Isla Roatan - Western Caribbean Cruise Day 6

After our "adventure" in Belize we had a bit of an uneasy feeling heading to our last stop, Isla Roatan, Honduras. The country of Honduras has been in the news a lot the last year or so because of political upheaval including a presidential coup. Fortunately, this situation had us doing much more research before we left on this trip about the island of Roatan, the port of Mahogany Bay (photo above) and the excursions available there. Roatan is a good distance from mainland Honduras and was reported to be virtually unaffected by what was going on in the capital. Plus, we figured the cruise ship wouldn't go there if there was potential danger. As we cruised into Mahogany Bay our fears eased a bit more because the port was very clean and rather new looking.

Our excursion for the day was a visit to Maya Key which got good reviews on several websites that we trust per our research. Maya Key is a small private island located about 10 minutes car ride from the port. It used to be called "Fins & Flippers" and was just a day resort. Now, Maya Key is not only a day resort with a nice pool, a good beach, nature trails, a full bar and restaurant, plus a long pier for snorkeling off of to a nearby reef, but it's also an animal rehabilitation and interpretative center. We arrived just in time to see some of the staff feeding a half-dozen or so nurse sharks (photo above) that they were working with for proposed future interaction with guests....wow, that's gonna be a tough insurance policy to write! We also checked out some sea lions and stingrays they were helping rehab from injuries.

Next we ambled over to the pool which we had to ourselves. In fact, there was only one other family on the whole island with us. A visit to the beach was next and then we checked out the monkeys, jungle cats and plethora of exotic birds on site as well. We decided to try the snorkeling next off the long pier (photo above) and it was exceptional, probably the best "from the shore" snorkeling we have ever experienced in terms of fish variety and overall beauty.

Our time at Maya Key was much too short because it was the quickest stop of the four in terms of the ship docking, plus the fact we got a bit of a late start after sleeping in some from our previous day in Belize. We definitely would return to Roatan and Maya Key. Unlike Belize, beyond the port the homes, businesses and public area of Roatan were modest (photo above), but very clean and well kept . The residents seemed friendly, helpful and welcoming. Take notes, Belize, take notes.