Day 4 - Enjoying Mahogany Bay and Learning about Mayan Culture in Roatan, Honduras

Cruise Day 4

Our second port of call was at Roatan, Honduras.


























Our cruise ship docked there his morning.



















Instead of getting into a tender boat to get to shore,  we simply walked  from our cruise ship onto the pier of Honduras.

We were greeted by people in colourful costumes.

This group of singers just finished their singing and taking a break.


















We were at the pier shopping plaza at around 10:30am

I wished I had my computer with me so that I could haave checked my emails as the wifi was available for purchase at the Roatan terminal.

















The tour we signed up for was not until 12pm. We had time to walk around the shops at the pier.

I  was interested in local crafts  and looked for them specifically when we visited the shops.

This motorcycle made out of a recycled pop can caught my eyes.

We even had some time to walk the
trail for a little bit.

Walking the trail was  comfortable as it was shaded by gigantic tropical trees.

















 The trail was also lined with green bushes of vibrant colour blooms.

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There were flowers we never saw before

Usual flowers shaped like birds

 A few park benches were placed along the trail for visitors to sit and rest.

There were even a few hammocks on the trail. How thoughtful was that?

For those cruise passengers who did not  sign up for the Mayan ruin tour there were lots for them to do as well.

Lots of passengers got off from our ship and many went to the visitor centre to get information.


















The Mahogany Beach is within walking distance from the Roatan terminal .

Visitors and passengers from the cruise ship could easily walk to the beach without buying a land tour ticket.

Mahogany Beach is within walking distance from the Roatan terminal .

They could enjoying hiking on the Mahogany Bay trail, riding the lift chairs and relaxing on the beach.

There were about 20 of us in the tour group and we were heading to Maya West Beach.






















 I hadn't even sat down in the tour boat yet, my hat flew off my head and landed in the water.

I thought that I had lost my hat.
One of the tour guides from the Maya West Tour made a call.

 A young man on a speed boat appeared within minutes

















He was able to pick up my hat from the water and another guide handed it back to me.

Talked about service for their customers! Outstanding service!

















After a short ride on the boat, we arrived at Maya West Beach.





















It was time for lunch. We had a traditional local lunch by the beach with passengers form three other cruise ships.

As we shared a table with another couple from Minneapolis, Minnesota, we shared our travel experience with one another.

We also chatted about everything.
It was an enjoyable conversation! 

Our tour was at 2pm. The tour guide  took us for a tour of the Ancient Mayan ruins and introduced us to some history of the Ancient Mayan culture.

We learaned that the Mayan king also acted as the high priest of the nation.





















His method of ruling was through fear.

The Mayan religion relied on sacrifices to placate the gods.  The best would  be sacrificed to their gods.

It meant that high status humans were sacrificed on a regular basis.  An interesting example was the game of Mayan football called pelota.

The captain pf the winning team was often sacrificed because he was considered the best, and only the best was offered to their gods!

However, I was disappointed to find out that these ruins were replicate of the real ruins only.

After the tour of the ruins, we went to see the rescued animals at the zoo.


We saw colourful parrots and monkeys.




















We saw puma as well.

Our tour finished at 2:30pm leaving us a lot of time to enjoy the time and the beach on our own.

The island was not busy at all.


















There were a lot of lounge chairs set out on the beach for those wishing to use them.

We observed crabs and other wild life in this marine park.

We also observed life on the beach at this marine park.

A picture perfect tropical island scene in Roatan

A picture perfect island scene!

It was a sunny warm afternoon. A typical tropical day with blue sky, palm trees and lounge chairs.


















I wanted to snorkel as much as possible on this trip. So I went and bought a set of snorkeling equipment from the gift shop.
















While I snorkeled for a little and practising my breathing under water, my better half was enjoying the beach and keeping time for us.

We went back to the boat which took us back to the pier.

















We still had enough time to pick up a piece of souvenir made of sea stones from the craft shop.

It was a fun day at Mahogany Bay,  Roatan, our second port of call on this cruise.






















Looking forward to our 3rd and 4th ports of call in the next couple of days!


R.T.
Mahogany Bay
Roatan, Hondrous

Day 3 - An Encounter with a Stingray at Stingray City, Sandbar, Grand Cayman Island

Cruise – Day 3

Today was an outstanding day!

A tender boat took us from our cruise ship to the pier of Cayman Island

Life is an adventure! It is also a return of what we put into that makes it as interesting and productive as we make it.
















 

Today’s port of call was Cayman Island. We chose this cruise because of this port of call as we have heard much about this little island country.

Because the cruise ship could not dock right at the pier of Cayman Island, a tender boat was used to ferry passenger from the ship to the pier.

We were up at 7am, ate breakfast and was ready to board the tender boat taking us to Cayman Island.

The day before, we wanted to book an excursion on Cayman Island which involved taking tourists to the famous Sandbar to meet the stingrays face to face and to do some snorkeling.

But the tours were sold out. Therefore, we planned to do a walking tour instead.







At 9:45am, we landed on the pier of Cayman Island.  

A lady came up to us offering us the same tour at a much cheaper price than the one who wanted to book on the cruise ship. We were a little hesitant, unsure if this was a hoist.

So before we gave her the cash for this tour, I took pictures with my cell phone of her brochure, company and her ID badge. I

Just in case, she took our money and there was no tour; we could report her to the local police.

10:30am, we boarded a mini van and transferred to a tour boat which took us to the famous Sandbar.






















The boat ride was about 45 minutes.
















Stingrays could hurt people if they are provoked or attacked.

The tour guide gave us specific instructions what to do and how to handle the stingray so that we would not hurt or frighten it. Each one of us got to touch this sea creature and kissed it for good luck.

Some of the passengers were scared of the stingray at the beginning but we soon all got used to them as they were swimming around and under us.

It was amazing!

The water was warm and crystal clear; the stingrays were gentle.

The tour guide arranged for each one of us an opportunity to touch and kiss the stingray!

How about that!

After we touched the stingray, we stayed in the shallow water and swam around.

As I was swimming, I felt a big stingray swimming on top of me, its smooth slippery body riding and touching my body.

I was nervous. 

I was afraid that it might be frightened and attacked me. I kept very quiet, steady, and continued swimming but I slowed down my pace.

Finally, the stingray swam over me and I reached our boat. People who saw what happened were amazed and some came to see if I was all right.

I recovered from my fear and I was fine. Keeping calm under unexpected circumstances is vital.

After our encounter with the stingrays, our tour boat took us to the coral reef area to do some snorkeling.

Ready for my first snorkeling adventure on this trip!

I was excited!

I have not done snorkeling for a long time. I wondered if I still remembered what to do.

Before I went down the water, I practised breathing with the snorkeling equipment.

Since we were snorkeling in more than 12 feet deep of water, we were encouraged to wear a life vest. I did and this gave me more confidence.

With my snorkeling equipment on, I dove down into the water.

 I saw the active life under water, fish of all kinds darting around, corals of different size sitting at the bottom of the sea.

I recalled vividly the happy snorkeling experience we had in Fiji years ago.

I felt young and alive!

This was an activity I did when I was much younger and I was doing it again on this trip.

It felt great to be able to do the things I used to do.

I was happy that I was willing to give it a try after all these years.

We got back to the snorkeling boat

The tour guide took us to a quick tour of the island.

We saw many beautiful houses along the oceanfront.

We also saw an iguana suntanning itself along the shore of the island!

Life is about taking calculated risks.

I was willing to take some risks today and tried these activities. I regained some confidence of my abilities!

We went back to the ship. It was still too early for dinner. We went to explore the 9^th floor and watched the sunset!






















It was a fabulous day; we had a fantastic time!


R.T.
Cayman Island
Our 1st Port of Call
Caribbean Cruise

Day 2 of Cruise - Our First Day at Sea on Our Caribbean Cruise

Caribbean Cruise – Day 2 on the Carnival Miracle Cruise Ship

This was our first full day at sea. We did not have to rush to any excursion.

Waking up at about 9:00am,  we had our breakfast leisurely on Deck 9 around 10:30am.

Food was available all day so it didn't matter when we got up; we would still be fed.

This morning, I tried to exercise
restrain and had a little bit of healthy food from the breakfast buffet.

A couple of staff members came by to clean the table. One came with a beverage cart offering us tea, coffee etc. Each staff member has a name tag with their name, job title and the country from where they come.

The buffet eating area

The staff on board is extremely polite and friendly. Whenever we had a question about anything, they were willing to stop, engage with us in conversation, rather than rushing off to do their job. This is something we appreciate a lot.

For instance, we talked to a staff member from Romania, and another one from Philippine.

We asked them about excursions at the ports where this cruise ship would be calling. They gave us some excellent information so that we would have a better idea to make decision of where to go once when the ship has docked.

We also learned about their families and life on a cruise ship in general.

After breakfast, we enjoyed our time by the window looking out at the seemingly endless water.











There was endless ocean, but it was calm, sunny and warm.

In the meantime, Deck 9, where one of the swimming pools is located, with many sun tanning on lounge chairs, seems to be the activity hub  during the day.




















A lip syn contest was happening.
Passengers volunteered themselves to be in the competition, singing and
dancing to the music with the audience voting for their most favourte lip syn winner.

The volunteered contestants were of good sport putting up a good show.

Many had fun watching the contest.

While watching the show, we were pouring over all the available excursions and making decisions about which day trip we would book for the next few days' ports of call.

Today was our first day at sea. There were lots of activities happening on board. We were not bored at all.



















There were games catering to different ages.


























A lot of musical performances happening in different locations.

One of the bands at the Red Frog Pub on board the Carnival Miracle ship

Before heading into the dining room, we watched one of the shows in the theatre.

We watched the evening show at 7:30pm in the Phantom Theatre before dinner

We ordered Lobster Tail from the dining room menu.

Tonight’s dress code was cruise elegant and many passengers got dressed up for the theatre shows and for dinner in the dining room.













So did we.

Each passenger has been assigned their dining time and dining table. Our dinner time is the second seating at 8:30pm. Our table number is 230.

Tonight our dinner was excellent. We chose lobster tail from the menu provided and crème burlee for dessert. It was delicious!

One of the unexpected thing took place towards the end of our dinner.

The dining staff marched out clapping in unison and performed an amazing dance routine set to dynamic music!

Wow! We didn’t expect our waiting staff have so much rhythm and could dance so well to entertain us.


Carnival cruise ship staff make a conscientious effort to try and make their passengers' vacation a very pleasant one indeed!

After dinner, we went to have our pictures taken at some of the picture booths set up on the 2nd deck.

I met a photographer from Serbia and she was from where we attended our best friend’s daughter’s wedding. We had a great chat with her!

Enjoying our first cruise!

R.T.
At Sea
Carnival Miracle
Gulf of Mexico