A little slice of Heaven

West Virginia is almost heaven, but Roatan is heaven, for sure. I know it may seem like every port is my favorite port, but Becky and I both agree that Roatan will be a place we visit again. As a matter of fact, we had a small discussion today about coming back to the ship only to pack our stuff and just staying here forever. We didn't get to see everything today, but we loved what we saw.

We arrived around 8am this morning after sailing very slowly through the night. Roatan has a port, so once again, we were able to walk right off the boat onto the pier. Here are a few shots I took this morning as we were docking.

Our excursion today was of the west side of Roatan. Roatan is one of the three islands off the coast of Honduras. It's 35 miles to the mainland. The island is about 30 miles long and 4 miles wide at it's widest point. There is only one main road that goes the length of the island. Once you get to the end of the island, you just turn around to come right back. Our very funny tour guide today was Jaslyn, but she told us her nickname is D.L., which stands for dark and lovely. Jaslyn told us the crime rate is very low in Roatan for two reasons: there is no where to run to get off the island so you will get caught and the jail here does not provide any kind of food. If you get locked up, you have to rely on your family to bring your meals every day. That's pretty smart.

D.L. first took us to the botanical gardens. In the US, our botanical gardens are usually part of a museum, or maybe it's a domed area with lots of plants and foliage. Here is Roatan, the botanical garden was like walking through a jungle. The vegetation here is very thick and lush because they get about 60 inches of rain each year. Vanessa, our guide through the garden, pulled leaves off of various trees for us to smell and identify. We saw (and smelled) cinnamon, all-spice, oregano, and vanilla in its most organic form. We also saw the fruit of a cacao tree (which makes cocoa or chocolate), a coffee bean, and the nut from a mahogany tree. Here are some visuals for you.

This is the fruit from a Caoco tree. The seeds make cocoa.

These are nuts from the Mahogany tree.

The red berry is actually a coffee bean.

While she liked the garden, Becky was eaten alive by bugs. We were standing next to each other, and for some reason, I don't have a single bite on me, but she is covered with welts.

Next we went to a bird and butterfly sanctuary. There we saw toucans, parrot, macaws (the national bird of Honduras), and even an ant-eater and white tailed deer. The butterfly area was small. I didn't get many photos of the butterflies because they wouldn't land.

Ant eater.

We had an opportunity to spend about an hour in the the West End Village. This place was magnificent. We spent a few minutes at a restaurant along (or should I say over) the Caribbean Sea. The water was so clear. It was really our first opportunity this trip to see anything close up that resembled a beach. After having a cool drink, we did a little shopping and then couldn't resist sticking our toes in the water. Notice the clear water.

We met a man who owns a t-shirt shop who told us that he came to Roatan three years ago on a cruise. He also fell in love with the area, went home and put his business up for sale, sold it within a week, and had moved back to Roatan three weeks later. I can't say that I blame him.
Another fun fact about Roatan: Although there are many banks on Roatan, they do not loan money for houses. The people of Roatan buy a piece of land then build as they have the money. It may take them years and years before their house is complete. Once they have a roof on the home, they will move in - even without windows. We saw many homes in various stages of completion.

On the way back to the pier, we stopped at the highest point on the island to take photos. This area provides a panoramic view of the westernmost point on the island with the Caribbean Sea all around.


Unfortunately, the ship left Roatan at 3pm today, so it was our shortest port. Becky and I were bummed to sail away from this tropical paradise, so we cheered up by spending our first afternoon at the pool. There are three pools on the Legend, and they were all crowded this afternoon. None of these pools are very large, but there are (almost) always plenty of deck chairs to go around. The pool was so relaxing. After about an hour, our chairs were seeing some shade from the deck above us, so we hung out in the pool. As you can see in this picture, there is a large shallow area (ankle deep) all around the pool. We made ourselves at home in this shallow area for quite a while. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.

Tonight was another "Cruise Elegant" night for dining. We got all cleaned up to go downstairs to see our favorite waiters.

Tonight the "showtime" song was YMCA. (Video next week). After dinner, we headed to Follies for a show called "The Big Easy" featuring songs about New Orleans. It was very good.

It's really hard to believe this trip is already winding down. Tomorrow we will have to start packing up. The disembarking process and going through customs can be a little complicated, and we have to catch a late morning flight on Sunday. But for now, we're just going to enjoy tomorrow.

Kim: The faces on the towel creations are torn bits of paper. The steward uses old copies of the daily newsletter (Carnival Capers) for this.

Beth: The water has been every shade of blue from turquoise to sapphire. It's unbelieveable. Today, the water was so clear, we could see the coral reef. (picture is included above)