Blogs from Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 21

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán March 27th 2008

After a hot and noisy night listening to everybody else´s air conditioner (a luxury we didn´t have in our room!) and the driving rain, the alarm went off at 4.55am and we crawled out of bed. It had actually stopped raining to our relief.....but this turned out to only be a brief reprieve as, by the time we had packed everything up it had started again and so we had to unpack to get our waterproofs out. It was a short walk in the driving rain to the bus station but enough to get us soaked though luckily we caught a chicken bus that was just leaving and, initially at least, it was not too crowded. However, it was a two hour plus journey towards a major city, La Ceiba, so became very crowded and cramped ... read more

Waves crashing on the shore by the hotel

Three Days In One Entry

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán February 24th 2008

The Dancers

penfold6

Today, Thursday, we arrived at the port of Roatan in Honduras at 0800hrs local time, 1500hrs UK time. Not wanting to rub it in but the temperature on arrival was 26c but only 27c by noon. Roatan is the largest and most developed of the Bay Islands, a group of small islands off the northeast coast of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea. An island known for it's many attractions. both on land and water. It is about 33 miles long and just over 2 miles wide at its widest point. Spanish is the official language of Honduras but many people in Roatan speak English. Being such a small island, not much to say. We decided not to venture ashore as first thing in the morning, my back went, so laid up all day. We did manage ... read more

Diving in Roatan

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán December 10th 2007

Kevin and Joelle before making the plunge!

JoelleAndKevin

We went diving in Honduras, our first diving of the trip so far! Our first dive took us to 70 feet below the depths for about 50 minutes, and the second dive took us to 30 feet for 45 minutes. We both tried rolling off the boat from a seated position instead of stepping off the back of the boat to enter the water. Our divemaster gave us both great advice, the water conditions were great (about 25 meter visibility) and we would both recommend Roatan for diving.... read more

Kevin getting ready to make the plunge off the dive boat!

Miss Grace: Certified Advanced Diver

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán November 22nd 2007

Natalie Grace

I'm finally a Certified Advanced Diver! Back in March I completed four Speciality courses: * Navigation (which was difficult considering I can't read a compass on land, let alone under water!) * Waves, Tides & Currents (this has proved most helpful in all my dives since) * Low Visibility/Night Diving (this was a very late night dive in Sydney Harbour -- lots of fun) * Nitrox (which was great to dive with -- much cleaner on my lungs -- but I didn't sit the theory exam -- too much maths for my liking) I hadn't completed the pre-requisite 24 dives at the time so I wasn't given my Advanced upgrade. Yesterday I completed the Deep Diver course -- I'm now certified to dive to 40m/130ft. And because I have completed four Specialty courses AND 30 dives, ... read more

Roatan/Honduras

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán November 21st 2007

Smiling with the Dolphin

ThroughMyEyes

Back to Central America, as we left to spend Thanksgiving with Daddy's friend of many years, jen. Though, I like to call her Che. Jen helped dad get his travelling bug as they travelled together for 6 months in Central and South America after they graduated college at UC Santa Barbara. Jen has worked on Roatan for over 10 years. She works for Anthony's Key Resort's Research Institute for Marine Sciences and is responsible for teaching students from different universities from the USA about coral reef ecology. I think she lives in paradise as her house is right on the water. Because TACA airlines changed their itinerary 2 weeks before we left (a few months after we bought our tickets) we had to spend the first night in La Ceiba. I had fun there. We met ... read more

Diving in Roatan

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán November 20th 2007

Natalie Grace

I finally got off my arse and did some diving today. I did three dives and all were different. The first dive was a reef dive - beautiful fish and coral everywhere. The second dive was at a site called Canyon Reef. We dived single-file through canyons and tunnels made of coral. It's strange because in Sydney I have anxiety attacks when I drive through tunnels but I love diving through coral tunnels and in confined spaces in wrecks. The weather turned on us for our third dive. The current was strong and the waves were so choppy, I hit my head several times on the boat trying to get my fins off. On Wednesday I'm having my final two dives. I specifically asked for a wreck dive and they're offerered to make it a Deep ... read more

Roatan

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán November 14th 2007

Natalie Grace

Fantastic is the best word to desribe how I feel. It's amazing what a wax and head shave can do to rejuvenate you! My flight from Puerto Lempira to La Ceiba was diverted to Roatan because La Ceiba airport was flooded. I couldn't believe my luck because I was going to have to book a flight to Roatan later that day so the diversion saved me time and money. After convincing the flight crew that this was actually where I wanted to get off, they took my backpack off the 15-seater plane and I was on my way. A bit of background on Roatan: Roatan is one of the Bay Islands off Honduras and the population is mainly of Carribean heritage. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502 and during the Colonial period, Spanish and ... read more

Racing through Honduras

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán September 27th 2007

Face carving at Copan Ruinas

M and J

Okay so we are now two countries ahead of this blog so need to do a quick update on Honduras before we get too far behind and cant remember what we have been doing! After Guatemala we caught a 4am bus (gasp!) and crossed the border to Copan Ruinas..a small town near..you guessed it! Some Mayan Ruins. We only stayed here one night and went out to the ruins for an afternoon. they were pretty cool, again set in the jungle so saw some cool wildlife including some big colourful macaws. The museum here is excellent, as the ruins are the best Mayan ruins for the preservation of the sculpture and inscriptions the detail has been preserved in an excellent museum and the restoration of the ruins themselves (I loved the skulls...this is Jason writing now) ... read more

Taking the plunge! Diving in Roatan Island

Tortugas y Scooters

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán August 31st 2007

A Wiley Fish

TrevandLiz

Lately Trevor and I head to the ocean instead of to our cubicles each morning. What a difference a matter of months makes... We dive twice a day off the coast of Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and since this is the world's second-largest barrier reef, there are over 44 dive sites within minutes from us. Our master diver is a 38-year-old ex-marine from the islands/Milwaukee named Alenger (aka our good friend Al) who guides us through underwater ship wrecks and spots sealife galour. During our 10 dives, we saw sea turtles, stingrays, green-eyed eels, baracudas, jelly fish, lobsters, crabs, countless fish, and even dolphins on the way. We enjoyed the moseying seaturtles most, but also discovered a new favorite fish. You can spot the damselfish by its bright, yellow tail, but the real ... read more

This is the end of the blog as we know it.

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Roatán August 19th 2007

big red jeep

Divers Extraordinaire

J: I miss being in Roatan. I was so sick of all the inconveniences (unreliable power, merciless insects, three jobs, no butter or hot water, too cheap cigarettes...) that I forgot what I was returning to. Maybe its just that I’m sitting in George Bush international airport/mall, but something about being back in the Northern Americas feels entirely unwholesome. Boarding for Laguardia… to be continued. H: So, now we are on the plane, which is possibly hotter than Roatan was….so while the ocean and the sandflies are a distant memory, the heat feels unsurprisingly familiar. For me the island feels far away and long ago, but the time we spent there feels firm and familiar. Our last week was a haze of good friends, tough tests and lots and lots of ants… J: True to form, ... read more

Brief history of Honduras

Once part of Spain's vast empire in the New World, Honduras became an independent nation in 1821. After two and a half decades of mostly military rule, a freely elected civilian government came to power in 1982. During the 1980s, Honduras proved a ha...more history

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