Happy Valentine’s Day, peeps. It’s been a long time since V-Day fell on a Friday but that’s not keeping us from celebrating Nature Friday with our furiends, Rosy and her brothers from LLB in our Backyard for this week’s special Valentine’s edition of Nature Friday blog hop.
It was just one week ago I was cruising around the Western Caribbean. The biggest highlight was spending time on Isla Roatán, the largest of the Honduras’ Bay Islands, a 31-mile-long, 5-mile-wide swath of white sand and tropical forests 40 miles off the northern coast of Honduras that can tick all the boxes of visiting an island paradise. You want palm-fringed beaches? Check. Exotic animals? Check. Laid-back restaurants, tropical drinks, and freshly caught seafood? Got it! From the lively streets of the western end to the once pirate-infested coves of the beautiful eastern shores, Roatán offers a diverse array of things to see and do that will surely satisfy all your travel desires.
Roatán is known around the world for its scuba diving. The world’s second largest barrier reef (after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) surrounds the island and is inhabited by schools of beautiful tropical fish, dolphins and snorkelers alike. When visiting Roatán you will see sea turtles, dolphins, and whales swim in that beautiful blue water.
My family and I took a land and sea tour that showed off some of the most amazing sites throughout the island. The water was the clearest I’ve seen in the Caribbean.
Lots of tropical fish abound. Just out of view in the image below, dolphins were swimming with snorkelers.
One of the most memorable experiences was an unexpected trip to a preserve where our group was entertained by Betty the sloth, Pinky and Coco, the capuchin monkeys and other local animals. The most thrilling part of this side trip was we were actually in many of the enclosures with the animals. I never realized how incredibly sweet sloths were.
A multi-cultural paradise with three distinct influences dominate the isle (Spanish, Caribbean and Black). Although poverty is still a big issue, Roatá’s people were warm, welcoming and ever so proud to share their beautiful island with visitors. It was a day not likely to be forgotten any time soon and I would definitely go back if given the opportunity.
The young fellow in the orange shirt (upper left in photo) was one of the most knowledgable tour guides I’ve ever used. Personable and articulate, Joshua enhanced our group’s experience of his island home. He was extremely good natured with this older group (consisting of mostly female cougars tourists from Colorado, Texas, Kentucky and a charming couple from England).
Meanwhile back on the Tundra, I am recovering from a nasty coughing bug I picked up on the trip home. Snow has fallen four of the past five days and hasn’t made recovery come any time soon, and the furry nurses have barely left my side except to take raucous romps in the snow. Ever have a furry nurse take your temperature 75 times a day?
We all hope you have a lovely Valentine’s Day with all of your loved ones and also are able to seize an opportunity to enjoy some of the amazing vistas Mother Nature offers.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
oh my I didn’t know! WOW WHAT A TRIP!! So happy you had the opportunity to go and the photos are fabulous! Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!
Thanks, it was a really wonderful with my sisters, mom and nieces. We had a great time plus who doesn’t enjoy being in the Caribbean in February? Hahaha
What a trip!. I’m glad you had such lovely memories to dwell on though while you recovered from your nasty bug! Getting back to reality can be most challenging sometimes!
Between the attentive ‘medical staff’ and the lovely memories, I keep hoping the bug goes away quickly.
Glad you had such a great trip, you most probably needed it.. Glad the three nurses looked after you – that would have been something. The photograph with the sloth was really neat and unusual. I liked it – it was such a good photograph. The snow looks great but then, I’m one of those strange people that like snow..
Must be your days from Scotland are emerging when you see photos of snow. 😍I like snow too, John, just wasn’t prepared for the accompanying bitter cold after such pleasantly warm days. Such is life when faced with yo-yo weather.
Mew mew mew Betty THE Sloth iss sorta adoorabell…. Miss Monika sorry mee missed this post beefore. You look furry happy…all that beech an sand…lookss wunderfull… wee just have snow an dirty snow here…..
**purrsss** BellaDharma
We have some of that dirty snow here too with fresh white stuff forecast this week.
I have only seen the hundreds of hundreds of slothlike critters that adorn the merchandise at work (They are rivaling unicorns and llamas in popularity right now). I had no idea they had such tiny faces. Or that they looked so happy…
You know, you’re right…llamas, unicorns and sloths do kind of monopolize much of the merchandise around these days but then again, who doesn’t like everything covered in all three critters?
Thank you for sharing your wonderful spot with us. It is beautiful
It was my pleasure…definitely. 🥰
Did you get to the capital, Tegucigalpa? They have some amazing wood carving that you can bring back.
No time for a side trip to the mainland.
What a gorgeous place! And that water…. whoa! I am jealous! But, I’m glad that you’re back with your furry nurses! Get well soon.
Thanks. Yes, the water there is fabulously gorgeous.
Oh my gosh…would love to hold a sloth!!
They reach out and just hug you. It was fantastic!
Awwwww! <3
Your trip sounds and looks marvelous! I want to hug a sloth too! It looks so cuddly and soft. I never knew they were friendly. Sorry you are sick. Hope you feel better soon!
Thanks, it was quite the trip. I had no idea they were so cuddly as sweet either and with a smile on their faces all time time. 🦥
Happy Valentine’s Day. We could use some of that tropical heat around here today.
Here too especially this weekend with snow again on the way next week, I’m having trouble with piling on enough layers. 😉
What a wonderful trip…but a shame to return to sniffles and coughs…as my grandmother’s neighbour used to say ‘from the sublime to the gor blimey’.
I enjoyed following you around on the island. Love the sloth! Lucy wants to know if she can have one. Hope you feel better soon. Seems all our winter weather came this week. We had a good snowfall, here in TN where that rarely happens, but it was gone the same day.
Lucky you-our snow will be here for quite some time. Tell Lucy sloths are really quite sweet.
Gorgeous photos from your vacation – thanks for sharing with us!! So sorry though that you’re suffering with a cold! No fun at all!!
Thanks. Catching a bug after a vacation seems like a routine but totally worthwhile consequence.
We dove in Roatan about 5 years ago, some of the best diving anywhere!
Hope you feel better soon
Thanks! I thought Roatán was fabulous and only sorry I waited to long to visit it.
Never heard of Roatan, it sound idyllic! Take care of that cold, though it sounds like you are in good paws. 😉
There are a few islands off the Honduran coast of which Roatán is the largest. It’s a wonderful place to visit, especially if you like diving.
You sure brought us back to earth with that last shot! I was swaying in the tropical breeze up until that point.
Just focus on the pretty blue water-it’ll help on days that resemble the Tundra shot.
That sounds like a wonderful week and the pictures are so beautiful, I can imagine how it must felt coming back from a hot tob into a furreezer😸💗Warm Heartshaped Pawkisses for a Happy Valentine’s Day🐾😽💞
It really was, Binky. Luckily I have a three dog blanket to keep me warm. Happy Valentine’s Day wishes from me, Sam, Elsa & Norman.
Happy Valentine’s back at ya! ❤ You make Roatan sound delightful. Despite all my travels, somehow I’ve never visited the Caribbean so I guess I need to add that to my bucket list. I was hoping you’d explain how Betty the sloth entertained you. It sounds like it would be a fairly slow show. The cougars were no doubt far more raucous especially after an umbrella drink or nine.
The cougars certainly didn’t need any assistance from umbrella drinks. The cute guide was a real sport. Yes, I highly recommend a Caribbean vacay be high on your bucket list. Beautiful water and fascinating culture, tasty food are just a couple of worthy things to experience.
omg that’s the black pearl from captain sparrow, right? Happy Valentines Day to you!
You’re probably right, Phenny! Happy V-Day to you and your co-pilot da Nelly.
Happy Valentines Day! What an incredible trip to take and perfect timing from the snow. I want to hug a sloth!!
Happy Valentine’s Day to you all. Everyone should be lucky enough to hug a Sloth!
This fantastic Monika! I shall be in Roatan on March 5th! I’ll tell my family that we should look for Joshua to guide us!
Welcome back to the land of white and fluffy – and I hope you are feeling much better way sooner.
Me too. Hurling one’s kneecaps through the gross croupy cough is the pits. At least it’s clear and lovely today (should reach 50F /10C🤞🏼)
That’s awful. And I know only too well as that was how I was before Christmas.
Here it is friggen cold. -17C (feels like -26C) 1F (-15)
Eek…so sorry. Sounds like typical February weather.
Yeah. Ugh.
From warm to freezing cold. Wow. I’m glad you had the opportunity to enjoy some warm in February.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Happy Valentines Day. ♥
That makes two of us! It was the perfect February get away.
lol furry nurses checking temps!
We’re also sitting on a foot of snow and more on Monday… oy vey. Happy memories of warm breezes. The pic with the sloth is gorgeous. You should frame it for your office! Love the one of the arch with water behind it
Roatán was beyond my wildest expectations. I loved it much more than Belize.