Tinbergs on Tour: Thursday, November 22, 2012 – Roatan, Honduras – Sunny

A totally beautiful day in Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras…

Breakfast this morning is in the Blue Lagoon. They do very good omelets and the noise level is minimal.

Ellen and Macie at the Blue Lagoon

Ellen, Dova, Danny and the group are planning to hire a taxi to take them around the island. I am planning to log some mileage and find WiFi in Coxen Hole, the main city of this small island.

The ship is docked at the port near the shopping center (there are two cruise ship terminals on the island).

Welcome to the Island

I started my walkabout heading down the main street – Coxen Hole does not have many streets. The town was pretty much unchanged – some small shops, some eateries preparing food on the street – armed guards outside of all of the banks in town.

The place where I was able to steal some WiFi at our last visit was no longer there and other attempts to get WiFi did not pan out. It looks like this will be an incommunicado day.

I walked until I ran out of town to see – about 40 minutes of walking. The walk did feel good.

NCL Star docked in Roatan

NCL Star from the Lagoon in Coxen Hole

City Square off Main Street

I was headed back to the ship when I noticed the troops in a taxi heading out of Coxen Hole. I hopped in and soon we were all on a tour of Roatan. The driver and guide seemed friendly enough – the guide had some kind of tourism badge – seemed legit.

Our first stop – and one we have seen on many tours – is the scenic lookout showcasing the ship and harbor. In this case, the photo op was very good with nice views of much of the island.

NCL Star from Lookout

Our next stop was a nature facility in the interior of the island. The roads were not that good but better than some places we have been. Soon we were at the preserve. This place had butterflies and various animals to see and touch. A different guide – from the preserve – took us through the facility. We were the only visitors there at the time.

Our tour guide and the troops at the Preserve

The first place we visited was the butterfly facility. The screened in area has several butterflies but it was missing the magnificent Blue Morpho – the guide said they did not have any. There were Tiger and Zebra butterflies and several colorful hummingbirds. It was still worth seeing.

Hummingbirds at the Feeders

Can you spot the butterfly?

There he is…

Like the hummingbirds, butterflies were also feeding on the sugar water (below).

I also got a picture of Leo in the jungle – like a young Tarzan.

The Mayan God of Water (fish in mouth)

Water feature amid the jungle plants

View from bottom of Waterfall

Another butterfly – not a Monarch but similar

Our next stop in the park was the animal facility. On the way, we spotted a howler monkey hanging out in the trees (I understand that these monkeys and some of the other animals in the preserve do not really live on Roatan).

Howler Monkey

The Animal Guide showed Amelia and Macie a rather large snake. Neither of them was afraid of the snake.

Amelia, Macie and the Snake

Amelia and Leo also got a photo op with a parrot

The cat below was described as a baby leopard – I am not so sure based on the eyes and ears of this cat.

Baby Leopard - Alleged

White Faced Monkey – not a local resident

One of the animals not in the petting category was the Coati – they tend to be aggressive so they are in cages. We saw a herd of these animals when we were in Panama for our Panama Canal Cruise. They are members of the raccoon family.

Coati – Close enough for me

The animal below is a Capybara, I believe. A large member of the Rodent Family.

Capybara

Our next stop was the Zip Line station. Danny was eager to try the zip line through the rainforest canopy so he signed up and we all waited in the courtyard of what appeared to be a home. There was shade and the grounds were very lush and interesting.

Danny signing up for the Zip Line

The zippers are spaced out and sent in groups so the wait for us turned out to be about an hour. There were semi-comfortable benches and we had our phones for games while we waited. Macie had her umbrella for the sun and she also wanted to check out my pedometer. She wore it while running around the grounds so she helped out with my steps for the day.

Macie protected from the sun

The grounds and Zip Line Terminus

We got the word from our guide that Danny would be coming through in the next group so we lined up near the chain link fence to try and capture his ride. It wasn’t perfect but we did document Danny’s Zip through the Belize rain forest. Showing off, Danny came in upside down.

Danny Zipping By

We got back to the ship and got ready for dinner in the Aqua Dining Room. Showtime tonight is a Cirque and Magic Combo Show featuring the magician on earlier and Maria and Dmitri, the dance and acrobatic duo. Maria is a professional ballerina and Dmitri is just plain strong. After the show, the kids went out to get a picture with Dmitri and Maria – Maria was busy signing DVDs so Dmitri agreed to get in the picture. Best part – a sword was involved.

The kids with Dmitri (Leo in Zombie Makeup)

Tonight’s other entertainment was a late night Cabaret Show with the NCL Star Singers in the Spinnaker Lounge. The show wasn’t mentioned by the Cruise Director during the main show or after the previous show (“The Not So Newlywed Game”) in the Lounge. This was good because it was sparsely attended and we could get really good seats (alternatively, this type of show may not have appealed to many of the passengers on this cruise). This show turned out to be the show of the entire cruise. The singers were fabulous even though the songs were from semi-obscure Broadway and off Broadway shows (I did not recognize any of them but they were all good – e.g. “I Only Have Six Friends”). I could have listened for another hour.