This beautiful Island

On New Years Eve Daryl and I rented a car and decided to do a bit of exploring on this beautiful island. A little car is not very good as the roads can be quite rough!

The island is not very big (Wikipedia says it is 59 km long), however most of the time the speed is 30-40 km/h.  And when you are driving through little towns it is even slower.







The only definite plan we had was to stop at the monkey and sloth place.

We thought we might be there early enough to be ahead of the cruise ships.. but lots of people already there....guess that is good for the economy.




The sloths are all free but don't go anywhere, just hang around upside down.....maybe because they are well fed, and move so slowly...
The monkeys on the other hand are all in cages.













We got to hold a sloth.
They have such cute little faces... and such sharp claws.

Those little monkeys were busy destroying their stuffed toy

I could not go inside the cage as those little creatures are amazing thieves.... they will empty your pockets, steal hair elastics, take your glasses.... anything and run. Chances of getting it back intact are slim, even if they are in a cage.
So I could not go in as would have been kind of pointless without my glasses. Then I forgot to put the camera directly against the mesh so not a very good picture.




We also got to provide a perch for the macaws and parrots






















Our next stop was French Key.

This is a day use place where you take a little boat to a private island.









There used to be animals at this amusement centre, we saw lots of empty cages but only a couple of lions sleeping in their cages.




Our next stop was another day use area, Beach Club Roatan, It seemed to cater to cruise ship patrons... three buses and us in the parking lot
Absolutely spectacular beaches and scenery.














At this beach club the major attraction seemed to be horse back riding to the little island. the horses were up to their bellies in the ocean getting there.

We next stopped at Turquoise Bay. This looked to be an all inclusive resort that also catered to the cruise ships.

The buffet was good too!!















This place also had horses that were grazing outside the dining area.

Our next stop was Jonesville, a little town that was not one bit touristy.
Can't see if from the pictures but there were beautiful homes built around the ocean cliffs.






Then it was time to head home. We did pass another "attraction".


This 'ship' was built on the side of the road and we heard it was meant to be a night club. We first saw it four years ago, it did not seem to be open then and it does not seem to be now. Also starting to become a little run down.




In the distance you can see the little town of Punta Gorda, which we did not visit as we wanted to be home before dark.

We did not make it to the end of the island, that will be for another day.




We arrived back in our little town of West End to see a beautiful sunset.
Might have been the perfect way to spend New Years Eve.
Happy New Year!

Cheers
Ruth