Cruising Part 2 - Honduras!

Waking up in Honduras is one of the best experiences you can have on a cruise.  After days of seeing only blue in every direction, waking up to tall green peaks is breath-taking:

 Roatan is an island - where our ship docked was on the side facing the main land & you could see the mountains there too since the day was so clear. It was marvelous!

We'd done some research & found where some of the best snorkeling was, but we wanted to venture out ourselves instead of taking a tour where they'd push you around & babysit you. So we talked with some people on the docks & got set up in a little bar with lounges & changing rooms that was right in the heart of all of it - the Mayan Princess

 We got loaded into a van with another couple, Heidi & Justin (who became some of our best cruise buds) and set out to cross the island through some amazing mountain passes. (By amazing I mean "might be terrifying for a girl who hadn't lived in Bolivia.")

 When we got to the resort, our guide did indeed want to babysit us. UM no!  The 4 of us ditched him quick with a plan to meet at 3 & took a walk to the farthest end of the beach.  We set our stuff by these neat rock formations, borrowed a waterproof bag from our new friends for the most important stuff, & hit the water!

 Ready to snorkel!

Here are some of the pics we got with Josh's coworker's waterproof camera. It was SO great having it:



This is the place of our great disaster/miracle.  We'd swam WAY out from the beach when we realized that the waterproof bag we'd borrowed was GONE!  It floated & somewhere along our way it floated right out of Josh's pocket.  IDs, cruise passes, cash, all gone. 

 We didn't panic, we didn't fight, I said a silent, but passionate prayer in my mind & luckily a local guy in a kayak came by at that moment. He'd heard Josh tell me what had happened & he came to help.  Josh described the bag & offered the young man $20 to find it. He paddled away & was back in only minutes with our bag!  We were so grateful that we actually gave him $25.

Our faces & feet were getting sore, so we came to shore & found our friends sunning themselves on the shore.... we also found this fellow doing likewise on a rock.

 The poor guy was trying to eat a rotten banana peel, so Josh baited him with some fresh banana chunks.  The lizard was so happy that he came right down to us.  The chunks were a little big for his mouth though & watching him grip them with his slimy little tongue was pretty gross/awesome.

Heidi then thought it would be a good idea to climb up on those rocks herself. I can't imagine why since they were super sharp & she was just wearing a swimming suit, but when she got up there her very expressive face turned to a big surprised "O" as she found 2 huge conch shells. She gave one to us & it made it all the way back home. Caleb loves it.

Back down the beach by our Mayan Princess there were jet skis to rent... Josh & I have a hard time saying no to that since it brings back the memories of our honeymoon. We even talked the price down 10 bucks. : )

 Let's hit it!

 Look at that blue!  That was the water under us, can you believe it?  It makes me so happy just looking at the pic:

 Looking back from our jet ski.

 I got to drive too!  Someday when we're rich maybe we'll rent 2 so we don't have to nearly capsize every time we want to switch drivers. Josh & I couldn't agree on who was the best driver... (but it was me, I chased down the nearby boats & we flew in their wakes).

Almost time to head back to the ship, I think I'll soak up a little Mayan Princess atmosphere while I wait:

 That hammock called to me:

And I was happy to oblige it.  If only I could wrap up every day like that!

On the way home we talked more with Heidi & Justin who didn't have a fun dinner group.  We started to describe our dinner friends & it turns out that they new each of us couples through different activities - ping pong with the Texans (Mike & Paloma), trivia with the Canadians (Shaeney & Blaine)! It was a small ship world. We told them that we had room & invited them to join our dinner group.  They did some checking around & joined us that night. : )

Next stop Belize!