Roatan

(September 14th, 2021)

Cruises are very geographically educational. There are places that I didn't even know existed until after I visited them. I'm slowly learning the Caribbean area, one excursion at a time. Uh Janet, where's our next drop off?

Our first stop was Roatan. Anyone know where that is? It's actually part of Honduras. It is an island north of the mainland. Naturally, it is stunning. White sandy beaches, tropical forests, exotic creatures, and awesome people. I think I could live here.

You can even see the last cruise ship that visited. They stayed forever...

We disembarked and found a bus to take us to our chosen excursion. We opted for a animal preserve and zipline. You never know exactly what you are getting, but we are game for almost anything. We had to mask up for the bus, but most of the day, masks weren't required.

Here's a map of the island. This is not the natural orientation. Notice the compass does not have North at the top.

We arrived at this strange little place in the jungle. I'm not sure how legit it was, but it actually ended up being very fun. First up was the zipline. We had two boys helping us. One spoke English, the other not so much, but they were patient and really fun. I wonder how they felt about us. They must see hundreds of gringos a week. Were we less annoying than most? Typical? Who knows? We are ready to fly.

Here's our two guys. One was named Danielo. (I only remember because it's on his shirt. Give me a break, this is from a year ago.)

We saw a few friends up in the trees. June would call them lagartijas.

 Ziplining is so fun. It's one of my favorite activities. We had a great time, except for a moment when Darin came in a little fast and didn't slow himself down enough. He slammed into some trees and scraped up his legs. It was horrible to watch. Luckily, Deanne was still at the last platform, so she missed it. But we got him all bandaged up.

It was seriously so beautiful. One line didn't have enough momentum to get you to the platform, so they came out to get you. But that was fun too.

After the ziplines, we went down to the animal area. I'm assuming that most of these animals are native to the area, or maybe they bring them in, much like a petting zoo. Still, I've never held a monkey or sloth before, so it was pretty amazing! We went through several areas where we would stop and they would bring out animals. We could hold them and they often fed them to keep them busy. The monkeys were funny since they would nibble on anything...fingers, hats, backpacks. 

I thought the Macaws were so pretty. They were heavier than I expected. The weird bear thing...I can't remember what that was, sorry.

There were other animals in cages that were not friendly enough to hold. This guy wasn't in a cage, but we didn't try to hold him. But he is super cool looking.

The end of the tour was very weird. There was a long suspended bridge. They told us to walk out onto it. It didn't go anywhere, so we went halfway, then turned around and came back. I guess it is the experience of being on a bridge. We're on a bridge, Charlie...

But we're not done. There was another part to our excursion. It was going to the beach. If I remember correctly, the beaches are different on the two sides of the island. One side is brown sand, and the other is white because of the parrot fishes. They literally poop out white sand, so they are a preserved species. No parrot fish for dinner. I misheard the lady at first, and I thought for a long time that I had never heard of this species of pirate fish. I was a little disappointed when I figured it out. The beach was so nice. 

Jonny and Tyler went down pretty far to explore, but I just enjoyed the water and sun.

Eventually our time was up. It was time to go back to the ship. We saw a large sign on the way back and we stopped to take a picture. Oddly, the guys all sat down and the girls stood. I didn't notice until I looked back at the picture.

It was interesting to drive through the town. Some places look very civilized and others look like they need a little help. At least the wiring could use some TLC. 

Back at port, we looked around the shops as we headed back. There are almost always shops right as you get off the ship for obvious reasons. I always get my kids souvenirs, but it beats me where I bought stuff this last time. I don't think we got anything here, although they had some fun shirts.

Then back on board for dinner and a show in the evening. 

And don't forget this creepy guy waiting for us. What animal would you say this is??

Roatan was so fantastic! It was amazing we could even sleep after all the cool things we saw, but it was also exhausting, so sleep we did. See you next in Belize.