Updated:  October 3, 2006                                                                        Email Me

Roatan Honduras 2006

HOME          MY LIFE            LATEST NEWS AND PHOTOS       TRAVEL            ALASKA

A friend of mine told me about Roatan Island several years ago.  I looked it up on the internet and decided it should be on my list of places to see some day.  When Kathy suggested it as a place to go to celebrate her birthday in September 2006, I started planning immediately.

We spent two weeks on Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras.  Due to a long history of dealing with English people, either government people or pirates, most Roatan residents  speak English and they are, for the most part, wonderful people.  There are a lot of former US, Canada, and European residents living full time on the island and everyone gets along.

We found some great restaurants with prices better than what we pay here in Anchorage but about on a par with many places in the lower 48.  We rented a car for the last four days we were there and it cost us $38US per day including tax and insurance.  I was a little concerned when I put gas in it and the credit card bill came to 1370 Lempira.  At 19 Lempira to the dollar I thought I was hit with a $72US tab but my credit card statement said it was only $18US.  I still don't know how that happened and what the cost of fuel is there.

We had a couple of problems; it was really hot and humid but we countered that with air conditioning available for an extra $12US per day and the ocean was only 50 yards from our front door when we wanted to cool off naturally.  I came down with a severe ear infection that kept me out of the water for three days but I saw a doctor who treated me with ear drops for the pain and directed me to a pharmacy for antibiotics. The doctor charged me $20US and the antibiotic ear drops at the "over the counter" pharmacy cost $11US.  Makes me wonder how a third world country can do this when the richest country on earth would make you pay a couple of hundred bucks for the same thing.

I had my good TEVA sandals stolen from just outside the front door one day when Kathy was in the ocean and I was on the couch waiting for the ear drop antibiotics to kick in.  A week later we spotted a guy  snooping around the place and, while I tried to see what he was up to through the windows, Kathy went outside. When I saw him looking in our kitchen window I grabbed a walking stick and headed outside where I found Kathy holding him by the arm with one hand and holding my sandals, which she had made the guy take off, in the other hand.  She was amazing.  The guy didn't speak English and he eventually walked off while the manager of the place was describing him on the phone to the policia.  We never saw him again.  After thinking about this and the guy's condition I think he might be one of the Cuban refugees who are fleeing Cuba for Honduras.  Honduras allows them to stay but they have nothing.  This guy looked like he was living in the woods and was probably just scavenging for whatever he could find.

The primary negative aspect of Roatan was the bugs.  Now, for an Alaskan to say that, you must know that this was serious stuff.  Problem was that these Sand Fleas are so tiny that they fit through any window screen made and they are attracted to light.  We were unaware of this so sitting in the living room at night with the screened windows open simply opened the buffet for them and it took several days for us to figure out why we looked like we had chicken pox every morning.  We went to the air conditioning and closed the windows after this and solved most of the problem.  There were other bugs that bothered us but those Sand Fleas were like something out of a Hitchcock movie.

The best thing about Roatan was the snorkeling.  West Bay Beach is a beautiful strand of sand and is in a very protected area.  Water temperature allows for extended stays in the water without any protection  necessary other than for the sun.  As storms don't usually hit the area directly and it doesn't get a lot of pressure from people, the coral formations and plants are virtually undisturbed.  One section of the reef comes within 50 feet of the south end of West Bay Beach making it very easy to explore.  Another stretch of reef lies about 50 yards out and parallel to the other but, with the calm waters, it was easy to get to and stay as long as we wanted.  We had to walk about a half mile to reach the best snorkeling area on the beach but snorkeling directly in front of where we stayed was interesting also.  The further out we went the better it got.  Only problem there was ensuring that the boats going by saw us.

We would definitely consider another trip to the Bay Islands, probably to one of the smaller islands next time though.

Here's what it looked like.