NEXT PORT: PIRATES, BIRDS AND MONKEYS

Sunrise the next day brought us to Isla Roatan which is an island about 80 miles off the mainland of Honduras.

At this port the ship would be docked...what you can't tell from the photo below is that the ship is coming into port...backwards!  How would you like to steer a 963-foot ship in reverse!

As in the previous ports the Carnival Glory would be joining us.  In this series of photos you can see how the Glory turned 180 degrees in order to reverse into the dock in front of us.

Our excursion on Isla Roatan was "Pirates, Birds and Monkeys of the Caribbean".  We traveled by bus to Gumbalimba Nature Park.  This was the only time we went past the main tourist area and saw where the locals lived.  Such poverty!  The average person living on this island makes $3,000 a year.  Their livelihoods depend entirely on the cruise ship tourist trade.  Our young tour guide was very knowledgeable about her island...

For the "Pirates" portion of the tour we explored Coxen's Cave and learned about the infamous pirate, Captain John Coxen...

Saw examples of his stolen treasures...

And saw an actual barnacle-covered cannon from his ship...

For the "Birds" portion of the tour we saw beautiful macaws just sitting freely in the trees...

But the fun was having one sitting on your shoulder...

For the "Monkeys" portion of the tour we saw where the Capuchin monkeys are free to roam...

Such a cute face!

But the personal encounters were so cool!

Gumbalimba Park is a beautiful botanical park with waterfalls...

Over 200 types of tropical plants...

Beautiful tropical flowers...

And the only home to the rare Black Iguana...

We really enjoyed our day at Mahogany Bay on Isla Roatan...

But when the ships sail away, it becomes a ghost town...

Gumbalimba Park is named after one of the native tree species in Honduras, the Gumbalimba Tree. This tree has a bright red, peeling, smooth bark and dark green leaves. For more information about Gumbalimba Park, visit http://www.gumbalimbapark.com/.

We only had a few hours on Isla Roatan, but we really enjoyed our visit to Gumbalimba Park. Our next port is Grand Cayman Island. Stay tuned for our snorkeling adventures with the stingrays.

WE'RE IN BELIZE!!

The reason we booked this particular itinerary was because one of the port stops was Belize.  For several years we wanted to snorkel in Belize which has the second largest barrier reef in the world; only the Great Barrier Reef off Australia is bigger.

The cruise ship did not dock in Belize; the ship anchored a couple miles off the mainland.  It was strange to walk off the ship right onto another boat for our shore excursion snorkeling trip.

A tender boat docked right below our balcony:

Our snorkeling excursion would take us to Goff's Caye, a "Gilligan's Island" type island or caye (why is it pronouced "key"?) about a half an hour's boat ride from the ship.  And this was no ordinary boat ride.  This boat had three 200 horsepower motors attached to the back so we were moving at quite a brisk pace...Hold onto your sun hats!

I sat at the back of the boat on the way back from snorkeling.  That's our little island in the far distance...look at the waves those three boat engines created!  On the other boat in the photo were Carnival Glory passengers doing the same snorkeling trip.  Remember: Carnival Glory followed us everywhere.

Goff's Caye off the coast of Belize.  Can't you just picture Gilligan, the Skipper, Ginger, Mary Ann, the professor, Thurston Howell III and Lovie living here in their grass huts?



The color of the water here is just beautiful.  Have you ever seen water this turquoise?  I love this photo showing the white sand of the finger of beach jutting off the island, the turquoise water (as clear as bath water!) and then the darker blue water where the coral reef is.

Though looks can be deceiving here: it was not easy walking in the waters right off the island: lots of pieces of coral in the sand.  OUCH!

DANGER ALERT: Two people got stung by micro-sized jelly fish while just walking in the water.  One was a young girl of about eight years old...Oh, she was in such pain as they treated her.

Did the snorkeling live up to its hype?  Yes and no.  Yes, the coral reef is spectacular with coral in all shapes, sizes and colors.  However, we snorkel to see fish.  Yes, there were opportunities to see many varieties of fish (some snorkelers said they saw a barracuda) but I was disappointed that we didn't see more fish.  It was usually a single fish at a time.  The highlight was a school of about 20 rather large fish gathered around a large piece of what looked like brain coral. 

And the snorkeling was tiring.  The snorkeling was separated into two options:  you could be dropped off on the caye's pier...

A feathered friend sitting on the end of the pier probably searching for breakfast.

and then snorkel from the island or you could remain on the boat and the boat would go back out onto the coral reef.  We chose to remain on the boat, but then you snorkeled all the way back to the island which it took about 45 minutes.  It was windy so the waves were sometimes three to four feet.  But once we got going in the right direction with help of the current, we had a great time.  Well worth the excursion fee.

When we reached the caye there were refreshments and food to purchase (who knew a $2.00 freshly-grilled hot dog wrapped in a soft taco shell could taste so good?) and trinkets for purchase.

For $10.00 I bought this necklace with the shell ornament.

Nothing tastes better than a Belikan beer in the hot Belizean sun!  (It IS good beer and I'm not a beer drinker!)

Since the snorkeling excursion was in the morning (8:15 a.m.!! Boy, we had to get up early!), so we were able to return to the ship, change clothes and take the tender boat over to the mainland.

The shopping area of Belize City is the same as most cruise ports, with the same familiar stores painted the same bright colors of the Caribbean...

So we bought a few souvenirs, stopped for a delicious strawberry daiquiri at "Mamacitas" to get out of the blazing sun...

The pineapple from the strawberry daiquiri was delicious!

And then we returned back to the cruise ship for lunch, all the while gazing upon the most beautiful turquoise water we had ever seen and remembering our visit to Belize...



And when we returned to our cabin, we still had a spectacular view of the turquoise water!

Our day in Belize is over.  Two ports down, two to go.  Tomorrow morning we dock at Isla Roatan, Honduras. 

Until then...

BUENOS DÍAS, COZUMEL

Our first port stop.  This is our second cruise visit to Cozumel, but it has been nearly eight years since we have been here.  As avid snorkelers, it's strange that neither time we've gone snorkeling here in Cozumel even though it is known as one of the best snorkeling areas in the Caribbean.

Hey, we're not the only Carnival ship docking today in Cozumel!  Well, Cozumel is the most frequented cruise port in the Caribbean.

In fact the Carnival Glory followed the same cruise itinerary as we did so we saw her at every port.  It would have been nice to also see other ships, but the Carnival Glory was the only other cruise ship we saw in port the whole cruise.

Twin megaships!  That's our ship on the left.

Cozumel was the only port that we didn't plan a shore excursion.  We wanted to just walk around the tourist area of Cozumel and do some shopping.  You can find good deals in Cozumel: our first trip we bought two nice Movado watches for only $150 each; we still wear those watches today.  During this trip husband was looking for a gold chain.  We did get a pretty good deal at a local jewelry store.

Of course there are many opportunities for typical tourist photo-ops in Cozumel.  To the right as you exit the pier is the "Three Amigos" Flea Market/Cantina:

Outside are oversized pieces of furniture lending themselves for silly vacation photos: here is 6-foot, 2-inch husband looking like he's on the island of Liliput instead of the island of Cozumel...

And here is husband with our new friend, Lamont, looking a bit silly sitting in those "high" chairs:

There was the man dressed up as a Caribbean pirate...

And for a donation you can take a picture with him...

Of course there are the typical Mexican souvenirs to buy:

Stacks of colorful sombreros...

Colorful maracas...

Colorful hand-painted mini-guitars...

Colorful hanging parrots...

Colorful totebags...

Colorful necklaces...

But my favorite sights are the colors of Cozumel itself:

The theme of this post: COLOR.  In Cozumel, it's rare to see black or white; instead plenty of brilliant Caribbean colors whether it's the town, the souvenirs or just the beautiful turquoise waters...

Next port: Belize...the reason we booked this particular cruise.  Until next post, Adiós amigos!