Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras

Off to Honduras, or more accurately, an island called Roatán to the north of Honduras.

Our ship's daily brochure tells us that Roatán is an eco-traveller's dream and a diver's paradise — 'home to some of the best pillar coral in the Caribbean'. Roatán is 45 km off the coast of the Honduras mainland. And a 'fun fact'?

Yep, that's a fun fact if you're an English pirate.

Our guide Carlos tells us that Roatán is 80 miles long and 40 miles wide ('two by one'). It has a population of 119,000 (he was very specific) of which 35% are foreigners. He says that foreigners come to Roatán to buy property that they can't afford in the US. Carlos worked for nine months in Vermont, US but said it was too cold and too expensive, so came home to work as a tour guide. Roatán has this wonderful tropical climate of a steady 32 °C all year. Sounds just like Darwin!

The whole country of Honduras has a total population of about 10.5 million and is one of the poorest and most violent countries in Latin America, but we saw none of that. Roatán is bordered by the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, so like all of the ports we visited, it's a tourist and diving hub, and its local population seem to do okay. Everywhere we went, the local people were warm, friendly and welcoming, and we never felt in the least unsafe.

We had a very fun day in Roatán. First, off to the wildlife park. No guns, no pets, no smoking. Check, check, check.

Lots and lots of white-faced capuchins running wild everywhere. You can have your photo taken with them, but as I have said before, I'm not keen on touchy-touchy wildlife encounters. I'd rather see them in their natural — or semi-natural, i.e. in zoos that replicate their natural — environments.

Tell that to this monkey who decided that Ken's head was the place to be. I was lucky to have my camera out at the time. These critters are agile and very speedy!

After all the monkeying around, the butterfly house was a peaceful retreat. Lots of bright blue butterflies fluttering around, but they are very difficult to photograph. Unlike this splendid moth ...

Lots of garishly, gorgeously coloured Central American parrots and birds (in aviaries and difficult to photograph), but oh, the toucans! We were able to walk into their aviary. Their huge bills, about half the size of their body, are very lightweight. Toucans nest in tree hollows that have been made by woodpeckers; their bills are not strong enough to drill into wood. They mostly eat fruit, which they can reach with their bills without having to move around too much.

I was so excited to see the sloths. I have never seen a sloth before. Look at those adorable little faces! I would have preferred to have seen them hanging on trees rather than on tourists; however, I acknowledge my first-world privilege. The young keepers seemed very caring about their slothful charges.

I'll include a few photos of spider monkeys, white-faced coati and a yellow-naped parrot, but these were behind bars. Not for touching!

Ken was missing his motorsport so I had booked us on to a buggy adventure at an ATV park. In a word (okay, two words), mud and dust! And petrol fumes!

We were not allowed to carry cameras or phones with us on the buggies, as a safety measure, but in retrospect it was just as well as we all got covered in mud. Literally. I was shrieking at Ken, who was driving (surprise!) to slow down and fall back from the buggy in front of us so that the mud spatter from its wheels would be reduced, but as you all know, he is hard of hearing ...

The teams of young men who helped us strap in, who directed us along the course, who stopped us from turning the wrong way and hitting another buggy — they were terrific. Full of energy! When I gave our team their well-deserved tip, and asked them for a photo, they insisted that I appear in the photo with them. One of my favourite photos of the whole trip ...

While we were cleaning off and catching our breath, we noticed that there were a few hummingbird feeders — and hummingbirds — above our heads. We were charmed. It's quite difficult to film hummingbirds but here are our attempts. The third video has the best music.

Our friendly guide gave us a Honduras bank note, value one Lempira. One Lempira is worth about 4 US cents; 25 Lempira = 1 US$.

I am always interested in how these places were colonised by Europe. Christopher Columbus landed here in 1502, on his final voyage to the New World. He sent his brother Bartholomew to explore these very islands. Ol' Bart encountered a Mayan trading vessel from Yucatán (the Mexican peninsula); in true barbarian style, Bartholomew's men stole the cargo and kidnapped the ship's elderly captain. And so went the first recorded encounter between the Spanish and the Mayan people.

About 20 years later, the conquistadors arrived, including Hernán Cortés who had brought forces down from Mexico, along with those colonial companions measles and smallpox. Honduras became part of Spain's empire for about 300 years until 1821 when it achieved independence.

In the late 1800s, the Honduras government granted some US fruit companies land and favourable tax conditions to develop its northern areas. Banana exports, company profits and political influence thrived — but not so much Honduras. It was from this experience that the term 'banana republic' was coined. True story!

After all that wildlife excitement and mud-and-dust, the beach was the perfect way to end the day. Off to a Roatán beach club where I had a wonderful foot massage. And a swim or two.

Back to the ship at the end of the day — salty, still muddy, sunburned and sandy. Adiós Roatán, it's been fun.

More to come.