Roatan Our Favorite Place So Far

Roatan is by far my favorite place that we have cruised to in the past 4 years. We felt safe and welcomed everywhere we went. The food was good, and by Central America standards it was very clean and properly prepared. The local people were friendly and always willing to answer questions and help out. A large percentage of them spoke English so practicing our Spanish was made easier. Fresh fruits and vegetables were available from trucks almost everyday. There were three modern grocery stores that stock anything you could want. Best if you got there the day they were stocking as the locals know some supplies are short. Transportation was easy and affordable. You could ride the collective bus or take a local cab. The airport was centrally located making it one of the best places to have visitors, and that’s what we did.

Our pregnant daughter was first and had a wonderful visit as did we. I have written a blog about those experiences. The highlight of her visit was relax time and the dolphin encounter.

My sister and brother in-law were second. This was the first time they had come anywhere to visit us on the boat. We had an incredible time exploring, eating, drinking, and most of all diving. We were able to dive every day. On one occasion we had a 6-8ft shark swim right between our group. It turned out to be a Hammerhead which even made it more exciting. On every dive there was something new and exciting. We were diving with Tim and Paula on Hooligan, and, John and Kathy on Mystic Moon. Thanks to them I was able to dive over 65 times during the 3 months I was in the Bay Islands. I felt this was quite a birthday present to myself on my 60^th year. I am very proud of that accomplishment after about 10 plus years of only using scuba gear to clean the bottom of the boat. Except for being a short visit I know Cheryl and Rich had a wonderful adventure.

Our last visitor of the season was our son Mike. He wrote a great blog about his trip as well. Again the time was short but we had a fun time diving everyday and just having good times on island time. We spent the last full day doing ziplines with Helen and exploring the local jungles. We also had never done ziplines. Oh what fun.

Part of the problem of keeping the blog up to date during our stay in the Bay Islands was exactly what made it so great. Everyday we basically did the same activities: get up, eat breakfast, listen to the nets, determine when and where we were going to dive, have lunch on our way to explore the island, do our shopping, and the big decision of the day was where the evening sundowner was going to be. Life was simple but oh so great!

The only problem from the outside world that affected us was the whole time we were there a drug war was happening on the furthest east end of the island. But unlike Mexico it was a local problem with one drug lord wanting his stolen coke back from those who stole it. There was actually a road block not allowing any outsiders into the area so the two sides could “duke it out”. Except for hearing the horrific stories, we know of no cruisers who were affected. We will definitely be back to Roatan some day but for now there is still a lot to discover out there for us. Maybe we will find another favorite place in the world.