Destination Roatán

Flight departure scheduled for 5:51 am — so we had to leave our house by 3:45 am. Got up at 3 am, dressed and made some coffee for the half hour drive to the airport. There was very little traffic and we got to the ParknGo by 4:10 am. We were able to leave the car there so Nicola could pick it up. (She was flying in Wednesday evening from Jamaica after being in her friend Megan’s wedding.) We were literally through security by 5 am — I guess it pays to take early morning flights!

Our connecting flight in Houston was scheduled to leave at 9:45 am. However, the flight from Minneapolis left a little late so we arrived there at 9:05 am. Being in the back of the plane, we didn’t get off the plane until 9:20 am. We literally had to run from Terminal B (take a connecting tram) to Terminal E. We got to our gate at about 9:43 am. Apparently there were other flights that were late as well so the gate attendant let us use the restroom in the terminal before we boarded. We settled in happy to have made it and realizing we weren’t the last ones on the plane!

Arrived on the Bay Island of Roatán around 1:45 pm. Jim and I ended up at the end of the customs line and there were about 150 people to process so it took a while. While in line we met a couple (Michael and Marie Strong) from Canada. They are about our age and have been coming to Roatán for many years. They are both marine biologists and dive whenever they get a chance. The customs officers were all wearing masks, probably to prevent the transmission of the Corona virus. When we finally got to head of the line they took our finger prints, our picture and wanted to know where you are staying. I had the address but didn’t have the last name of the people we are renting the AirBnB from. Note to self: have that information next time! Our customs officer said he would make an exception for us and let us in.

Our AirBnB hosts prearranged to have a driver (William) pick us up at the airport. Boy am I glad he was there because we would have never been able to find the place on our own. First, he took us to the big grocery store (Eldon’s) that is very near the airport so we could stock up on some food essentials. This must be what everyone does because we recognized numerous people from our flight in the grocery store. Then Willam drove us through Coxen Hole, one of the small towns on the island. The big pier is there where the cruise ships anchor. There was a ginormous ship there. William told us that some days there are three ships at once.

We arrived at our AirBnB which is on Tamarind Drive halfway between West End and West Bay. [Now that we have gotten to know the island a little better we really have a prime location!] The grounds keeper, Marvin, let us into our one-bedroom apartment. It is on the ground floor under the owners house. It is very nicely decorated and has all the conveniences of home. After unpacking our groceries we decided to go look at the water.

To get to the water you walk down a steep hill. Fortunately it is paved. As we walked down the first time we saw this woman picking “Bird of Paradise.”

She works at the Ibagari boutique hotel that is at the base of this hill, right on the water. I am sure these flowers will be put in the guests rooms or on the restaurant tables.

For dinner we took a taxi into West Bay. Our driver suggested BananaRama. It is a resort with multiple restaurant options. We went to the one right on water. [We were really ready for a descent meal since all we had today was plane food.] Jim had whole fish with black beans and rice. I had the coconut shrimp. It was delicious!

After dinner, we were mighty tired. Our driver picked us up about 8 pm and we were in bed by 9 pm! A long full day came to an end.