Best Monday In A Long Time

After a good night's sleep we all woke up to beautiful warm weather. It was not too hot with a slight breeze, breakfast woke me up with some delicious mango, fresh orange juice (lots of pulp), frosted flakes and a ham and cheese omelet.

After Breakfast, the sun was shining much brighter and the reality of being on a tropical island set in. We then walked down to the dock and boarded a water taxi. We rode the water taxi to Bailey´s Key where all the dolphins are trained. Once we got to the island a worker explained some stuff we needed to know before going in the water and experiencing the dolphins. The small key, the home of the dolphins was also inhabited by some stray cats, but the cats were not like the mangy cats we would find at a dairy farm back home. The cats were very clean and looked healthy. I was told they were also fixed so there weren't a million running around. We suited up for the water and waded in about 10 feet from the shore where we met a dolphin named Polly and her trainer, Brooke. The trainer talked about Polly while showing us a lot of cool stuff she  could do, like make different noises with her blowhole, swim really fast, jump super high in the air.  We even got to pet the Dolphin and pose for pictures with her. After the pictures were done, we put our snorkel gear on and swam with them watching them underwater, It was unreal.

Polly and her trainer

Once we finished our Dolphin experience, we got on a boat and headed for Maya Key, On the way to the key, we stopped at Mandy´s Eel Garden which is great beginner reef to snorkel at off the shore of mainland Roatan. The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom through 10-15 ft of water. The sand was white and the fish and coral was beautiful.

We finished our snorkel and rode the boat the rest of the way to Maya Key. Once again it was very hot outside and it didn't take long to dry off on the boat. We arrived to the destination and once we got off the boat we went to lunch. We followed a pathway through tropical trees and warm sand up to an eating area with tables to sit at, scenery to look at, and food to eat. They had a buffet style setting, It wasn't like the Chinese buffet I'm used to at home, this was a Caribbean buffet. They served fried sea bass which tasted so good I had three servings of it.  They also had ¨fall off the bone¨ island BBQ chicken. While eating lunch two spiny tailed iguanas appeared next to our table and started asserting there dominance through a series of dancing head movements. After eating lunch, we explored the key, There was a lot of exhibits displaying rescue animals such as Tropical birds, monkeys, crocodiles, and even a jaguar. We also relaxed on the beach, visited replica ancient Mayan ruins and threw a Frisbee around on the beach. The boat ride back to Anthony's Key was even better than the ride in  the morning, the water was much smoother.

Photo creds: Mrs.Palmer

 




After arriving back to the resort, we had a lecture about identifying different fish around the island while snorkeling. Once the lecture was finished, we enjoyed virgin cocktails and ate dinner while watching the tropical sunset. For dinner I ate sauteed calamari and vegetable soup. This blog is concluding my wonderful Monday here in Roatan, Honduras. Have fun in the Ruff Buff.