The next stop on our cruise was Roatan which is an island off of Honduras. This was a new port for me. The last time I was on a cruise that was supposed to go here, we ran into high winds and couldn’t dock. So, I was super excited to check out this new port and add a new country to my list! At first, I thought we would take it easy and walked to the beach right next to the ship. But, Nisheet convinced me we should go to West Bay Beach. It supposedly had absolutely amazing snorkeling. Carnival offered a couple of tours (I think) to West Bay Beach, but they were crazy expensive for what they offered. I didn’t particularly like the idea of taking a non-Carnival excursion, but Nisheet talked me into it. What could go wrong?
We got up early in the morning because we needed to get off the boat and head straight to our excursion. And I’m glad we did. It was gorgeous watching the ship pull into port. And we passed right by the beach I was originally thinking about going to. (2nd picture below). It was definitely pretty, but it was already crowded as we were arriving after another ship was already in port.
We got right off the boat with a surprisingly little wait. Right when you leave the ship, you are greeted with an overly cheesy area with stores and street musicians. Kinda cool even though it was super touristy. We supposedly had an hour before our excursion was supposed to leave, but since I didn’t know exactly where I was going, we only stopped long enough to snap a few pictures before heading towards the meeting point.
In case you are taking a non-Carnival excursion, the meeting point is a little further away than you probably expect. After leaving the little gift shop area, you are dumped into a parking lot. I thought this was where the meeting point was. Nope. The security guard pointed us down the road. We passed a gate check, and to be honest, it made me a little uneasy. There were signs all over that said “Leave at your own risk! No security! Beware!.” We saw lots of people down the hill, so we trudged on.
We looked all over for a sign with our excursion. Couldn’t find one. Couldn’t find a lady in a pink shirt either that our tickets said to look for. We asked all around and no one could tell us where to go. Eventually someone decided to help us out and started calling all the drivers. Turns out our tour guide left without us! Thankfully, she came back to pick us up. She was mad that we were “late.” There was 1 other family on our excursion and they were mad at us too. Finally we figured out that tour guide was given the wrong time for our ship arrival. Ugh! Oh well. We were on the tour, and could relax and enjoy the rest of the day.
We were off to West Bay Beach! To get there, we had to drive across the entire island. It was pretty interesting seeing the little towns (though rather sketchy) and beautiful ocean views. The roads were extremely winding though, so if you are like me and are prone to motion sickness, you better take some dramamine or ginger chews!
When we got to West Bay Beach, we were dropped off at the Bananarama Resort. The tour guide gave us wristbands to enjoy access to the resort & lounge chairs and a free drink coupon. And then we were off to explore. The West Bay Beach was a bit on the raw side which is to be expected in Honduras. There were tons of people trying to sell you just about anything from trinkets and shirts to ladies trying to braid your hair or give you a back massage. But the beach itself was stunning with rows of palm trees providing sweet shade, the white fluffy sand under your toes, and the most perfect turquoise water as far as the eye could see. This is where they filmed the famous Corona commercial after all.
We picked a lounge chair in the shade, and then headed out to snorkel. The other family on our tour had been there several times and knew the perfect snorkeling spot. All the way down at the end of the beach was a giant cliff. And below the cliff was the most amazing coral reef that I have ever seen. It was a perfectly calm day with no clouds and sun shining right above us. There were channels and canyons through the coral, there were drop-offs, and there were mountains. And did I mention the fish? Millions of the most colorful fish you have ever seen. It was like Discovery channel live. My favorite were iridescent ones that glittered with the sun shining through the water. There were schools of yellow and blue tangs that would float by us making us feel that we were inside a giant aquarium. It was just so much fun chasing a fish as it took you down random channels of corals. We were so amazed by the snorkeling that we forgot to take good pictures! Below is one of the only ones we took, and it’s blurry. Oops. Next time we’re taking a GoPro camera.
After snorkeling for hours, we headed back to the Bananarama Resort and cashed in our drink coupon for a Honduran Beer. Could life be any more perfect? We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on our lounge chairs and splashing in the crystal clear blue water. The day might have started out a little rough, but it ended up being the best day yet.
