When I pulled back the curtain this morning, I was greeted with fog and a slight rain. I hope this is not how the entire day will be. As the morning progressed, the sun started to appear. We are on the island of Roatan. Karen is feeling a bit better today which is good since we have a tour lined up. We grabbed a quick breakfast before meeting up with Steve and Linda who are joining us on this tour. We were docked at Mahogany Bay Pier which is a cruise port that Carnival built. Tour operators that do not have contracts with Carnival Corporation are not allowed to enter the cruise port. Since we booked with Rony’s Tours ($25 USD / person), we had to leave the port area and walk down a hill to where the rest of the tour operators wait. We found our driver Arnold (Rony’s cousin) and got into his car to start our adventure. Arnold asked us what we wanted to see and we told him scenery and sloths.
The first thing that we all noticed was how bad the roads were. I mean giant pot holes that force you to drive into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid them. Arnold explained that the roads on the west part of the island were better because of the tourists and the Amercian retirees that live there. He also talked about how life is on the island. Crime is not really an issue here as it is on the mainland. Also wages are a bit better here but things are more expensive because everything needs to be shipped. And jobs are pretty easy to come by if you are not lazy with tourism being the biggest employer.
Our first stop was at Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. We paid our admission ($10 USD /person) and then had to wait for about ten minutes before we could begin. The tour guide came out and escorted us to an area that had a bunch of tall cages. The guide said the first cage we would be going into was the white headed capuchin monkey. He told us the only thing we could bring in were cameras … No hats, sunglasses, jewellery and nothing in your pocket since the monkeys will go into them. As we entered the cage, we learned that the two monkeys we would be interacting with were Ronni and Sammi as in the Jersey Shore. Those monkeys were flying everywhere. At some point, everyone had a monkey on them. Steve even had one go down his tank top and check out his pockets. The monkeys were a lot of fun … You might say a barrel of monkeys.
Next was the real reason we came, the sloth. We learned that sloths are not native to the island. The guide was great about answering all of our questions while we each took turns holding the sloth. She was furrier than I expected. She also had a great smile. Since Steve was the last one to hold her, he got to take her to the trees so that she could go back to sleep. I would have to say that was the highlight of the day. We ended the tour with the red scarlet and military macaws which everyone again got to hold. When it was Karen’s turn, the macaw started playing with her bracelet and in a blink of an eye, the bird snapped it in two. This tells you how powerful their beaks are.
We got back into the car and Arnold took us to the highest point on Roatan which gave us a great view. We asked Arnold if he could take us somewhere to experience a local lunch and we ended up at Paradise Restaurant & The Famous Zipline. Arnold joined us and over a fabulous lunch we got to learn a little bit about him and his life. For the last part of the tour, Arnold took us over to the west end of the island which has the beautiful beaches. We got back to the port around 3:30pm and said goodbye to our new friend. Some take always about Roatan. The island is very lush and beautiful. It is also poor but people make enough to support their families and they are happy.
Since we had some time, we walked around the cruise port checking out some of the shops. Once we got back onboard, we headed directly to the cabin to relax on the balcony. A bunch of us headed to the Lido Marketplace to have diner at the buffet. Karen and I took Brodie to the library to play some games while Teresa, Jon and Marie went and saw “America Rocks” in the Showtime Theatre. We ended the night with Guess that ’70s & ’80s song with Dr. E in the Magic Lobby.
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