Day Five – Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Honduras

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Another morning aboard ship.  I had thought that since we were heading northward, I’d miss sunrise – but not so!! The morning routine ensues – yoga and photos on the deck, quiet dressing, and blogging while Diana sleeps blissfully through it all.  I have time to almost finish yesterday’s entry before she’s dressed and ready to.  Yay!

The Alexander;  locals have taken the metal for their own purposes.

One of the possible excursions.  Sure.

Up to breakfast and we find HBEs this morning, and a spot for two at the end of a six-top with only two other people!  On the way back from getting my coffee (I’m really liking the decaf café con leche) I spot Tobi and Dean.  They went down this morning and talked to the excursion desk about Tobi’s mobility and heat issues and decided against going with us on today’s adventure.  They will have made the right decision.

We disembark and walk the length of the pier to the little shopping square that the cruise ships have caused to be built.  There we find a lady with a sign for our Roatan West Island experience and she says we have time for a bathroom stop, so we take advantage of the opportunity.  As an aside – there is only one bank of elevators on the ship that goes all the way down to the A deck!  Otherwise you have to do some fancy maneuvering to get there!  And that path doesn’t include a restroom!

Anyway, back to our tour guide and off to our little air-conditioned bus!  The temperatures everywhere on the cruise have been in the middle eighties.  The humidity – about ninety-five percent!  (okay, may eighty) Our guide is Carol Sunshine!  Maybe.  She is delightful with a kind of Jamaican accent and marvelous dreads.  She isn’t the non-stop talker that yesterday’s guide was;  but she is knowledgeable and funny and willing to answer any question! 

We will be making three stops today.  We begin at the botanical gardens where Karen will take over the guiding duties. First, though, Carol shows us about a dozen different fruits that are native, including some I’ve never heard of, like moonie fruit! We might have been expecting lots of flowers, but we got lots of trees.  The first are cacao trees and they already have pods on them, so everyone gets to see how they grow right on the trunk and branches.  Most people have never seen this before, so they are awed and amazed.  We also see teak and mahogany and cinnamon trees.  A teak tree has to be eighty years old to be harvested, while mahogany needs only thirty years to be ready.  When you cut down a cinnamon tree you have to plant two to replace it, and the original stump will put up new grown as well.  I always thought you used the bark; but it runs out you strip off the outer bark and then shave off all the rest. That’s why we see curls of cinnamon for sale in the spice aisles. Each discussion of the plants includes the various medical uses for which they are valued!

Cacao pods growing on the trunk and branches of the tree

Ginger, or flying bird

Mahogany pods.

After our tour of the little garden we each are offered banana, pineapple, and papaya pieces to sample.  And there’s a little gift shop with vanilla for only five dollars for a large bottle, and cute little earrings. I drop one and, of course, it goes right through the crack and down about ten feet to the ground below.  An agile young lady retrieves it and, even if I didn’t already want the pair, I’m sure going to buy them now!

Back on the bus we are heading to West Island.  First thing, we walk down a short pier, climb a steep flight of stairs and are given either a glass of iced tea, water, or lemonade, and then are treated to a short dance show with two drummers, two male dancers who also play maracas (or the Honduran equivalent?) and the conch, and three female dancers.  Then the ladies invite audience members to come dance with them.  Several people accept the offer, and eventually I succumb, too!  It’s fun and may well be today’s highlight!

Next we’re taking to a chocolate factory where we can see the people making the candy which we can sample and buy.  They even allow us to troop through the tiny kitchen!  More shopping!!

We’re kind of on our own for a few, so Diana and I head down the street.  We’re accosted by two ladies who are determined to give us neck massages!  It feels great;  but also like being held hostage! It’s really hard to get away when someone is gripping your shoulders!  It feels like they are using baby oil and later Diana’s neck is really burned because not only did the oil intensify the sun;  but it washed away her sunscreen!

We take a few more photos and our silver carriage scoops us up.  We’re on our way to Mayan Eden, to see some animals and butterflies.  When we arrive, a young man points out some caterpillars on the leaves and I worry about my monarch babies.  I hope they aren’t starving!  Then we go inside to spend a few minutes trying to capture the moment digitally.

Back outside, there are a couple of free-ranging macaws with whom people can pose.  The birds are rewarded with peanuts.  There is a monkey that hangs around as long as the peanuts last.  There are a half dozen cages with a couple of toucans, a family of deer, Billy the bad monkey who grabs people’s glasses if you get too close and – a kinkajou!  It may be animal abuse;  but I don’t care.  I get to hold her (Lisa) and of all the people who share that experience, I’m the only one she kisses.  MELT!!

Her name is Lisa and she kissed me!

Back to the bus and back to the port.  We each receive a piece of coffee-flavored candy as we climb down, and we’re off to check out the little shops.  Mostly it’s things like Diamonds International, so it’s a trick to find real souvenirs.  The shopping in Guatemala seemed more “real” or at least wasn’t quite so mass produced.

Back on board and we’ve missed lunch;  but it’s time for tea!  When we arrive we find Diana and Mary at a table for two and we invite them to join us at a four top.  The waiter brings us our gluten-free finger sandwiches and two of the little meringue wonders and, of course, that miraculous Darjeeling tea.

At five there’s the wine sip and savor.  Today’s red is Robert Mondavi Private Selection pinot noir which I quite enjoy.  The white is a pinot grigio and Diana passes.  When I say I can’t have the lovely crusted shrimp, the waiter brings a dish of olives, which we share.  (I later learn that I can get the wine at Publix!)

Presently it’s time to get ready for dinner.  My appetizer is seafood deviled eggs, then there’s apple salad with candied walnuts, green leaf lettuce, oranges and pomegranate, followed by scarlet snapper fillet with lemon-dill couscous and savory greens.  Dessert is the chocolate fudge tartlet with roasted pistachios.  (I don’t eat the lovely chocolate crust – discretion and all that!)

We’re very much looking forward to the show tonight.  It’s a BBC video of lots of different animals with a live orchestral soundscape!  We see new-born lizards escaping from attacking snakes and penguins trying to survive in freezing, crashing waves, and lions losing a battle with a giraffe of all things!  Great footage!

I’m on to Barry for a while;  but the sun and all the wine have caught up with me and I head off to bed.  Diana isn’t far behind me.  Long day.