Today will be a little different on our beach, there are at least two cruise ships scheduled to be in the two different ports, and our area is one of the favorites for cruise excursions, and for cruise passengers who take taxis over to the beach here, especially for the snorkeling.
It did not take long for us to see some of the changes from a non-cruise ship day to today. There were many more vendors setting up boats for diving and fishing, and there were a lot more vendors walking up and down the beach.
At about 10:30 AM, we started to see some of the cruise excursion groups show up, they were wearing colored wrist bands, so they were easy to spot.
It was not terribly crowded, but you could definitely tell there was more activity going on up and down the beach.
We ate a large breakfast from the “shack”, consisting of some scrambled eggs, cheese, refried beans, some type of sauce, and what appeared to be a fried hot dog. Topping it off was two soft flower tortillas. It was a lot of food for $3.00 per person.
Since it was more crowded, we decided to delay our snorkeling adventure for later in the afternoon, after most of the cruisers had gone back to their ships.
Some of the local fishermen were selling some smaller fresh caught blackfin tuna at the nearby dock, so Ashley went down and purchased some fillets for our dinner. The fish were too small to make a traditional “tuna steak”, so they were cleaned by cutting the meat down the middle like a traditional fish is cleaned. We were going to have to cut out the center bone structure and corresponding bloodline later on prior to cooking.
Ashley and Bryan cooked up some pasta for lunch, and added some of the leftover smoked chicken from the other night. This had been scheduled for our dinner tonight, but with the tuna acquisition, we switched it to lunch in order to use up some of the leftover chicken. It was quite good.
Fish On The Reef
The rest of the afternoon we spent walking on the beach, looking at some of the vendor’s wares, and also going to a couple of nearby shops. Stephanie was able to acquire our traditional souvenir, a Christmas ornament, from one of the beachfront bar/stores, which was a flat painted metal shrimp wearing a Santa hat.
Stephanie Snorkeling
Later in the afternoon, we all went snorkeling. Stephanie did much better today, but the water is a little chilly, and she and Beth went back to the house after a short snorkel, while Ryan and I stayed out a little longer with Ashley and Bryan. The main drawback of waiting until that time of day was the wind. Although it was not too strong, it definitely was a factor in snorkeling.
More Fish On The Reef
Once back at the house, we prepared the tuna with some various types of marinades. The plan was to bake it in the oven. The rest of the late afternoon was spent sitting on our beach enjoying some refreshments, waiting for the sun to set. Unfortunately, it had been a little more cloudy today, and there was quite a layer of clouds on the horizon, which totally obstructed the sun setting below the actual horizon.
We did see one of the cruise ships leaving later, it was heading north east towards its next destination. It was most likely the Norwegian Caribbean Ship we had seen in the morning heading to the port in Coxen Hole.
Cruise Ship Departing
Apparently, the Princess Ship must have gone around the other end of the island, closer to the port at Mahogany Bay. We had seen several Princess Carry Bags in some of the groups on the beach, but never did see the ship arrive or depart.
Fresh Tuna
We had a good dinner of baked tuna, wild rice, a salad, and some rolls.
Our Place in Roatan
Afterward we just sat around on our porch enjoying the evening before heading to bed for the night.