Day 12 Roatan Honduras 6 Jan

Our first port today! 

After breakfast we sat and watched Roatan appear. This is part of Honduras. It looked very green and established. 

Our bags were packed and we were off the ship onto a small pier with tourist shops. The toilets were immaculate by the way. 

I wanted to try on a top in one shop and asked about a fitting room. The girl showed me to a cupboard that once I got in was actually a toilet with shelving for clothes for the shop. She turned the light on and said "slow". Well it certainly was slow, in fact so slow that I couldn't see myself in the mirror once I had the top on!" I didn't buy that top but bought another that I tried on over my clothes in the shop. 

We had about 45 minutes to kill until our trip to Maya Key Private Island so found a coffee, and it was good!  

The trip to our island was only about 10 minutes by boat. 

We found ourselves on a small island, not unlike any island that you may find in the Pacific.  Beautiful white sand and a glistening blue ocean. Well not the ocean because we are in the Caribean Sea. 

There were several beaches laid out with loungers, so after I had rented my snorkeling gear we grabbed a couple of loungers under a palm tree and had a quick dip in the tepid water. Then I toddled off to snorkel. I have snorkelled in many places, NZ, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Fiji and Papua New Guinea so I was eager to see how this part of the world compared. Off the jetty you had to follow a rope through a channel of coral and then it dropped away into nothingness, just a deep azure blue. The water was clear and the coral had patches of colour but nowhere as colorful as I have seen in PNG. The fish were plentiful, varied and colorful and there were not many other people snorkeling. I followed a small school of some pretty blue fish for a while and then lay atop the ocean spying on the little checkerboard fish. 

Lance and I lay on the loungers for a while, and this sun was definitely "put your sun block on" sun. 

The resort provided lunch and we joined the line watching the full plates of the people ahead of us coming back down the path. We had some baked chicken, banana chips, salad with a yummy dressing, rice with beans and the most delicious battered fish with fresh lime. 

After lunch we explored the island. They had a small replica of a Mayan Temple. 

I am always dodgy about zoos in these sorts of places. But they had one that was was great. Any animals here have been rescued and are being cared for until they can be released if possible. 

The Macaw parrots were lovely but I was a bit scared of the big beaks when standing by some in the wild. 

They had monkeys and toucans and even some agouti running wild, but we were taken with the cats

There was a Jaguar sitting right at the front of his cage. If I was silly enough I could have touched him as there were no barriers, just warnings. We moggied in on a tour and heard the guide say that the Jaguar had been a pet and was very domesticated. But if you tease him he will lift his tail and spray you. Fair enough!  The guide was rubbing the jaguar, who was like your cat at home coming up to the cage for a smooch. 

We also saw a mountain lion and some crocodiles. 

After a bit more of a wander we reboarded our ship and rested for a bit. Me in the pool and Lance in the spa. Then we reunited with a beer and a pina colada. 

Our evening meal was taken at the Portofino Restaurant. This had a $25 cover charge. The food was Italian and excellent. We started with carpaccio, me tuna and Lance beef. For mains  I had saltimbocca and asked for veges instead of rice and Lance had a large skewer with salmon, prawn, scallop and lobster. 

Desert was tirimasu for Lance and I had a yummy cottage cheese thing with sultanas. All washed down with a bottle of Cloudy Bay. The waiter was excellent as well and we got talking to some nice people from Dallas. 

I forgot to mention a couple the other night that were from somewhere in Texas. We were talking about the new law that allows them to walk around with their guns showing on their hip. These people said that they would never do that. They keep there guns tucked away, one in the car, one on the boat and they had about 30 at home!!!  When we said we were from NZ he said "oh the red stag". It took us a minute to register what he meant, as this comment is a first for us. New Zealand must be known for hunting the red stag. 

Lance has been wanting to pay a visit to the Kareoke bar (of course). When we walked in there was some great singing happening but then some ordinaries but everyone was supportive. Lance sang his usual and he got some cheers. Then it was home for bed. By the way, everyone says "yawl" all the time. "Are yawl havin' a good time?"