ROATAN, HONDURAS IS HOT HOT HOT!

Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Sky Princess
Stateroom S222 on Sun Deck 17
Roatan, Honduras
Sun/80F

It does appear that I may indeed be on a different cruise ship. I thought we were going to Cozumel, Mexico today, and then, to my surprise, Roatan, Honduras greeted us this morning.

Bird of Paradise

 The first time we visited Roatan was in 2020, when the island was just beginning to be a tourist destination. TK took a scuba diving tour, and I took a tour on a small boat on a river amidst mangrove trees and a gazillion crabs crawling all over them. I saw burned out cars and desolation along the bus route on the way to the tour at that time. 

 Cruise ship corporations built a new port and a shopping and beach complex and over the years, this island, 40 miles off the northern coast of Honduras, seems to have flourished.  The island is 48 miles long and 5 miles wide at its widest point.  It rests above the coral canyons of the ancient Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second largest coral reef in the world. (620 miles)

In case you were curious, the Florida Keys Reef Tract is the third largest living coral barrier reef system in the world behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System off the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.  This is why TK was diving in Roatan.

Cruise corporations built this shopping and beach area

TK at the entrance

Today the hot sun and island music welcomed us as we disembarked. We gravitated toward the craft market, and I was intrigued by Rusty Fish, a shop where artisans make items out of old tin roofs. If anyone was decorating with a beach theme, this would be a place to shop.

Rusty Fish Recycled Art

"Chocolate Factory" 

Demonstrating the ancient way of 

making chocolate

We wandered to the beach area (neither of us are really beach people—fair skin and all), but we wanted to see what was going on.  The island is lush with lots of palm trees and flowers. Beach lovers were tanning and swimming, soaking up the sun.  After a leisurely ice cold soda, we  walked slowly back to the ship.

Janie at the beach

An inviting beach!

Kayaks ready to go!

I sat on the balcony overlooking the area for the rest of the afternoon, with the island music floating up. I really enjoyed reading a good book, with a nice breeze, island music, and shade. TK spent some time in the pool to cool off.

 Observations at the buffet:

Vegetable Stew and Bean Chili as seen below

And one more thing:

Is this nebulous or what?

TK’s Takes: He was pleased to spot hummingbirds fluttering over a flowery bush.