Whoever said “Time flies when you’re having fun” knows their shit! I can’t believe a week has flown by and Cicily and Cheryl are on their way home. I hated to see them go. We were very busy the whole time they were here, so much so that I’m whooped!
Their flight was two hours late arriving in Roatan due to mechanical problems. I always check flight tracker so I was aware and watching the flight online. I arrived at RTB moments after the plane landed. They got through immigration pretty fast and we were on our way. First stop, Eldon’s for groceries. After that we went back to the Bulk Gourmet for a few things and headed home.
Once they got settled we went down to our neighbor John’s pool for a dip. It felt fantastic and the water was nice and clear. (unfortunately not always the case) We floated for a while and then came back up to the house. Bill was making pizza for dinner with fresh pineapples and mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Yummy stuff!
The plan was to hit West Bay Beach early on Friday. There were no cruise ships in either port and the insanity surrounding Semana Santa hadn’t quite kicked in. We got there before ten and went snorkeling right away. Cicily has snorkeled recently but it’s been years for Cheryl. It didn’t take long for them to get their sea legs. Cicily has a messed up snorkel so we were going to get a new one on the way home. After snorkeling we put that stuff in the car, got our rafts and plopped on the chairs at Banarama.
The three of us floated on the rafts for a while with some cold cervezas. It’s all great floating until your beer is empty and you need another. They seriously need surf delivery. We ate some lunch there then decided to call it a day. On the way home the car miraculously drove itself to Umbul Umbul. So funny how it does that, talk about auto pilot!! I was pissed because I forgot to bring a check and I only had a little cash with me, which fortunately limited my spending. Probably a good thing. Cis and Cheryl were having a blast and each bought some cool things. We hit Barefoot Key on the way home for a new snorkel for Cis and came back to the house. Bill had supper cooking for us when we arrived.
Bill got the roof furniture finished while we were at the beach and carried the 4 chairs up to the roof. He just built the table today. We spent many nights on the roof looking at the view and the sky and all the junglish beauty that surrounds us.
On Friday evening I got a message from my friend Sam Arch about going to Pigeon Key on Saturday. We were worried about the weather and I said to Sam in a message, “if the weather is bad we can always turn around.” His response was that he never turns around, he always goes where he is headed. Gulp, OK, calling for thunderstorms but, we’ll trust Sam. We met him at 8 AM at the Iguana farm. Most of the iguanas were still in the trees sleeping but there were still quite a few wandering about. Once he got the boat ready, the 5 of us were off. Sam brought his girlfriend Chelsie along for the day. I’m so glad he did and we got to meet her, she is such a sweetie and they are the epitome of young love. So much fun to be around them. Sam was born and raised in the waters around Roatan, he reads, writes and speaks perfect English and Spanish and he knows these waters. I was totally confident in his boating skills and we were in the new boat he and his dad built, Miss French Key. We left French Key a little after 8 and went to Los Fuertes to get gas. On the way east after filling up the sky got darker and darker.
Near Calabash it really started raining. Chelsie was chilling in the bow of the boat so the 3 of us stood out of the rain in the cabin with Sam. We went through the mangrove cut and came out at Rocky Point, going right past my friend Perry’s house. Once we cleared Rocky Point the sky started to clear up and the sun came out. Sam was right, it was going to be a beautiful day on Pigeon Key.
We wandered around the island and met some people who came in a boat right after us. They were from Canada, turns out they were relatives of our friend Francis, small island, small world. We found this out the next day at La Sirena.
Sam was going to show us the snorkel area so the 4 of us set off. It was easy swimming going with the current and once we got there it was magical. Really, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was a huge underwater garden of every kind of coral you could think of with a vast amount of unusual fish swimming in and out of the huge coral heads. At one point Cicily motioned for me to go up and when I did she said, “I think this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” It was ahhhhmmmaazzing. Many thanks to Sam Arch and Arch’s Aquatic Adventures.
It was really hard swimming back to the boat because we were swimming into the current but we made it, exhausted but excited over what we had just seen.
I’m going to end this post after only two days. It’s already long and I’m tired and want to eat and go watch The Voice.
I was supposed to go to a pool party today at Llyn and Wendy’s and I had every intention of going. Until I got home from the airport and grocery shopping and made the mistake of laying down on the bed. That was all it took. I think I need a few days at home for R & R and to assemble my thoughts for the rest of the post of Cicily and Cheryl’s visit to Roatan. I hope they enjoyed being here as much as I enjoyed having them!
Mermaid on a Raft 