It…was a complete and total disappointment. The only good parts of the movie were the ones that did not involve anyone talking except —-

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

— Leonard Nimoy. He was the only person who seemed to possess a modicum of acting ability, and Chris Pine made Mark Hamill look like an Oscar winning actor in comparison. There were great visuals and effects, and the storyline was mostly interesting, even though it got mind-numblingly bizarre and convoluted in the span of roughly 30 seconds, and they seemingly took the ‘far less than serious’ path to explain it. Anton Yelchin, while I am normally a fan of his, gave me such a level of shock, that it blew both Hayden Christenson and Natalie Portman’s terrible Star Wars performances out of the water. I am now INCREDIBLY worried about Terminator Salvation, and I simply have to hope that Anton Yelchin’s role as Kyle Reese is either very minimal, or he plays a homegrown American, and not a Russian.

Young Spock was at his best when he was being played as a super-youngster by Jacob Kogan, a 13 year old. Zachory Quinto’s performance as the adult Spock was mediocre with a couple pleasant moments. Leonard Nimoy was solid, even though his storyline was questionable at best.

Simon Pegg, playing Scotty, was funny as per usual, and even though I think the quips came too often, it was still a far cry better than what anyone else was doing. 

McCoy, played by Karl Urban, was not a bad actor, but nevertheless produced nothing noteworthy of compliment either.

Uhura… yeah, she has nice legs. And she wasn’t a significantly poor actress, but she also did not do anything to distinguish herself as being good.

The worst thing about all this for me personally, is that I was really looking forward to this movie. In fact, I think that the only movie I’ve anticipated more(that has already been released. Therefore, Terminator Salvation does not count) was 300.  And we all know how close I came to crying tears of frustration and hatred during that movie. So the level of disappointment was not even close to being what I felt for 300, but nevertheless… this was the movie that was supposed to make me a Star Trek fan. I’ve always borderline tolerated Star Trek, and even liked bits and pieces of it. But for the most part, it bored me. This movie was supposed to be the catalyst for my entry into a new subgenre of Science Fiction. All in all, it seemed almost like a spoof. It was more Galaxy Quest, than Star Trek.

The fail was epic with this one.

I have wanted to visit Belize since I was about 11 years old, so when the opportunity finally came for me to do so, I jumped on it. The seven day cruise was supposed to take us to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Belize, and Honduras. Sadly, Cozumel and Honduras were both canceled, leaving only the middle two destinations. In Belize, we had 8 hours to do everything we needed to do, which was not nearly enough time in my mind. 

The ship parked itself next to two other cruise ships a good four miles off the shore, due to the massive network of coral reefs that make getting any closer an extreme hazard for a cruise ship. My group was arranged to be the first one off the ship at 7:45am, and we hurried into the tender ship that got us docked on shore in less than 10 minutes.

We then met up with our tour guides who were going to take us to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai, and they sent us aboard their dilapidated school bus. With the quickness, we began speeding down the highway for the next 50 minutes until we reached our first destination: The river dock. 31 of us boarded the boat that was propelled by twin V-6 engines, and we began speeding down the river at an alarming pace.

The 22 mile boat ride took about 35 minutes, and it was an absolute blast. The virgin fauna of Belize was remarkable, and we saw many varieties of exotic birds, including one of the tallest in the world, the Jabiru Stork, standing 5 feet tall.

We finally arrived in the lagoon that Lamanai sits next to, and the ship was docked. We made our way off the boat, and began trekking through the jungle path that would lead us to our first building.

After about ten minutes of hiking, we arrived at the first breath taking site of the day… the Mask Temple.

The climb to the top was easy as pie, as we actually did not have to do any climbing. There was a path along the hillside that went around the back of the temple, and once there, you only had to climb a dozen or so steps to get to the top. But once there, the view was quite charming.

Yet this beautiful location had nothing on the next. The High Temple, which is the second tallest known Mayan structure. 

This was actually a little bit scary going to the top, as the steps were very narrow, about 10 inches, and very tall, about 18 inches. We pretty much had to crawl up, and the tour guides yelled at us constantly to make use of the rope that was anchored to the top of the structure. Once we arrived at the summit, the view was incredible. 

We then began making our way down the treacherous descent, and back into the jungle to the final stop. The Jaguar Temple.

After kicking it around there for awhile, we made our way back to the boat, and left Lamanai. 

We arrived back in Belize City with about thirty minutes to spare before the last tender left for our ship. It was not enough time to really gauge the place, however there was some stuff to see during the bus ride. Belize is an exceptionally poor place, and many people there are so desperate, the port area is actually cordoned off and protected by walls topped with concertina wire, to keep unauthorized persons out. There apparently is a big trade in kidnapping, similar to Mexico. Inside the ’safe zone’ prices are geared towards American tourists, which basically means everything is jacked up through the roof. However, the shopkeepers are more than willing to haggle, and I was able to take one shop owner from $60 down to $30 on a piece of jewelry, before I finally got bored and left. A friend haggled a tanzanite and opal ring down from $500 to $100, and confirmed it at an independent jewelry store after the fact, as being authentic.

After reflecting on Belize over the past few days, I am not quite as sure about wanting to live there as I used to be. I feel that I need to take another trip there for a much longer period of time, and spend most of it in Corozal, which is where most of the Americans there live.

During my most recent trip abroad, I was on a cruise ship. Our first destination was Grand Cayman, and I was thrilled to go to one of the diving capitals of the world. I love snorkeling , so I obviously thought this was going to be a great stop. We pulled up to the island around 7am or so, and because the waters are so shallow around Grand Cayman, we had to stop around a mile off the coast. It made for a beautiful site, as there were three other cruise ships parked there as well. Four majestic ships lined up off the coast is a sight to behold, and was the first time I had seen such a thing. Weighed down with our snorkeling gear, we took a tender to the shore and immediately sought out a local taxi cab driver. We asked him where the best snorkeling was nearby, and he directed us to his van. For $4 each, he would take us to 7 Mile Beach, which contained a good section of reef, he said.

During the drive, he made sure to point out all the American fast food chains dotting the side of the road, including but not limited to Wendy’s, Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut. None of this was much interest to us, as we planned on dining at a local establishment when all was said and done. We arrived at the beach after about 10 minutes of driving, paid the driver and he promised to return for us in three hours time. We settled in on a spot on the beach, waded into the gloriously warm water and put on our gear. The day had finally begun!

The next two hours of snorkeling was good, but not great. The water was not as clear as we were promised, nor were the fish as colorful as we hoped. Nevertheless, we saw a barracuda, and schools of fish ranging in size from very small to very large. We never got more than a quarter mile away from the shore, and the reef that we were exploring was quickly inundated with more and more fellow tourists, hoping to catch a glimpse of something spectacular. It made for several uncomfortable moments when swimming along, and then unexpectedly bumping into someone who is going across your path. 

After retiring from the water, we made our way to a nearby tiki bar, where we finally learned that the US dollar is only worth about 75% of the Cayman dollar. Because of this, everything was more expensive than we thought it would be. A Corona set us back $5 USD per bottle, which is completely outrageous. We finally broke from the beach, returned to our taxi van driver, and had our first bad experience of the trip.

The taxi vans in Grand Cayman evidently do not leave until every seat is filled, no matter how long it takes to do so. We had a group of six people, and there were only two open seats left. But our drive was adament that he fill those two remaining seats. We were left in the air-conditionless van for fifteen minutes, waiting for him to get two more passengers. We even got out and tried to get another driver to take us back to the port, but he refused because we were already with a driver. The driver then came and shut the van doors, locking us in. Eventually he returned with his passengers, and drove us back to the port. All in all, that part of the trip left a lot to be desired.

After getting back to home base, we decided to do some shopping, and immediately found Pirate themed shop that was bustling with a dozen customers already.

We made a couple purchases, then decided to do lunch. We went upstairs to a restaurant that had a deck overlooking the harbor, where we could see some of the cruise ships lined up in the distance.

I ordered conch fritters and fries at a cost of $12 USD, which was a little more than I wanted to pay, given the small portion. The food was good though, so the complaints were minimal.

After this, we made our way, at the request of part of the group, to Margaritaville. I had zero interest in this development, but followed along anyway. And it was during this excursion that my patience finally ran out with Grand Cayman. With four cruise ships docked, and each one dropping off a minimum of 2,000 people, and probably up to 3,500 people for a couple of the ships, there were over 10,000 tourists wandering around in a tiny city, making it disgustingly crowded. Margaritaville was so packed, I could not turn around without bumping into at least two people. Trying to climb the stairs to the second level was impossible, as traffic was at a stand still. It was ridiculous, and I quickly made my out of the store and back to the cruise ship, where I could relax.

All in all, Grand Cayman had the feel that Myrtle Beach has: It’s like Wal-Mart on the beach. There is no authenticity to it, no charm, and way too many people in a closed in area.