Roatan, Honduras

This is Rianna, standing at the base of a Kapok tree.  I took this picture just for those of you who have read the book, The Kapok Tree, and who, like me, have always wanted to see one in reall life!!  It was huge!!!

We took an excursion to Gumba Limba Park where the kids and I went SNUBA diving.  It is like SCUBA diving, but instead of carrying a tank of oxygen, your mask is attached to a hose that goes up to the surface where it is attached to a small raft, which is filled with your oxygen supply.  This allows the diver to go down 10 to 20 feet below the surface, using regulated air.  The raft follows along with you as you swim.  The three of us just had to keep in the same area, which was just fine with me!  We did not have to get certified, just a quick lesson beforehand.  We saw tons of fish and coral, and it was really fun!

We were in small groups of five, and our instructor took Rianna's hand so she had the best tour of all!!  

Afterwards we just spent some time at the pool and the beach with an awazing view!!

While we were diving, David walked around the park and saw monkeys, parrots, agouti (carribbean rabbit), leaf cutter ants and lots of mosquitos.  They would not let him dive because of his asthma, so we were pretty bummed that he couldn't join us - but he still wanted us to go and try because that's just the kids of guy he is!!

The island is quite hilly, with amazing ocean views, but a little scary at times.  Sean had to sit in the front seat of the little bus on the way out, and was a little freaked by the time we got to the beach!!  They do zip line tours there as well, and so the cliffs going down on either side of the road

made for interesting travel.

We went back to the cruise ship for lunch, and then walked around town for a bit.  Rianna got her hair braided in the market, and it looks really nice.

It was very interesting for all of us to see the towns and people of this area.  Honduras is a a developing nation, and the people on this island depend greatly on the cruise ships for tourism.  One of our guides was a 16 year old girl who had quit school and was working to make enough money for her sister to go to Teacher's college, and then she would have her turn to go.  She gave us lots of insight into life here.  What we could see of the towns and people along the way was a bit of a learning experience for the kids, too.  We understand that the mainland has been having some civil unrest lately, but we felt very safe on the island.  All in all, it was a great day!