June 29, 2010--Roatan, Honduras

I woke up at 4 am and the seas were still pretty choppy.  But, not as bad.  At 6:40, there was hardly any movement.  I was able to catch the sunrise.  Gorgeous!  I got ready while they slept.  Then, realized we were approaching Honduras.  I got the kids dressed.  Then, I saw dolphins!  A whole pod of about 15!  I called them all out and we enjoyed watching them dive and swim.

We went to breakfast.  After we returned to the cabin, we watched us dock at Mahogany Bay.  I couldn't believe how narrow the channel is.  We backed into Carnival's new dock and beach area built especially for our ship.

We gathered our cards, backpacks, cameras, and passports and headed to the end of the pier.  We had to walk through the Duty Free shop and then located our tour sign.  A short walk through the shopping area and we were to the loading zone.  We each received a waistband and we got on our shuttle bus.

Our tour guide, Ryan, did a great job on the 35 minute ride to Gumbalimba Park.  This was named for the medicine discovered on the island from the Gumbalimba tree.  We were almost to the park and Ryan started describing their "rabbit" and how they are different than ours.  Uh Oh!!  They are really rats!  Yes, they were going to be in the park.  They weren't going to be small!  I was really nervous!  And, wearing sandals!

We quickly were given the rules of the monkeys.  I took off my jewelry and we stowed our bags in a locker.  The monkeys like to take things.

We walked through some beautiful wooded areas.  Then, we entered the rain forest looking area.  We saw many iguanas on our walk.

Ryan showed us a cashew tree.  The seed grows on the outside of the fruit.  He didn't have anyone try it because it would burn your lips.  Found out later that Heather tried it!  She said it dried her mouth out.

We then had to cross a rope bridge over a pond.  Amanda was very nervous.  I was too, but we all crossed it.  And, as we were waiting our turn (only 5 could cross at a time), of course a "rabbit" had to run behind me.  I didn't see it but Matthew did.  "Mommy, that was a big rat!"  Needless to say, I had no problem crossing that bridge!

Next, we entered the parrot area.  Matthew was nervous, but Amanda marched right up and the aide put a green macaw on her shoulder.  Dan went with Matthew, who had to have the green one.  He made the guy take the red one off!

We then proceeded to the monkeys.  They were loose except for Nino the Meano, the spider monkey.  He's a big pickpocket so he can't be by the people.  The kids had Gumbalimba climb on them.  He was born at the park and is 1 year old.  I didn't do the monkeys because they would take my glasses and I 'd prefer to see them at all times.

We were with the monkeys for about 30 minutes (I think since I had to leave my watch in my bag).  We were all dripping from the humidity.

We returned to the main part of the park after another informative walk.  We saw lots of different, beautiful plants.

We had the option to stay and use their beach and pool, or return to the ship.  We were pretty hot so we bought a bottle of cold water since ours were very warm.  We waited a little while since we just missed a shuttle.  While we were waiting, Heather came up behind us with her tour group.  She had a later time.

We got on a small van to return to the port.  We went up to the pasta bar since the kids wanted noodles.

We then went back to the port to do some shopping.  The kids bought a wooden toy.  They also bought stuffed animals.  We found their magnet and snowglobe, plastic this time.  Dan got his shot glass at the Duty Free shop and we had to sing the Seinfeld song.  Bet they hear that a lot!

We walked down to the edge of the Carnival beach and I snapped a couple of photos.  I still haven't gotten the whole ship in the frame.  It's just too big!

The kids wanted to go swimming so we went back on board.  Dan took them and I enjoyed some quiet time.  We got down to dinner in record time since they didn't get back until 5:20!  And, they were late opening the doors so our rushing was unnecessary.

Tonight's dinner choices were interesting.  Amanda tried something new tonight.  She ordered beef tenderloin and noodle salad.   I'm very proud of my kids for trying new things.  Something I am rarely brave enough to do.  Several ordered beef stroganoff and it arrived sans noodles.  Heather was unimpressed with her Seafood Newburg.  I ordered the pork chop that I remembered from last time but it wasn't as thick.  Still tasty though!  Calvin enjoyed his rack of lamb.

Tonight, I tried the Bitter and Blanc, bread pudding with white and dark chocolate, as Yogi brought it to me.  It was very good!  He even brought me a back-up Warm Chocolate Melting Cake in case I didn't like it.  Very thoughtful!  Yogi got all the kids up to dance "Low" with the wait staff.  He is so good with them!

Tonight was Dancin' in the Streets and we didn't want to miss this show.  The guys took the kids to camp and got us great seats center stage in the balcony.  Amanda was going to the show with her group.  The boys were not so Dan went back up and got Matthew.  Heather and I looked at photos and window shopped in the jewelry store.  Prices were way out of our range!  The show was amazing!!  There were aerialists who did tricks on poles.  And, guys in light up suits with smiley faces.  The Fun Force guys were back too.  We never did see Amanda.  She was back up underneath the balcony. 

After the show, I went up and got Amanda for bed.  We were getting up earlier for Belize.