Roatan! Our first port day! Monday, July 22, 2019
Today is our first port day, Roatan! We were all looking forward to our stop here, as we'd all been here once before, on our very first cruise we all took together! Having been here before, we didn't want to do the same thing, but we did also all want to stick together for the day as well. Alex, being a birder, wanted to try to see some birds in their natural habitat, Megan wanted to see the sloths, and the rest of us didn't have too much of a preference, other than to have a good time, and hopefully get to the beach!
We started the day with breakfast at, you guessed it - the Solarium Bistro! And we all met when we were docked to disembark.
We booked a private tour for the day and once we got off the ship, we met our driver who took us to our van.
We had a "guide" and a driver all day. We talked about what we wanted to see and do and came up with a plan, and started off for our day. The guide told us about the island, the history and a bit of narration as we drove along. She was very nice and had a lot to say, but since she had no microphone and there were six of us in this van, only a couple of us sitting right next to her could actually hear what she was saying. Those in the front or back seats couldn't hear a word.
Our first stop was a lookout point that I'm pretty sure all of the tours stop at, and I'm pretty sure we stopped at last trip here as well. There are vendors set up to sell their goods and you get a nice view of the ocean below. We had a few minutes to get out and take some pictures.
Our next stop would be the Manawakie Eco Nature Park. This is a very small, family run nature park that you go on a guided tour of the property. We were taken around to the various stations. First we stopped to learn about the natural medicines found in the jungle that can and are still used today among the people of Roatan. It was really interesting!
This is the set up of everything that our guide described for us. He told us all about how everything is made and what everything is used to cure. Everything from migraines to more serious diseases.
Next up came a lesson on the history of Roatan itself. We learned about the indigenous people, the language, and the current people. There's a room in the park dedicated to this history, but I don't have a photo from there. Oops!
After that we went to the animals. We are told that all of the animals there are rescued or donated from local residents that were once pets. All of the money that comes from the admission here goes back to the residents of the island and the animals were all treated with extreme kindness and care from what we observed.
First we went into where the monkeys were. There were two little monkeys. One was asleep and I did like that our guide never tried to wake her up to interact with us. He let her do her thing. The other monkey was just all over the place!
She was trying so hard to get into Alex's pockets and then get the binocular lenses he had! It was pretty funny!
We all held the birds, but somehow only Megan made it into the pictures!
Then we got to see a sloth in a bush right next to the birds!
Just hanging out there sleeping!
From there it was time to go up and interact with the sloth! This was truly the highlight. We learned about sloths in general and again, they were very respectful of the sloth. We had very specific instructions on how to handle her. Only one person at a time, and the caretaker had to be right there next to us the whole time. We each took turns holding her for a few minutes and you can see by our smiles just how much we all enjoyed this experience!
And here is the mom and her baby sloth up in the rafters! Just so darn cute!
When we were ready to leave we climbed back into our van and went to a rum tasting. We tried some various flavored rums and rum cakes. And from there we went to a chocolate "factory" store. There was someone explaining how chocolate is made and you could see them making chocolate candies in the back and get free tastes as well. It was fun! We did buy some different flavored chocolates here too. It was very tasty!
Our next stop was the Carambola Gardens. This is a beautiful garden area with several trails to walk/hike with marked trees and flowers. Alex was hoping to see some new birds here, and I believe he did! My parents mainly stayed by the entrance, Megan and I tried the hike up to the Mountain Top but neither of us had the shoes on for it, and we didn't have water with us, so at some point before we reached the top we turned around, and of course Keith and Alex made it to the top. The trails were really pretty though and it was very well taken care of! They do offer tours of the gardens here as well.
Before we went into the garden area we had another little "demo" about chocolate by one of the guides.
We saw quite a few lizards along our hike!
After about an hour here we moved on to our final stop, the beach!
We were all ready to relax at this point, and get some lunch! We had about two hours to spend at the beach and that was really just perfect! Our guide went with us onto the beach to be sure that we connected with someone there to arrange for six chairs together and we were all set!
We really enjoyed our day in Roatan! Having been there before we felt like we saw all new things and experienced new places! But now it was time to head back to the ship...
We had a pretty full evening, so that will be a separate post!
We started the day with breakfast at, you guessed it - the Solarium Bistro! And we all met when we were docked to disembark.
Pictures of Roatan as we were coming in to dock
We booked a private tour for the day and once we got off the ship, we met our driver who took us to our van.
We had a "guide" and a driver all day. We talked about what we wanted to see and do and came up with a plan, and started off for our day. The guide told us about the island, the history and a bit of narration as we drove along. She was very nice and had a lot to say, but since she had no microphone and there were six of us in this van, only a couple of us sitting right next to her could actually hear what she was saying. Those in the front or back seats couldn't hear a word.
Our first stop was a lookout point that I'm pretty sure all of the tours stop at, and I'm pretty sure we stopped at last trip here as well. There are vendors set up to sell their goods and you get a nice view of the ocean below. We had a few minutes to get out and take some pictures.
Our next stop would be the Manawakie Eco Nature Park. This is a very small, family run nature park that you go on a guided tour of the property. We were taken around to the various stations. First we stopped to learn about the natural medicines found in the jungle that can and are still used today among the people of Roatan. It was really interesting!
This is the set up of everything that our guide described for us. He told us all about how everything is made and what everything is used to cure. Everything from migraines to more serious diseases.
Next up came a lesson on the history of Roatan itself. We learned about the indigenous people, the language, and the current people. There's a room in the park dedicated to this history, but I don't have a photo from there. Oops!
After that we went to the animals. We are told that all of the animals there are rescued or donated from local residents that were once pets. All of the money that comes from the admission here goes back to the residents of the island and the animals were all treated with extreme kindness and care from what we observed.
First we went into where the monkeys were. There were two little monkeys. One was asleep and I did like that our guide never tried to wake her up to interact with us. He let her do her thing. The other monkey was just all over the place!
She was trying so hard to get into Alex's pockets and then get the binocular lenses he had! It was pretty funny!
The sleepy one!
Next up we went to the birds - I'm guessing these were some former pets
We all held the birds, but somehow only Megan made it into the pictures!
Then we got to see a sloth in a bush right next to the birds!
Just hanging out there sleeping!
From there it was time to go up and interact with the sloth! This was truly the highlight. We learned about sloths in general and again, they were very respectful of the sloth. We had very specific instructions on how to handle her. Only one person at a time, and the caretaker had to be right there next to us the whole time. We each took turns holding her for a few minutes and you can see by our smiles just how much we all enjoyed this experience!
And here is the mom and her baby sloth up in the rafters! Just so darn cute!
When we were ready to leave we climbed back into our van and went to a rum tasting. We tried some various flavored rums and rum cakes. And from there we went to a chocolate "factory" store. There was someone explaining how chocolate is made and you could see them making chocolate candies in the back and get free tastes as well. It was fun! We did buy some different flavored chocolates here too. It was very tasty!
Our next stop was the Carambola Gardens. This is a beautiful garden area with several trails to walk/hike with marked trees and flowers. Alex was hoping to see some new birds here, and I believe he did! My parents mainly stayed by the entrance, Megan and I tried the hike up to the Mountain Top but neither of us had the shoes on for it, and we didn't have water with us, so at some point before we reached the top we turned around, and of course Keith and Alex made it to the top. The trails were really pretty though and it was very well taken care of! They do offer tours of the gardens here as well.
Before we went into the garden area we had another little "demo" about chocolate by one of the guides.
We saw quite a few lizards along our hike!
The view from the Mountain Top Hike
After about an hour here we moved on to our final stop, the beach!
We were all ready to relax at this point, and get some lunch! We had about two hours to spend at the beach and that was really just perfect! Our guide went with us onto the beach to be sure that we connected with someone there to arrange for six chairs together and we were all set!
We really enjoyed our day in Roatan! Having been there before we felt like we saw all new things and experienced new places! But now it was time to head back to the ship...
We had a pretty full evening, so that will be a separate post!
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