We were docked in a marina surrounded by fishing boats, a yacht or two… and even a famous sunken ship. Well, I am exaggerating about the ‘famous’ part, but it is in a lot of pictures of this port so it has become a bit iconic. Windmills off in the distance show the power that can be harnessed from the winds blowing off the sea. There were lots of palm fronds laid out to dry to thatch a gazebo being built on a pier. We could not get over how beautiful the landscape was! We walked all around the top deck of the Dream so we could see the island from many angles.

A quiet morning

This particular port on Isla Roatan is owned by Carnival so only their ships (and sometimes Princess) will port here. That makes for a quieter experience as there are never more than two ships in port at a time. We were lucky enough to be the only ship on this particular day. A major benefit of this being a Carnival port is that there is a very nice beach that is included at no extra cost. So our plan for the day is to peek through the shops and buy a few goodies to take home and then hit the beach!

Our day in Mahogany Bay was the only port day of the cruise that we did not have an excursion booked. So we decided to take it easy and let the bulk of the people get off of the ship and then we could exit at our leisure. This was really nice! There is usually so much hustle and bustle getting off the ship with thousands of other guests, being able to walk down and walk off was fantastic.

Off the ship, we go…

Of course, you must walk through the duty-free shops to get into the port… But we didn’t mind as our goal for the next hour or so was to do some shopping. These shops are always nice and cool and have something for everyone… Jewelry, check. Booze, check. Cute/corny souvenirs, check. There is a nice photo op as soon as you exit this first shop. So of course, we had to stop for a family picture. It was really neat to look to your left and see the ship right there. It was even close enough that you could hear the announcements on board.

From this area, you can take a right and head to the beach or a left and into the courtyard of shops. We took a left and after a few steps could hear the locals playing music. Colby looked at me and says ‘Mom, I will see you in three hours, just give me your wallet’ which made us all laugh. But you really could spend a lot of time in this area as there were quite a few shops.

Let’s go shopping!

I do have a philosophy about shopping in the Caribbean… never buy anything in the first shop you go into. If you find something you really like then make a mental note of it as you can always go back. But usually, the shops closer will be more expensive than the shops further into the port. That was definitely the case here. While there were some very cute items in the first couple of shops we entered, we found items we liked just as much for a fraction of the cost just a few shops down. We found one that was a jackpot for us! We left with pretty much everything we wanted to buy in one spot and it was all reasonably priced.

It was nice to see that there was more here than the basic t-shirts and seashells you think of. There were many locals who were selling handcrafted items. Our favorite buys were a hand carved wooden box and a wind chime made from a coconut and bamboo. But of course, we also left with t-shirts, magnets, sand in a bottle, an apron and Honduras money from the Toucan Souvenir & Gift Shop Outlet (best shopping we found in this port).  What can I say, we’re suckers.  Colby even found a small light with his name on it which was awesome as we never find his name!

Now, off to the beach

On the way to the beach, there are these really cute photo ops outside of Fat Tuesday of HUGE shoes and other props you can stand with and take really fun photos. There is also a line of saddles where the boys got their cowboy on!

To get to the beach, you can either take a chairlift for $12 per person (this is for the day) or there is a beautiful walkway with huge palms and a nature trail. It is a short walk, but if you get tired along the way there are cute benches and even some swinging hammocks (which of course we had to play on).

After a short distance, you walk under the sign for Mahogany Beach and cross the bridge over the turquoise lagoon. It is absolutely beautiful! In the lagoon area, you can rent jet skis, paddle boats, paddle boards, water trikes, and kayaks.

Island paradise

‘I wish I could stay here forever’ reads a sign as you walk into the beach area…. and it is so true! There is a clear walking path which is a wooden walkway with tastefully done landscaping on either side. There are cute items here and there like a large comical alligator hiding among the plants or a big blue shark with his mouth wide open on the beach showing off his impressive teeth. A few feet in and the sand surrounds you. Here the palm trees reign. On the left are places to grab a bite to each like Hurricane Hole where the special of the day is Caribbean Jerk Chicken…YUM!

And to the right is rows upon rows of beach chairs and beyond, the blue water. Most of these chairs are free to use but if you want one with a covering there is a fee. The sand is white, the sky is blue and the water is warm and inviting. Being a free beach there are quite a few people here but we never felt crowded. After getting the lay of the land, we go to stake out a spot for the day. We find some chairs in the shade of large palm trees and the adults decided to sit back and relax for a bit while the kids hit the water.

Time to explore

After a bit of relaxation, we decided to grab the GoPro and go explore! There is nothing else like walking down the beach as the water laps calmly over your feet… Ahhh… So, this area is very spacious and has many different areas. Beyond the beach is another restaurant and a beach bar where we go settle for a cold drink. Next a walk along the very long pier out to the snorkeling area. From the end of the pier, you can turn to look back at the beach and see the ship looming large in the background.

That’s enough walking around, time to get in the water. It feels nice and cool after walking around in the Caribbean sun for a while… We had a wonderful time swimming and just playing around in the water as a family.

Activities on the beach

Do you want your hair braided? You can do that right on the beach! Want a massage with the sound of waves lapping in the background? Yep, you can do that too. There is also a playground for the little kids and a giant chess set for the bigger ones.

In addition to the items you can rent in the lagoon, you can also rent snorkeling gear to use outside of the swimming area and full body floats for sun lounging in the water. Our boys chose to build sand castles and search for seashells.
Tip: buy small lingerie bags from the dollar store and stick them in your beach bag. These are perfect for gathering shells and rinsing the sand off. And when you are done, you have a bag full of clean shells as souvenirs!

Overall impressions

We were extremely impressed with Mahogany Bay. Let me just say that this port is absolutely gorgeous! Lush greenery, white sand beach with areas of sun and areas of shade, island music, a cold drink and a wonderful day! We really liked that there was a day we could spend in a tropical paradise that did not cost anything extra than the cost of our cruise. The area is well laid out with plenty of area for shopping, plenty of beach chairs for lounging, and a beautiful setting in which to spend the day.

If a picture says a thousand words, then a video says a million!  Here are our experiences at Mahogany Bay: Beautiful Isla Roatan – Part 1 and Spending the Day at Mahogany Bay Beach – Part 2.

Want to see more from this trip?  Here is the full playlist.

If you have enjoyed this post, please share!  Also, sign up for our emails so you have every new post delivered right to your inbox!

Thanks,
Alisa
EECC Travels

The post Beautiful Port of Mahogany Bay on Isla Roatan, Honduras appeared first on EECC Travels.

The Carnival Dream dropped anchor about five miles offshore so we had a nice 20-minute ride in.  We made sure to get up nice and early so that we were on the first boat out.  What was neat is that there were only two ships in port and the other happened to be the Carnival Magic which is the sister ship to the Dream.  They are very similar but have a feeling all of their own. Once we arrived in port, we had about an hour and a half to kill before our excursion left.  So we decided to explore the port and do a little shopping.  This port is much larger than we expected it to be and the shops and places to eat were plentiful.  But first a family picture in front of the ‘belize’ sign.

A ride out to paradise

It’s time to go and our family boards the Belizian Beauty to make our way back out to sea.  The boat actually held way more people that we expected and we all snug in for the ride.  Have you ever had water in a plastic pouch before? Well, me neither until now! Instead of water bottles, our guides tossed small blue bags filled with purified water to all of the passengers.  You just tear off the corner and drink away.

It was a 30-minute boat ride out to Goff’s Caye, but it was peaceful and beautiful.  Our guides were great and told us about the island and what to expect once we arrived.  We pass the two giant cruise ships in anchor and head out into the open sea.  After a while, you can barely see land and then ahead of us a couple of very small spots begin to emerge. 

Our first view of Goff’s Caye

There are a few of these cayes out here but none the same as Goff’s Caye.  Picture in your mind what you think of as an island paradise and then look at this picture.  Pretty spot on, right?  It is so small, only 1.2 acres total!  But so picturesque!  It is a tiny island surrounded by beautiful white sand with palm trees sticking out in the middle.

We are brought first to the island to use the bathroom (there are only two, one for men and one for women) and for anyone who needs to change into a swimsuit before snorkeling.  We were the first boat to arrive and we had it all to ourselves.  You step off of the boat dock which wide plank boards where you can see the crystal clear blue water right below you.  Then you will pass under a sign that announces ‘Welcome to Goff’s Caye’ and you step foot on this island.  We only have a few minutes, but we take in the beauty of our surroundings.

Time for some snorkeling!

We all re-board the boat and they take us to the starting point for our snorkeling adventure.  We are all given snorkeling masks, floatation devices, and flippers. They ask how many are in each party and we are broken up and given a personal tour guide.  There are enough of us in our group, we have eight, that we set out with no one added to our group.  With the first dunk of my head under water, it was breathtaking!  The water is perfectly clear and much of the area is shallow which makes for perfect visibility.  And when you do bring your head above water, you see the perfect tiny island in the background. 

The sea life in this area varies dramatically.  There are many variations of coral and beautiful fish, we even saw sea urchins which were a first for us.  Some of these coral formations are HUGE!  Many of our group (not me as I am a chicken) took off their floating vests and dived down.  The coolest fish we saw was a flounder who camouflages himself on the seabed.  We didn’t even see him until our guide swam down and disturbed him and he moved.  Speaking of the seabed, I love how the sunlight reflects off the water and shimmers on the sand… it so pretty. 

The drop-off!!! 

After a long while of being among the shallows and coral, we come to a drop-off.  This reminds me so much of Finding Nemo!  But it really is this lush area full of coral and sea life an then it instantly drops very, very deep.  We swam over this area and turned right back towards the island as we followed our guide.  We then encountered more shallow area that had a very different look to it than the first area we snorkeled through.  Here we found several conch shells with the conch still inside… it seems like I have only seen these as souvenirs on land.  This gets more and more shallow until you are walking up to the beach on Goff’s Caye. 

What an experience!  You are dropped off at least a mile off shore, snorkel through the second largest barrier reef in the world and swim up to shore to an island paradise!

Island food… yes please

Once back on shore, we stored our snorkeling gear back on the boat and grabbed our beach bags.  All of that snorkeling works up an appetite and the locals have that covered for you!  Azul was grilling up some chicken, shrimp and steak kabobs plus grilled chicken breast and served with rice and bean and corn.  And if you want a hot dog, you can get that too… on a tortilla.  The food was really good, as was the local Belikin Belize beer.  Other than beer there is unlimited rum punch for the adults and non-alcoholic fruit punch for the kids.  And of course little bags of water (I still can’t get over that). 

This place is BEAUTIFUL!

I stood in the middle of the island and turned in a circle and could see every square inch of the island.  Other than the cook shack there is a small covered pavilion and a covered open grill.  Other than that, your shade will come from the palm trees.  Most of the island is a small circle, but there is a long skinny peninsula area off to one side.  This is where you arrive when swimming up from snorkeling and this is where most people have claimed a spot on the beach for the day.  A rum punch in each hand, we walk all the way down and out into the water… Because of course the boys have to hunt for seashells.  The water here is so clear that you can see far out.  Most of the sea floor is white/light sand and there are dark spots of sea weeds.  We have two hours here after our snorkeling adventure and we just sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery. 

After we had enough sun, we pitched up with some cold drinks at the pavilion.  Cameron saw a coconut fall from one of the palm trees and made a beeline for it.  He was so excited to have a coconut as a souvenir!  We found some local inhabitants of the island… hermit crabs which entertained us until it was time to head back. 

Time to go…

The boat ride back was very different than the ride coming.  Everyone was exhausted!  A day of snorkeling and being in the sun will really zap your energy!  We leaned back to back and closed our eye and let the rocking and vibrations of the boat lull us into a short nap.  All in all a pretty perfect day!

Overall thoughts

Goff’s Caye truly is an island paradise!  It is so beautiful and relaxing on land.  And it holds breathtaking underwater views just offshore.  Also, this excursion was very reasonably priced at @$40 per person.  What was not included was the food, sodas, and beer… but like I said, unlimited rum punch!  If I have anything negative it is that there were too many people there.  At first, we were one of the first boats, but by the time we left the small island was teeming with people.  With limited shade and even more limited bathrooms, I wish they would limit the people on the island.  I am sure this is day by day and there are times when it will not be as busy.  But overall, I get say that I highly recommend a visit to this perfect example of island paradise.

Note:  We booked this excursion through a company online called Island Marketing, but there are others that offer the same or similar excursion to this location. 

Want to see this story come to life?  Here are the videos: Tender in Belize & Goff’s Caye Part 1 and Snorkeling Belize Barrier Reef & Goff’s Caye.

Want to see more from this trip?  Here is the full Carnival Dream Playlist. 

If you have enjoyed this post, please share!  Also, sign up for our emails so you have every new post delivered right to your inbox!

Thanks,
Alisa
EECC Travels

The post What to do in Belize: Goff’s Caye & Snorkeling the Second Largest Barrier Reef appeared first on EECC Travels.

Behold our speedboat!

What gets you going in the mornings? A morning jog… a strong cup of coffee… well, how about a speedboat??? This is how we started our day in Cozumel! Our excursion was called Isla Pasion by Twister, which means you are going to a beautiful island by way of a speedboat. We met up with our group and laid eyes on our vessel… a bright yellow boat with rows of black seats. No windshield here, that would just get covered in sea spray and obstruct the driver’s view, so he will get wet along with the rest of us. Upon boarding our gear was stored in a waterproof area and we were immediately strapped into our seats. Yep, you heard me right, we were in our life jackets and harnessed down so we would not go flying out of the boat as it made its quick 180 degree turns. Our family was lucky to be seated at the very back which are the best seats, four of which are elevated above the rest. I let my four guys have these and I took one below. From their position, they would get the most spray from the water… but the best view!

Who’s ready for a speedboat ride…

Doesn’t this look like fun?

We take off at a normal pace until we were out into open waters then Pepe let loose! The wind in your face and the salty water slightly spraying on you starts to get you excited. Then you feel the boat begin to rock back and forth and the first turn comes… it is exhilarating! We love to start out a morning in a theme park with a roller coaster and this was a very similar comparison. If you weren’t wide awake before, you are now! Everyone whoops and hollers and Charlie Brown asks us if we want more… well, of course, we do! So off we go again. After a short distance, you feel to boat begin to rock again and now you can recognize what is about to happen and there it goes into another spin. Yeah, this doesn’t get old. Everyone screams ‘again, again’ and they comply. It is a 30-minute ride to our destination and we get six spine-chilling turns on the Twister! It was a fantastic ride and one we won’t soon forget! When we stop the boys just exclaim over and over again how ‘awesome’ it was!!!

Arriving in paradise…

Beautiful Isla Pasion

We arrive at Isla Pasion on the back side of the island which houses the boat docks. We are the first boat to arrive for the day and the island is pristine and beautiful. The staff is so nice and takes our picture in two spots as we take our first steps on shore. When you think of paradise, this is what you think of. Clear blue water, white sand beach, fluffy white clouds in an azure blue sky, palm trees swaying in the breeze… you get the picture! We walk past local shops and spas (yes they have a fish spa on the island) and see an open expanse of tables & chairs, beach loungers, and hanging hammocks. We choose a table and chairs under a pavilion for our home base for the day and leave our bags and shoes to go put our feet in the water. This place has it all! It is an all-inclusive beach, so there is a lunch buffet and bar that are included.

Who’s ready for some fun???

For fun, there are HUGE water toys floating right offshore in a roped off area on which you can climb and bounce and jump and slide into the water. The kids had a blast playing out here. There are also kayaks, volleyball, and other beach games – water balloon toss and limbo. If you want to just relax, there are hammocks in the water, now that is the ultimate beach experience! Want to sunbathe? There are rows and rows of comfy loungers too. We did a bit of all of it as well as just walking the shoreline and allowing the water to lap over our feet. If you are a shell collector, then you hit a jackpot here. We all wiggled our toes around in the sand and brought up the most beautiful shells and coral.

Lunchtime…

We had woken up at about 6:00 am so we were hungry for lunch early. About 10:45 we head over to the pavilion that holds the buffet. The offerings consist of chicken fajitas with freshly made tortillas, spicy potatoes, rice, pasta salad, cole slaw, fruit and most importantly fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. But beware of the habanero sauce (also know as ay ay ay sauce). We pull two tables together to seat our family of five and enjoy a good meal, with a gorgeous view all the while listening to the best of the 80’s love ballads

Relaxing in the afternoon…

Relaxing in Paradise

With full tummies, we find a grouping of hammocks tied to palm trees that look extremely inviting. So we wiggle our way into them (let me say this is not as easy as you think it would be) and figure out how to swing ever so slightly back in forth while enjoying the shade of the palms and the nice breeze coming off the Caribbean while listening to the island birds sing. Did I mention this place was paradise??? I will have to admit that we stayed in those hammocks for quite a while, they were just too relaxing to get out of. So much so, that we all had the pattern of the hammock on our backs and legs once we decided to get out. The boys became restless before we did and started swinging up. They thought it was fun to see how high one could swing while laying down before falling out.

We enjoyed swinging in the hammocks so much that we found some more swings. These were attached to a bar with unlimited drinks. Umm, YES! I wasn’t crazy about my first drink so Jason went to get me another and I figured out that I could swing back and place a drink on the bar and grab another… I’m talented! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the water toys, walking the beach and just enjoying the time being together as a family.

Tequila anyone?

Right before it was time to leave we discovered that there was a tequila tour which was very interesting. We found out that it takes 6-8 years for the agave plant to grow the pineapple which holds the juice that makes the tequila. Our guide took us through the entire process and then showed us the different extracts depending on age. Clear tequila is pure and the darker it is, the longer it was aged and the better it is. We were given samples too. Jason said they were good… I can’t do straight tequila!

All good things must come to an end…

We had three and a half hours in this island paradise but as we were laying on a floating bed below dried palm fronds, they call time to leave. We all reboard the Twister boat for our return adventure. And yes, it was as much fun on the way back! We even had another boat leave at about the same time as us and we could see them spinning too. Covered in salt water – there was a thick layer of salt all over my face from the spray – we arrive back at the port of Cozumel. We do a bit of shopping and then head back on the Carnival Dream. What an amazing day!

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Want to see this story come to life? Here are the videos: Twister & Isla Pasion Part 1 and Twister & Isla Pasion Part 2  Want to see more from this trip?  

Want to see more from this trip?  Here is the full Carnival Dream Playlist. 

If you have enjoyed this post, please share!  Also, sign up for our emails so you have every new post delivered right to your inbox!

Thanks,
Alisa
EECC Travels

The post CRUISE LIFE: Twister Speedboat & Isla Pasion – Carnival Dream Cruise appeared first on EECC Travels.