Scuba diving on Roatan Island, Honduras

This green sea turtle swam by to check me out; we saw a flamingo tongue nudibranch but I didn't get a decent photo of it

Gary and I booked our scuba excursion with Coconut Tree Divers; we lucked out by being the only two divers to have signed up so we had personalized attention

This shrimp is hanging on to the side of a barrel sponge; the Roatán airport is served with nonstop flights from Houston, Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and Newark

This spotted eagle ray was past me before I spotted him; our divemaster said this was the first spotted eagle ray he'd seen in weeks

My parents got dressed up for formal night but I no longer own anything dressy so I skipped it; the fancy menu also didn't have anything I cared to eat

Hogfish; like many wrasses, the hogfish is a sequential hermaphrodite, meaning it changes sex during different life stages

Indigo hamlet (this was a common fish but not one I had seen before); our second dive site was called Lighthouse

This parrotfish is exploring the second largest barrier reef in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef); most locals speak English, while transplants from mainland Honduras speak Spanish

I actually hit a Royal Flush twice during the cruise on the video poker machines; this was one of the few areas on the ship where smoking was allowed and it was awful

We spent Saturday afternoon before the cruise enjoying the Houston Arboretum with Maxine; her new Jeep Renegade is in the background

Our first dive was at Mandy's Eel Garden; this fish was at a cleaning station and just lolled back and forth

Queen Angelfish; Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras and lies about 40 miles north of the rest of the country

Giant crab; the island of Roatan, population 45,000, is 48 miles long and less than 5 miles wide at its widest point

The Nassau grouper is the most important of the groupers for commercial fishing in the West Indies, but has been endangered by overfishing

Gary and Bernie were undefeated at pickleball; the windy conditions were challenging but Gary and Bernie adapted well

This large, green sea turtle was the only one we saw on our cruise dives; bleaching is a problem here, especially with staghorn and elkhorn coral

Other divers on our cruise seemed to visit better dive sites than we did in Roatan; our dive shop was run by Brits with dollars widely accepted on the island