Trip Report

Roatan Island, Honduras

Pyrate's Cove

In April and May of 2004 we spent about three weeks in Honduras, most of the time on Roatan Island to enjoy its scuba diving.

About 90 of the 500 plus photographs taken by all of us are posted on www.shutterfly.com.  Go to that site and sign in using my e-mail address with hocuspocus as a password.  Click on Roatan Island, Honduras, and then click on View as Slideshow. 

On April 28th we boarded a flight to Houston, arriving the following morning and were met by daughter Andrea who had flown in from South Dakota.  The three of us then boarded a flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and daughter Anete was waiting for us at the airport when we got in.  Anete had flown down from Tampa the preceding day. 

We boarded a first class bus into the city where we transferred to another bus of the same company for the trip to Copan Ruinas, the very attractive little town adjacent to a complex of Mayan ruins.  The ride was about three hours long through attractive mountain country and a couple of thunderstorms.  We arrived in Copan in late afternoon and were met there by Flavia, the owner of the Hacienda San Lucas.  The Hacienda is a 100 year old property owned by Flavia’s family and is currently a rustic (no electricity – up a long, bumpy dirt road) bed and breakfast which has only two rooms that were both occupied.  Flavia had very kindly made reservations for us at the Hotel Marina Copan. 

Mayumi and I were pooped after having traveled a little over 24 hours and elected to honor the Hispanic custom of the siesta while Andrea and Anete did a little exploring.  A bit later we walked down the street for dinner to a two story, open air restaurant.  We ate upstairs and were serenaded by a group of perhaps 150 people holding some sort of ceremony in the intersection outside the restaurant.  The patron saint of the town is Saint Joseph, and the local custom is to have a Catholic mass at a different location in the town each night of the week leading up to the saint’s day.  The mass includes lots of singing.  This was our lucky day. 

We had a good dinner including a delicious and too ample brochette served by waitresses carrying platters on their heads.  Mayumi discovered the local coffee which is quite famous is almost as good as Kona coffee.  Following dinner we took a circuitous route back to the hotel for some serious sleeping. 

The next morning we were all up bright and early for breakfast and the twenty minute walk to the ruins.  We had been advised to get to the ruins early to see and hear the birds before they all departed in mid-morning for Lake Yojoa.  Most of what we heard were cicadas with an exceptionally high pitched sound very unlike those we’re accustomed to.  We saw a number of Macaws which are tame and one Baltimore Oriole. 

We had made an appointment to meet a guide at 9:00 a.m. and he did an excellent job of describing the elements of the ruins for a very reasonable fee.  He had obviously studied the subject and his English was quite good.  I lack the sophistication to appreciate the art of the stone carvings, but I can certainly appreciate that, in a place and time where it was tough to find a place to plug in your steam iron, people had the time and interest to do such painstaking work.  The feat of engineering in view of the limited range of tools and equipment was most impressive. 

As we were leaving the ruins there was a line of what seemed to be thousands of high school aged kids waiting to enter.  When we returned to the hotel we took advantage of the swimming pool and had another siesta.  Then we learned that all of those thousands of kids were staying the same hotel.  They were actually pretty well behaved.  The gang staying at our hotel was from the town of La Cieba where they attend a private bilingual school and they spoke English quite naturally. 

For dinner we took a taxi to the Hacienda San Lucas.  We arrived quite early and passed a very pleasant hour seated at the verge of a hill overlooking the valley where the town and the ruins are located chatting with some Belgian visitors and having some before-dinner drinks.  The ladies were invited to participate in making the tortillas, and then we had an excellent dinner during which our hostess stopped by to visit with us for a while.  She’s a very interesting lady.  The place has belonged to her family for years and years, but she’s a retired school teacher from Kentucky and is exceptionally outgoing. 

The “maitre de” is a young man from Tegucigalpa who had attended a chef school in Italy.  He’s hoping to write a book on indigenous Honduran cuisine and is working at the hacienda to learn about that subject. 

Following our dinner we boarded the hacienda’s limousine (the bed of a a pickup truck) for a gut bustin’ 20 minute ride back over a rough road into town along with several other dinner guests. 

About 3:00 A.M. the following morning we were awakened by an explosion.  That was followed by a series of explosions that continued until daylight.  At first I thought the noise was made by some of the kids setting off cherry bombs but later learned that it’s part of the local custom for the patron saint’s day.  The early awakening wasn’t such a disruption, though, because we had to be at the bus station a few blocks away by 5:00 A.M.  The night watchman from the hotel and I schlepped the three heavy bags belonging to Mayumi and me to the bus station and then I had to wait for the station agent to arrive. 

As is usual in Latin America, the bus arrived late and departed late, but no big deal.  Mayumi got car sick winding through the mountains.  We arrived back in San Pedro Sula where we were to catch another bus to La Cieba.  Since we had a little time between buses we went to the Gran Hotel Sula for some breakfast.  Then we waited and waited as bus after bus left for other destinations.  This was on May 1st, Labor Day in most of the world.  Eventually we learned that there were peaceful demonstrations in progress and buses couldn’t get through so we were left twiddling our thumbs.  Finally we boarded our bus just in time for another bus to back into ours cracking the windshield.  That meant another delay, shifting of luggage and boarding another bus.  Eventually we left San Pedro Sula. 

We were hoping to catch the 3:00 P.M. ferry from La Cieba to Roatan Island but the delay looked as if that weren’t going to happen.  We arrived in the outskirts of La Cieba at 2:45 and grabbed the first taxi driver, asking him if he could get us to the ferry terminal in time for the 3:00 departure.  He assured us that he could and, by golly, he did.  However the ferry schedule had changed and the actual departure was at 4:00 P.M.  

The hour and a half crossing was about as rough a boat ride as I’ve ever had.  That's saying something in view of my 30+ years in the Navy and several years sailing my own boats on the ocean.  Poor Mayumi got sick all over again but she refused to up-chuck.  Andrea had some rough moments, too, and performed deep breathing exercises for the entire crossing.  Originally we had the first class compartment all to ourselves except for one garrulous young man, a fisherman from Roatan.  As the ride worsened a few women with very small children were allowed to come into the first class cabin, too.  I guess the ride was too much for some of them as they lost their lunches. 

On arrival on Roatan I wanted to rent an airplane so Mayumi could be air sick, too, all in the same day but she wasn’t that sporting. 

We finally arrived in Coxen Hole, Roatan, just as the sun was setting.  Because the time of our arrival was up in the air all day and because there are few telephones anywhere, we had been unable to let the rental agents for the house we were to occupy know exactly when we would be arriving.  We got hold of a taxi driver who took us all over the town of Coxen Hole to find a phone and then made arrangements to meet the agents in the town of West End.  By this time we were famished so we took the agents to dinner and they then took us to our house in Flowers Bay. 

The agents for the home we rented and for several other properties are Stella and Fran Marazzito of Roatan Property Management.  They were exceptionally friendly and helpful and we recommend them highly.  They moved to Roatan from New York in 1999. 

The house is called Pyrate’s Cove and is a second home for the owners.  We had originally contacted the owners regarding a home exchange as they are members of our home exchange organization.  As it turned out, the day before I contacted them they had purchased an apartment on the ResidenSea, a cruise ship that travels around the world, and were preparing to spend two years aboard ship going from port to port.  They offered to rent us their house for $750/week.   

The house is quite large with a capacity to sleep ten people in a press.  The house is situated right at the water’s edge with surf sometimes flowing under a portion of the place.  When there’s any significant surf it breaks on the underwater wall and splashes with the sound of a shot against the side of the house. 

It’s actually a collection of more or less independent structures.  The main unit comprises a fair sized living room with a TV and DVD, large sofa, and two wing chairs along with a coffee table and a credenza.  There’s a smallish dining room with seating for eight and a seven foot dugout canoe standing on end with glass shelves inserted for bric-a-brac.  The kitchen is good sized with a very nice, high table for both food preparation and dining and is complemented with six tall stools.  There is a refrigerator, microwave, and a ton of pots and pans along with plenty of dishware and glassware.  Above the kitchen is a bedroom with a queen size bed.  Just off the kitchen is a half-bath. 

The master bedroom is in a separate unit with its own half bath and a loft containing twin beds. 

Another unit is a self-contained apartment.  Downstairs is a studio apartment with small refrigerator, stove and microwave and a futon type double bed and a half bath.  It has a loft with a queen sized bed. 

In a separate unit are the large shower stall and the washer and dryer along with the water pumping and heating equipment. 

All of these structures are unified and connected by porches and roofs and each structure is painted a different color.  One section of porch has a Jacuzzi bath and another is equipped with a hammock and table and chairs.  Of course, there are splendid views from all the porch areas.  You can see cruise ships approach and enter the harbor at Coxen Hole. 

Our first night was quite hot and sticky because the house had been closed up for some period of time.  In the early morning hours the house began to cool somewhat and sleeping became comfortable.  Subsequent nights were pretty comfortable but the sound of the surf required a little adjustment.  To a sailor the sound of surf isn’t soothing – it means you’re dangerously close to the shore. 

We spent the following day getting straightened out with our rental car and familiarizing ourselves with our surroundings.  Our first car was a little red Suzuki compact that had a problem with the starter.  That was replaced the next day with a gutless Mitsubishi four door, four wheel drive pick-up truck with an inoperative speedometer.  Vehicle maintenance isn’t a high priority on the island.  And car rental is quite expensive.  

Roatan was an English settlement at one time and many of the residents are descendents of the early settlers.  The result is that about 70% of the people on the island speak English although it’s a peculiar and interesting dialect in some cases.  Spanish is gaining ground as people migrate from the mainland to improve their economic prospects.  

We checked out the largest supermarket on the island, Eldon’s in French Harbor about 45 minutes from the house.  This trip became a daily pilgrimage.  To get there we drove first to Coxen Hole over a rough dirt road about four miles long that’s impassable part of the year.  Then on to French Harbor on a good two lane road – the only one on the island.  It actually originates in West End and traverses about 25 of the 35 mile length of the island before becoming a rough dirt road. 

Eldon’s has a lot of American products and they, like everyone else on the island, accept either U. S. dollars or Honduran Lempira.  Mayumi had a hard time pronouncing lempira and it came out as “lumpia” which is a Philippine food.  The meat selection was pretty poor and we never did find a good source of meat although the restaurants had very good meat.  Even the carniceria or “meat shop” next door to Eldon’s had a very poor selection. 

Gary Nale joined us the following day.  Gary is in the Air Force.  When he was stationed at Hickam AFB here in Hawaii he sailed and scuba dived with our gang a great deal.  He’s now stationed in Honduras at Soto Cano Air Base just outside Comayagua.  Gary said the housing on Roatan, although often pretty poor, is much better than in the area around Comayagua. 

Anete and I dived two dive sites out of French Harbor and these were among the best dives of the trip.  Diving on the south side of the island is a little iffy because the predominant winds usually make the water very choppy there, but we hit it on a windless day. 

Following that all our diving was done out of West End.  We chose Reef Gliders dive shop run by a German fellow named Justus (the J sounds like an H).  Our first dive there was with an Irish dive master (dive mistress?) named Kiera.  Subsequent dives were with Justus.  He sure can’t be accused of being a money grubber: he only charges $15 per dive and wasn’t in any hurry to be paid.  He just let the charges accumulate until we were ready to leave. 

The underwater structure was the most interesting I’ve seen anywhere with lots of walls, some dropping hundreds of feet, and lots of swim-throughs and caverns.  Here in Hawaii we don’t get to see soft corals because the water temperature is a little too cool, but they are abundant in Roatan along with hard corals and sponges.  We saw several turtles about two feet long or a little less, but not many eels and no sharks.  In one respect the diving was a little disappointing: while there were many species of fish I hadn’t encountered before, there weren’t many schools of fish.   

I had hoped to do some shore diving sans dive master but that didn’t work out.  The best areas for shore diving are on the south side of the island, but that side is usually battered by a pretty fair surf.  Additionally, the dive shop operators are quite reluctant to rent tanks for shore dives. 

Almost all the dive boats are simply open workboats about sixteen to twenty feet long with some arrangement for holding tanks and a wooden ladder that is hung over the side for reentering the boat.  All the dives we made were less than a ten minute boat ride from the starting point so a more elaborate arrangement isn’t justified. 

Justus is married to a local woman and has four kids.  He told us that the public schools on Roatan are deplorable.  Because the teachers are paid so poorly, they come to the classroom in the morning, write the assignments on the blackboard, and then go to their real jobs.  He said almost all of his income goes to sending his kids to private school. 

In general, Roatan is somewhat shabby looking.  There are some pretty upscale resorts and visitors to those resorts seem to isolate themselves to some degree. 

We visited Anthony’s Key Resort to see about a dolphin encounter.  They have three schemes for these encounters: wading in waist deep water, snorkeling, and scuba diving with the dolphins.  Anete, Andrea and Gary all felt the price was a bit too dear.  Mayumi really wanted to experience that so we decided to return after they had left.  As it turned out, when we returned the last week of our visit all dolphin encounters were cancelled for some sort of construction project.  Nuts!

During one of our explorations we drove into and checked out Fantasy Island Resort, reputedly the site of the filming of the Fantasy Island television series.  It is a very attractive setting.  Out near the remote eastern end of the island we drove some little distance off the main road to visit the Paya Bay Beach and Dive Resort (check their web site) in a beautiful setting with two very attractive beachs.  This is a long way from anywhere but might be an interesting destination for a gang of divers if you could work out a good group rate. 

On this same drive we passed through the town of Punta Gorda, a settlement of Garifuna people, blacks who were forcibly abandoned on Roatan by the British.  They have preserved their own language, music and culture.  Many Garifuna now live along the north cost of mainland Honduras. 

Across the island from Punta Gorda is Oak Ridge, the most picturesque village on Roatan. Most of the homes are built on or over the water around a very attractive little bay and are only accessible by boat. 

We visited the Iguana Farm, probably the best know non-aquatic tourist attraction on the island.  Lots of BIG iguanas.  I have a couple of great photos of Mayumi cowering behind one of the kids who works there in fear of the iguanas.  They also have some macaws and a fenced off area of the sea filled with tarpon about three feet long and around three hundred lobsters.  Mayumi was much happier with the butterfly farm we visited later in our stay. 

Probably the best place we found to eat was the Posada Arco Iris, an Argentine restaurant and hotel of sorts in West End.  West End is a funny looking town.  The main drag is a dirt road, and that’s the only drag, too.  The town gives the impression of being a refuge for backpackers who’ve just received a little money from home.  It’s all dive shops, very basic accommodations, souvenir shops, internet cafes, restaurants, bars and a few churches. 

Another good place to eat and an interesting place to visit is Rick’s American Café.  This place is just outside West End.  You have to climb about a hundred steps from the parking lot to get to the place and then have the feeling of being in a big tree house.  Watch out for the deserts! 

Mayumi found a really interesting Catholic church in West End.  It is an open air church amidst bamboo trees behind the home of one of the parishioners.  She planned to attend mass there one Saturday evening but was rained out. 

Internet service on Roatan is quite pricey.  It usually runs 3 – 4 lempiras per minute at internet cafes which works out to $10 - $12 per hour.  We later found in San Pedro Sula that prices there are more like $2 per hour.  Part of the high cost is accounted for by the fact that internet access for the entire island is by means of a microwave tower located on the Honduran mainland – and part by sheer avarice. 

One day Gary and Andrea hired a boat to take them fishing.  They caught a couple of yellow fin tuna and good sunburns.  That evening Andrea prepared tuna for dinner and we had another fish left for a subsequent dinner.  The fisher folk declared that they’d had a good time fishing and would gladly do it again. 

On one occasion Andrea, Anete and Gary went snorkeling at West Beach and found the conditions quite good. 

Andrea and Anete both had to return to real life on May 9th with Gary going back to defend the free world on the following day.  Then Mayumi and I got into some serious lethargy.  We’d awaken around 6:00 A.M., watch the news on CNN (lousy reception but useable), eat, read and loaf around.  Then we’d go into West End, about an eight minute drive, where I’d go diving with Justus a couple of times.  Next we’d go into Coxen Hole and pick up a DVD and whatever we needed from Warren's supermarket there.  On our way back to the house we’d frequently have to thread our way through the passengers from the cruise ships that dock at Coxen Hole (poor choice but only deep water harbor on the island).  We’d either have dinner at the house or go to a restaurant in West End to eat, watch the DVD, and go to bed to repeat the cycle the next day.  Tough life. 

After the girls left Gary and I snorkeled West Beach again.  Subsequently Mayumi and I snorkeled Half Moon Bay right in the town of West End and I thought it was better snorkeling. 

Our stay on Roatan ended on May 16th.  Had the only way off the island been by the ferry we used to get there, Mayumi would still be on Roatan.  She wasn’t about to board that ferry again and I can’t say I blame her as sick as she had been.  We got tickets to fly from Roatan to San Pedro Sula with a change of planes in La Cieba.  Can you see it coming?  Our flight from Roatan was delayed for about an hour while the pilots finished their last beer.  That caused us to miss our scheduled flight from La Cieba to San Pedro permitting us to wait in the La Cieba airport for a couple of hours for the next flight.  Neither of these flights is more than 20 minutes long but we sat waiting for four or five hours total.  Since we weren’t surprised it was funny rather than frustrating. 

We arrived in San Pedro just before sunset and checked into the Gran Hotel Sula which cost about $65 per night.  The hotel is located on the Plaza Mayor or main square of the town as is the picturesque cathedral.  We were just in time for Mayumi to attend mass in the cathedral while I took a walk around the surrounding neighborhood. 

There is a lot of gang crime in Honduras and San Pedro seems to be particularly afflicted.  The entire city is off limits for U.S. military personnel stationed in Honduras although I didn’t see any untoward behavior during our visit.  In the early morning hours of the following day there was an explosion and fire in a prison there which resulted in the deaths of 103 inmates, almost all young men.  The Honduran police have been accused of “extra-legal execution” of 1,200 suspected gang members over the last year so I suspected that this explosion and fire may have had sinister origins.  Subsequent newspaper articles indicate this probably was not the case. 

The following morning we found the local market which was about evenly divided between a couple of hundred souvenir shops and food stalls.  There were at least 100 women in perhaps 50 stalls making tortillas.  The remaining food stalls sold vegetables, fruits, cheeses, fish and flowers.  It was quite an interesting and colorful place. 

From the market we walked about another mile to the local museum which showed a lot of artifacts from the various civilizations that had occupied the Sula valley down through history along with depictions of Spanish colonial times and more recent developments up to about the middle of the 20th century. 

The following day we flew to Houston, spent the night there, and then on to our home. 

At no time during the trip did I get the sense that anyone was attempting to rip us off – or maybe I was just too dense to notice.  A couple of things to be aware of: the government of Honduras imposes a 12% sales tax and tourist establishments must charge an additional 4% tax for tourism development.  And there is a $27 departure fee at the airport when leaving the country. 

People were unfailingly courteous and friendly wherever we went, often going out of their way to be helpful.