A walk through the garden

The morning started off bright and early with a guided tour through Carambola Gardens. This is a tropical reserve established by an American man whom came to Honduras with the Peace Corps and never left. We saw everything from cacao trees to banana trees, orchids and the “Honduran rabbit” or the wild agouti.

--Group Picture at the gardens

--Banana Tree and flower

From there it was back on our fine boat for a trip to the east for a nice shallow reef dive. This site was called Four Sponges. There were schools of fish and a beautiful reef wall. We kept a lookout for the different animals that live in the sponges as well as the elusive scorpionfish that is known to hide along the wall.

In the afternoon we had a lecture up at RIMS, the second half of bottle-nosed dolphins. From there we took a taxi boat over to Baliey’s Key where their dolphin colony is housed. We had a personal encounter in the shallows where we got to pet and play with them and the trainers did some tricks with them. This was followed by an even more fun snorkel with the dolphins. There were nine in the enclosure with us as we swam around in the enclosed reef.

--Lauren kissing the dolphin

--Dolphin Tricks - notice both of them in the air

Tonight is the night dive. Many of us are not so keen on this one since there is the chance of attracting the jellyfish to our flashlights. Getting too close to one is not a planned activity for any of us. More updates on that tomorrow.

We all miss Debbie!!