I wasn't sure what to expect when we sailed into Honduras. When I think Honduras, I think 3rd world country - and that doesn't really seem like a Caribbean vacation destination. Come to find out Roatan is an island off the coast of Honduras, and is very different from the mainland. As our cruise ship pulled into port, we saw these rusted out shipwrecks:
It makes sense to me why they're there - the water is so shallow in this area that our cruise line needed to have a local pilot steer us into the dock.
We got off the boat in a port built just by Princess Cruises called Mahogany Bay. It was nice because there wasn't a million other cruise ships and people around like at some of the other ports.
We quickly found our tour bus to get on our schedule shore excursion of the day.
We were driven to a local resort and given access to a private beach for a few hours.
It was really nice to just have a few hours to just walk around and explore with no agenda in mind.
I spent time taking pictures of some of my finds from the day.
I especially liked this old abandoned boat - the colors and textures were amazing. I'm no photographer, but I really like these pictures!
I really wanted to take it home as a keepsake, but Greg pointed out that it would definitely put our luggage over the weight restriction :(
We then moved onto our snorkeling adventure. We needed some lessons - some of us more so than others - since neither of us is experienced.
I wish I had pictures for you of our snorkeling adventure, but we didn't have an underwater camera. I will always remember it as one of the coolest experiences of my life though. With a small group of about 15, we were boated out to a coral reef and shipwreck site. We jumped off the boat with all our snorkel gear and life vests on and were blown away by what we saw.
The coral reef we snorkeled on is the second largest in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef of course, and is called the Belize Barrier Reef. We snorkeled at the beginning portion of this reef. The water was about 60 feet deep in some places, but very shallow in others. You could almost touch the coral, but of course this is strictly off limits as it can kill or damage it. The coral was very cool to see - did you know it's technically classified as an animal and not a plant? But what was even cooler was the fish that call the reef their home. We saw so many different kinds of very colorful fish, and some in larger numbers. It was amazing to snorkel with them, and they often came pretty close to us. It was just amazing and very memorable to hold hands with my husband as we swam through this wonderful place in the warm Caribbean sea, pointing out different things we observed to each other.
We snorkeled over to a shipwreck site, which, come to find out, was placed there on purpose. I guess coral tends to sprout up whenever there is a shipwreck in place, so this barge was placed there to encourage the coral reef and life around the reef to flourish. It was still neat to see this huge boat sunk under water.
Greg and I both loved this experience, which took about an hour in total, and talked about it for most of the day.
The resort was also home to a family of wild white-headed monkey's, and one of them came to visit as we were leaving.
Once we arrived back to the Mahogany Bay, we did some shopping and I bought some wicked local pottery. I wish I could have bought more, because it was beautiful and reasonably priced, but there was that darn weight restriction I had to consider.
Back on the boat I finally got to do some reading on our balcony - something I actually did very little of on our trip, surprisingly.
That night we had another 2-hour dinner and took in one of the production shows called "Motor City". It was a musical tribute to Motown artists, and was just OK to see; I guess everything can't be amazing.
Tomorrow's adventure: Cozumel, Mexico!
I especially liked this old abandoned boat - the colors and textures were amazing. I'm no photographer, but I really like these pictures!
I really wanted to take it home as a keepsake, but Greg pointed out that it would definitely put our luggage over the weight restriction :(
We then moved onto our snorkeling adventure. We needed some lessons - some of us more so than others - since neither of us is experienced.
I wish I had pictures for you of our snorkeling adventure, but we didn't have an underwater camera. I will always remember it as one of the coolest experiences of my life though. With a small group of about 15, we were boated out to a coral reef and shipwreck site. We jumped off the boat with all our snorkel gear and life vests on and were blown away by what we saw.
The coral reef we snorkeled on is the second largest in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef of course, and is called the Belize Barrier Reef. We snorkeled at the beginning portion of this reef. The water was about 60 feet deep in some places, but very shallow in others. You could almost touch the coral, but of course this is strictly off limits as it can kill or damage it. The coral was very cool to see - did you know it's technically classified as an animal and not a plant? But what was even cooler was the fish that call the reef their home. We saw so many different kinds of very colorful fish, and some in larger numbers. It was amazing to snorkel with them, and they often came pretty close to us. It was just amazing and very memorable to hold hands with my husband as we swam through this wonderful place in the warm Caribbean sea, pointing out different things we observed to each other.
We snorkeled over to a shipwreck site, which, come to find out, was placed there on purpose. I guess coral tends to sprout up whenever there is a shipwreck in place, so this barge was placed there to encourage the coral reef and life around the reef to flourish. It was still neat to see this huge boat sunk under water.
Greg and I both loved this experience, which took about an hour in total, and talked about it for most of the day.
The resort was also home to a family of wild white-headed monkey's, and one of them came to visit as we were leaving.
Once we arrived back to the Mahogany Bay, we did some shopping and I bought some wicked local pottery. I wish I could have bought more, because it was beautiful and reasonably priced, but there was that darn weight restriction I had to consider.
Back on the boat I finally got to do some reading on our balcony - something I actually did very little of on our trip, surprisingly.
That night we had another 2-hour dinner and took in one of the production shows called "Motor City". It was a musical tribute to Motown artists, and was just OK to see; I guess everything can't be amazing.
Tomorrow's adventure: Cozumel, Mexico!
6 comments:
VERY COOL! I have gone snorkeling as well at reefs in Florida, they are beautiful (I'm sure not as amazing as the second largest reef in the world). I love the picture of you on the balcony with the ship wreck in the background. You both look so happy in these pics. Again glad this all worked out!
I do have a question though.... what the heck did you guys pack in order to make your suitcases so heavy? Out of all the traveling we do, this have never happened to us. Or was it allegiant that had a small weight limit perhaps?
Pottery huh? Can't wait to see it!!!
K, off to school I go. What a fun thing to read before I start my day of craziness! ♥
ha ha ha those numbers and symbols were supposed to make a heart but it didn't work...I tried to send a little love with that comment :)
Beautiful pictures Mandi. I love the boat one too! Glad that you guys had a great time. Can't wait to see more pics!
Erin - we were very happy on that trip... chance of a lifetime for us, for sure.
Suitcase so heavy - I don't know about the cruise line that you are travelling with, but with ours we had certain dress codes on certain evenings. Every night for supper had to be smart casual, which meant no shorts or jeans or sneakers or sandals allowed in the dining room. We were told to dress like we were going to a nice restaurant at home. Then 2 of our nights were formal nights where we had to get really dressed up; cocktail dresses or evening gowns for ladies and suits or tuxedo's for men. Add all these up with all our regular beach wear and you get some heavy gear. Mostly I think it was the shoes... we each needed a pair of sneakers, sandals, casual dress shoes for the smart casual nights and nice dress shoes for the formal nights. I tried to condense it so that all my 5 smart casual nights would go with one pair of brown flats, and that helped. On the way home we carried our shoes in our carry-on luggage instead, and that made a HUGE difference. Also many flights allow 25 KG for cruise customers, but ours only allowed the started 20 KG. If we had of been allowed 25 KG, we would have been fine.
Oh and also, Greg of course needed to bring a million electronic gadgets - flashlights and random cables, which added up the weight too.
Jenn - thanks for your encouragement and excitement! It's fun for me to share the trip details with you all!
Awwwww ... "to hold hands with my husband as we swam through this wonderful place in the warm Caribbean sea" ... sounds so romantic! I'm so glad you guys got this chance to connect so meaningfully.
I LOVE your pictures of the boat. You should totally get one or more framed, friend -- your art on the wall!
so happy sharing some of your adventures like this. thank you.
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