A Week in Roatan 2020

Wednesday, February 5

I worked late on February 4th at the Wild game.  Got to bed about 11 pm so the alarm blasted me out of bed at 3 am.  We had a 6 am flight, so I got up, showered, ate whatever leftovers were in the frig, grabbed a cup of coffee for the road and we headed for the airport. 

The first leg of our trip took us through Houston. We got off from Minneapolis okay but Houston was socked in and rainy and it seemed like it took forever to descend. We must have circled for about a half-hour. We finally landed about the time that our connecting flight was boarding so we were starting to get nervous. There was only 55 minutes scheduled from touchdown to takeoff for our connecting flight. Once we landed it was another ten minutes of taxiing to the gate and then, just to up the stress level a little more, it took a good five minutes to get the door open. We hustled up the ramp and then sprinted to the shuttle for a ten-minute ride to our next terminal.  Got off and ran another half mile to our gate where, wheezing and exhausted, we were told to take our time because the plane wasn’t leaving for a good ten minutes. Nothing like a good workout in the middle of the day to get you loosened up! We then sat on the plane for at least 15 more minutes before starting the endless taxi and the long queue for takeoff.  After another 30 minutes we were finally in the air. Since we were more than halfway to Roatan from Minneapolis, it felt like the second half of the trip was relatively easy. Our route took us out over the Gulf and eventually right over Cancun and Cozumel in Mexico and then right by Ambergris and Turneffe Cays in Belize. From the air, the brilliant aquamarine reef fringing the cays was stunning and just another indication why those places are two of the best places to snorkel and scuba in the Western Hemisphere. 

Other than being basically trapped in my window seat, the flight was pretty smooth. We landed in Roatan on a runway not more than 100 feet from the water. Exiting took us by surprise when they opened up doorways on both the front and the back of the plane. We got off and then proceeded to stand in line at customs for over an hour. Last in line. Geez, welcome to paradise.  

We found our driver who made a stop at the grocery store. He waited while we bought provisions. I’m impressed how large and well stocked this modern grocery store is. It’s also awash in tourists stocking up on everything just like us. It gets so crazy in the parking lot that security is on hand. We loaded up and continued on our way.  When we finally reached Casa Blanca, it was past 3 pm and time to check in.

We came in, got ourselves organized and then decided to walk down the hill to the beach.  We are no more than 300 yards from the beach but it’s down a very steep drive.

We waded in the water and checked out the Ibagari Hotel. Being that the owner of the Ibigari Hotel was our neighbor and a resident of our development, we had access to this little piece of opulence.

The Ibigari is a boutique hotel. As of our trip, there are still no large international chain hotels on the island which is somewhat of a miracle. The Ibigari is gorgeous and very tastefully done. There is a very large open air dining and bar area mere steps from the water. There is an endless pool and hot tub out on the deck area. The building is absolutely beautiful with expansive custom woodwork throughout. There are large original artworks everywhere. Each room in the hotel has its own unique decor and artwork. There is a five-star restaurant which was so expensive that we couldn’t afford to eat there. The cheapest room started at $550 per night. But we were allowed to walk through on our way to the beach. It was late in the afternoon and the horizon was already starting to ooze brilliant oranges.  The water was pleasantly warm. We can’t wait to jump in!

By now it was getting late and we were getting hungry. We decided next to visit West Bay and find a good place for dinner.  Our house is located on the far west end of the island between the two commercial zones called “West Bay” and “West End”. It took about three days to get those two straight. West End and West Bay are the perfect laid back beach communities. It was a short walk to the end of the drive where it sat just steps from the water on a long, long beach that pretty much runs the entire length of the west end of the island. Our taxi driver suggested “Banarama”.

They had good drinks and decent prices.  I had to order, what else? A margarita in honor of our tropical setting. Our table, out on the open deck, had a great view of the water. I got a whole fried fish with fried plantains and red beans and rice and Susan had the coconut shrimp.  It was karaoke night at Bananarama but I couldn’t talk Susan into singing. I was able to request “Pressure Drop”, since that was what we were now experiencing. After eating our fill, we took a short walk along the beach while we waited for our return taxi. Then it was a short, but somewhat hairy ride back to our house. It has been a really long day. Hit the sack about 9 pm after a long day. Can’t wait for tomorrow and a dip in the ocean!

Thursday, February 6

We were so exhausted from the previous day and went to bed so early that of course we woke up at the crack of dawn, which around here is about 5 am.  Managed to stay in bed a while longer but finally got vertical at 6 am. On Wednesday I had met and talked with the owner of the house, Guy from Manitoba.  I noticed that there was a big cage outside with a couple of parrots inside. He told me that those pets get to squawking in the morning attracting the wild parrots from Gumbalimba Park about a half mile away.  That might seem like a long way, but you should hear these parrots. Parrots are very social and these wild parrots will sit in the tree surrounding the cage to hang with their buddies. Seems a little unfair to the caged parrots, but I’m sure they are well fed and cared for.  I went down and said “hola” to them. Guy had told me that if you talk to them nicely and say “hola”, they will eat out of your hand. Peanuts are their favorite food.

We had a nice scrambled egg breakfast and then it was time to start getting motivated to go diving.  Our place sits at the top of a pretty precipitous incline, like a lot of the rest of the island. The drive from the main road down to our place is pretty hairy.  God help you if your brakes go out. There is a paved drive that goes nearly straight down the hill to the water, a distance of about ¼ mile. It’s a beautiful barely used stretch with landscaped foliage all along the sides. 

Yesterday when we walked down to the beach there was a woman collecting orange Bird of Paradise from the surrounding plants.

After breakfast we walked down to Duna Divers in the Ibigari Hotel to get ourselves checked in. Francheska runs the operation, a young amenable young lady also from Canada.  She is a Marine Biologist who did her post grad work in New Brunswick before traveling and diving for the past six years. She is now settled on the island with her boyfriend, who is a native Honduran. She’s great. Very peppy.

I understand from talking to her that she does three dives a day as well as teaching yoga at night.  I don’t know how she does it. I went out with Normajean, one of the owners of our place and her friend, just the four of us. It’s really nice to have such a small group. Our first dive was at Dixie’s Place, just off the shore in West End.

After the dive we came back to the dive shop.  Susan wanted to go out snorkeling so she, Francheska and me next headed south to Black Rock, just off the shore in West Bay.  There are a LOT of boats. Some are small outfits like ours and a lot of huge party boats groaning under the weight of wall to wall people presumably drinking to excess.  We stay away from that crowd.

After diving we had to hurry to catch a ride to the airport with our taxi.  He was waiting when we got back to the house so we quickly grabbed our stuff and hopped in.  On our way down we passed through the downtown area of Coxen Hole, a narrow two-lane road. The traffic was heavy with tourists just off the two humongous cruise ships that had docked this morning.  These ships are colossal in size rising six or eight stories about the water and holding thousands of passengers. The road is packed with vans giving tours, motor scooters that zip in and out of traffic and pass on blind curves, feral dogs and the local residents who walk along the edge of this crowded road.  For the novice driver it’s a bit of a gauntlet and certainly makes every trip a slog. We had to go back to the airport to pick up our rental car. By the time we finally drove away, it was already 2 pm.  

On our way back, we decided to avoid downtown altogether so opted for the round about trip via West End.  Just as a way to clarify, we are staying on the far western end of the island. Our house is located between the towns of West Bay and West End.  That’s pretty confusing initially. Why they couldn’t be named something more unique will remain a mystery to me. Driving towards West End gave us a look at that part of the island.  It’s very pretty on that side and feels more remote than the road to West Bay although the West End side is starting to be developed like crazy. I guess real estate values are shooting through the roof and you kind of fear that the whole island will be gentrified eventually.  According to the locals, 30 years ago there was just diving, fishing and a few hotels, bars and taverns. Our taxi driver had told us on our drive that he had lived on the island since 1984 and when he moved here there were only two cars on the whole island! People are loving this place to death.  Along the way we passed a little fruit market and decided to stop. Picked up a variety of fruits and then noticed that next door was the Mayak Chocolate Shop. Of course we had to make a visit. They make all of their chocolate products on the premises. Grabbed a few gifts and a few treats for now and later.

Navigating West End is another challenge.  It has a very narrow two-land street that runs the six-block length of the commercial zone on the beach.  It is jammed with cars, trucks, vans, scooters and people. You crawl along with the rest of the traffic and play dodge ‘em when you have to go around the automobiles that, for some reason, stop right in the middle of the street.  And then, surprise! When you get to end of the street it just dead ends at a hotel and a potholed sandy parking lot and you get to turn around again and go back. We had come to buy me a new pair of fins since mine broke the second I tried to put them on on my first dive.  That was relatively painless and then our drive at least gave us an idea of where we might have a drink and watch the sun go down later in the week.

Knowing then that the cruise ships had departed, we made a run to the supermarket for provisions.  We had hoped that it wouldn’t be too busy. Nope. At this time, it was full of moms and dads buying food for dinner.  The place is always crowded and nuts. There are cops in the parking lot just to get cars in and out and to prevent what could easily result in inevitable fisticuffs.

Once again we opted for the round about trip to our place via West End.  By now we were starting to get the lay of the land a little bit.

We had dinner reservations at Oasis at 7:30 so we chilled out for awhile before heading out for dinner.  Oasis is a great open place with a chill vibe and very good food. We immediately ran into our hosts and had a nice chat with them.  Once we got seated, I had an amazing Passionfruit coconut mojito just to get the evening started.

We ordered a shrimp scampi app that was sublime.  It was good that we did because it was about another hour before we finally got our entrees. I know, relax, it’s island time. I had a tuna poke bowl that was amazing.  I could eat that every day for about a week without getting tired of it. Susan had lobster pasta in cream sauce that tasted great. Then, exhausted and well fed we headed home and hit the sack.  I think we are slowly adopting the island routine: get up with the sun at 5 am and go to bed at 9.

Friday, February 7

The dives just keep getting better and better.  We’re starting to get a bit on the island routine: get up with the sun about 6 am and go to bed around 9 pm.  It’s nice to have a little time to eat a leisurely breakfast and go over your photos and videos from the previous day.  Susan and I headed down to Duna Divers about 8:45 for our first dive of the day. This morning started a little windy and the waves were up.  A bit of a rough ride out to the dive site. Diving today with a father and daughter from North Carolina, just the four of us. While we were down under, Susan snorkeled with another gal.  They were on top of the reef while we explored the wall. This dive topped Thursday’s second dive, which was pretty awesome. Saw so many critters.

Susan had a bit of a rough time on the way back, getting bounced by the waves and opted out of a second snorkel trip.  She headed back to the house while we went out a second time. We were joined this time by Michael, another Canadian, this time from Montreal. We took a longer trip around to the near north side of the island to avoid some of the wind and to hopefully mitigate the churn and enjoy better visibility on the dive.  We all entered the water, but almost immediately Michael began to flounder. He made a semi desperate swim back to the bobbing boat risking being smacked by getting so close. He then began trying to climb over the side on the opposite side from the ladder. He was clearly panicking. That always makes things exciting. Turns out that he had some issues with his mask which caused him to panic and then he couldn’t get his regulator under control.  We descended without him. Another great dive. Not as many critters this time, but great coral heads and alleys and one humongous grouper!

When I got back to the house, I cleaned up and we had lunch.  Spent the next couple of hours fussing with trying to transfer my dive videos to the computer.  Our plan for the afternoon was to head to West End to look around and to enjoy a refreshing beverage while watching the sun glide gently towards the horizon.  On the way to West End is a tourist lookout tower that looks like a lighthouse and goes up a couple of stories for an unobstructed view of the surrounding island and water on both sides.  We stopped, paid our two bucks and got a few pictures.  

Parking is a challenge in West End.  It feels like there are no official designations and despite the numerous drivers who just stop and park right in the middle of the narrow downtown street, we were told not to park on the street or risk big fines.  Then we were told that we could park in the small strip mall parking lot just outside of downtown for free. But when we got there there was a sign saying that it cost money. Confused we asked in a nearby shop. There is a tiny restaurant on the edge of the lot and the woman in the shop said that if she is outside watching, you should pay her.  But if she wasn’t, don’t worry about it. That sure cleared things up for us. Feeling that it was better to be safe than sorry, we went up to her restaurant and found her. The sign had said “3 limpira per hour” but when I asked her how much in dollars, she said, “one hundred dollars”. A little taken aback, I told her no until a patron sitting close by talked to the lady in Spanish and we decided that it was a dollar an hour.  With that settled, we set out looking for that sunset drink. The Booty Bar looked like a great spot with an open air deck out over the water. I feel like I need to drink tropical while I’m down here so I got myself a mojito. Delicious and refreshing. Meanwhile both Susan and I set up to shoot time lapse of the sun going down, she on her phone and me with my GoPro. The restaurant had a crow’s nest on the corner of the deck so I climbed up the 15 steps and had a classic unobstructed view of the water from there. 

We were on island time so after ordering drinks we waited the obligatory hour until our food came. That was fine. We enjoyed the sunset and struck a conversation with the people at the neighboring table, a nice couple of French Canadians who it turned out were spending three months on the island. The food finally arrived. I had three tacos with guacamole and pico de gallo and Susan had shrimp and sausage skewers. Tasty and plenty of food. I had a second drink, one of their specials, the “Sexy Booty” or something like that.  It was bright blue and tasted not unlike Windex. It did have a kick. Being cheap, I drank the whole thing. Afterwards we meandered down the street, checking out t-shirt shops and (me) searching out some dessert. We came upon Por Que No?, a Turkish restaurant and bakery with a cool funky porch overlooking the street. It was a charming place run by a couple of very friendly women. I fell in love with their Malaga Cake, a beautiful chocolate concoction. It consisted of a piece of cake with a banana on top drenched in chocolate. 

Very nice. In passing I asked the owner if they made filafel. She said, “Of course, the best in town!” I must have looked interested because before we left she said, “Can you wait? I am making something for you”, and she brought out a couple of filafels for us to try. I was stuffed but didn’t want to appear ungrateful, so I managed to choke them down. Yum. We made the hairball trip back down the roller coaster driveway and settled in. When the sun goes down here, it gets dark, like pitch black. When it’s 8 pm it feels like midnight.  Susan was pooped and turned in. I just can’t go to bed that early so did a crossword before I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

Saturday, February 8

It’s 7:30, parrot time!  The squawking begins about the same time every morning, maybe another reason to keep your windows closed.  Woke up to another beautiful day in paradise. It’s lovely in the morning before the sun gets high in the sky and in the evening after the sun goes down.  During the day, it’s best to avoid the sun. One thing we are missing at our AirBnB is screens. Granted we only have one true window to the outside, but it would be lovely to sleep by the cool breezes that blow at night.  Our only other portal to the outdoors is our large glass door which has no screen. So you are always wrestling with the A/C trying to find that perfect balance between too warm and too cold. Anyway, it’s lovely to sit out on our veranda, like I am doing now, and enjoying the cool morning air and the sound of the birds in the trees.

Got up, had a fine breakfast of fried eggs and fried toast (not bad). After feeding the birds, I headed for the dive.  It was the usual crew, Dave, Cristin and Francheska along with our neighbor Carlos, an older Honduran man and a very nice guy.  Carlos is also the owner of the Ibigari. You could tell by his comfortable manor that he was an experienced diver. The seas were much calmer today, no problem at all. We once again headed for the north side of the island.

Susan decided to just go out snorkeling once today so she, along with a different young couple from, where else, Canada, all went out.  We dove and snorkeled at Acuario, a very short boat ride from Ibigari.

Afterwards we came back to the house, cleaned up and ate lunch.  Then we set up the long, torturous process of transferring the videos from my GoPro to the computer and then to Google Drive.  With our slow internet, it can take up to 6 hours to transfer a day’s worth of video. So after a dive we set it up and then let it go all day. We made a run to our favorite fruit stand down the road from West End and came back.  Around 4:15 we headed for West End to look around and to enjoy a drink and meal watching the sun go down over the water. We found a perfect spot at Handsome Harry’s, which is right behind the Booty Bar we ate in the previous night.  In fact, the French Canadian couple at the next table suggested it to us along with the tip to try their conch. Handsome Harry’s is a two-story establishment with a beautiful open air deck set high above the water. When we arrived, we were the only people there.  We ordered and savored the beautiful sunset. I had an amazing Conch Ceviche.  

Requiring a dessert, we meandered down the street and found just what I was looking for.  The food looked good if you could get over the fact that a pack of feral dogs roamed freely around the guests and a cat calmly perched on the counter.  I could and opted for the tropical carrot cake which was sublime. I also had my eye on the tres leches cake. I think I might have to make a return trip.

As I might have mentioned previously, when the sun goes down here, it gets pitch black.  It was only 6:30 and the full moon was rising, so we decided to take a drive along the northern shore to see if we could catch a glimpse of the moon from a beach.  Curiously there are no public beaches in the stretch so eventually we found ourselves turning back towards the west end again. Unfortunately we ended up navigating narrow, crowded, traffic choked streets on our quest to return home.  It’s a dizzying collection of cabs, cars, tourist vans, feral dogs and people that suddenly stop or unexpectedly appear in the road. It’s pretty nerve wracking. It was also Saturday night, so the local traffic was heavier than normal.  We hadn’t driven this route to our place yet so of course we ended up on a dead end once, but eventually we made it back in one piece. It was time to transfer videos and hit the sack.

Sunday, February 9

I’m starting to become a native: I wake up with the sun about 5 am and I’m ready for bed at 9 pm.  It’s really a pretty nice way to live. I get up early when it’s cool and quiet and I sit outside on our deck and drink my coffee and blog.  It could be a lot worse. Then the parrots descend to converse with their buddies in captivity and, if you happen to have your windows open, you get up too.  So then I go down and feed them a dozen peanuts or so until all four of them have had their fill. By then it’s still only about 7 am and I’ve still got two hours until my first dive.  We eat breakfast and I fuss with my cameras and get ready to go. About 8:45 I make the ten minute walk to the dive shop at the bottom of the hill. It’s a nice routine. Turns out that my dive buddy Cristin ate something that didn’t agree with her at the 5-star restaurant at Ibigari last night so couldn’t make the first dive at 9 am.  Her dad, Dave, decided to lend his moral support so he baled on the dive as well. It would have been just me, but it’s excessive to have the boat and two dive shop employees for just one person, so I offered to skip the first dive and go out at 11 instead. I headed back to the house to chill for awhile. Susan was going snorkeling with us at 11, so about 10:45 we headed back down the hill.  On the second dive it was Dave, me, Susan and Ted, a new arrival from New Orleans on his first dive in Roatan. We had a beautiful shallow dive at Blue Channel. The light was fantastic. We dropped down to a sea grass bed in about ten feet of water and were in the water no more than a minute before we saw a pair of Spotted Eagle Rays, just as Francheska had predicted. We had apparently startled them because they circled wide around us but as we waited they came right back and were barely ten feet away and going about their business less than a minute later.  Francheska keeps finding more interesting dives each day. Every site has its own unique structure and ecosystem. Every dive is different and interesting. Because the dive site was so shallow and the light so strong, Susan got a good closeup look at the rays as well and had a good time snorkeling.

After arriving back at the shop, we headed up to the house for a shower and lunch.  We have settled into a routine of turkey/ham sandwiches with cheese and avocado with chips and salsa and fresh fruit.  The melons are very nice, the bananas are local and tasty and I have developed a taste for lichee nuts, the red hairy fruit with the perfect white center.  Also easy to peel and eat.  

We had all afternoon to kill, so the game plan was to take a walk down to Gumbalimba Park, the local eco-tourist trap where you can get your picture taken with a sloth, a monkey or a parrot and where they will gladly let you zipline, swim or kayak for a fee, you know, a “real” jungle adventure.  Luckily we got a late start and it was too closed when we got there. I think I’ll survive. We continued down the beach towards West Bay where we had eaten the first night on the island.

West Bay is becoming a big tourist destination and was teeming with bars, restaurants, dive shops and hordes of tourists.  We decided that we’d seen enough and headed back towards Ibagari with the idea that we would have a beverage, an app and watch the sun go down. We had originally planned to do those at Ibigari but were scared off by the gastric troubles that my dive buddy Cristin had had the previous night. So we wandered a little further up the beach until we discovered a cool little open air bar and restaurant at Clearwater Beach resort.  We got an seafood combo app and a couple of cold beverages and enjoyed the setting sun.

Walked home in the near darkness, made up a quick dinner of sautéed vegetables and then just melted into the sofa.

Monday, February 10

Last day of diving so let’s go all out! Three long dives, almost three hours total water time.  Breakfast on the veranda, say hola to my bird buddies, stretch a little bit and head for the dock.  Francheska does a great job of mixing up the dives, giving us something different each time. Luckily, with innumerable dives sites that are close together, that’s not too difficult.  Still, I appreciate her preparation and efforts. First dive was on the El Aguila, a sunken wreck in about 90 feet of water. I hadn’t done anything similar since diving the Thistlegorm in the Sanai and that was over 20 years ago.  We followed the bowline down to the wreck and did a slow tour. The wreck is in pieces and the hull alive with coral. The highlight for me was seeing an enormous green moray on the bottom with just his massive head and neck sticking up from under an old metal beam.  We spotted other tiny critters while ascending up the mast. After surveying the wreck, we swam to a coral head structure to finish out the dive.

After our second dive, I was feeling a little spent and probably dehydrated.  During the 3+ hours of dive time, I had had only one glass of water so was feeling kind of light headed.  Lunch and a cup of coffee were just the thing to fix me up, so after cleaning up, we headed to West End to find something to eat.  After strolling along the Main Street and perusing a few menus, we opted for a cool open air bar and restaurant called Splash Inn. Like a lot of the bars and restaurants in the town, this one was connected with a dive center.  And like previous meals there, the food was pretty good. Susan went with the fajita special which came with a free beer (!) and being surround all morning by sea life, went for the fish filet special. I also had a lovely ginger lemonade, which was tasty and burned my throat a little like it should.

It was the middle of the day and the sun was hot, so we decided that it was siesta time. Came back to the house, turned up the A/C and took a short nap. I was up again about 4 and drinking water like a camel. I wanted to feel good again for the night dive. Headed down to the dock about 5:15. Went out with Guy, Normajean and Braxton, their son/nephew.  Having just been certified, this was their first night dive. They are checking all of the boxes in a hurry. We arrived at the dive site at dusk and entered the water to the last dying rays of sun. Night dives are fun. Being in total darkness, when you see something it’s a surprise. The first cool find was a lobster out roaming the coral. I ended up seeing several.  The urchins were all out as well but most of the fish, except for the Cardinalfish, were hiding. Shining your light in the holes in the coral heads you could spot a Blue Tang or a Stoplight Parrotfish. Easily the highlight of the dive was spotting two octopi. I don’t know how Francheska finds them because if they don’t want to be seen they can hunker down in any hole and camouflage themselves to be almost invisible.  The first one did just that. Later on in the dive she found one under a coral shelf. It was a little more assertive. When she stuck her flashlight under to take a look, it wrapped its tentacles around the light. Slowly she prodded the octo out into the open where we got a good look at it. A real treat! After a good fifty minutes of bottom time we surfaced and headed back to shore. Susan was waiting when I returned and, tired and happy, we trudged the long road back to our place.

We had a good snack, a couple of beverages and then, exhausted, hit the sack.

Tuesday, February 1

The last full day in paradise!  Had a big breakfast and then ambled down the hill to the dive shop.  It was back to the three of us diving. Francheska asked what we wanted to see.  Dave and Cristin said, “rays” and I replied “eels”. Rays prefer a sandy bottom and eels tend to live in coral so she suggested a couple of adjacent dive sites that had each which combined became “The Point”.  Other than a mixup that resulted in my mask going out with the other boat, all was well. She called the other boat which met us at the site and all was well. Honestly, after each dive they have everybody just leave everything where it is and somehow, even with all of the different divers that they service, they mostly have your gear ready for you when you get on the boat for your next dive.  The miracle is that these kinds of things don’t happen more often. The Point, as the name suggests, is the far eastern point of the island. Being at the far eastern point though exposes the site to the prevailing winds that blow almost constantly from that direction. Thus, there were pretty big waves when we tied off. Additionally there was a lot more current and churn which reduced visibility quite a bit.  But the upside of these currents is that there are a lot more bigger fish as we would see. Right off the bat we spotted a green turtle, which are always cool to see. The entire site is made up of some sand patches surrounded by endless coral heads.

Since we are leaving in a little over 24 hours, I opted for a single dive so was back at the shop earlier in the day.  Susan had spent the time walking on the beach and talking to Dave’s wife Diedre. We made the long walk up the hill, cleaned up and made a little lunch.  Our plan was to drive to the east side of the island and visit the iguana farm. If nothing else, it would give us an opportunity to see what else is on the island.  Although the island is not huge, there is basically just a couple of main roads that can be really busy. So it takes awhile to get anywhere. We fought the traffic and then major road construction for almost an hour until, about ready to give up and turn around, we finally found the turnoff for French Harbor.  It wasn’t what we thought it was. French Harbor bills itself as a traditional fishing village. Maybe we took a wrong turn but where we ended up was a cramped series of streets lined with decrepit houses. Perhaps we should have taken a right instead of a left when we had the chance, but after slowly navigating our way out of there we had had enough.  Get me out of here! So we backtracked to home as quickly as possible, which wasn’t all that quickly.

Once home, we walked back down to the dive shop, paid our bills and then hung out for awhile.  We killed a little time until the “Golden Hour” and then headed back to West End and our destination for the night, “The End of the World Bar”.  It had been specifically recommended by our hosts. It might not be the end of the world anymore with all of the development going on, but you can see it from there.  We parked as usual on the north edge of town and walked the five blocks down Main Street until the road dead ended. Then you take a little dirt path to the beach and there it is.  This place is the definition of laid back. We wandered into the bar area where four people wearing bar shirts managed to completely ignore us even though we were the only people at the bar.  I finally placed my order and then looked for a place to sit. They’ve got a volleyball net up out front and there was a lively game going on with a brunch of handsome native kids. We wandered up to the dock and were greeted with a hearty “Hello!”.  There were four people sitting out there and before I knew it we were introducing and telling complete strangers all about ourselves. This can be uncomfortable to a Minnesotan. Turns out the guy who greeted us is the owner to the bar and he gave us his entire life story, which was actually pretty damn interesting.  To summarize: he had been raised in south Florida but spent his youth traveling all over the Caribbean where his father would travel and paint boats. A big boat could cost a couple hundred thousand dollars so they had plenty of money to live on while they traveled around. He knows all of the main islands. He owns several boats and still travels around, partially to avoid the onerous taxes for those that overstay their tourist visas.  His father had recently passed away and he was trying to keep the bar going. He hires only locals to work for him who also live in units on his property. His dad also owned a lot of land so I think he has an eye for developing. He also takes people out snorkeling and kayak fishing, which sounds really fun. It’s another of those things that we will put on the list for next time. If you catch a fish, his cook will clean it and cook it for you right there.  This guy has a lot of good ideas. He’s had an interesting but complicated life. He has the background and experiences to provide Jimmy Buffet with several albums of material. His story went on and on- several deaths in the immediate family, his new girlfriend, his trials and travails with the bar and the street repairs, etc. He was super nice and gracious but this is a guy who needs an audience.  

By now we were getting very hungry.  He recommended the cracked conch appetizer which was tender and tasty.  In order to avoid the rubbery texture, he has his cooks pound it. It is then breaded and fried and served with a nice garlic aioli. For dinner I had a huge shrimp quesadilla.  Very filling and tasty. Afterwards we headed back to the car but not before making a stop at Creole’s for their amazing Caribbean Carrot Cake, truly one of the best I have ever had. Belly very full, we headed back to home and chilled out before hitting the bed at island time: Susan at 8 pm, me at 9 pm.

Wednesday, February 12

Our last day in Roatan.  Our flight out didn’t leave until 1:40 which gave us ample for a leisurely morning.  Had a nice breakfast and then I took a last walk on the beach. Susan was up for the walk down, but not for the walk back up so opted to stay at the room.  It was another cool, breezy lovely morning. Before the sun gets up high, the temps are very pleasant. I walked down to the Ibigari and arrived just in time to see Lucas sprawled out on the sidewalk surrounded by Francheska and others.  He had what looked like a broken ankle but mysteriously would never say what exactly it was. He had been hobbling around all week and confined to the office. He had told me earlier that he was to see the doctor on the following Friday to see if he could get the cast off.  Lucas is a very taciturn young man. By his accent I would guess Swedish or Dutch. If he has a sense of humor it was lost on me. No amount of light hearted banter could shake him out of his serious funk. Had to be a Swede.  

I continued down the beach as far as a set of rocks that would have required me to detour through the property of some nearby houses.  With a “No Tresspassing” sign posted, I decided to turn around. Back up the hill. Fed and talked to my parrots one more time. I will miss them.  I left a huge amount of leftover peanuts for my buddies with Guy so at least they will be well fed.

We packed up and headed for the airport.  Wanting to avoid Coxen Hole, we detoured towards West End.  I stopped for one last time to take a picture of my favorite fruit stand which I will miss a lot.  Traffic was light and we reached the rental car office easily. Got a quick inspection and a lift across the road to the airport.  We were way too efficient. We arrived about 11:30. Now we had about two hours to kill just sitting in the lobby. I managed to kill a little time by eating, always a good option until finally we were ready to board.  This 737 has a front and rear entrance so we were able to enter at the rear of the plane and avoid the crush. A short 2 hour flight got us to the Houston airport. Here we went through customs. I’m going to blame Trump and his foreigner paranoia because we basically went through hell to get on our next flight.  We waited in line in FIVE different queues- sniffed by dogs, scanned, vetted and processed until I thought I would lose my mind. It was a relief to finally break free and reach our gate. After that gauntlet, the flight seemed easy. We arrived to sub-zero temperatures but that was alright, I would carry the warm glow of Roatan around with me for about a week.

Reflections:

I had been hearing about Roatan for years.  I think the first time was about 1986 when I lived in Florida.  Visiting back then would have been amazing. We had a driver one day tell us that he had arrived on the island back in 1984 and at that time there were just two cars on the island!

Roatan is still amazing, a diving paradise which still has no chain hotels and only one chain restaurant, Bojangles Fried Chicken.  West End and West Bay have that laid back funky charm that makes it a great place to visit. Both areas are just a six-block commercial street right next to the beach.  The street is lined with dive shops, bars, restaurants and tourist shops. Overall the food and drinks are way above average.

Roatan is rapidly being developed.  In the immediate area that we stayed in, Blue Roatan, they are subdividing and building.  Some of the houses are expensive and exclusive. It won’t be long, I’m afraid, before all of the great scenic views are bought up and the best beachside lots are taken.  There are very exclusive hotels popping up, the kind that are so expensive, like the Ibigari, that no normal person could stay there. Roatan is the kind of place that you can love to death.

The diving is still terrific and basically unlimited.  The reef on the western and northern sides of the island stretches unbroken for miles.  There are named dive sites but it is essentially one long reef. If you stayed there six months and dived every day, I don’t think you could dive every site on the island.  The variety of coral, geography and wildlife is spectacular. We will definitely return!

Visiting the island, I had the epiphany that perhaps and in spite of my rock solid preconceptions, I might just consider someday living there.  We met a lot of Americans down there who have made that decision. You can still live in this beautiful place for cheaper than you can in the States.  It’s tempting. The only thing keeping me from taking that plunge is that I’m pretty sure that I would get tired of living in such a paradise day after day.  To my way of thinking, what makes it special is how different it is from Minnesota in the winter time. If and when Susan ever retires, we have decided that we need to break away from winter at least two weeks of the year.

A few final highlights:

The ginger lemonade at the Splash Inn

Conch ceviche at Eagle Ray’s

Caribbean Carrot Cake at Creole’s

The tasty fun of eating a Lichee Nut

The food at Oasis

The fruit stand 

Mojitos at Pirate’s Cove