Roatan Blog #4 A Tour of the East End

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Hello fellow readers! This week we took a tour of the east end of the island with Lisa. It was great in that she is a wealth of information about all areas of the island. Also, the places we saw and experienced are kind of off the beaten path, that the average tourist wouldn't see.

Our first stop was "Sandy Bay" where we watched the dolphins frolick for a few minutes at Anthony's Key. Next we continued on to French Harbour which is the second largest city and the educational center of the island. Cruise ships dock here as well as it is a center for international shipping.

The next stop was fun! - The Iguana Farm - The family that runs it started out with one iquana as a pet and ended up with literally hundreds! He keeps them protected for the first two years and then they roam freely. We got to feed them and I was careful to remove my yellow toe nail polish the night before as Lisa said they would be all over me!! The biggest one was about 3 feet and many are senior citizens with alzeimers!!

Around noon, we arrived at Oakridge a typical island fishing village which is known as Roatan's "Little Venice". A canal goes through the town and interestingly the black Afro Caribbean's live on one side (boat access only) and the white islanders live on the other side. What a scenic place!! We stopped at the most unique spot for a drink. BJ's on the waterfront, a local institution is known all over the island by islanders and expats. B.J. the owner herself is quite the character. An islander she was born and raised on Roatan and is an expert on the history of the island. Although being very friendly, they say you wouldn't want to cross BJ as she may pull out her gun and take of matters!! On Saturdays when we were there, expats and locals get together for a jam session. The seating area is over the water and the ambience with the music and scenery was very memorable!

As we drove further and further east, the landscape changed to more steep hills densley covered with tropical forests. Some amazing scenery that is diffucult to capture on camera. Soon the paved road turned to a very rough grid road as we neared the end of the island and stopped at Camp Bay for lunch. This has to be one of the coolest places we have ever been to. I'm sure very few tourists manage to get here but is very popular with the locals and expats. It's called "The Assylum" (maybe you have to be insane to make the journey to get here!) The restuarant is a square palapa on the end of a dock over looking the sea. The owner and his wife serve up scrumtious fresh seafood. We had lobster, mashed potatoes and veggies. Very tasty!!

After lunch we stopped at the perfect beach for a swim with not a soul on it. It reminded me of the beach photo calanders. Apparently the only people that use it are a handful of local people on Sundays and the odd expat. I won't forget this beach ever!!!

Our last visit before we headed home was Punta Gorda which is the oldest permanent settlement in Roatan. Punta Gorda is a sleey seaside town consisting of descendants of the Garfuna people. They orginally were a rebel group of Afro Caribbeans who fought the English unsuccessfully and were shipped and marooned near St. Vincent to Roatan in 1797. Every April they celebrate the anniversary of their arrival.

So that's was our east end Roatan tour. We found it very interesting and informative (hope you did too!) Thanks for reading.

Mallory and Warren

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