Roatan and Belize

The ship set sail from Costa Maya over night and we docked at the port on the island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras. Karl and I had planned for a snuba adventure that day so we had to be off the boat and ready at 8:30am. Ally stayed on the ship and had breakfast and played with grandma and grandpa while we were gone. We boarded a small bus and were driven about 25 minutes from the port to a resort area on a much nicer side of the island. You could tell that the area was specifically designed for cruise ship vacationers as it had a restaurant, bar, fresh water pool, animal habitat and a large beach area for the snorkeling and suba tours. We were interested in snuba because it is as close to actual scuba diving as you can get without going through the long certification process. Instead of each individual wearing a tank, there is one tank per group of 6 that floats on the surface of the water and you have 25 feet of tubing that connects each person. The tank then floats along as you swim so you get more freedom than snorkeling and we could stay under water for 45 minutes. Our group was dropped on the beach for brief instructions then we headed to get equipment-mask, regulator, weight belt and flippers. We walked straight out into the warm water, got hooked in and away we went. There were large coral reefs all around and fish but it definitely wasn't the depths or masses of fish like we had seen on our other snorkeling adventures. Still fun and definitely something I would do again. The down side was that we got attacked by sand flies while getting the quick training session so everyone came out of the water with big red spots all over. We freaked out thinking it was bed bugs or something but once everyone started looking the same way, one of the employees said it was the sand flies on the beach which looked like little gnats everywhere. Relieved but still gross... We got back to the ship in time to join the rest of the family for lunch, nap, and pool time. At night we continued with the trivia and dinner and saw the Second City comedy troupe perform. Ally also got to experience her first kiddie cocktail compliments of one of the bartenders Karl made friends with. We did not get any pictures of our snuba adventure and my camera fogged up from the extreme heat (105) when I tried to take some of the city from the ship so we don't have much to show from this day of the trip.

The next day we woke up in Belize City, the capital of Belize. We all got off the boat after breakfast to catch our 'Calypso Train Tour' of the city. The train was actually more like the little vehicles that you ride in from the parking lots at Disney disguised as a train but still an interesting ride. We learned a little about the city- they gained independence from Britain 30 years ago, they speak English or creole, the US dollar exchange rate is 2:1, seasons are hot or hotter than that, rains a lot, 2nd largest reef in the world is off the coast, people are not poor- they prefer to be called average, and they have to import almost everything. We saw a lot of schools and churches, as education is mandatory but not free and all schools are affiliated with some denomination. Before we got on the train they gave us water and a bag of plantain chips so Ally sat fairly well and ate a ton of chips while we traveled around the city. When we stopped and were let off to get back to the ship, we were immediately attacked by flocks of vendors trying to sell their crafts so we hurried back to the ship for lunch and pool time. Karl and I ventured to the casino after Ally went to bed but didn't have any luck with the black jack. The casino was a very interesting place!