PAGE 2 CONTINUED
"COME ON MOMMY!" Geesh, ok, ok, I'm going. But first I decided Sakari needed to wear her life jacket. The last time she jumped without it and even though she wasn't scared, it kinda freaked me out. So I convinced her that she had to wear the life jacket at least on the first jump and we'll see how it goes.
Then all of a sudden you hear the loud distant voices coming from the lagoon area..."Jump! Jump! Jump!" over and over. I now had an audience and they were chanting at me and there was no backing out now. Where did these people come from? Go back in your hole or back underwater snorkeling please.
Next up was Sakari. Now who's the chicken? She stalled for a minute and I took every opportunity to tell her about it since she gave me a hard time.
So she just jumped. Well, I guess that will teach me.
And there we were. We had jumped and lived to tell about it....again.
Then I get the "Come on mommy, let's do it again!!!!" Um ok. Off we went back up to jump again and again. We jumped one after another and then we jumped holding hands together. After several jumps, I was done. Truth be known, I hate climbing steps and I was getting worn out at this point. Sakari had raced ahead of me and was already at the top. I told her to go ahead and jump without me. That's when she froze. She couldn't do it. She needed me up there with her or in the water. Since I wasn't about to climb those steps again, I just jumped into the water from the deck and waited for her. She jumped, she swam over to the ladder, she climbed out. What exactly was I needed for???
***To those of you that don't know it...LFK have several web cams on their property. One sits right here at this jumping dock and you can set there and watch people jump off the dock during the day. I have watched it a few times and found it to be very entertaining when people are jumping for the first time. I hope I was as entertaining to anyone out there who might have been watching as they have been for me.
After we get back, find a seat and have our drink in our hand, we hear Joel say that they are taking the Jaguar out of the cage over at beach #2. YIKES!!! I have GOT to see this.
I look over and they already have the cage pulled up to the beach water and the door lifted with people standing around.
We gathered our things and quickly headed over to that beach.
Sakari was within feet of it and kept getting closer. She wanted to pet it. I kept having to tell her to get back.
You could tell this big cat loved his handler.
Several couples did the "swim" with the jaguar and you could tell they were loving every minute of it.
With each person, they would also take them over to the palapa in the water and have them sit on the table. Then the handler would put the jaguar up on the table for picture opportunities. Every time the jaguar would get up there and the handler would walk away, he would take a huge jump into the arms of the handler. He did not want the handler leaving him and wanted to be with him all the time. No matter how many times he tried, the jaguar would jump right back to him.
My husband kept saying "Man, I really want to do this!!!" I think he was trying to talk himself into it but just wasn't sure. At one point I looked around and had seen that he settled for this kitty instead.
I told him if he wanted to do it, he could and it was up to him. After all, this was "his" birthday cruise and he was going to have a brush with death tomorrow when we swim with the sharks...why not make it two brushes with death in one cruise??? LOL
What a beautiful creature Simba was. I couldn't believe how close I was to a real live jaguar!!
Everyone finished their "swims" and it was time to put Simba back up. The hubby had spent too much time debating if he wanted to do this or not and missed out on the opportunity. Maybe next time...IF by the time we make it back there they are still able to do the swims (which he might be too old by then).
The hubby went over and sadly watched them put him back in the cage.
We headed back to the lagoon area for one last swim and drink and to agree that this is by far the best day ever.
I knew we would be leaving soon and I needed to go to the restroom one last time. I headed back over that way and on the way out, I ran into Kevah again and thank him for allowing us to visit his home and island and then I ask him where baby Lisa was. He pointed over in the direction and we must have went past her (and probably even taken a picture of her) and didn't know it was even her.
The last time we were here, she was just a little itty bitty thing and so adorable. Kevah walked over to her cage with me and told the worker "Please take Lisa out of the cage and let Kim hold her". I was so excited.
Picture of baby Lisa from over a year ago:
Baby Lisa now:
It's so hard to tell in the pictures, but she has grown so much. She use to be in a cage in a different location, with several other monkeys. A few of them we were warned back then that they "could" be biters. I guess it got too bad and they ended up removing Lisa from the cage and giving her her own cage with another baby monkey. They no longer allow people in with the other monkeys because of the biting.
Baby Lisa was so sweet and loving and would just hold on to you and hug you.
It was funny when the worker took my camera and said they would take pictures for me. He would call her name and she would instantly look. It was just like calling your dog and them come running. She knows her name and it was fun to watch.
Would you look at those teeth!
I noticed the baby monkey in the cage and gave a big "Awww, look at the baby" and then told Kevah that the baby monkey in the cage was about the size that Lisa was the last time we were here. He told the worker to get the baby out and let me hold her.
Now this is what you call monkey business.
She was adorable, but a little scared. I remember Lisa being this way when she was little. When you try to get them off of you, they get extremely scared and will bite when this young. Otherwise, they are fine. They tried several times to get her off of me and she wasn't having it.
She hung on to me for dear life and once I tried to pry her away from my arm to hand her to the worker and yes, she bit me. It wasn't hard, it didn't hurt and it didn't break skin, but she let you know that she was there and wasn't going anywhere.
I ended up having to back up to the cage door over and over to get her to climb onto it. At that point, Lisa had decided to climb out of the cage and going exploring on her own. She was caught running along the ocean in the mangrove. LOL
The baby had made it to the cage...but the outside of it. They were easily able to get her back in.
Then they handed me a cute little Lemur. He was adorable. I ask if they bite and was told these animals will NOT bite. That put at ease and I was just amazed at how calm he was.
When I was done, I raced back over to where the hubby and Sakari was and told them to "Let's go see the monkeys, they are out".
We persuaded Sakari to get out of the water and headed over there. (Don't think this is an easy task. Getting her out of ANY water is a very slow process and a lot of bargaining).
We made it back over and the hubby wanted to hold Lisa.
I was able to get 2 shots and then my camera died. Doesn't it figure!!! Both cameras were now dead and I couldn't get any more shots of Sakari with the animals or either of them with the Lemur.
We were to catch our boat over to Frenchys around 4pm. I noticed that the boat was pulling out and we had missed it. We would have to wait on the next boat to come along.
I gathered our things and went to the dock and ask about the next boat. I was getting a little worried because we stayed with the animals a little longer than we expected, but you get so tied up in that stuff and lose track of time.
We were told that a boat would either come around from the side for us at this dock, or there would be another boat on the other side of the island. I didn't want to chance it and miss the one coming here by walking over there.
At one point I seen them contact the boat coming around that was actually going to pass us up and head over to the dock on the other side of the island. They flagged them down and we were on our way by 4:10pm.
Good bye Little French Key. You gave us the most amazing day ever! We will forever be grateful for our visit and amazing experiences there.
One last photo that my camera came on for a split second to shoot and then died for good.
Leaving the island and looking back toward the jaguar cage area.
We were to catch our boat over to Frenchys around 4pm. I noticed that the boat was pulling out Arriving back at the dock of Frenchys (obviously this picture was taken earlier in the day).
We were to catch our boat over to Frenchys around 4pm. I noticed that the boat was pulling out We were able to walk down the dock at Frencys and get right into the van leaving for the port. There were still several other cruisers with us, so at least we weren't the only ones making the most of our time there. They also had a few workers (3 I believe) that were in the van with us. They were dropped off at the "Spanish Town" and then off we went to the port.
The driver did tell us that the country spoke 3 languages: English, Spanish and Croatian.
It was a 30 minute drive back and once we got to the port, we went straight back to the ship to shower and get food.
I do hope you all enjoyed my review of Little French Key in Roatan, Honduras. It was amazing and we had the best day there. It was a struggle, even though you wouldn't know it. I took tons of pictures while snorkeling, but for some reason, I was having MAJOR issues with my camera...and didn't even know it until I started preparing for this review and took a look at the pictures. I'm not sure what was going on with it but a majority of my snorkeling pictures turned out like this:
They were VERY blurry, foggy and TONS of what appeared to be spots on the lens.
I'm really not sure what happened or what was going on. I ended up with at least 40 or so pictures like this and even some of the "good" photos I had were clear but yet had the spots. From the looks of the picture above, it appears that maybe the flash was firing? I'm just not sure. I just know that I have never had this problem before and I sure hope I never have it again. I'm sure I missed a lot of great pictures due to this problem. So sad.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Final thoughts on Little French Key.
I absolutely love this place. I fell in love with it last May when we were there and I fell in love with it even more this time around.
I think it's the most beautiful place ever. When you think of the Caribbean: crystal clear blue water, you think of this place. It's just post card picture perfect.
There are only a few select places that I have visited and actually said "I will go back there some day" or "I would visit again in a heartbeat" (Chankanaab, Maya Key and LFK). After this visit, this is the only place that I said "When I go back there, I WILL return to this place!" I usually try to find something new and different...but with LFK, I have found my paradise and really don't desire anything else.
*The grounds are gorgeous!
*The animals are fun and a great experience and well taken care of
*The food was good
*Several beaches to retreat to is awesome
*There's plenty of space for everyone
*The jumping deck is a lot of fun
*The owners are delightful and kind
*The snorkeling is fun
*The canoing is a lot of fun
*All of the additions they have made just adds charm to the place
My only complaints (and they are not really "complaints", just thoughts/suggestions if it was my place):
*There needs to be a better system in place for the snorkeling tour. There were no announcements of when it was, no direction or times. There needs to be maybe a "set" time for the boat to go out that everyone knows about. For instance-tell everyone that the snorkeling boat will take tours out to the reef at...say 11am and 1pm and you should meet at _____. That way you know WHEN it is and WHERE to meet so that you don't miss your snorkeling tour that you paid for. You shouldn't have to run around trying to find someone to take you. I hate the "unknown".
*The food-obviously LFK knows how many people they have on the island during the day. The meals should be prepared and ready (together). You shouldn't "run out" of a particular item or be waiting on it only not to be served the entire meal in the end. I know there's a lot of people there and there's no way that anyone can remember "Hey, we still owe them a lobster tail". It's just impossible to remember who all that might be. Although the food that we did eat was good and I was completely full by the time I was done eating, I love lobster and missed it (so does Sakari).
*The division in the lagoon created now because of Carnival is just heartbreaking. It was so natural and beautiful before. Now, it looks more touristy with the buoys and ropes. Then you have to look over and see and line up of chairs facing you. If people would have been in the chairs, it would have been as if they were starring over and thinking "man, I wish I would have booked that place instead" glaring with envy.
*Horseback riding. I follow LFK on fb and I have seen pictures of the horseback riding since they first began doing this. All of the pictures that I have seen online show them riding in the lagoon area...the beautiful crystal blue sandy bottom ocean. Riding in the muddy ugly area with sea grass and big rocks just does not make the experience enjoyable. I just wonder if this is now going to be a permanent thing, since the horse stable area is over there or if they will continue to bring the horses around to the lagoon area. Maybe it was just us and our ride (since it was complimentary). I don't know.
*Swimming with the jaguar-wow, hopefully some day we will get to try this (if not with Simba, hopefully they'll have another young jaguar that will allow it). Being that close to one was amazing. Swimming and getting to pet it has to be even more amazing.
*The price-I have seen a lot of people on here mention that the price is just too high. There are several packages to pick from, so the choice is yours. However, if you think about it, there are so many places to go to anywhere in the Caribbean and normally the prices don't come with complete transportation. So that is an added expense. Let's break this down a bit: Everyone on these boards seem to love Nachi Cocom in Cozumel. People don't think twice about paying $55 (I think it is) to go there. (Yes I know you are comparing green apples to red apples because Nachi is a true AI, but just comparing). That $55 does NOT include your transportation, which depends on how many in your party: could be about $17 for 1-4 people (coming from Punta Lagosta). So now add $34 to your round trip transportation cost and it has now cost you $89 for this trip. It's really not much different IMO than what they charge here with the transportation to and from the port and the boat ride to and from the island. Just something to think about.
All in all, there's not much that I would change about this place. It is almost perfect and we had the perfect day (even with a few bloopers).
I will always HIGHLY recommend this place to everyone on here. It's just that good!