Day 4: No rules in Roatan

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In hindsight I should have realized that the way the morning started was probably a precursor of how the day was going to end up.

We were supposed to be able to get off the boat at 10am but the boat was 30 minutes late into docking which was fine because we were not scheduled to get off the boat until 10:45am ship time. We were supposed to return to the ship at 5:30pm but they moved it to 6pm because of the delay.

Ship time, I never really noticed this term until this cruise and we’ve been on several. Most of us figured out how to change the settings on our phone so that our phones would not change as we cross time zones. Some people couldn’t change their phone setting though. If you look in the Carnival Hub app the ship time is always listed. The only problem is that when you are off the boat and off the Carnival WiFi you are not able to access the app. ‘What time is it?’ has been a constant question throughout the cruise.

Our tour was supposed to be 4 and a half hours with 2 hours being spent at the beach. That means we were to be back at the port terminal sometime around 4pm. Spoiler alert we got back on the boat with 17 minutes to spare.

This port we were able to walk right off the boat so that was nice. The port terminal has a bunch of shops and a Fat Tuesday restaurant. You could spend a couple of hours there walking around.

We did not book our excursion through Carnival so we had to exit the port terminal and walk up a steep set of stairs and down an equally steep hill and out the gate to meet our company representative.

The port area is actually called Mohogoney Bay. There is a sign when you go through the gates that you are leaving Mohogoney Bay. On the other side of the gate is Roatan. That is where our excursion was.

We were not moving with military precision this morning. Multiple bathroom stops before we got off the boat, more bathroom stops after we got off the boat and a messed up room card. Anywho, we got off the boat and walked down the hill to find our new cousin Andre from ATV Buggy Jungle Tours Roatan.

Andre was as in charge of us for the entire day. He was taking us to visit the sloths and monkeys, ATV riding and a private beach day.

He started out the tour by telling us about the island, the government and some history.

We were not aware that there were no rules in Roatan. No speed limit, no drinking age, no rules in Roatan.

Our driver obviously knew the roads and how to navigate them and he did it like a boss man! He has a lot of faith in his brakes! He drove us through Spanish town to the monkey and sloth sanctuary. The monkeys and sloths are not native to the area but there are several sanctuaries in Roatan.

Roatan is about 40 miles away from Honduras. The island is 48 miles long and less than 5 miles across. The population is about 40k. Driving around you can tell that there are some economic struggles on the island. When I first booked the ATV tour the gentleman I communicated with suggested bringing clothes to donate if we could. We were able to check two bags of luggage each so we filled a suitcase with clothes to donate and brought it to them.

The sanctuary we visited was on the West End of the island. I will say if you have mobility issues this is not a place for you to visit. We walked on very uneven surfaces, down steep hills and through the woods on trails. We didn’t have a problem but if you are interested in this excursion just be aware that you will need to be in fairly good shape.

We first held birds then took pictures with the monkeys and lastly held the sloths. We had 25 people in our group so you think it would have taken longer to visit with the animals but the tour guide did a great job of getting each person time with the animals. This part of the tour took about 45 minutes.

Andre needed to kill a little time before he took us to ATV and we were looking for some snacks and drinks so he was able to make a stop by the local Circle K. Hell yay!! Polar Pop full of Diet Coke here I come…wrong! No Polar Pop and a cooler full from top to bottom of Coke but not a single Diet Coke in the building. Oh, there was Fireball, Rum and Whiskey but not a freaking Diet Coke. Ugh! We grab a few things and head back to the bus.

On the way to ATV we sign liability waivers and he explains a little more about what we should expect. We arrive at the property and they have tables set up with bandanas, helmets and goggles. We all get our gear on and watch a brief safety video.

It took about 20 minutes to get everyone in ATV’s and buggies then we got on the trail. It is a task to organize 25 people but I will say they all did a great job. We got on the trails and started a little slow. You ride this one route about 4 or 5 times. The first time was a little slow going but as we did more loops we all got a feel for the machines and everyone started to go a little faster. The kids loved it and the parents did too. We were all smiling and muddy after the 30 mins or so. They had showers for us to clean off in and we headed back onto the bus to head to the beach resort.

The beach resort was just down the street so we arrived pretty quickly. Andre got us set up with chair and introduced us to our new family members Swiss Chocolate and George who would be our bartenders for the day. Hollowed out coconuts and pineapples full of rum punch all around. Jeff and I bought some tangerine seltzer drinks from the Circle K to drink on the beach. They were actually pretty good.

Two hours flew by! We rounded up the hoodlums and headed back to the bus. Fortunately the bus driver was able to drive us directly up to the port terminal so we didn’t have to walk up that steep hill. He was able to get into the gated area of Mohogoney Bay after he showed my Carnival card.

We herd all our little duckies towards the boat and check back into the boat with 17 mins to spare. Everyone goes to their room and some people decide to meet for dinner while others are on their own. After the long day we had mostly everyone called in an early night.

I actually ended up doing two loads of laundry for the boys. For boys that walk around shoeless and shirtless they had a a lot of laundry for three days.

Cheryl and her girls did monkeys, sloths and snorkeling. She said is was basically a private tour and they had the best day. She wanted to bring home Lightning the Sloth but no dice.

Thursday is Belize.

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