To Anthony's Key

Once our tour guide had rounded us up in Mahogany Bay we were escoted to our minibus for the drive to Anthony's Key where the dolphins are penned.

We passed through the port gates where local vendors were grouped hoping to sell tour to those who walked through the gates or drove a rental car.

Roatan is hilly and we drove a winding road, passing through one small town where there were a lot of people just standing around in the streets with no work to do. Along the country roads were many wooden houses which were dark inside. Perhaps they had no electricity or were saving it until night time. Gardens showed a lot of trash, including broken pieces of furniture or old appliances.

After 25 minutes or so we turned off the road and went downhill to sea level. Once out of the bus we were led to a jetty where we would wait for a boat to come pick us up and take us to the dolphin pens out in the bay.

As I stepped down onto the jetty a man behind me missed the step and crashed face-first onto the wooden deck. I went to help him as I was the closest person and found he had some bad cuts on his head so I called to the guide to radio for medical help. I comforted him and kept him laying down and within just a couple of minutes a boat arrived at the dock and he was taken away at speed for medical treatment. He was wearing sunglasses and didn't see the yellow lines warning of the step.
His wife went to the hospital with him.

He was given some stitches at the hospital and was returned to the ship where the onboard doctor could give him follow-up treatment.

Even on vacation you have to be careful and aware of your new surroundings at all times.

Across the bay were vacation bungalows on the water

As we had to wait for another boat to come pick us up we had time to visit the small museum by the dock.
The museum highlighted some of the fish and mammals that can be found in the waters of Honduras....

and artifacts from the history of the region

Examples of local lace-making

Soon our boat came and we boarded for the short ride over to the dolphin pens

Two other groups were already in the water with the trainers ( in blue shirts.)

I had all my cameras with me but at the shoreline learned that the first half of our hour with the dolphins wouldn't provide an opportunity to use them and that one of the staff would be taking photos for us. After that we could use our own cameras. Under this thatched roof you see above was a platform with lockers so we could keep our cameras safe there.

Now we could enter the warm clear water where our dolphin trainer was waiting 20 yards out from the shore....