explored the island of Roatan

No hangovers! Certainly not a typical Australian wedding.
.... And I've come to the conclusion that although the cocktails here are tasty and cheap, they're not actually that potent. There are the exceptions of course. The Godmother was pretty fierce.

We made it out of the compound yesterday. There's an illusion of safety on the resort, but armed guards patrol 24 hours.

We started at the zipli

Will they make it back?

Adventure man Myles thoroughly enjoyed the 9 ziplines they actually went on.

Lunch at West End.

Souvenir hunting (note the dotty decoration).

Then on to the iguana farm.

Time for a quick libation.

before going to the Afro-Caribbean voodoo community.

where we were asked if we wanted to buy children. Happily we negotiated for them to just sing and dance for us. I did notice Mey giving the little girl a few longing looks though.

After we returned to our room post wedding, we found this beautiful bouquet in our room.
I wish we could stuff it in our suitcase.

We're off to the airport in 30 minutes. I'm very happy that Paul and I have one more week to play.

will review the 'wedding of the year'

In Oz I would have been a mess of stress of anxiety. Here under the palm trees It was a very different story.

At lunch on the day, Nick asked Mey's mother and I if we'd read a poem at the ceremony.
Adrenalin kicked in and the missing anxiety arrived. I had another rum punch and all was ok until the family arrived for pre ceremony drinks at our bungalow.

Champagne on the balcony.
Here are the famillies in all their glory.

Paul, Myles and I. He did change the shirt for the ceremony, and I think Myles made as many changes as the bride as well.

Manda, Ben, Emma, Scott, Jessica and Annabel.

Leesa, Tony, Alexia and Mia.

Jen, David and Colton.

The groom and 'mother of the Groom' and 'father of the groom' arriving.

The Bride and her Mum arriving.

Me reading the aforementioned poem... By EE Cummings..... Notoriously difficult.
( note the attention seeking silver nail polish)
Mey's friend Susan officiated.

Husband and wife.

...and at sunset they were toasted.

Girls, check out Mey's shoes!

The young ones made a beeline for the bar.

The cake and the reception.

I think they're now well and truly married!

Mr and Mrs Nicholas and Mey Cooper.

will talk about spas and boa constrictors

The days are merging into one long haze of sunshine then thunder storms, cocktails then snoozing, eating then snoozing and lovely family time.

Occasionally there are moments of bliss and exhileration.

For Colton this means steering the boats.

For the divers it's exploring the depths.

Finding unexpected treasures.

Manda, Jen and Emma relaxing poolside before beauty treatments.

Mey's mother Mary and I being mani-pedi-ied....

......which brings us to the boa constrictor. While we were being pampered in this tropical garden there was a boa constrictor lurking in the undergrowth.
It was discovered by one of the beauticians as she stepped on it when she went to fill the water jug. There went the serenity!!!
Screams and the little dog living there being taken to safety.
The story doesn't end well for the snake, but we managed to carry on undaunted.

My brother in law Tony interracting with the dolphins (thankfully not a boa or shark in sight)

The evenings are very beautiful.

...and as it's 4th July, there's a fiesta, complete with limbo competitions. I'm happy to say that our party took out the junior and senior events. Here's Emma demonstrating her prowess.

Today is Wedding Day.

The bride and groom have returned to the spa to have some private time and work on their vows.
Paul and Myles and the 4 diving Boersens have gone out for their final dive for the day.
The rest of us are chilling...

So, depending on the level of hangover, the next post will show you the shenanigans.

have adopted the Caribbean lifestyle mon

It took us very little time to chill out here. I keep losing things and forgetting what I'm doing, so I can honestly say I'm having a holiday.
Here's the type of thing we have to put up with.

Breakfast view.

View of our bungalow as we approach it via the water way (the only way)

The snorkelling team off on their first adventure.

Colton navigating for the bus driver who drove us to the boat to go to Maya Keys.

Colton then circumnavigated the island in his own way.....3,2,1, blast off!

More snorkelling off the pier.

The pier from my perspective.

The bride and groom at lunch.

After lunch we met some of the locals.

The usual craziness at dinner.

And nobody grouchy!

Can't wait for tomorrow's serenity.

am relaxing in Roatan

Well folks we did it.
12 months of planning, researching and ignoring travel warnings from the Oz government has led all of the Marshall/ Coopers to this island in the Honduras.

The grand reunion took place in a coffee shop at Houston airport.

Here I am with my sisters Manda and Leesa and my brother in law Tony.

Preparing for the departure at the gate lounge.

All of the Marshall sibs..... My brother David.

Leesa and her beautiful daughters Alexia and Mia.

Myles is always a little camera shy.

The bride Mey and I as we listened to the briefing as we arrived at the resort.....
A horrific list of activities and early meeting times and training programmes and fish identification lectures.

Luckily that's a rum punch in my hand so I'd virtually blanked out by then

Lunch at the grown ups table.

Some island fun for the young at heart.

We've decided to pursue the time honoured tradition of trying every cocktail on the list.
I'm making notes and have instigated a rating system.

Here's cheers to this phase of our holiday and the culmination of months of anxious planning.

.