Mahogany Bay - Roatan

Yesterday I told you all about our first two days at sea during last week's cruise.  The third day of the trip we arrived in Roatan, Honduras.  If you know me at all, you already know that I LOVE Roatan.  It is one of my favorite places on earth.  I love it mostly because when you stick your head underwater, it's like sticking your head inside a perfectly clean fish tank.  I can't believe that any place on earth has better snorkeling.  During previous cruise stops in Roatan I was always on Royal Caribbean or in one instance, on NCL which means, I have only docked at Coxen Hole on previous cruises.  But Carnival Corp who owns Princess along with Carnival, Costa, Holland America and various other cruise lines built a new dock there a few years ago and this was my first visit to Carnival's Mahogany Bay dock.

On the day we were in port, we were the only ship at Mahogany Bay.  It is equipped to berth two ships at once.  But fortunately for us, we were the only ship in town, so to speak.  I had planned an excursion to Tabyana Beach which is a terrific location for snorkeling.  I've been there twice and loved it both times.  But after arriving at Mahogany Bay and seeing all there is to do there, I didn't really want to go off on an excursion by myself while Mom, Dad, Doris and Don stayed there.  So after 20 minutes or so of walking around with them, I decided to skip my planned excursion and just wing it.

A view of the ship from the shopping area

To be honest I can be easily swayed by shiny objects and the "flying beach chairs" at Mahogany Bay while not shiny were a little bit of a distraction for me.  So, we walked around from shop to shop for an hour or two haggling over prices in the little market area and buying all the things that we suddenly felt like we couldn't live without.  Then the 5 of us went back over to the ship.  Mom, Dad and I dropped our purchases off and I had time for a quick shower before we headed back into the port to ride the beach chairs, shop a little more and sit down for a relaxing beer and nachos.

Dad and Don found a bench to sit on while we shopped.

The flying beach chair thing is really more like a ski lift than anything else. It takes you above the walkway and they charge $12 for adults to ride it. I think kids were $6 or $7. If you chose to walk there is a nature trail that you can take and they have labels for a lot of the flowers so that you'll have an idea of what you are looking at.  Or you could just sit on the beach chair thing like me and say things like, "that's a pretty flower, I wonder what it is...." as you fly by. It is a great vantage point for taking pictures and as I'm sure you're all aware, I only ever go on these trips so that I can inform you when I return.  It's not about me at all.... It's about you!  So, Mom, Dad and I paid our $12 each and took a ride on the beach chairs.

A rest area on the walking trail

Apparently, there is plenty to see and do on Mahogany Beach.  We never even got off of the beach chair, but I got plenty of pictures of all you can do there.  Of course there's the beach with all the wonderful beachy things you love.  Additionally, there are non motorized water sports like the couple in the kayak to the right are experiencing.  They have captive dolphins that I suppose you could swim with although I don't condone that.  But if you're able to do that and still sleep at night, it's available.

 As we rode the beach chairs, Doris and Don sat on their balcony and waved at us.  You can probably see them in the middle of the photo to the left.  By the way, you can see that their balcony is located just one floor below the main pool.  They said each time one of those chairs was scraped across that pool deck area, they heard it in their cabin.  So, take my advice and never accept a room on a deck just below a major public area on a ship.

We decided not to get off the chair lift on Mahogany Beach so we just made the turn and continued on.  But you can see in the photo below just how nice the beach is.  It didn't seem overly crowded but again we were the only ship in port and the dock does accommodate two cruise ships.  I wouldn't want to be on this beach on a day when two Carnival ships were docked.  Ugh!  Just imagine all the drunk guys named Bubba....  Not for me!

Although there were a lot of mean looking clouds we experienced sun most of the day.

The ride really does give you great views of your ship. So, if you're having trouble getting a good photo of your ship, maybe you'll want to take a ride on the Flying Beach Chairs.  Below Mom and Dad posed for a picture while on the chairs.  Your ship doesn't have to be docked in Mahogany Bay to visit the area.  Anybody is welcome. I would think that on a day that there is no cruise ship docked there, it would be an amazing place to go.  There is a calendar on their website indicating what days a ship is in port.

 To the left is the area where the non-motorized water sports are housed as well as the captive dolphins.  We could see the dolphins swimming around in the enclosures. :-(  The bridge serves the walking trail.  The walk didn't look like it was very long.  So if you don't want to pay $12 each to ride over to the beach, the walk looks pretty nice.

Below you can see the shopping area as we made our way back into it. There is a bar called Fat Tuesday's there in which nachos seemed to be the only food on the menu.  But your cruise ship is just 100 yards away with all that food you're already paying for.  So what do you need with a big menu.  Dad and I each had a local beer which wasn't bad.  Mom had a pina colada there and seemed to enjoy it too.

Mom and Dad with our waiter at Fat Tuesday's

Once we were back on the ship, I had a few hours back in my room to relax while taking photos of the Roatan sunset.  As we left port we all met up on deck to take a few last pictures of Roatan.  It was a pretty great day and the cruise was only half way over.  Tomorrow we'll cover Belize.  Have a great Wednesday!