Thomson Dream Mayan Treasures
08:00–18:00 Roatán, Honduras
09:00[i] West Island Tour & Zipline Adventure — Half Day takes 5hrs
[i] Meet outside the terminal building 10 minutes before tour departure.
Cruise News, Thursday 21st January 2016
I woke up at 6.45am… and went for breakfast ca.7.15am. When I got back,
Janet was in the process of getting up. I went outside and photographed the shore, and a pilot boat coming out to meet the ship, which reversed into dock.
Thursday 21 January 2016 07:45:56
Roatán, Honduras
Thursday 21 January 2016 07:45:08
Roatán, Honduras: the port
Thursday 21 January 2016 07:51:54
Roatán, Honduras: pilot boat meeting our ship
Thursday 21 January 2016 07:52:30
Roatán, Honduras: pilot boat meeting our ship
Thursday 21 January 2016 08:12:04
Roatán, Honduras: view from our cabin window
The queue of those waiting on deck 4 to go ashore extended from the exit door on the port side, across the space in front of the waiter-service Orion Restaurant (which we didn’t use on this cruise), and along the access corridor serving the starboard cabins; so we only got off the ship, and down the gangway ladder, for the fairly lengthy walk past another cruise ship and through the terminal, about a minute before we were due to meet for our excursion.
Thursday 21 January 2016 08:49:10
Roatán, Honduras: going ashore
“Meet outside the terminal building 10 minutes before tour departure,” the instructions on the ticket said; the tour was supposed to depart at 9.00, so we should have been there at 8.50am, and it was already 8.49am. No matter: no-one was going to leave without us. There were lots of people holding up signs, and crowds of people around them; but when we found ours, there were only about half a dozen people congregating there. It was very hot and sunny.
WEST ISLAND TOUR & ZIPLINE ADVENTURE
If you're a nature-lover with an adventurous streak, this one's for you. Your day kicks off with a drive to the southwest of the island. Here, you'll be kitted out for an adrenaline-pumping trip through the treetops. Using a series of platforms and suspension cables, you'll glide through the forest canopy, taking in the ocean views and spotting wildlife as you go. Then, once your feet are firmly back on the ground, you'll head on to the traditional village of West End. Last on the agenda is the Roatán Butterfly Farm, This tropical garden is home to a neon mix of butterflies and exotic birds, including toucans, parrots and macaws. Just so you know— There are about 300 steps to reach the village. You'll need to have good physical fitness and less than 300 pounds for the zipline part of the tour.
Our guide, a young woman who introduced herself as “[Something] McCoy — the ‘real McCoy’,” led us to a minibus. The seats were in sets of two on the left of the vehicle, with access space on the right,
i.e. the near side as one entered, and a set of three seats at the back. There was only one seat remaining unoccupied at the back, which
Janet sat in; but Ms McCoy pulled out a folding seat in front of that into the access space and I sat in it. How many of were there?
Janet states: “There were only eight of us off the whole of the ship.” There were: a young male-female couple; and another — in their thirties, I guess — who were newlyweds (I can’t remember which couple
Janet sat next to); and some girls in their late teens and/or early twenties. If there were only two of these last, that would make
Janet’s “eight”. Indeed, I remember a dark-haired girl with dental braces, and a fair-haired girl with an accent I couldn’t place — Northern Ireland? North American? — who had a “girlish” look to her and indeed claimed that she was “only twelve”. But were there more in their party?
We set out and went approximately westwards, with views of the blue sea on our left and forests and jungle on our right. We passed through one or two small towns, which looked a bit dilapidated in parts. There was a tendency out of town to build dwellings on stilts, not because of flooding but for ventilation. Ms McCoy said how much she loved Roatán, then proceeded to describe how nothing worked there. You could see a doctor — if they weren’t on strike. There was a fire — but the fire department forgot to bring any water, so just watched the building burn. She also said that you could go to a pharmacy and buy any drugs you wanted: no prescription required.
We arrived, after some 10 miles, at “South Shore Zip-Line Adventures”, and were kitted up with harness, gauntlets, and a helmet. My helmet was placed over my
Tetley’s hat, so when the chin-strap was fastened the brim of the hat covered my ears, hindering hearing somewhat. One of the South Shore team relieved us of our cameras, and took pictures of us from time to time. There were ten or eleven stretches of cables that we traversed in turn, between wooden platforms, taking us through and above the forest canopy. There was the option to travel in tandem with one of the team, and hang upside down, but
Janet and I both declined to do this. The young girls also declined — but found courage when it was the young man with dreadlocks who’d be accompanying them! Frequently today (and indeed on just about every excursion on this cruise) we saw wheeling above what strongly reminded us of the condors in Perú. The condor is after all a species of vulture.
Roatán, Honduras: Zipline Adventure
Thursday 21 January 2016 09:43:58
Roatán, Honduras: getting kitted up for “zip-lining”
Thursday 21 January 2016 09:46:08
Roatán, Honduras: macaw at the “zip-lining” site
Thursday 21 January 2016 09:48:58
Roatán, Honduras: two from the “zip-lining” team
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:09:16
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:09:32
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:09:36
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:09:36 (detail)
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:24:42
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:24:46
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:24:50
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:32:22
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:32:28
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:32:28 (detail)
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:46:56
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:50:24
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure” — ants on the handrail
At the bottom of the set of cables we piled into a truck (though
Janet and I sat on the rear seats in the cab) to be taken to the top of the ridge again.
Thursday 21 January 2016 10:51:26
Roatán, Honduras: “Zipline Adventure”: our ride back to the starting point
Back up there, there were “rest rooms”, and a refreshment area where one could sit in the shade, with parrots nearby in enclosures. I felt a bit embarrassed to be there, though, because we had very little money, and it seemed mean not to tip the South Shore team.
We got back on the minibus and were taken to the nearby “Roatán Rum Company”, with samples to try. I didn’t do that; I went through the small two-storey building to the other side, where there was a grassy space overlooking the sea to the west.
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:10:20
Roatán, Honduras: outlet for locally produced rum
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:10:20 (detail)
Roatán, Honduras: outlet for locally produced rum
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:13:52
Roatán, Honduras: view from the rum outlet
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:16:28
Roatán, Honduras: view from the rum outlet
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:16:28 (detail)
Roatán, Honduras: view from the rum outlet
It escaped my notice that, next, we didn’t do what it said in the blurb: “Once your feet are firmly back on the ground, you'll head on to the traditional village of West End.… Just so you know— There are about 300 steps to reach the village.” Instead, we were dropped off at “West End Resort” for some free time. We explained our financial difficulties to Ms McCoy, who appeared to provide a solution by telling us we could stop at the airport on the way back to use an ATM there. Encouraged by this, we went to a local bar (pictured below); I had a couple of bottles of Honduran lager and
Janet had diet cola. And seeing that cards were accepted, we paid by debit card rather than use our meagre supply of US dollars.
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:35:52
Roatán, Honduras: West End Resort
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:37:04
Roatán, Honduras: West End Resort
Thursday 21 January 2016 11:38:30
Roatán, Honduras: West End Resort
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:14:40
Roatán, Honduras: West End Resort
After that we visited “Mayan Eden”, where at the entrance it amused us to see not only a “no smoking” sign but also a “no guns” one.
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:49:02
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:49:22
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:50:16
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
The Keel-Billed Toucan in a cage looked as though someone had just glued a plastic beak on its face — badly.
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:56:58
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
There were also uncaged parrots that one could handle. One of the Scarlet Macaws was deemed to be too bad-tempered to be touched, but a green Military Macaw was being passed around. Its putative tameness didn’t stop the little blighter from biting me, though!
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:57:28
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:58:08
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:58:50
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:59:42
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:59:52
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
The little blighter bit me.
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:59:54
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 12:59:58
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:00:42
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
“Harrrgh! Jim larrrd!”
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:01:54
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:05:10
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
We would see many birds like blackbirds — only larger, more slender, with wider tails, and noisier — doing “blackbirdy” things, on our various visits throughout the voyage. Like blackbirds also, the males were black and the females brown. Some species were iridescent blue. They were all types of “Grackle”, so we ascertained from a sign illustrating different kinds of fauna at some point.
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:07:16
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
We saw a mother deer and fawn — I can’t remember what it was called, but it was considered “endangered”.
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:07:50
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:08:08
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
There were a male and a female Spider Monkey, which accepted peanuts from people’s hands.
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:12:00
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:12:46
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:14:32
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
One of the staff held a Roatán Island Agouti, smaller than the common agouti.
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:16:06
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
I’m not sure what the carnivore with a long snout, related to the raccoon, was called, perhaps a type of Coati.
Thursday 21 January 2016 13:18:04
Roatán, Honduras: Roatán “Mayan Eden”
Then we visited the butterfly enclosure. It was frustrating not to be able to photograph the many butterflies of every size and colour that were flying around; and even when they settled, they weren’t seen at their best, because they closed their wings together.
On the way back to the ship we visited the little Juan Manuel Galvez International Airport. Ms McCoy came with us, but try as we might, and despite her enlisting the support of one of the staff, we couldn’t get either of the two ATMs to give us US dollars. It looked hopeful at one point; we thought we were selecting $100; but one note was dispensed — a 100 lempira note, worth about 4½ US dollars. (The international transaction fees probably cost us nearly that amount in addition!) And Ms McCoy spoke on our behalf at a glass-fronted counter, but they wouldn’t accept our debit cards; I think it was just a cash-for-cash exchange. Back at Mahogany Bay, at the shopping centre this side of the ship terminal, we saw another ATM but had no success with that either.
Janet bought two cans of Pepsi Diet at a kiosk in the square with the L100 before we made our way back to the ship.
Thursday 21 January 2016 14:20:52
Roatán, Honduras: re-boarding the ship
Back in the cabin, we were met by a little folded-towel animal — a pig? — on the window sill.
Thursday 21 January 2016 14:26:30
Roatán, Honduras: in the cabin
Then we went to the Lido Restaurant where I ate some lunch. I had two pints of
Strongbow cider and Janet three Fanta Zero (14:38:10, 14:42:36, 14:56:28, 15:05:38). We had a turn round the promenade deck—
Thursday 21 January 2016 15:49:10
Roatán, Honduras: views from the starboard side
Thursday 21 January 2016 15:50:00
Roatán, Honduras: views from the starboard side
Thursday 21 January 2016 15:50:56
Roatán, Honduras: views from the starboard side
Thursday 21 January 2016 15:53:12
Roatán, Honduras: views from the starboard side
Thursday 21 January 2016 15:53:12 (flipped)
Roatán, Honduras: views from the starboard side
Thursday 21 January 2016 16:01:28
Roatán, Honduras: views from the port side
Thursday 21 January 2016 16:01:50
Roatán, Honduras: views from the port side
Thursday 21 January 2016 16:02:18
Roatán, Honduras: views from the port side
—before we went down to deck 8 and sat in the Coffee Port. I had two
Espresso coffees and Janet a Diet Coke (16:05:57, 16:19:27). Back in the
cabin [we did this and that.]… We went off to the Lido Restaurant some minutes before the 6.00pm-scheduled start of its serving the Evening Buffet. I ordered a glass of quite acceptable house red wine and
Janet her now-“staple” Fanta Zero. She was on her normal calorie-watching diet today, and was dismayed that all the buffet items seemed to have oil on them. But one of the staff behind the
counter[ii] very helpfully grilled for her two large pieces of salmon, served with steamed rice and vegetables, and no added oil. We had a turn round the promenade deck. The ship was by now at sea and it was almost dark, but still very warm. Back in the
cabin [we did this and that]… We didn’t fancy “Thursday Night Live — a night of comedy and laughter with our UK guest comedian Andy Wilkins” at 8.30pm in the Broadway Show Lounge at the bow end of Deck 8, so went to the 9pm “Spotlight Cabaret” at The Water’s Edge at the opposite end of Deck 8: “Enjoy the talents of show team member Matt as he presents his solo cabaret”; and as we hoped, “Matt” proved to be the Scottish baritone singer, with whom we were so impressed last night. The waitress from the Coffee Port was serving, and said “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper!” as we
entered.[iii] Janet didn’t risk being served the “wrong”
Fanta Zero, though, and had Coke Light; I had two Campari and soda (20:51:01, 21:04:33). Matt did not disappoint. We went back to the
cabin… and we were in bed ca.10.30pm.
[ii] “Richard”, she names him on 31
Jan. 2016 and 1
Feb. 2016. See also 28
Jan. 2016.
[iii] The name on the till receipt on that occasion was “Maria Deleon”; so with the names on the receipts from this evening being “Eduardo Enrejo” and “Silvia Listari”, it appears that although she recognised us she did not serve us.
