Roatan

Wow what can I say.....I can see why some people could think this was paradise. This was the view out of our room when we woke up this morning. We docked at Carnival's private port complete with private shopping and private beach. Little did we know this was going to be the most commercialized area we would see all day.

 (double click to enlarge)

We hadn't booked our day with the cruise ship directly so we had to walk off the property to meet our guide. It went from a familiar American type feel to completely different world really fast. Our driver Martha said that on the island (34 miles long and 4 miles wide) there is only one real road. The mayor promised to fix the road but hasn't and in the meantime guys go out on their own and fill pot holes with dirt in hopes of getting a few $$ from passing cars. Believe me we would be doing the same thing if our roads were this bad too.

On our way to the first stop of the day we passed by the Norwegian Dawn from Norwegian Cruise Lines. Martha said that the ships are usually on the island 4 days a week and keep them very busy. At 3000 passengers per ship I can imagine that they are pretty popular. We stopped on the mountain side on the south end of the island to do a little zip lining. Or I guess we would say a lot of zip lining. It was Kristen's first time so we stayed away from the extreme 550 feet up and 2,000 foot long zipline.  But still our adventure had 13 different zip-lines and 1.8 miles of zipping.

From there Martha took us through Coxen Hole and to the beach on the south end. This was the touristy area but felt kinda like what I would imagine the hotels and resorts of the 80s would have been. Much smaller hotels than the huge all inclusives we see now. Literally 50 feet into the water was an amazing coral reef. We had brought snorkel gear specifically for this purpose and super excited we did. It was pretty amazing what you could see and experience. (I apologize for the lack of underwater videography skills)

The South End beach

Unfortunately I learned the hard way just how sharp coral is and will be hobbleing around the next couple days. We brought a little first aid kit so we have gauze but all we had for tape was this ridiculous duct tape so I have one hell of a cool bandage.

Back on the boat before 5 and off to Belize for tomorrow.

  

  

  

Lots if food lots if fun

It's a long road to Honduras especially at 20 miles an hour so we have had some time on our hands. Luckily there is tons to do but seems that we end up in one of the restaurants more often than not.  The good news is that the food is fantastic.

 Just to relive some of our British life we had high tea too.  Might be one of my favorite things in the world.

Kristen has been hanging in the sanctuary, which is kinda like an adults only/spa sun-deck.  Gotta say I could have spent alot of time just laying there too.

In a moment of self loathing for eating too much I visited the gym today. It turns out that it is really difficult to keep your balance on a treadmill while the treadmill is on a ship that is moving in just about every direction at the same time. I came really close to becoming one of those funny videos of people falling off moving treadmills on more than one occasion.

There are a couple fancy restaurants on-board (yes more food) so we got dressed up and ventured to what was rumoured to be a 7 course Italian dinner.  It didn't dissapoint.  I tried to eat just about everything on the menu, but got sidetracked and forgot to take pictures after the first couple of courses.  Sorry.... 

  

Breadstick walrus?

The Captain hosted a champaigne reception and took pictures with everyone (except us of course).  Was interesting seeing the different people who were on the cruise.  Beginning to think that some people just live on the boat.....

Sweet leisure suit buddy

Its just bubbles....not that exciting

The Caribbean doesn't do daylight savings time so we fell back last night and got an extra hour sleep. Not sure if you can really catch up on sleep or not but I sure as hell am trying. Tomorrow morning we arrive in Roatan.  Goodnight.....

Bon voyage

It's been awhile since anything but doggies graced the pages of the blog but we did promise that while less frequent there would be some exciting travels still to come. So with that said lets depart on a wonderful trip around the Caribbean.

With all the recent bad cruise press the level of apprehension. Was more than a little elevated. And not to mention that while not the same company in name our ship the Crown Princess was still owned by Carnival. But poo river be damned we were going.

We set sail from Galveston after a long drive down the path less traveled highway 19 to Houston. Apparently nobody ever takes that route but the GPS said it was fastest. I think it's a personal decision as to what makes you more angry. Stop and go traffic or being stuck behind a slow 18 wheeler. Dealers choice I guess.

Kristen was the king of research and found us a sweet room at the very back of the boat. Quite a great view to fall asleep or wake up to. I imagine I will be spending quite a bit if time out here over the next couple days.

Lots of oil rigs and tankers

The ferry wanted to race....didn't stand a chance

Not sure how long its going to take to find all the cool spots in the boat but so far the majority of our adventuring has been food or pool related. I don't think it's possible to be bored here unless you want to but I think that is called sleeping.

We capped our first night off by watching the off Broadway on water show. Considering we were rocking and rolling in the ocean it was pretty impressive.

Going to sleep was a bit uneasy, Kristen said she liked the feeling of the rocking but I was less than excited.

The Daily Corgi: Real Men Love Corgis!

Hampton and I got caught in a sleepy afternoon nap.

The Daily Corgi: Real Men Love Corgis!

Furry Friday

Windsor is trying to make a withdrawal at the bank. Unfortunately her account didn't have too many bones in it.