We explored the far east of the island today. We visited a number of small towns, including Punta Gorda. It is a village that is almost exclusively Garifuna. The Garifuna are an Afro-Carib people who were forcibly relocated to Roatan from St Lucia by the British, because they actively resisted British rule.
It’s a quaint little town, with little or nothing for tourists, expect a dance show, which only occurs when there is a cruise ship in the harbor, apparently. No ship, no show.
So we checked out Lionfish Louis…. a beautiful piece of property barely fifteen minutes from where we are staying. The water was beautiful and warm, but not great for snorkeling. The beach was long and sandy, with a couple small islands to snorkel around. There was a long dock with just a TON of fish under it. Almost like they wanted out of the sun!
The horse featured in the picture just sort of wandered onto the beach, took a drink of the sea water, and casually wandered away. Not sure who he belongs to, or anything.
Here is a brief movie of the horse taking a drink from the sea. Unreal eh?
We had met a couple from Kelowna and they’ve moved down to West Bay, so we took them on over and decided to stay for a snorkel. On the way to West Bay we saw these cows stuck up in a tree. I assume it was from the heavy rains. Hope they got down safely!
West Bay is really the heart of the tourist district. There are lots of hotels, hostels, and beach homes, with lots of restaurants and shops. Vendors stroll the beach with a variety of products to sell you, ranging from hand carved “Roatan Jade” turtles and other animals, to hammocks, bracelets, massages, henna tattoos, hair braiding…
If you’ve been to Mexico and been on the beach, you have an idea of what the beach vendors are doing on Roatan. We even saw a guy riding a bicycle powered cooler to sell you ice cream! Not an easy thing to ride a big heavy bike through the sandy beaches.
Speaking of bikes – what do you make of this picture? The scooter has tires with NO tread, and the young lady on the back balancing the tank of cooking gas, has no helmet other than a construction hard hat. And of course she was wearing flipflops and shorts just to complete the safety conscious outfit!
The water was absolutely super today. It’s the best it’s been and we know it will continue to get better. The weather has cleared and no rain is forecast for the next week. The stuff we’ve seen! Holy cow.
The reef itself is in very good condition. There are lots of fish, and we saw more pelagics today. There were several big permit fish, and an enormous grouper. There were rainbow parrot fish that were from three to six (!) feet in length.
There are sharks in these waters, but we have not seen any yet. HOWEVER – we did see a remora, the fish that attaches itself to sharks. But this remora was attached to a barjack! Check out the picture closely – the remora is attached mid spine, at the top of the fish.
I uploaded fourteen pictures from today’s adventures, but didn’t reference all of them in the post. Click here to see the full gallery of pictures we’ve uploaded so far.
Here’s a little movie of a mutton snapper – the large silvery fish with a dot on his body. But you’ll also see a coney and a barjack cruise by in the background.
There last couple of days have been rain-filled! We have not been in the ocean, but we’ve driven around the island and seen some “stuff.” We’ve checked out the local grocery stores and found a great wholesale fish market. Tons of fresh fish right off the boat.
We’ve been having these huge prawns – a dozen are more than a meal for both of us – and they run about 7 bucks for the dozen – the currency here is the Lempira – 21 are equal to one US dollar.
We’ve found a couple nice fresh bakeries and have sampled the local specialty – a sweet bun with coconut cream topping. Ummmm Pretty Darn Amazing! They’ve been a great breakfast.
We saw a pretty nasty accident – a motorbike delivery guy got whacked by a taxi. It was not pretty. When we returned home several hours later, the accident was still there, so the cops have to be doing quite an investigation.
Here’s a picture of our kitchen – how about those mahogany cabinets and the beautiful granite counter tops? Pretty nice place. The kitchen has really gotten a work out – we’ve only eaten out the once, and I tell you – we’re more than happy to eat our own cooking!
We didn’t venture very far today. We jumped into the ocean here around the resort, and it’s quite wonderful. The reef is really healthy, full of fish and teeming with coral. But we’ve both felt a difference to it, but neither of us can put our fingers on what it is.
Maybe it’s that the fish seem less skittish, or maybe it’s just our imagination. But it’s been great fun exploring. The weather has been typical for the Caribbean in November – a little rainy, a little sunny, a little cloudy – but always nice and warm. Right after a rain, the water is a bit murky, but a couple feet under the surface, it’s back to beautiful and clear.
Take a look at this picture of an ocean triggerfish. Pam took this in about three or four feet of water, and it’s a bit cloudy, a bit dark. It was taken just after a brief rainstorm while we were in the water.
Now look at this picture of a lionfish. I took this picture down at about fifteen or twenty feet. A lot clearer, and nice color! Weird eh? We’ve seen far too many lionfish here. Lots of very small ones, too. Not good news for the reef.
We saw a couple of flying gurnards too. Always neat. They have these pretty blue wings that spread when they are trying to take off. We’ve seen them before, but they’re pretty rare.
We’ve been eating in most nights. Have only eaten out the once for ribs. The supermarkets aren’t quite as nice as the ones on Aruba and Bonaire, but we’ve managed to find lots of great stuff. We got a dozen big prawns (VERY fresh) for five bucks, a bag of saffron rice (enough to feed four) for fifty cents. For dessert, we got a bag of rambutan (lychee-like fruit with a hairy skin) for a buck from a street vendor, and had them with some pistachio ice cream. Great deal – tasty and sweet!
Here is a brief movie of the ocean triggerfish. You can see how shallow the water is that he is in. His dorsal fins almost touch the bottom, and the top of the water!
Roatan is a lush island, covered in tropical rain forest, with flowers blooming everywhere. The ocean water is very warm, which surprised us. Kinda thought it would be a little cooler The outside air temperature is a little milder than the south Caribbean, but still a nice 80-85 ish. Definitely lovely weather.
Our deck is so nice! It’s got a great set of comfy chairs and a cafe table to sit at, have our coffee, browse the internet and watch the ocean.
We got in our pool – a VERY big pool – and there were only two couples in it. BOTH from Canada! One couple from Ontario and one from Kelowna.
We decided to head to West Bay on the far west side of the island. We went with the couple from Kelowna and they knew their way around the joint. We had a nice snorkel and saw some great fish, several of which we’ve rarely seen.
Pam saw only her second ocean triggerfish, a large-ish fish that is quite majestic in the water. He was swimming with a school of tangs and surgeonfish, and we didn’t even spot him right away! We also saw a hogfish that we’ve never seen before.
Driving around the island is lots of fun. Lots of sights and smells and action. People walk on the road, as do animals and pets. Dogs and children play in the streets, too. Lots of people have bbqs going and you can stop for a quick, inexpensive bite to eat.
Here is a movie of a couple of big beautiful grey angelfish. They came around us, and just drifted majestically.
Well, we got here safe and sound on Saturday, managed to get our rental car, and out to the resort, the Parrot Tree Plantation, by two pm. We got checked in easily. Just an absolutely lovely room. 25 or 30 foot ceilings done in open beams of Honduran Mahogany. Beautiful granite everywhere. Wonderful Honduran Mahogany kitchen cabinets. The Bathroom is amazing with a huge soaker/jetted tub, a huge curved standalone shower, with dual vessel sinks in the vanity. The bathroom is as big as our master suite!
It has a really nice deck looking out over the lagoon. Comes with a round, tall table and three tall chairs, with a lounger for suntanning.
The only drawback is the lack of a safe… not impressed by that. And the internet is not good. In public areas it’s fine, but in the suites, it’s spotty at best. If I sit on the balcony, I can get a decent enough connection.
We did a snorkel today just around the resort. It was quite amazing. Lots of coral, lots of fish – even different fish than we’re used to seeing. We saw a cool eagle ray – that is one fast fish when he wants to boogey! Took off like a shot.
I’ll put in a longer report later, but right now we’re enjoying ribs on the edge of the ocean. We’ve been joined by a couple of cats and Pam is feeding them!
Lots to say about Roatan, but we have three weeks here, so I won’t overload you on day one.
We’re heading to Roatan, an island off the coast of Honduras, in Central America. It’s in a different reef system than the Southern Caribbean island like Bonaire, Aruba and Curacao. They say that this reef has over 92% of the world’s sea creatures visiting it over the course of a year. That seems like a lot of fish!
So far we’ve gone from Vancouver to San Francisco on a small “commuter plane,” then on to Houston in a big Boeing 737-800. We’re grabbing a nap on a nice sofa arrangement here in terminal B. Both flights were nice and simple. Hope that tomorrow’s flight is as nice.
The wifi here in Houston is wonderful. Smoking fast, but then the terminal is nearly empty since it’s nearly three in the morning, so not that surprising, I guess.
We explored the far east of the island today. We visited a number of small towns, including Punta Gorda. It is a village that is almost exclusively Garifuna. The Garifuna are an Afro-Carib people who were forcibly relocated to Roatan from St Lucia by the British, because they actively resisted British rule.
It’s a quaint little town, with little or nothing for tourists, expect a dance show, which only occurs when there is a cruise ship in the harbor, apparently. No ship, no show.
So we checked out Lionfish Louis…. a beautiful piece of property barely fifteen minutes from where we are staying. The water was beautiful and warm, but not great for snorkeling. The beach was long and sandy, with a couple small islands to snorkel around. There was a long dock with just a TON of fish under it. Almost like they wanted out of the sun!
The horse featured in the picture just sort of wandered onto the beach, took a drink of the sea water, and casually wandered away. Not sure who he belongs to, or anything.
