Roatan: Retrospective

My apologies that some of the earlier posts on this blog are a little backwards looking, this is purely because we should have started this blogging business earlier, however if you are familiar with us you would be surprised that it got started at all.

I spent over 5 months on Roatan and feel that I should take the time to comment on my time there.

Firstly, it is beautiful, a relatively small island with a barrier reef currently still in very good condition, the beaches are man made so white and clean the sea is holiday brochure blue and there are palm trees. 

A thing I really loved is the wildlife there, partly because it constantly reminds you that you are somewhere exotic but mainly because its really cool. So I will miss the geckos and other lizards, particularly the wild iguana (one of my fav animals ever), I only saw 2 snakes but they were very cool too, the humming birds blow my mind and I could sit and watch them for ages I particularly love when they have a little fight as they look like they're fencing. Alas I never found a tarantula, but there where all manor of bugs that would rock up and surprise me, one of the best being fireflies!!! The mosquitoes will not be missed...enough said!

Besides the wildlife obviously I will miss the people greatly, however Roatan is forever transient and in short everyone leaves, its dynamic and refreshing but also kind of sad, some of the people I'll miss the most had left before I did. But the types of people you get close to are the ones that you may just bump into again down the road.

The best bar in West End by a long way in my view, although there are some other good ones is Buena Vida, its small and unassuming, but has the best owners, atmosphere, music, food and value for money particularly in west end. Also food specials and quiz nights, love it.

The diving is perfect, its clear, warm and hassle free with the sites generally a few minuets away. There are severel very good dive shops and internships offering unlimited diving are amazing value for money. I was with Barefoot Divers for my Divemaster and instructor courses, but I have also heard good things about West End Divers and Scuba Roatan. I was lucky enough to see eagle rays, sting rays, nurse sharks, Caribbean reef sharks and turtles, as well as all the more common reef dwellers. I particularly loved seeing eagle rays, trunk fish, cow fish, moray ( the less stalky ones), barravuda, grouper and any of the puffer/burr fish.

Local interaction on the most part is positive, a lot of the boat captains (who I love) and shop owners etc are local to the island or at least the country and are very friendly and interesting with lovely accents, however having been there for some time I became aware of an underling vibe that is understandable but makes me uncomfortable. That is the common belief that white people are rich and ignorant and a women's option is not quite as respected as a mans. This is not a blatant thing and it may be seeded from some good old British cynicism but its how I felt on the odd occasion, given the environment its understandable. A lot of the local people are poor by western standards and there seems to be increasing  drug use and the tourists, predominantly white, have or appear to have money and little awareness of the true (local) price of goods and services. I simply object to such a steriotypical view of the west, although it has been earned by us I'm sure and is continually perpetuated, even by me with my lack of Spanish language stills, I still find it frustrating as I do with any presumptions about me or people I respect. This has little effected on day to day life as long as you know the real price of a taxi ride but you do have to haggle constantly to avoid the 'tourist' price tag.

OK I do not want to be negative but I do want to be honest. There is some crime against tourists there although in the most part its avoidable and very rarely, if ever violent, its more likely you will simply pay more than the next person for certain things. 

Food on the island is nothing to exciting, particularly in terms of variety, but you can live pretty cheaply on local food, however I am in no rush to ever see another baleadia!!!!!

So, to finish just a short list of the other things I loved about Roatan: Hammocks, Rum drinks, dump truck rides through the jungle, jungle air, Zack attacks, sun sets, stars, Bobby the dog, bioluminessence, Erik's dock, Palmetto, porcupine puffer fish and music trivia.

By Things

Photos by Stuff