. No one is promised tomorrow. As I told our granddaughter the other day, today is a gift, that’s whys its called the present. Don’t let fear still your dreams, your things on your bucket list.