DonLinda

 Our Trips & Info

updated: 02/08/2012
Roatan, Honduras Trip Report
Jan 29 - Feb 5, 2012
 

(Pictures will expand)    

Villa Ocean Reef
A week of fun at a new place for us.   Our wonderful exchange student who lived with us in '93-'94 suggested that we try the warmer waters of Roatan in January.  We were looking for warmer since we have experienced the cooler waters of Jamaica and St Martin during this time.  

Flights  Continental to Houston and then direct to Roatan (ROA)   We arrived about 2:00 and found our taxi driver - Jensen - after about a 20 minute wait through immigration.  Lots of help in the airport with the bags (one apiece free).   The trip to West Bay took about 20 minutes along the south side of the island over a secondary road with plenty of potholes.   

Return Flights:  We arrived about noon on Sunday for a 2PM flight and glad we allowed 2 hours.  There are three lines and they are all slow and crowded.  First line is check-in;  Second line is pay departure tax or $37.80 cash for each person at the bank window.  Since it was lunch hour, only one person working that.  Third line is the immigration line and there was only one person working it.  It took well over an hour to go through all three lines.  

Allow at least two hours between your connecting flights in Houston IAH to go through immigration...the lines were long, long, long.  

The Villa Ocean Reef Condo:  We found this enticing condo on the beach through VRBO.com last July, liked the price and the location was where we wanted to be in West Bay, Roatan.  The owner, Linda Kay, was easy to work with on dates and has excellent instructions on how everything works.  Kevin, the manager, is on-site almost everyday and takes care of any problems.  The 2/bedroom/2bath with full kitchen was very well stocked with most of the supplies needed to make the stay very pleasant.  There was even a cell phone free to use. 

There were many beautiful sunsets out the back door.........

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West Bay







 It is a short walk west from the condo through Las Rocas dive shop/ cantina to get to West Bay beach.  A board walk helps to traverse the coral outcropping.   Las Rocas is at one end of the beach with Infinity at the other.  The walk from one end to the other is maybe 400-500 yards.  You pass Fosters, Beachers Bar, the Mayan Princess, Bananarama, the Henry Morgan and quite a few other condo developments and beach establishments.  Fishermen in their long boats are available right on the beach to take you out past the reef and fish for tuna and yahoo.  Generally, they run about $50-60/hr.  We caught and ate one small tuna.

There are water taxi's everywhere.  They run from Infinity to West End and cost $3 per person one-way.  There is a tiny Mini-Mart behind the Beacher's Bar.  At Bananarama, there is a little road about two blocks long up to the West Bay Mall where you can find several small shops including a nice deli with groceries, Captain Van's for tech stuff, a small gift shop and a drug store. 

There are many vendors along the beach selling massages, necklaces, food, and many other things.  They are very nice folks and take a no-thank you very well.  The people are extremely nice and helpful.  It is a very safe place, even at night... very dark - a flashlight is helpful when walking the beach at night.

Around Las Rocas





 

Gumbalimba Park

 

  A short walk from condo, just east of West Bay, is a beautiful theme park.  It features a nice tour-guided nature walk through the rain-like forest, interaction with monkeys and macaws.  There is a well stocked insectarium.  The cost is $30/person adults.  We really enjoyed it, although it was a wet walk, but bearable.  The floral and fauna was beautiful with orchids growing wild.   Blaine was an excellent guide.  We walked up the road from the condo, took a left to the park.  Then walked down to the beach and took a left back to the condo.  Less that 1/4 mile each way.

There is an extension of the Park just west of the Infinity Resort for beach use. 
 

 


The Iguana Farm

 
 
 
 The lizard farm is on the south side of the island via taxi.  It boasts 4000 iguanas and lots of other things including feeding 3-4ft tarpons.  Admission is $8/person. 
 

 

The Glass Bottom Boat

 
 
 
 This ride is definitely worth it.  It originates near Las Rocas-Beachers and costs $30/person.  It is about a 50 minute ride and you are right in the middle of the coral.  It is amazing that the boat does not hit it.
 

West End

 
 
 
 
 
 A short water taxi ride east to the little town of West End.  There are more bars and restaurants.  There is a small beach in the Half Moon Bay area.

 

 

Money The local currency is lempiras.  About 20 L = $1.00.   You may use US dollars everywhere but you will get lempiras in change.  There are no coins in lempiras.  MasterCard and Visa's are welcome most of bigger vendors.  The only ATM we saw was at the airport and it only dispensed lempiras. 
Bugs The sand flies and mosquitoes are plentiful and a problem for some people.  You can get 100% deet products and others at the big grocery store Eldon's in Coxen Hole.  Vick's VaporRub eases the itch for us.  Also, benadryl salve and tablets help.  Linda was miserable for about 3 days until her body built up some immunity to the bites.  She was covered constantly with deet and skin-so-soft and they bit her anyway.  I got two nibbles on my ankles and only sprayed deet there.  The bites are similar to red bugs (chiggers).  Malaria is everywhere according to our reading, but there are no online reports of malaria cases coming out of Roatan and there are plenty of juicy-bodied tourists coming in almost everyday on the cruise ships.
Weather It rained everyday we were there.  It is the rainy season we were told and the sun seldom came out to warm the water.  The temps ran about 70-80 everyday and night.  We found plenty of breaks in the rain to walk the beach, but it did make the water cooler than we expected.  No jackets needed, but an umbrella or light rain gear was in order.
Clothing Practically everyone wears shorts and t-shirts everywhere.  Water shoes are not needed unless you want to walk through the turtle grass and step places you can not see.  Most people go barefoot on the beach and in the beach bars.
Safety/Health Like most of these destinations, the citizens are quite poor.  Petty thievery is probably no different in Roatan than anywhere else.  We kept our doors locked at night and when we were gone - just like home.  We saw some police and quite a few security guards on the beach.  But, unlike other places we have been, we felt totally at home with the citizens.  They were very friendly, genuinely so.  They would take great efforts to make you feel at home.  It is one of the safest "feeling" places we have been.   We used bottled water only, even when brushing teeth and washing dishes.  No intestinal issues other than too much rum. 
Taxi services We took a three hour ride on the better roads of the island.  We could have done more time and distance for the $80, but it was rainy and once you see wet tropical foliage zip by at few hundred times, that was enough.  The roads are very windy and visibility is limited unless you stop on a mountain ridge or top.  We are not big on spending money at restaurants so we passed up the recommended food establishments.  The water taxis are great around West Bay and West End...just be sure that everyone in the boat is out of the way before you fall in.  :)
Language The language barrier was not a problem for us. Most of the people understand enough English to communicate. Others need a couple of Spanish palabras thrown in with hand guestures.   Some speak broken Spanish and easily switch to a creole-like dialect.