Health and Wellness, Travel/Adventure

Caribbean Cruise: Day 8

March 29, 2020

Roatan, Honduras – Day 8 (2/1)

I woke up about 04:15 a.m., as the cruise ship was heading toward Roatan, Honduras, our fifth port on this ten-day cruise.

I had to go out to the balcony to peek at the weather and the view.

We weren’t due to arrive at Roatan until about 08:00 a.m. So it was back to bed after I snapped this picture.

However, we arrived earlier than expected. It was about 05:00 a.m. as we approached the island……

Soon after that we were docked….

The picture above was taken from a beach area (seen below) of Mahogany Bay, at Roatan, Honduras.

We got off the ship and walked toward the rear, along the wharf, which lead us to a path that guided us up that hill (to the right of the ship), to the market area, where all kinds of booths and kiosks were set up for the local business men and women to sell their wares.

I failed to take a photo of the market area. I think it was because I was distracted by the gondola ride up there.

I told Uncle Walt, “Hey, let’s ride the gondola to the beach area! It’ll be fun and we’ll have a great view of the island from above.

There was also a walkway down below if you wanted to walk over to the beach area. The path of the gondola paralleled the concrete walkway.

The gondola ride was only $15 and you could ride it all day long, as many times as you wanted to. We rode it four times.

It started at the market place on the hill……

went up, over and down the hill….

to the beach area (upper, right)……

where you stepped out of the gondola chair to begin your exploration of the beach area.

The following picture is a good aerial view showing the hill (on the left) and the beach area (on the right), which I’ve been talking about. (See the basketball goal on the beach area? I do….😀

(This is not my photos. I downloaded this photo from Google when I looked up the Roatan, Mahogany Beach area).

It was still so early in the morning, so nothing was going on. But the open-air bar-and-grills were open.

This one (I think it was called “Hurricane Hole Bar”), had a spiral staircase leading up to the roof of the bar.

My curiosity lead me up there and that’s where I took the pictures of the beach.

We sat down and got something to drink and talked for a little while about this place and the things we were going to do the rest of the day.

We had signed up for an excursion on this island of Honduras. Today we were going to ride ATV’s (All-Terrain Vehicles) through the jungle of Roatan.

I told Uncle Walt I wanted to play basketball here on the beach after we got back from our excursion. I had spotted a basketball goal from our balcony on the ship before ever setting foot on the island.

Do you see it?

It’s hard to see from this view unless you have superpowers. But I zoomed in with my camera to see the beach area in more detail. When I zoomed in, I spotted it. I told my Uncle that’s where I’m going to play today.

Now do you see it?

Now do you see it?

(It’s the little white square..middle, right).

Here’s what it looks like from the ground near the open-air, bar-and-grill.

It was still too early to meet up with our guides who would take us to the ATV base camp, where we would start our jungle ride.

So we just killed a little time there and then got back on the gondola.



We got back to the market place and met up with our guides and they took us to the ATV Base Camp.

Then we set out for our trek through the jungle on the ATV’s.

We got to the top of the jungle mountain and took a breather and some pix.

Uncle Takes A Spill!!

As we began our descent back to base camp, their was a hair-pin turn in the path and then an immediate decline. As I went around and down carefully, I was concerned for Uncle Walt. I kept looking back to see if he was coming down yet and then what I feared would happen, happened.

Just as he turned to the right to descend, he lost his grip on the brake and veered to the left, off the path, slightly grazed a tree, which tipped his vehicle over to the right and threw him back into the path, with the rest of the riders bearing down on him.

I made a loud, shrill whistle to our guide, who was up front, and I pointed to my Uncle Walt. The riders behind him were aware of the situation and stopped quickly.

The guide made a u-turn and sped up to Uncle Walt. I parked and braked my vehicle and ran up to Uncle Walt.

I’m glad to say that he was okay, but he had bruises and cuts and he was sore for a few days afterward.

My Uncle’s tough!

When we got back to the base camp, there was a doctor waiting to check out my Uncle Walt to see if he was really okay. Everybody was concerned about him. While he was sitting there, I got him a cold bottle of water and gave it to him.

After the doctor was satisfied that he was okay, Uncle Walt got up and joined the group.

The ATV crew and the other riders showed their concern and asked him if he was ok.

He said, “Yes.”

Then there was a short silence……

Then my Uncle said, “I have a complaint!”

They were still very concerned and attentive as they asked, “Yes, what is it?”

He said, “ATV’s won’t climb trees!” 😂

Everybody cracked up. They were happy and relieved to see that this 82-year old man was in such good humor after taking such a serious fall like that.

After that, we all said our goodbyes and got into the vans to be taken back to the marketplace.

But along the way, they stopped at a beautiful beach area so we could take a break, get something to eat and drink, and do a little shopping too.

I had a beer and some Conch ceviche as my Uncle and I sat and talked with our guide, an enthusiastic young man.

He asked if we’d like to do any shopping. I said I was interested in some woodcrafted items I saw earlier as we arrived.

I bought three things and had them shipped back to Seattle…..

….an ice bucket, a pretend keg, and a chest with a 3D surface carved from it.

The chest was my favorite. So…so…beautiful!!

Isn’t that awesome?

While I was in that store, I saw some long dresses in there that caught my eye and made me think of the “Dreaming Wide Awake” dream I had about a year ago, of Lizz Wright, my favorite singer. In the dream, she was wearing a dress similar to the ones hanging there.

So I mentioned it to my guide, and asked him if he knew someone who could be a Lizz double who could help me reenact that dream, which I wanted to record and use the recording in a future post about the dream.

He said his girlfriend would be perfect for it so he called her and asked if she would be willing to do it. She said she was. So I bought her a long colorful dress like the one Lizz was wearing in the dream, and I asked the guide if he thought that would fit his girlfriend. He said yes. So it was a go.

So when we got back to the marketplace where the gondola ride was, the guide introduced me to his girlfriend and she was just right for it but she worked at one of those kiosks and her boss wouldn’t let her off to go over to the beach and do the reenactment before I had to leave to go back to the ship.

We had to be back at the ship by 03:30 p.m. That was earlier than usual.

So I told her thanks anyway and it was nice to meet her. Then I gave her the dress, in appreciation for her willingness to help, and I said goodbye.

So we headed back to the ship.

Watching from our balcony, as the ship headed out to sea………..

………..I told my Uncle Walt I was glad to have experienced the ATV ride, but I didn’t think I would be doing it again. To me, it was just too much work, trying to keep your balance, and not get thrown off the thing. It wasn’t as much fun as it looked like it would be.

My Uncle concurred…..

Next stop: Cozumel, MexicoDay 9 (2/2)


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