NxStage Freedom Cruise Day 4: Isle Roatan, Honduras

By Bill Peckham

It was a fun day today after another uneventful dialysis treatment last night. We didn't get to the dock on Isle Roatan, Honduras until noon so I went back to bed after getting myself off treatment. I'm gettting plenty of rest on this trip. The weather has not been very cooperative so far - we had clouds all day today and by mid afternoon it rained for about an hour.

Our dock on Roatan is a facility Carnival cruise lines established, I thought it was quite nice. About a quarter mile from the gangplank there were an assortment of shops and unlike the shopping area on Cayman Island this one had some local crafts as opposed to Cayman's high end jewelry stores. I bought a souvenir mask, made in Honduras, for my wall at home and signed up to take a zip line tour of the jungle canopy. That was a lot of fun:

That's Nick going first. I met him in line and like me he was the only one of his group interested in trying the $40 zip line tour.

You pay and are outfitted with the required harnesses and safety gear within sight of the ship, just a short walk from the shopping area. The tour starts with a ride into the jungle in the back of a pickup truck. After a bumpy ride over the muddy dirt track we were let off at a trail into the jungle. It was a 10 minute walk uphill to the jumping off point 30 or so feet up a tree, accessed by a metal spiral staircase. 

In all there were 11 different zip lines. Some were only about 100 or 200 feet long but others were about 1,000 foot runs hundreds of feet above the ground. The see through metal stands at the start and finish of each run were constructed to minimize the impact on the trees with blocks of wood between the thick wire lassos that fastened the platforms into place. All in all it was a lot of fun.

I would have liked to spend some time on the beach but the rain chased us back to the ship after my canopy adventure. Tomorrow when we visit Belize, a group of the NxStage cruisers, including my Mom and I, are going on a river tour to visit Mayan ruins. I'm hoping for fine weather but either way we're going. I'm taking tonight off from dialysis in order to be ready bright and early tomorrow morning to take tenders to shore. It should be a great day.

Comments

[Zach]

I envy you and your adventure.

[Derek Neighbors]

I never realized how much Honduras had to offer a traveler.