Camping season has expired, unless of course you are one of the strange breed of campers that enjoy the thrills of freezing to death or spending 23 hours a day collect life supporting firewood. Since neither Karen or I are interested in winter camping we opted for a more pleasant solution……Avoid Canadian winter completely!
We had started looking for somewhere warm to visit on my first winter as a free man (retired) Panama, Peru and Chile had been on our list (and still are) but we kept coming back to Roatan, one of the Bay islands belonging to Honduras. Our original plan had been to spend all winter here, but discovered quickly that Honduras only offers three month visitor Visas, and staying beyond that while possible, can be problematic and unreliable. So we decided on a 3 month trip this time.
We had searched many vacation rental agencies including Airbnb, we ended up using Roatan vacation rentals. We decided on a small 2 bedroom in West End while it is not on the beach, it was inexpensive. One feature we liked (before experiencing it!) was that the place sits on the top of a steep road, our logic was that this would be a great way to keep fit – having climbed this hill over 80 times now, we have come to realize our logic was flawed…we often refer to the hill as “heart attack hill”. I exaggerate a tad, call it artistic licence..
Since we are staying on Roatan for three months, I will create several episodes, this first episode will be entitled “the introduction” followed by chapter 2 “The Utila experiment” then Chapter 3 “the Kids visit” Chapter 4 “Diving in Roatan” and perhaps if I have the energy a chapter 5.
The most popular spot on Roatan is at West Bay. West Bay Beach is clean and typically uncrowded (other than on cruise ship day’s). It is also consistently picked as one of the best beaches in the Caribbean and Central America. Many top travel magazines have it listed as a must see destination. The beach is a mile of white sand, palm trees, and clear waters. The water is calm, its perfect for swimming or snorkeling. The coral reef comes within a few yards off the shore. It has a vibrant marine life and an array of fish, you can see them by snorkeling off the beach.
To get to West Bay from West End, there are several options, Water taxi, land taxi or for those who have grown weary of life you could walk – We have not come across the universally accepted concept of sidewalks or road shoulders on the island, so combine this with the insanity that is Roatan drivers, walking is often a risky undertaking! It costs $3 per person via water taxi (US dollars) or anywhere from $5 to $10 by land. Costs go up after dark. Tourist tip of the day…never accept the first price a taxi offers, as a rough guide a taxi between Coxen hole and West End should not cost you more than $10.
The water taxi ride is a fun 5 minute boat ride, be careful getting in or out of the boats, as both Karen and I discovered the hard way. Once at West Bay, there are many resorts, restaurants and bars most very reasonably priced. You can use a beach towel and claim almost any piece of beach real estate for no cost, or if you prefer a beach lounger (as Karen and I do) then the cheapest location is at Fosters ($5 day pass – includes lounger, washrooms, change rooms, small pool) and the nicest would be $20 day pass at Infinity bay resort. We prefer beach chairs or loungers to keep our delicates a reasonable distance from sand flies. We often compromise and pay the $10 for day pass at Bananarama, where you can find the best Pizza on the island. This topic has segued smoothly to bugs, most specifically sand flees. Before coming here we had read the horror stories of the Roatan man eating sand flee. We have been here for six weeks now, and neither Karen nor I have had any issue with any form of insect, and we spend most days at the beach. It could be that as Canadians, from Ontario, where we enjoy 4 seasons each year. Winter, black fly, mosquito and deer fly. that we have built up some inhuman tolerance (no that cannot be as we recently had friends Mary and Bernie over for 2 weeks from Ontario….and they were eaten alive) So be aware that there are sand flees that seem to torment some people more than others..be prepared. (more on prevention and remedies in issue 3)
If you want to really enjoy West Bay (or any where on the island), you need to visit on a day there are no cruise ships. Both karen and I agree, that the dreaded cruise ships, while a great economic influence on the island, are a royal pain in the ass. When there are four ships in, there are upwards of 12,000 tourists on the island for a short five hours or so. We have graciously decided to refer to them as locusts in all future commentaries.
Food….other than my huge disappointment in the lack of good fresh fruit and vegetables (I was astonished) The food on the island has been wonderful, a lot of variety fit for the fussiest of eaters (me) and enough bizzare seafoody stuff for the more adventurous (Karen) Our all time favourite food is the Honduran Baleada, with our favourite spot being Calelu’s in the west End, at $1 they also make a very inexpensive date.
Caribe Tesoro in West Bay is a great way to spend a hot Roatan day, they charge nothing for hanging out and using their incredible pool. If you get the chance you have to stop by and enjoy an ice cold Barena on their deck.
We have been lucky with the weather, on first arriving I was a little worried, looking at the weather forecast showed 100% chance of rain for the first ten days, not what we had escaped Canada for! We have since learnt to not rely on the Honduran weather forecasters, and that it mostly seems to rain at night. We dis experience a week of very rough weather, that brought in a lot of seaweed and damaged many docks, but the beaches were back to their pristine beauty only days after the end of the storms.
Beach and street Vendors are a part of Roatan, they will attempt to sell everything from a massage to ice cream. Many complain about them, but they are trying to make a living (mostly from cruise ship passengers) and we have not found them to be unfriendly, say “no thank you” and they move on. During cruise ship days they swarm West Bay.
Sol y Mar Beach club, we discovered by accident while searching for a beach restaurant on google maps (hint # 76, google maps are not 100% accurate) They charge a small fortune to cruise ships, however “locals” (any one who is not from a cruise ship) can use facility for the price of buying a beer or two. Great spot, looking forward to bringing the kids here to play on all those toys!
Beer, so many choices on Roatan, we were really surprised to see that Coors light is popular here. Our first beer was a Corona with lime, and we only had one, we quickly discovered that all the local beers are very good (and considerably cheaper) most bars and resorts charge $2 for local beer and $3.50 for import. Our favourite is Barena (which funnily tastes similar to Corona) but we have not found any that were not very drinkable.
I cannot recommend the Buccaneer, unless you, like us find it by accident, while walking around aimlessly in French Harbour. We were in French Harbour to get sim cards for our phones, and the only Tigo cellular phone store on the island is in French Harbour. We use Tigo in our unlocked phones to use as a mobile hotspot, the cost as of writing this is about $24 for 6 GB data, with top ups available at many stores around the island.
The most important factor in our decision to come to Roatan instead of the hundreds of other warm locations, was that I had heard and read so much about how incredible the diving was here. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (the second largest in the world) is visible from shore, as it almost entirely surrounds this island and is reachable in many places just by walking out to it. Never before have we seen such an incredible reef. The vibrant colors – many golds, greens, oranges and purples, glistened and swayed with the gentle waves. The spectacular shape and colorful skin of the various fish as they weaved in and out and chased each other – never have we seen such abundance and variety. And the sounds! We didn’t know that a reef could even have it’s own soundtrack, as it was possible to actually hear the fish nibbling on it’s nourishment. I had decided to work on my bucket list, and learn how to dive, and Roatan kept topping the list. I will create a separate blog just on the diving here (there is far too much to put on this page)
Hopefully if you are planning on a visit to Roatan in the future, this has been of some help…there are still four more chapters so I welcome any questions, and am more than happy to conduct research in order to find answers….until the next chapter in our adventure
