The Roatan Adventure, Day 5 and Coming Home

Wednesday was a very quiet day, we didn't have anything planned other than laying on the beach, reading, listening to music, and swimming in the ocean. It was nice to have a day that wasn't busy. I noticed a little crab digging a hole, so I snagged a picture of him. For some reason, these guys aren't as scary in the daylight. Seeing them at night is a different story because they are sneaky....or maybe it has something to do with the amount of alcohol in my system by then! ;)  Nonetheless, it was fun watching this little guy putt around and dig holes.

Not a bad view at all. The water temp in Roatan is at a steady 79 degrees, so it was nice and refreshing to take a little dip when the sun got a little too warm.

I also found out that there are TWO cruise ports in Roatan. I originally thought there was just one, which I was definitely staying away from considering the rash of recent violence on the island. One of the cruises left at dark one of the nights - it was all lit up with the decorative lights. This cruise left right before sunset on Wednesday. I figured with its course of travel, he was going to directly block my sunset shots, but it worked out just fine.

One of the main things I came to see in Roatan.

The lower the sun got, the deeper the red became.

Perfection.

Everything about Roatan was magical. I'm a huge lover of tropical places, so I was excited to get out and explore a place I had never been to before. It was everything I wanted it to be - busy to a point, and quiet island life as well. I loved the villa, too. It was in a perfect location and I would not hesitate to stay there again. The owners were there when we needed them, and had plenty of advice for all of our questions. They are only two years into the villa project, and have plans to add six more and another swimming pool. They definitely have life figured out! We stopped in West End one last time on the way to the airport to grab more souvenirs. Coming back was stress-free, no flight issues whatsoever. It was truly a place I will never forget, and I can't wait to go back to explore more!

The Roatan Adventure, Day 4

Day 4 brought on another new adventure for me - scuba diving. I have done snorkeling several times on other vacations, but never scuba diving. I can't say that I was excited about this, and I was even more nervous after watching the video and going over all of the skills. It's just information overload, really. So many things to remember at the same time! Once the video was done and the on-shore skills were reviewed, we went into the shallow ocean water to test the skills. Right off the bat, it wasn't working for me. I came up several times, very frustrated. The instructor was very patient with me and she really assured me that everything would be fine. And if not, hey, I tried. After a great pep talk, I went back down and got everything figured out. Then we moved out into deeper water.  I had bought a nicer underwater camera just for this trip. Even though it was only good for about 10 feet down, I decided to take it along. I figured if I got some shots, great, and if not, oh well. It was only a $60 camera and I knew I wouldn't be able to trust a waterproof case for my big camera. So this was really my only option. Once we got about 30 feet down, the LCD display started to bubble. I kept shooting anyway, just in case the pictures kept.  And they did. The visibility wasn't incredible that day due to the rain we got the day before. But still, I can't complain!

The instructor leading the way for us.

Thumbs up? Maybe. There were several times I was late on pressurizing and my ears felt like they were going to explode. It was a terrible feeling, but once I remembered to do it regularly, everything seemed okay.

We also saw a barracuda hunting and kept our distance from him. I wasn't able to get a picture.

Once we got back to the boat, I was glad to be done. I am thankful for the experience, but it's just not something I would add to the top of my to-do list for other vacations.

We ventured back to West End for more exploring and ended up at a beach-front restaurant for dinner. There was a street vendor who would just not leave us alone, so we decided to just try his place to get him off of our backs. My dinner wasn't fantastic, but I was talked into trying lobster and it wasn't bad! My parents have been giving me grief for the better part of 25+ years to try lobster. They would have been proud of me for biting the bullet!

There were some teenage boys on a relentless pursuit of some ladies. They built a large bonfire on the beach and I wanted to snag a picture. Those boys - they never change!