Caban Excursions: Private Island Tour, Roatan, Honduras
Monkeys, Chocolate, and Sloths. Oh my!
Confession: I like to live in my own world. (Or at least see the world with my own.)
I enjoy traveling at my own pace (or at least the pace of my children.) I do not, however, like the idea of being crammed on a bus and herded to a location to explore, only to be given a specific time to be back on the bus with the rest of the masses. Though yes, you may potentially save a couple of dollars on this type of touring, I have learned that a private excursion is priceless.
Our tour and transportation were sponsored by Caban Excursions for our experience. As always I do my best to represent the opinions of each person in our crew that attended.
Whether you are a week-long guest of the island of Roatan, or you are visiting by way of a cruise ship at either port, our guide Angel, owner of Caban Excursions (or one of his fabulous staff) will pick you up, and show you a fantastic time – customized to your liking with discounts for groups of six or more.
I get it. You are a novice or even rookie international traveler. The ship sponsored excursion options probably appeal to you because they will likely hold your hand the entire way. You will see them as you depart the ship – dozens of meeting spots with designated numbers for you to file in behind. Baking in the hot Caribbean sun while you wait for every member of your large group to arrive. (or worse, you could be the slowpoke, and be left behind.)
Angel provided excellent communication leading up to our trip. Before leaving home, I printed all of our communications, including his very detailed directions that guided us without a doubt to the correct waiting spot just outside of the official port area.
On our way out of the port, we passed by dozens of seemingly desperate tour providers hoping to pick up some additional fares for the day. This would certainly be the definition of adventure – and spontaneity, but happy with our plans for the day, we marched confidently forward through the tunnel of eager locals.
Prior to leaving the states, Angel and I had arranged the basic outline of our day. We would essentially have an island tour with a few stops along the way. Caban Excursions has many options to choose from, with the most popular being the wildlife encounters.
Our first stop of the day would prove to be my personal favorite. While researching for our travel plans, some of the tour providers partnered with an organization Pack for a Purpose. As a school teacher myself, I understand how frustrated I get towards the end of the year when the office tells me that we are out of glue sticks, and they are not replacing them. I cannot imagine the frustration of not having basic school supplies on a daily basis for my students.
Even though Caban Excursions does not participate with Pack for a Purpose at this time, I saw no reason that we could not bless a local school while on our journey. I asked around my community for a few used duffle bags to fill so that I could just leave the bags behind as well. A few generous community members also added to the supplies we had purchased at the store as well.
Angel chose a local government-run school for us to visit. He went in and talked to the Head Master, and she welcomed us in. It was quite hot, and also exam week. Students were arranged in classic desk-row seating, but outdoors so that if they were lucky, could catch a subtle breeze.
Next on our tour was an originally unplanned add-on. While we were driving around, we asked Angel what the most popular tour was, and he said visiting the monkeys and sloths. Yes, please!
Small and intimate. As previously discussed, this is the way I like to travel. Angel appreciates this, and though the mega tour buses will take you to a different sanctuary, you will spend the vast majority of your time waiting in lines, longingly looking at others who are interacting with the animals, patiently (or not so patiently waiting for your turn).
Lines and crowds – not my kind of vacation. Bubba would certainly meltdown within three minutes waiting in that type of line, and the other two would likely just be hanging all over either myself or my husband, or even worse – each other.
Angel was intuitive to this and has partnered with a brand new, small but mighty, AJ’s Monkeys and Sloths. The one thing that this location does not offer at this time, that the larger operations on the island can offer are iguanas, so if that is important to you, you might want to request on of the big locations. That is the beauty of a private excursion, you are in control of what you see and do! (In case you were wondering if Angel will tag along with you all day, no, he will hang out with the other tour operators outside of the venues – though I am certain if you needed him to tag along for some reason, he would be happy to do so, just don’t feel like you will have a shadow all day while you enjoy time with your family.)
Yes, this quaint sanctuary is quite literally in someone’s backyard, this family run operation will not disappoint. Check out our full post on our experience at AJ’s Monkey’s and Sloths.
Buggie was excited to hold a sloth, while others in our group were a little more apprehensive. Bubba was too tiny to hold the sloth, and when he figured that out lost interest quickly.
He was much more interested in the baby scarlet macaw, as long as Daddy was holding both him and the bird.
The highlight of this stop was the monkey cage. Yes, you quite literally get caged in with a troop of juvenile monkeys!
Buddy found this to be most enjoyable, as he can relate to their playful spirit.
After getting our fill of wildlife, we continued with Angel on our tour of the island, taking us through different neighborhoods, and explaining the cultural history of each region, as well as their story of settlement.
Next stop on our tour was the Mayak Chocolate Museum and Factory. This little roadside treasure is worth a stop in educating you about cocoa beans and how they are then produced into chocolate. They let you taste a cocoa bean in the raw, which has now made Buddy very skeptical of all chocolate. He is sure that if it is not plain milk chocolate that we are trying to feed him “bitter chocolate” because for anyone who has tasted 100% pure cocoa would agree, this is not something for normal consumption. They did of course have lots of yummies to purchase to take home, as well as chocolate coated frozen cookies (the frozen part was because it was very warm by this point, and as you can imagine, the chocolate became soft quickly.) This was a welcome afternoon treat for our kids, as I knew they would need something to tide them over until we go back on the ship for a late lunch.
If you would like to eat local food on the island, Angel had some ideas back near the cruise port. We opted to just get back on the ship at that point, because we were hoping Bubba might take a nap. (haha!)
Even minors can enjoy the island favorite – rum cakes! Our last stop along our tour was at a beautiful overlook of the ocean located behind the Roatan Rum Company store. This was billed as a rum factory, and though maybe they do some distilling, there is not a tour of the actual rum making process at this location. However, with the abundant samples of six different flavors of rum cakes, my children were not disappointed in the slightest. I’m still not sure if they REALLY had just one favorite, but they did each choose a flavor of rum cake to bring home as an island reminder treat for later.
They did of course also have rum tastings for adults. Since we were not doing the driving, it was nice to try some different varieties without having to commit to buying an entire bottle. If you are coffee dependent like myself, let me personally recommend the espresso rum as a fun little dessert sipping drink.
Back in our private van, six hours had elapsed, and it was time to head back to the port. We were not in a super rush to get back, as we still had several hours before the all aboard time. Please keep in mind that if you are visiting via a cruise ship, the ship time and the island time are not the same. This is important to understand when making arrangements with your tour provider, as well as knowing what time to return to the ship.
If you are looking for an amazing custom designed excursion, we are pleased to recommend Caban Excursions for the personal attention you deserve in a vacation!
If you are interested in a cruise vacation, I would be more than happy to assist you in selecting the perfect cruise line and itinerary for your group! Vacation packages that are booked through me include my concierge level travel planning services at no additional cost.
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