The port this day was Roatan, Honduras. Again it was a pretty remote-looking place with a pier that could only fit one boat. The island was lush and very hilly, and very picturesque. Like Costa Maya, there seemed to be a little town. It seemed much more like a real place than a place created for tourism. At most ports, Jeff and I like to just grab a cab to any local beach and spend the day laying by the water, but the cruise people had recommended that in Roatan we do the cruise-sponsored beach excursion, because people had had problems with sand fleas at some of the other beaches.
So at 1pm we met our excursion group, and got in a van. The beach that we were going to was on the other side of the island, so we got a pretty awesome driving tour on the way there - we went to the top of the highest peak and then back down the other side. On the roads near the top, you could see water out both sides of the van. It was really beautiful.
We arrived at Tabayana beach fairly quickly. It was a private beach, which was nice in a few ways. When Jeff and I were looking for a place to sit, one of the workers asked if we preferred sun or shade (we said shade), and then set up lounge chairs in a shady area. Then he let us know that he'd be staying in that area (there were lounge chairs all around us, too), so that if we wanted to leave things there while we were swimming, they would be watched. That was really helpful, since otherwise it's really hard for Jeff and I to swim at the same time.
Jeff and I headed down to the water - white sand, clear crystal blue water, perfect temperature. After wading around a bit, we decided to rent a kayak ($15 per hour for a two-person kayak - not bad at all). We had an awesome time exploring the whole length the beach. At one end there were some crazy rock formations and little over-hangs. We could see coral and fish just by looking over the edge.
After kayaking, we went swimming for a while, which was really fun. There were crazy tropical fish swimming around, even where it was pretty shallow.
After a while we headed back to our lounge chairs, where all of our stuff was sitting safe and sound. We sat and read while we air-dried. Jeff got us drinks to complete the tropical paradise feel - he had some kind of island beer and I had a pina colada.
Once we were back on the ship, we got dressed up (this was the second formal night), and decided to go out for a drink before dinner. We went to the skybar, which is in the front of the ship on one of the top decks - we had a great view as the ship pulled away from the pier and headed back to sea. They also had really nice drinks - I had a rose martini and Jeff had a cucumber and lime gimlet.
Since we were mixing things up, we thought we'd head out to see a show, too. The show that night was "The Spirit of Broadway" featuring the "Stars of Solstice." I figured that since I liked broadway shows, I'd enjoy seeing some of the songs performed. And I did have a good time, generally. But, objectively, the show was not good. I'm not sure what I expected - it was exactly like any other resort or cruise ship show - like a high school show choir with grown-ups. The acting was super-hokey (and unnecessary... just sing the songs, no need to make up a story about why you're singing a medley of broadway tunes.) The choreography and dancing left a lot to be desired, and even the overall song choices were just... odd. Ah, well - at least it was peppy. ;)
When the show ended, we still had some time before dinner, so we stopped into another of the ship's lounges for a drink. The ship was really rocking this evening, and we were hoping to be able to see out a window, but the view was blocked by life-boats.
At dinner we had a table right by the window, though, and could see the white tops on all the waves. Even writing this blog, I still have a residual feeling of rocking back and forth.
Since it was our night on the town, we decided to follow dinner with a dessert wine at the wine bar on the ship. (Well, I had a dessert wine - a really sweet Riesling, Jeff had a Pinot Grigio). Jeff and I actually had a glass of wine with dinner almost every evening, and the wine on the ship was actually very nice - I think that's one thing Celebrity does better than other cruise lines.
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