Getting 8 People to Roatan

Old posts from my very first travel website!

Aug 10

Wow, that was quite an effort just to figure out what day it is! Ha ha. Obviously we've been having a good time although it was a bit of an effort to get here. We were all fortunate enough to fly on discount buddy passes, but the flights were so full, that only 3 out of 8 made it to Atlanta out of San Diego and the rest had to drive up to LA, take a red-eye to Orlando, then run to make an early flight to ATL. Whew! Then we all got first class to Roatan. :) Boy, did that first mimosa hit the spot.

Rental pickup truck worked great since it's legal to ride in the back so we could all fit. Lots of time sitting on the side or standing up behind the cab touring the island. Mostly it's fun being back there - just got a little cold after being rained on and when it got cooler at night. We also got a rental house on the beach. The first night it was rented so we spent the night in a nice little air con room next door run by the Sunshine Café and our bartender Sue. Man is it hot here. We have to have the fans in the room pointed directly on us in order to sleep (no air con in the house much to Summer's dismay). This house gives us a lot of room since we each have our own room with private bath. But it's a bit dirty, has salty tap water, and we share the kitchen with a big rat. We have been eaten alive by the sand flies even though we douse ourselves with deet 24/7. Things are mostly US prices here which is kind of a bummer. The grocery store is really hit or miss on prices. They use both US dollars and Limpira equally here. We thought about moving to a little hotel in West End (like Lahaina on a dirt road) our 3rd night here (found a room w/ shared kitchen at Valerie's for $16/night) but then we felt really badly about splitting up the group. Much better to be close w/ our friends.

Our second day here, poor Savannah got salmonella poisoning from the lovely Sunshine Café who we figured pretty quickly have absolutely no idea of how to run a restaurant. So we got to visit the local clinic (with air con, TV, and cold drinking water!) which also has a decompression chamber in the lobby for the dive resort.

Ha ha, have I had much positive to say yet?? It's really nice here. Just the negative things are more funny. :) Our beach (Sandy Bay) is the same clear, warm, calm water as the rest of the island. Pretty much the entire island is surrounded by a reef (swimmable from shore) which makes the water wonderful and the snorkeling great everywhere! We have kayaks to use, and snorkel gear. Our pier is one of the best things about this place. We love it! No bugs out there and just generally a nice place to hang out day or night.

Aug 12, Lots of Fun Stuff in Roatan

We've spent lots of time driving around the island. We've gone shopping in French Harbor and Coxen Hole a lot, wandered around West End, found awesome snorkeling on the pretty beach of West Bay, and spent one day checking out the East end of the island. We drove through the Garifuna village of Punta Gorda, then on to Oak Ridge where we had a guy take us on a boat tour (while Helmut fished) around the mangrove forest (where the pirates use to hide) and to some neighboring bays where we stopped at Hole in the Wall for some beers. It was a lot of fun. A nice chilled out place away (far away) from the tourist gig. We went to another beach with a fancy resort and had more beers and food there (while Helmut fished). Then on to Camp Bay that is really far removed from anything; we were only his second customers that week. They have a new little hostel and a nice little bar/restaurant out on the water. We had yet more to drink and eat here (while, of course, Helmut fished). A really cool little place!On our way home there were so many fireflies in the trees. Another benefit of riding in the back of the truck - we got to watch them the whole way.

There's bioluminescence in the water here! We just go right in down the stairs at the end of the pier into the water to play with them, it's wonderful. Got a bit stung by something one night but oh well. Maybe a jellyfish but it wasn't bad. There's a barracuda and an octopus that live under the pier too.

Then after fireflies and dinoflagellates, we laid on the benches at the end of the pier and watched the Perseids meteor shower.There have been some great rainfalls here! One night it came down SO hard and there was lots of lighting and thunder. The horribly ugly teapot shaped cistern at our house actually filled up and started pouring out the "spout". But it's FRESH water! Yay! We turned on all the faucets in order to try and use up all the salty water from the bottom so there would be room for more fresh rain water.

We've sure spent plenty of time drinking around our picnic table on the deck overlooking the water. Lots of wine, debates, music, and yet more DEET.

Aug 15, Seen and Done a Lot - Time to Go

Time to wrap things up. Taylor's musty clothes finally dried after countless days drying, then being left out for the rain at night, then drying again, etc. It became kind of a funny joke about her smelly clothes, poor Taylor. We spent a bunch of time reading in our hammocks at the end of our wonderful pier, then we'd all pile in the truck and drive around, snorkel, then would find somewhere fun to eat. We went to the kiteboard beach one day where they saw a 6 foot nurse shark. No kiting though. We went to see the house that Summer & David were thinking of buying, and went snorkeling out there. Lots of huge starfish and jellyfish upside down swimming into the sand. Each place we've snorkeled has been different than the last. All great!

So much time in the water. Our skin is beat to hell from all the salt and bug bites and I don't even want to see photos of what my hair must look like. But life's rough, huh, when we have these problems because we're spending every day on a beautiful Caribbean beach!

On our way to the airport we grabbed a six-pack of Salva Vida (our fav local beer) for $6 at the grocery store and it came with a great baseball cap! It just keeps getting better I tell ya'.