Honduras – where we drove in the ocean through a bloom of jellyfish, ate conch and spotted Cuba. 

The green landmass in the middle that the cruise ship sails so close to is the country that dare not be named on American cruise maps – Cuba!

Of To Sea

After braving the aftermath of Hurricane Bertha in Florida we headed towards its origin in the Caribbean.  We traveled there in style aboard the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas cruise ship. This was heaven for Harrie.  After putting up with the olds for so long, he finally got to play with other kids at the ship’s teen club.  I think this was the moment that Michelle and I realised that we had a full-blown teenager on our hands; staying up late and being embarrassed when he was sighted with us.

Michelle and I enjoyed the trip but found the shore days hectic. Can you really experience a country when you land at a bustling tourist port and have less than a day to explore?  Like Harrie, we enjoyed having some time to ourselves but we didn’t enjoy the exorbitant cost of Wi-Fi aboard the ship (which we had now considered to be a basic human right) which hindered planning the next leg of our trip.  As usual with any cruise, we were plied with food and drink all day; most of which was delicious and all of which was calorifically wrong.

We hugged the coastline of Cuba and stared in wonder at the country we didn’t get to visit.  Cruise ships must keep a minimum of 12 miles from the coastline unless authorised by the Cuban Government.

Roatan

Our first shore stop was Roatan in Honduras where we went out to a reef to ride on a Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter or BOSS. This is a motor scooter that puts along the floor of the ocean. When I say “we went”, I mean  “I went” as the other two piked out.

The BOSS experience was great.   I saw fish and coral formations as I amiably putted along in the warm tropical water.  At one point we ran into a bloom of jellyfish (bloom is the collective noun for jellyfish) which was kind of cool but then kind of creepy when we had to ride through them.  The blubbery feeling of the jellyfish on my bare legs and hands was a bit unpleasant but at least my face was protected by the diving helmet. While I didn’t get stung, a couple of people did complain of stings afterwards. At least they weren’t fatal stings.

Back at port, most of the American tourists were quite content to stay within the port-sanctioned tourist zone where franchises of US store chains sought to fleece us like sheep.

We were a bit braver and ventured just outside the tourist district to have lunch in a little cafe. We had a delicious conch meal (I didn’t even know that you could eat what is inside a conch shell) washed down by the local beer, Salva Vida or “the life saver” and it was.

We later went to a bar that offered free Wi-Fi and cheap margaritas.  We were approached by two young boys who were obviously on the hustle for something.  After trailing us around for about half an hour they hit us up for money and we gave them a small amount which they weren’t that happy about.

The sister ships. Our ship is the smaller sister to the right.

The glitzy port of Roatan

Just beyond the port, the real Roatan. We had lunch in the house next to the van in the background.

The two pikers