SoSiouxme
Contributor
My apologies for this long-winded post.
Roatan Trip Report Nov. 10-24
Week 2 Nov. 17-24
Our second week arrived and two friends went home on the Saturday Delta flight and four more friends flew into Roatan three on the Delta flight from Atlanta and one flew in on Continental after being re-routed from TACA. She had a terrible time with her flight and TACA lost her luggage. It would have been no big deal except she had wine and fennel bulbs in her bags an integral part of our planned Thanksgiving feast.
I moved out of the Coconut Tree Cabins (see Trip Report Week 1 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/211417-roatan-trip-report-week-1-a.html) and into the house we rented. (Roatan West End Vacation Rentals Real Estate - House).
On arrival day (Nov. 17), we hired Enrique (see Trip Report Week 1 - (Roatan Tours - Roatan Shore Excursions - Roatan Honduras or e-mail him at tours@roatanadventuretours.com) to pick-up our one friend from the airport, take two friends grocery shopping and then pick up the last three people at the airport. When our friends flight was delayed, Enrique improvised. He helped with the shopping, picked up the three whose flight was on time, brought them to West End. Four of went diving at CTD, and Enrique took one of the friends back to the airport to wait for the one friend who was in air transport hell. When Enrique realized our friends luggage was MIA, Enrique took down the information and gave the airport clerk his personal cell phone and told our friend he would take care of it. Hes a great guy who goes above and beyond to help out.
After we all arrived and had a chance to unpack and do an afternoon dive, we went to Sundowners for some much deserved drinks. We had some Monkey La Las and in no time, we were feeling no pain. That night for dinner we went to Half Moon Bay Cabins and had a great dinner. For the six of us, dinner was $90 and we all had full entrees, appetizers, etc. The food was really good.
Three of the friends started their AOW the next day with Will at Coconut Tree Divers. (Coconut Tree Divers - Roatan, Honduras). They were very pleased with their instruction and Will did a great job in teaching them the fundamentals but making it fun. I continued diving with CTD. Our social time during that two weeks revolved around the shop with daily beers during 4:00 and 5:00.
Sunday, the day after our friends flew in, Gay from CTD offered to take myself and my friend whose luggage was still MIA to the airport to look for it. We didnt find the luggage, but we hung out at the ticket counter drinking beer with some new friends we met at the ticket counter who were similarly frustrated with TACAs handling of their issue. So we left the airport, sans baggage but with a healthy buzz. That night we had homemade clam chowder at the house.
Monday, our friends finished their AOW with a night dive. Also on Monday, our friends wayward luggage arrived with the wine and the fennel. Enrique got the call from the airport and picked it up for our friend. That night we took it easy and ate dinner at the house. Homemade pumpkin gnocci with butter sage sauce -- yum. Overall, we were quite pleased with the grocery selection found on the island. Some items you had to hunt for, but between Eldons in French Harbour, Woodys in West End, House of Meats, and Alba Foods near West End, all of our grocery needs were met. Some day Roatan will have the kind of provision service like the one on Ambergris Caye where people who rent houses can order groceries ahead of time for delivery upon arrival. Roatan is ripe for that kind of enterprise.
Tuesday, four of us, plus a divemaster (Scuba Steve from CTD) were in for an adventure. We chartered a catamaran, the Nina Elisabeth, captained by Vernon Fine (vfine@hotmail.com) for a couple of days. It was awesome!!!! The plan was to leave from West End, dive at Marys Place, head to Hole in the Wall restaurant where we were meeting our two non-diving friends for lunch, then head to Cayos Cochinos for an overnight and then get fills and do a dive at Cayos, then head home. All we had to do is bring some beer and soda and Vernon took care of the rest.
On Tuesday morning, we left West End at about 8:30 a.m. for Marys Place. The boat was the perfect size for us and it was so nice to be doing our thing. We found Marys Place after a little snafu and had a great dive at Marys Place. It was so nice to do that dive with just the five of us. The boat was surprisingly easy to dive off of and Steve and Vernon were very helpful getting us all in the water.
After getting back on the boat, we got out of our suits and got changed for lunch at Hole in the Wall. Vernon called ahead to the restaurant and called Enrique who was taking our non-diving friends on an island tour that day. Enrique and Vernon coordinated the group for lunch. The weather started acting up, but Hole in the Wall is right on the water and we were able to dock up at the restaurant. If youve never been to Hole in the Wall, you shouldnt miss it. Its quite a treat. On Sundays, they have an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the food is good all the time. We feasted on French fries until our friends showed up in a boat. By this time it was raining buckets but we didnt care. We were drinking beer and enjoying each others company. For lunch, I would heartily recommend the lobster sandwich. We ate up all the potatoes in the restaurant, but when we asked for more fries, Vernon motored over to a store and brought back potatoes and candy bars. What a guy! After a great lunch, our two non-diving friends left us to finish off their island tour with Enrique and we stayed on at Hole in the Wall, playing board games and generally relaxing. We decided to stay the night at Hole in the Wall because the weather was on the miserable side and nobody wanted to try to find a mooring at Cayos Cochinos at night in the dark. That night, Vernon cooked up spaghetti that was nothing short of amazing. The guys at the Hole at the Wall were so friendly and accommodating it was a great night.
We went to sleep that night on the catamaran with full bellies and had a restful night of sleep. I woke up at around 4:00 a.m. when we were motoring out of Jonestown en route to Cayos Cochinos. I fell back to sleep and woke up around 6:30 in time to see the last bit of the sunrise. It was a gorgeous day! One by one, we all woke up and took a seat on the hammock (trampoline?) in front of the catamaran to enjoy the sun. About an hour before arriving in Cayos Cochinos, we had breakfast beer batter pancakes, bacon and eggs. De-licious! Magic comes from that galley.
Upon arrival in Cayos Cochinos, we were told it would be about an hour before we could get fills so Vernon took us to place to do some snorkeling. While snorkeling, we found a huge stingray just hanging out in about 15 feet of water. Scuba Steve was able to get a picture.
After snorkeling for bit, Vernon radioed the dive shop and we found out our tanks were almost ready so we headed back to the resort on Cayos Cochinos. We looked around while waiting for tanks and it looks really nice.
Our dive at Cayos Cochinos was good. On one hand, the coral is so healthy and vibrant compared to Roatan. This is not surprising since it gets a fraction of the human interaction as the dive sites in Roatan. The visibility was not as good. Im told thats because of the run-off from mainland Honduras.
I would definitely go back to Cayos just to check it out. After our dive, we had to head back to West End because we had to drop the tanks off before 5:00. We had a great sail back to West End highlighted by a pod of about 18 dolphins accompanying us for about 20 minutes. It was fantastic.
We were so pleased with our two days at sea with Captain Vernon. It was the highlight of the trip for me and we so enjoyed his company, his food and how flexible and helpful he was. If you are looking to do something a little different, I suggest you contact him. He also makes runs to Utila and maybe Belize.
After getting back to West End, we had a few beers at the dive shop although none of us needed any and headed to the house to start preparing for Thanksgiving. We had shrimp fettucini that night for dinner and we made pies, cranberry sauce, and cooked up the sweet potatoes (yes, they had sweet potatoes there!).
The next day was Thanksgiving and after diving in the morning, we headed up to the house to start preparing the feast. We were expecting 16-18 people the six of us, the entire staff at CTD and some additional new friends. We had two turkeys cooking, plus another couple was bringing another turkey. We also had the traditional green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, apple sausage dressing, carrots with a cream sauce, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls (which we ordered from a lady on the island who does artisan baking (contact Gay at CTD she knows the lady). We also had cheese and crackers for appetizers (bring your own cheese Honduran cheese is not great). We were ready for a feast.
After the turkeys were done, we pulled them out of the oven and were starting to warm and cook the sides when the power went out. We had an electric range so you can imagine how panicked we were. About the time that the power went out, our guests started arriving. In no time, we had a plan. We had a small BBQ at our place. The guys from CTD went down to the shop to pick up 2 cases of beer, some charcoal and some candles. Did you know you can start a BBQ with a beer bottle, toilet paper and cooking oil? No lighter fluid required.
We ended up cooking all of our side dishes on the BBQ. Amazing what you can do with tin foil. The meal was delicious!! It was without a doubt, the most memorable Thanksgiving Ive ever had. The company was great, the food was great and the power did come back on in time to whip the cream for the pies.
The next day we recuperated One friend had to fly home with a bit of a hangover, two friends and I went to the Sante Wellness Center for a spa day and two others went with Enrique and did the canopy tour.
The Sante Wellness Center is a lovely place. (Roatan Hotel Massage Spa Body Treatments | Island Retreat at Sante Wellness Centre, Roatan Honduras -) I had a facial and a massage. The facial was done by Angela the owner. She is a licensed esthetician from California and definitely knows her business. It was a lovely facial and the massage was done by Maria who was fantastic. It was a lovely way to end the vacation.
Our friends enjoyed the South Side Canopy Tour and had a great time zipping through the jungle.
On our last day, we enjoyed some pumpkin pancakes, emptied our pantry and refrigerator and donating the remains to our friends at CTD and Enrique drove us to the airport. We will miss Roatan and all of our new friends but we will back.
Some tips:
Cash is king. Travelers checks are a pain in the butt and some places wont take them because of the hassle they get from the Honduran banks.
Accept that bug bites are just a fact of life and bring remedies to deal with the aftermath of being bitten. We religiously used Cactus Juice, DEET, Skin so Soft, etc., and still got bit. I still think the best remedy to relieve the itching is copious amounts of Salva Vida.
Bring a water bottle (Nalgene) and fill it instead of buying small plastic bottles of water. The only thing they recycle on that island is beer bottles and pick-up lines (Its Ladies Night, indeed!). Everywhere I went I saw those plastic water bottles littering the place.
If you have any questions, please PM me.
Roatan Trip Report Nov. 10-24
Week 2 Nov. 17-24
Our second week arrived and two friends went home on the Saturday Delta flight and four more friends flew into Roatan three on the Delta flight from Atlanta and one flew in on Continental after being re-routed from TACA. She had a terrible time with her flight and TACA lost her luggage. It would have been no big deal except she had wine and fennel bulbs in her bags an integral part of our planned Thanksgiving feast.
I moved out of the Coconut Tree Cabins (see Trip Report Week 1 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bay-islands/211417-roatan-trip-report-week-1-a.html) and into the house we rented. (Roatan West End Vacation Rentals Real Estate - House).
On arrival day (Nov. 17), we hired Enrique (see Trip Report Week 1 - (Roatan Tours - Roatan Shore Excursions - Roatan Honduras or e-mail him at tours@roatanadventuretours.com) to pick-up our one friend from the airport, take two friends grocery shopping and then pick up the last three people at the airport. When our friends flight was delayed, Enrique improvised. He helped with the shopping, picked up the three whose flight was on time, brought them to West End. Four of went diving at CTD, and Enrique took one of the friends back to the airport to wait for the one friend who was in air transport hell. When Enrique realized our friends luggage was MIA, Enrique took down the information and gave the airport clerk his personal cell phone and told our friend he would take care of it. Hes a great guy who goes above and beyond to help out.
After we all arrived and had a chance to unpack and do an afternoon dive, we went to Sundowners for some much deserved drinks. We had some Monkey La Las and in no time, we were feeling no pain. That night for dinner we went to Half Moon Bay Cabins and had a great dinner. For the six of us, dinner was $90 and we all had full entrees, appetizers, etc. The food was really good.
Three of the friends started their AOW the next day with Will at Coconut Tree Divers. (Coconut Tree Divers - Roatan, Honduras). They were very pleased with their instruction and Will did a great job in teaching them the fundamentals but making it fun. I continued diving with CTD. Our social time during that two weeks revolved around the shop with daily beers during 4:00 and 5:00.
Sunday, the day after our friends flew in, Gay from CTD offered to take myself and my friend whose luggage was still MIA to the airport to look for it. We didnt find the luggage, but we hung out at the ticket counter drinking beer with some new friends we met at the ticket counter who were similarly frustrated with TACAs handling of their issue. So we left the airport, sans baggage but with a healthy buzz. That night we had homemade clam chowder at the house.
Monday, our friends finished their AOW with a night dive. Also on Monday, our friends wayward luggage arrived with the wine and the fennel. Enrique got the call from the airport and picked it up for our friend. That night we took it easy and ate dinner at the house. Homemade pumpkin gnocci with butter sage sauce -- yum. Overall, we were quite pleased with the grocery selection found on the island. Some items you had to hunt for, but between Eldons in French Harbour, Woodys in West End, House of Meats, and Alba Foods near West End, all of our grocery needs were met. Some day Roatan will have the kind of provision service like the one on Ambergris Caye where people who rent houses can order groceries ahead of time for delivery upon arrival. Roatan is ripe for that kind of enterprise.
Tuesday, four of us, plus a divemaster (Scuba Steve from CTD) were in for an adventure. We chartered a catamaran, the Nina Elisabeth, captained by Vernon Fine (vfine@hotmail.com) for a couple of days. It was awesome!!!! The plan was to leave from West End, dive at Marys Place, head to Hole in the Wall restaurant where we were meeting our two non-diving friends for lunch, then head to Cayos Cochinos for an overnight and then get fills and do a dive at Cayos, then head home. All we had to do is bring some beer and soda and Vernon took care of the rest.
On Tuesday morning, we left West End at about 8:30 a.m. for Marys Place. The boat was the perfect size for us and it was so nice to be doing our thing. We found Marys Place after a little snafu and had a great dive at Marys Place. It was so nice to do that dive with just the five of us. The boat was surprisingly easy to dive off of and Steve and Vernon were very helpful getting us all in the water.
After getting back on the boat, we got out of our suits and got changed for lunch at Hole in the Wall. Vernon called ahead to the restaurant and called Enrique who was taking our non-diving friends on an island tour that day. Enrique and Vernon coordinated the group for lunch. The weather started acting up, but Hole in the Wall is right on the water and we were able to dock up at the restaurant. If youve never been to Hole in the Wall, you shouldnt miss it. Its quite a treat. On Sundays, they have an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the food is good all the time. We feasted on French fries until our friends showed up in a boat. By this time it was raining buckets but we didnt care. We were drinking beer and enjoying each others company. For lunch, I would heartily recommend the lobster sandwich. We ate up all the potatoes in the restaurant, but when we asked for more fries, Vernon motored over to a store and brought back potatoes and candy bars. What a guy! After a great lunch, our two non-diving friends left us to finish off their island tour with Enrique and we stayed on at Hole in the Wall, playing board games and generally relaxing. We decided to stay the night at Hole in the Wall because the weather was on the miserable side and nobody wanted to try to find a mooring at Cayos Cochinos at night in the dark. That night, Vernon cooked up spaghetti that was nothing short of amazing. The guys at the Hole at the Wall were so friendly and accommodating it was a great night.
We went to sleep that night on the catamaran with full bellies and had a restful night of sleep. I woke up at around 4:00 a.m. when we were motoring out of Jonestown en route to Cayos Cochinos. I fell back to sleep and woke up around 6:30 in time to see the last bit of the sunrise. It was a gorgeous day! One by one, we all woke up and took a seat on the hammock (trampoline?) in front of the catamaran to enjoy the sun. About an hour before arriving in Cayos Cochinos, we had breakfast beer batter pancakes, bacon and eggs. De-licious! Magic comes from that galley.
Upon arrival in Cayos Cochinos, we were told it would be about an hour before we could get fills so Vernon took us to place to do some snorkeling. While snorkeling, we found a huge stingray just hanging out in about 15 feet of water. Scuba Steve was able to get a picture.
After snorkeling for bit, Vernon radioed the dive shop and we found out our tanks were almost ready so we headed back to the resort on Cayos Cochinos. We looked around while waiting for tanks and it looks really nice.
Our dive at Cayos Cochinos was good. On one hand, the coral is so healthy and vibrant compared to Roatan. This is not surprising since it gets a fraction of the human interaction as the dive sites in Roatan. The visibility was not as good. Im told thats because of the run-off from mainland Honduras.
I would definitely go back to Cayos just to check it out. After our dive, we had to head back to West End because we had to drop the tanks off before 5:00. We had a great sail back to West End highlighted by a pod of about 18 dolphins accompanying us for about 20 minutes. It was fantastic.
We were so pleased with our two days at sea with Captain Vernon. It was the highlight of the trip for me and we so enjoyed his company, his food and how flexible and helpful he was. If you are looking to do something a little different, I suggest you contact him. He also makes runs to Utila and maybe Belize.
After getting back to West End, we had a few beers at the dive shop although none of us needed any and headed to the house to start preparing for Thanksgiving. We had shrimp fettucini that night for dinner and we made pies, cranberry sauce, and cooked up the sweet potatoes (yes, they had sweet potatoes there!).
The next day was Thanksgiving and after diving in the morning, we headed up to the house to start preparing the feast. We were expecting 16-18 people the six of us, the entire staff at CTD and some additional new friends. We had two turkeys cooking, plus another couple was bringing another turkey. We also had the traditional green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, apple sausage dressing, carrots with a cream sauce, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls (which we ordered from a lady on the island who does artisan baking (contact Gay at CTD she knows the lady). We also had cheese and crackers for appetizers (bring your own cheese Honduran cheese is not great). We were ready for a feast.
After the turkeys were done, we pulled them out of the oven and were starting to warm and cook the sides when the power went out. We had an electric range so you can imagine how panicked we were. About the time that the power went out, our guests started arriving. In no time, we had a plan. We had a small BBQ at our place. The guys from CTD went down to the shop to pick up 2 cases of beer, some charcoal and some candles. Did you know you can start a BBQ with a beer bottle, toilet paper and cooking oil? No lighter fluid required.
We ended up cooking all of our side dishes on the BBQ. Amazing what you can do with tin foil. The meal was delicious!! It was without a doubt, the most memorable Thanksgiving Ive ever had. The company was great, the food was great and the power did come back on in time to whip the cream for the pies.
The next day we recuperated One friend had to fly home with a bit of a hangover, two friends and I went to the Sante Wellness Center for a spa day and two others went with Enrique and did the canopy tour.
The Sante Wellness Center is a lovely place. (Roatan Hotel Massage Spa Body Treatments | Island Retreat at Sante Wellness Centre, Roatan Honduras -) I had a facial and a massage. The facial was done by Angela the owner. She is a licensed esthetician from California and definitely knows her business. It was a lovely facial and the massage was done by Maria who was fantastic. It was a lovely way to end the vacation.
Our friends enjoyed the South Side Canopy Tour and had a great time zipping through the jungle.
On our last day, we enjoyed some pumpkin pancakes, emptied our pantry and refrigerator and donating the remains to our friends at CTD and Enrique drove us to the airport. We will miss Roatan and all of our new friends but we will back.
Some tips:
Cash is king. Travelers checks are a pain in the butt and some places wont take them because of the hassle they get from the Honduran banks.
Accept that bug bites are just a fact of life and bring remedies to deal with the aftermath of being bitten. We religiously used Cactus Juice, DEET, Skin so Soft, etc., and still got bit. I still think the best remedy to relieve the itching is copious amounts of Salva Vida.
Bring a water bottle (Nalgene) and fill it instead of buying small plastic bottles of water. The only thing they recycle on that island is beer bottles and pick-up lines (Its Ladies Night, indeed!). Everywhere I went I saw those plastic water bottles littering the place.
If you have any questions, please PM me.
