Roatan/Belize - Roatan

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In June of 2016, Angela and I embarked on what has become our annual trip with the Emmanuels. This time, we headed down to Mel's parents' retirement property on Roatan island, in Honduras. After a relatively long day of travel, including a lengthy layover, we made our way to the Roatan airport. A short 30 minute cab ride to West End and we arrived at the duplex where we'd be staying the next 3 nights. So comforting to stay in a condo where you can feel like home but in a tropical paradise. We quickly unpacked, walked down the road to grab a beer, and hop on the $3 boat taxi over to West Bay, the more lavish resort beach area. After sharing a tasty lunch, we jumped in the bath water ocean for some spectacular snorkeling. Truly some of the best snorkeling I've ever seen, and I've been to many Caribbean and Hawaiian islands. We made the short boat taxi back, after some delicious "monkey lalas" on the beach, booked our scuba adventure for the next day, and headed home for relaxing dinner at the pad.

Poor Mel couldn't sleep all not, too anxious thinking about the dive, and eventually had to bail. Angie continue though, as we got certified for this specific purpose. 3 dives in some of the clearest water I have ever seen. Quite certain this crushes the barrier reef. I wasn't certified at the time, so only got to diver 20 feet in Australia, but the reef was so much more alive here. The variety of the fish and the clarity of the water was fantastic. Getting scuba certified for this trip was the best decision ever. Highlights of the diving adventure include a moray eel, beautiful blue parrot fish, invasive lion fish that the guides speared, and just swimming through some lovely coral structures and swim throughs.

We spent the next day in West End, relaxing on a nearby beach and checking out the snorkeling in that area. Not as good as West Bay, but still good. Back to the condo and some time at the pool, and called it an early night. Our last day was Angie's bday, so we tried to make it special. We checked out a nearby bird and monkey sanctuary and we rehabilitate injured animals. Fun little tour highlighted with the feeding of monkeys who climb all over you. We made it back to West End and took the boat taxi back to West Bay for some more snorkeling and beach time, finished off with "monkey lalas" of course. Took the short boat taxi back home, got cleaned up, and headed out for bday dinner at the lighthouse, right on the water. All in all, Roatan was a terrific pleasure and like I said, possibly some of the best diving in the world. Next morning, we wake up early for our short puddle jumper flight to Belize for the next leg of the journey...

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