Vision of the Seas Day 3

Aug 06, 2014 23:18

Today was port day! We arrived in Roatan this morning. We watched the ship dock from our room. We were already on deck 2 so we just had to go midship to leave the ship. We grabbed a towel and started our adventure in Roatan. I had bought a pair of black and white striped flip flops to match a black and white striped dress and decided to wear the flip flops. I noticed my foot seemed to keep falling off the back of the shoe but I paid little attention to it. We walked down the dock and entered the town. We had to meet our private guide from Bodden Tours but we looked around for a few minutes while right there on the dock.




I was rocking my Reds shirt :) We headed left of this sign and discovered there was a service on the island that stamped your passport! So, mom and I did that. We then located our kiosk for Bodden's Tours at the end of the Town Center area (to the right and position #1) We gave them our names and we were taken to our van. We met our guide (I cannot remember her name but she was super nice) As we met our driver and actually Victor Bodden himself, I blew out my flip flop. So, my first stop once we got going was to get me a new pair of flip flops. She drove us into town and I stopped very quickly and purchased a pair. $10 (or $210.00 lempiras/Honduras currency). She took us through town, explained the communities and how they lived, how the houses were and such. We went by Mahogany Bay, which is where Carnival ships dock while in Roatan. Honduras is known for Mahogany trees and treasures. She took us to a supermarket. We wanted to see the markets and also get some real supplies from there for lunch. Past there we stopped at a flea market located atop a hill with a spectacular view of our ship and the port. Mom is holding a banana pop we bought in the market. That is our ship behind us. To the left and right are little stands of flea market type stalls selling local goods, souvenirs and such. Here we got a few mahogany magnets, a small bag, a painted feather for dad, a map/puzzle of Honduras for dad and a few bottles of hot sauce too!



From here we went to The Roatan Tropical Butterfly Garden. This place also has a number of animals on display as well. She let us off and parked. We toured the place with a guide. We encountered Carmel faced monkeys, goats, deers, toucans, parrots, a snake (mom stayed away from that - I only looked but did NOT touch). There were also some other animals I am not familiar with. Two other types of monkeys, one nocturnal and the other were spider monkeys, who swing and perform. There were a couple of island rabbits and an anteater looking animal that was quiet interesting.

Me and the carmel faced monkey (he nipped at me when mom put her hand up to him, she wasn't supposed to do that but rather hold out hand and wait for trainer/guide to offer them a treat to climb up your hand but other than that he was super friendly), a Toucan, me and the nocturnal monkey, and finally windmill butterflies.







After we visited this place, we continued on and headed to Victor's house on the other side of the island. He had some of the same animals too but all equally as cute and interesting to see and interact with.
This little fella (Thomas) was a handful! One of the zoo-keepers (I assume that's what he was) came to put some food in the feeder and didn't shut the container back and he knew it. He popped right out the opening that wasn't latched back and jumped out of the large pen over to another area (its all secured and wide open terrain on his property so it wasn't a huge deal)



After we left here, we headed to West Bay Beach or "Tabyana Beach" as the tourists know it.

This is quite simply THE BEST beach I have EVER been to. Clean, white and pristine sand, not over crowded, wide place to lounge, water was clean, clear and the perfect temperature! I was only there for about an hour or so and I wish I could have stayed longer!! My friend coreyann has been here and highly recommended it. I see now why. LOVE this beach.






From here, we headed back to the Town Center. We thanked our guide (she was so nice, I wish I could remember her name!) Mom and I stopped in a couple shops to pick up a few shot glasses and then headed back to the ship. We watched the ship leave dock and leave. What a wonderful island and culture. My culture, at least part of it anyways (It was always known to my dad as "British Honduras". There are some custom and differences from this island and the mainland of course.

Back on the ship we hung out at the solarium for a bit, had a couple drinks in the R Bar then got cleaned up for dinner at 8. We had another very enjoyable dinner with our waiters and our new friends from Cypress. Andreas and Maria. They were both a bit skeptical about Cozumel, crime and such. I reassured them and said I had been there twice before with no incident and explained the many joys of the island.

We ended our day with some drinks in The Schooner Bar and a bit of walking on the decks.

honduras, roatan, shopping, vacation, travel, royal caribbean, trip, cruise

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