WOODMAN
Contributor
Okay, folks, here it finally is. This was our first trip to Roatan, and the airport experience didn't impress me much. Pretty confusing, but when Mike (the owner/operator) showed up, things started to click. We had all our luggage loaded into a van, and then we entered a nice air conditioned motor coach for the trip to the resort. This trip was a surprising hoot, as it gave us our first real taste of the island. It wound around the southern coast of the island for several miles, and then dodged inland for several more miles along the high backbone of Roatan with spectacular views across rain forest vistas on every side. When we finally came to the Oak Ridge turnoff, the road started getting more interesting. We threaded our way past loads of tiny local storefronts and mini businesses, and made our way closer and closer to the coast. Finally, when I thought the bus could go no further, It swung onto barely passable dirt roads and lurched up and down over snake paths untill it finally pulled into a small harbor yard. That is one trip I really would not wish to try on my own.
The luggage van was right behind us, and we then piled into one of Reef Houses boats for the little jaunt to the actual resort, which is located across the waterway on a narrow barrier island, along with several other houses. There is not a foot of waterfront here which is not built up with ramshackle houses, most all built on stilts over the water. There is a kind of intercoastal waterway which we were crossing, and there was all kinds of boat traffic and transport going on as we passed by. Facinating!
We arrived at Reef House's dock, which was a large covered structure which housed the two main facility boats in slips with docking around them on three sides.
The resort itself is surprisingly large, and encompasses an entire slice of the island, from the dock area on the waterway out to the open oceanfront where the main structures were. The rooms were laid out in two areas,with a couple of them up a set of stairs in a building off to the east side of the main structure, but with most of them in an L shaped building which surrounded the center court area to the west and reached right up to the ocean edge on the south side. We had the end room right on the waters edge, which was a single queen size bed in a nice air conditioned space with plenty of room. A basic but serviceable private bathroom with shower was in a room off to one side, and a small closet alcove with mini shelves was also available. No room fridge, but Mike let me keep a jug of my private lemonade mix in one of the coolers in the bar area, so I didn't feel the lack. One word about that bathroom. I don't know about the other rooms, but the sink was mounted on a pedestal in mine, but not anchored to the backwall. This made things interesting if you tried to grab the sink for any reason, as it would shift about on that pedestal as if the plumbing was the only thing holding it.:shocked2: Oh well, something you get used to. The toilet arrangement is standard Caribbean setup, with flushing of toilet paper strongly discouraged and a waste basket next to the commode which is kept emptied faithfully. There was a nice TV setup in the room, which we never bothered to turn on. One piece of advice for Mike- mount reading lights over the head of the beds.
Maybe the other rooms had them, but all we had was a small lamp on a bedside table which was sort of inconvenient, along with the large overhead lights. There was a power strip behind the TV, which served nicely for all our camera and battery charging needs. All in all, the room was not bad, and we have certainly stayed in FAR worse. (Oh man!
) There was free WI-FI service to the rooms, which several others enjoyed, but for some reason my laptop could not access it.
Something weird in my settings, I suppose. Mike anticipated this, however, and there is a public computer with internet access available in the main lounge. There is a large dining hall in the main building, set back from the lounge and bar area in the front half of it. Lots of decking all around the front of the place, with both covered and open lounge areas out overlooking the water. A looong concrete pier runs out into the ocean, right next to a fenced in section of the ocean which forms Reef House's famous ocean pool area. This area is only about 4 feet deep in the center, but is about 75 yards wide and runs nearly the entire length of the resort property. Mike has several sea turtles who are residing in this pool area while being studied prior to release, and all other manner of sea life are keeping them company. He even has a few lionfish in there, and they keep coming, despite numerous attempts to clean them out. That pool is a fantastic place for a leisurely swim, and there are a lot of tiny critters in the rocks and structures which form the edges of the pool. Great for a little macro photography!
Meals are served in the dining hall, and are waitress served from a fixed offering. If you have special dietary needs, they will bend over backwards to accomodate, but otherwise everybody gets the same food. The food, however, left no-one complaining. Their cook is a real treasure, and no short cuts were taken with the menu. The last night of our stay was grilled lobster tail and steak, for example.:kiss2: Breakfasts were fairly standard american fare, with a few creative island touches added. Lunches were varied and interesting, from grilled chicken wraps to unusually flavorful spaghetti [what did she do to that stuff?:drooling:], to coconut fried shrimp, and not a burger to be seen anywhere. Dinners were also creative, ranging from grilled chicken and shrimp kabobs, to beef fajitas with homemade tortillas, to an interesting grilled fish with curry sauce. Nothing too hot, but copious quantities of hot [and hotter!] sauce were available for those who desired such. Desserts of interesting types followed supper, but we were usually too full to partake. (Although my wife makes special note of the chocolate cobbler:dance3 Juices were available at breakfast, and lemonade and sweet tea were present at the other meals. All in all, some of the best resort food we have ever had. Mike has a reputation for this, and he certainly lived up to it.
End of part one.
The luggage van was right behind us, and we then piled into one of Reef Houses boats for the little jaunt to the actual resort, which is located across the waterway on a narrow barrier island, along with several other houses. There is not a foot of waterfront here which is not built up with ramshackle houses, most all built on stilts over the water. There is a kind of intercoastal waterway which we were crossing, and there was all kinds of boat traffic and transport going on as we passed by. Facinating! We arrived at Reef House's dock, which was a large covered structure which housed the two main facility boats in slips with docking around them on three sides. The resort itself is surprisingly large, and encompasses an entire slice of the island, from the dock area on the waterway out to the open oceanfront where the main structures were. The rooms were laid out in two areas,with a couple of them up a set of stairs in a building off to the east side of the main structure, but with most of them in an L shaped building which surrounded the center court area to the west and reached right up to the ocean edge on the south side. We had the end room right on the waters edge, which was a single queen size bed in a nice air conditioned space with plenty of room. A basic but serviceable private bathroom with shower was in a room off to one side, and a small closet alcove with mini shelves was also available. No room fridge, but Mike let me keep a jug of my private lemonade mix in one of the coolers in the bar area, so I didn't feel the lack. One word about that bathroom. I don't know about the other rooms, but the sink was mounted on a pedestal in mine, but not anchored to the backwall. This made things interesting if you tried to grab the sink for any reason, as it would shift about on that pedestal as if the plumbing was the only thing holding it.:shocked2: Oh well, something you get used to. The toilet arrangement is standard Caribbean setup, with flushing of toilet paper strongly discouraged and a waste basket next to the commode which is kept emptied faithfully. There was a nice TV setup in the room, which we never bothered to turn on. One piece of advice for Mike- mount reading lights over the head of the beds.
Maybe the other rooms had them, but all we had was a small lamp on a bedside table which was sort of inconvenient, along with the large overhead lights. There was a power strip behind the TV, which served nicely for all our camera and battery charging needs. All in all, the room was not bad, and we have certainly stayed in FAR worse. (Oh man!) There was free WI-FI service to the rooms, which several others enjoyed, but for some reason my laptop could not access it. Something weird in my settings, I suppose. Mike anticipated this, however, and there is a public computer with internet access available in the main lounge. There is a large dining hall in the main building, set back from the lounge and bar area in the front half of it. Lots of decking all around the front of the place, with both covered and open lounge areas out overlooking the water. A looong concrete pier runs out into the ocean, right next to a fenced in section of the ocean which forms Reef House's famous ocean pool area. This area is only about 4 feet deep in the center, but is about 75 yards wide and runs nearly the entire length of the resort property. Mike has several sea turtles who are residing in this pool area while being studied prior to release, and all other manner of sea life are keeping them company. He even has a few lionfish in there, and they keep coming, despite numerous attempts to clean them out. That pool is a fantastic place for a leisurely swim, and there are a lot of tiny critters in the rocks and structures which form the edges of the pool. Great for a little macro photography! Meals are served in the dining hall, and are waitress served from a fixed offering. If you have special dietary needs, they will bend over backwards to accomodate, but otherwise everybody gets the same food. The food, however, left no-one complaining. Their cook is a real treasure, and no short cuts were taken with the menu. The last night of our stay was grilled lobster tail and steak, for example.:kiss2: Breakfasts were fairly standard american fare, with a few creative island touches added. Lunches were varied and interesting, from grilled chicken wraps to unusually flavorful spaghetti [what did she do to that stuff?:drooling:], to coconut fried shrimp, and not a burger to be seen anywhere. Dinners were also creative, ranging from grilled chicken and shrimp kabobs, to beef fajitas with homemade tortillas, to an interesting grilled fish with curry sauce. Nothing too hot, but copious quantities of hot [and hotter!] sauce were available for those who desired such. Desserts of interesting types followed supper, but we were usually too full to partake. (Although my wife makes special note of the chocolate cobbler:dance3
Juices were available at breakfast, and lemonade and sweet tea were present at the other meals. All in all, some of the best resort food we have ever had. Mike has a reputation for this, and he certainly lived up to it. End of part one.
). 
A couple of other places went so far as to close and kick out their guests early to fend for themselves :mooner:, and there was a very real threat of the airport closing on Saturday and trapping all of us here for an unknown period of time. A couple of us chickened out and paid extra to fly out on Friday morning, as they couldn't risk being stuck down here. Mike, however, said that if worst came to worst, we could just stay until things worked out. We all kept an eagle eye on the storm's progress:nailbiter:, and although we got some real wind and rain on Friday night, Saturday morning was clear and calm, and the flights home went off without a hitch:coolingoff:. That is, except for running us all through security TWICE for no apparent reason. Ah well, minor grumbles, I guess. The Reef House experience itself was of the finest quality, and you can bet we will return. 
