Posts Tagged ‘West Bay’

Tropical Storm Harvey aftermath on Roatan

Posted in Honduras on August 20th, 2011 by Vagablonding – 3 Comments

Tropical Storm Harvey passed over us last night, blowing by with 60mph winds and a lot of rain. Didn’t even wake me up.

The storm washed a lot of sea grass onto the beach and walkways…

Tropical Storm Harvey Aftermath - Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Tropical Storm Harvey Aftermath - Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

…and flung a Portuguese Man-o-War onto the beach! This is really rare because these guys are usually found only in the Pacific, Indian, and northern Atlantic oceans. They’re almost never this far south. It’s pretty lewd looking, if you ask me…

Man-o-war Tropical Storm Harvey Aftermath - Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Man-o-war Tropical Storm Harvey Aftermath - Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Man-o-war Tropical Storm Harvey Aftermath - Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Also did some damage to the dock in front of Foster’s

Tropical Storm Harvey Aftermath - Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

Otherwise, all appears to be well on Roatan. Hopefully the sun comes back soon so I can get my scuba diving certification!

Sand flea bites in Roatan, Honduras

Posted in Honduras on August 20th, 2011 by Vagablonding – 2 Comments

The sand fleas here are vicious. They will bite you while you’re walking on the sand, or even standing in the ocean. There are less of them on the docks, but you’re still not safe there. Bug spray kills the reef but if you don’t use it, they will bite the crap out of you, and the bites itch like crazy. The best thing to do is to use a bug spray without DEET, and wash it off before getting in the ocean.

Sandflea Bites - Roatan, Honduras
To treat the sand flea bites, you should take ibuprofen and Benadryl, and apply hydrocortisone cream to the bites. Don’t scratch them, or they will get inflamed and break open, possibly leading to infection. Touch them as little as possible to prevent irritation.

Return to Roatan, Honduras

Posted in Honduras on August 20th, 2011 by Vagablonding – 4 Comments

I’m back in Roatan, the largest of the 3 Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras. I was here with my mom and sister at the end of last March / beginning of April earlier in the year, and now I’m here with Ryan for 2 weeks. We’re staying at Las Rocas, which is on the northwestern end of West Bay Beach, not far from Foster’s, the place I stayed during my last visit. Our ‘Value Bungalow’ room at Las Rocas has a queen bed and a single bed, a mini fridge, wireless internet (for a flat fee of $35 per stay), and a bathroom. The bathroom sucks: the hot water in the shower smells really strongly of sulfur, like overpoweringly strong, and the toilet is constantly running. On the plus side, we have our own porch with a hammock and breakfast is included. Breakfast consists of unlimited coffee and a buffet of cereal, yogurt, pastries, and fresh fruit, plus a hot plate that changes daily (so far we’ve seen scrambled eggs with sausage, ham omelets, baleadas, pancakes with bacon, and the tipico plate – fried plantains + beans + white cheese).

The food at the Las Rocas restaurant is pretty tasty, and they have some good deals, like $7 margarita pizza, $7 fish quesodillas, an $8 chicken sandwich with fries, and a six pack of Salva Vida, the local beer, for $8 during happy hour.

Besides spending a lot of time lounging around Las Rocas and reading in the hammock while Ryan works, I’ve been sunbathing and swimming daily.

West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

We also went snorkeling one afternoon. I’m hoping to get diving certified while I’m here, if possible.

Snorkeling off West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

Snorkeling off West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

Snorkeling off West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

Snorkeling off West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

Snorkeling off West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

It’s been very hot here. Internet weather sites say there’s a heat index of 105, but I don’t think it’s quite that hot. The evenings have been stormy, with thunder and lightning.

Lightning - West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

We haven’t seen any super great sunsets yet (I think the sunsets on Gili Air spoiled us), but we got some cool pictures anyway.

Me on Foster's Dock - West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

Foster's Dock - West Bay Beach, Roatan, Honduras

We made friends with a derpy momma cat, and have been feeding her daily. She’s very sweet and has the cutest tiny kittens.

Cat at Las Rocas - West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

There have been some reports of crime while we’ve been here. The other night 3 girls were robbed while walking between West Bay Beach and West End. The next day, a bartender/chef in West End was shot, but we don’t know how that played out.

Oh, also I got baptized. Yep, you read that right. I saw some other people getting baptized in the ocean in front of Foster’s and figured I may as well. Why the hell not, right?

Getting baptized in the ocean - West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

Getting baptized in the ocean - West Bay, Roatan, Honduras

 

 

Scuba Diving in West Bay, Roatan

Posted in Honduras on April 2nd, 2011 by Vagablonding – Be the first to comment

For breakfast on Friday, April 1st (called Town Fools Day here), I had a seasonal fruit plate ($4) from Foster’s, it wasn’t very good, and coffee of course.

At 9:00am Elena and I went to Anemona Divers to go scuba diving! We did the Introductory Dive down to 20 feet for $54 ($60 without the Foster’s discount). First we learned the hand signs, then we took a boat to the beach in front of Infinity Bay Resort and practiced with breathing underwater. When we had that down we swam out to the dive site. It was incredibly beautiful, and so much fun! This is going to be one of my new favorite things for sure. We were under for a total of 40 minutes.

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Can you find the turtle?

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

Scuba Diving West Bay Roatan

We went to Foster’s for lunch and I had nachos which were mega tasty ($6). The afternoon was filled with swimming and beach lounging. There are no cruise ships on Friday or Saturday,  making the beach empty and peaceful. Later in the afternoon we napped. When we woke we went for a walk down the beach and down a road into the “town” of West Bay. We went to some shops and I bought sunglasses cause mine broke ($10), a beautiful beaded bracelet ($9), postcards (2 for $1) and soft serve ice cream ($2). I talked to some local ex-pats about places to stay longer term because I might want to come back soon.

The evening was spent swimming and having dinner and drinks at Foster’s. A little later we walked down to Bananarama to listen to their live music. Unfortunately, this guy also didn’t know Caribbean Queen *sigh*. We listened for a bit and gave him a tip, then headed back to Foster’s and I read in the hammock on the deck before bed.

Exploring West End and dancing at Foster’s

Posted in Honduras on April 2nd, 2011 by Vagablonding – 1 Comment

On Thursday, March 31st, I woke at 7 and a few minutes later a man selling empanadas stopped by, so we bought 3 for breakfast for $5. They were just ok. Went and got coffee at Foster’s after that. I got too hot so I jumped in the ocean. It’s so nice to be able to do that!

Later in the morning we took a water taxi to the town of West End for $3 each. We walked around for about an hour. It was incredibly hot so we kept ducking into souvenir shops for the AC. Eventually we stopped at a restaurant / yoga studio called Earth Mama’s for lunch. I wasn’t hungry but Elena got a coconut curry chicken salad wrap with fried plantain chips ($7.85) and mom had a mimosa and a fiesta shrimp salad ($8.50). I tried mom’s salad and it was delicious! Elena also really liked her food, so definitely stop by this place if you’re in West End.

West End Roatan

West End Roatan

West End Roatan

After that we souvenir shopped a bit. I bought a very cool wooden purse made on the mainland for $15 (down from $20) and a pretty abalone and bead bracelette for $6 (down from $8).

Hibiscus

Around 1pm we took the water taxi back to West Bay for 50 limpiras / $3 per person.

Water Taxi Roatan

We were hot and tired so the rest of the day was spent swimming and sunbathing. Somewhere in there I bought beers again from guy with the cooler from yesterday. I bought 5 for $10 and he told me “pumpkin, you hurt my soul!” I guess I drive a hard bargain.

Foster’s has been building this deck thing for the last 2 days to extend their dining area and they finished it tonight for their live music performance. For dinner we ordered 2 lobster specials which each had 2 lobster tails and 2 sides ($12 per plate). It was very very tasty and more than enough food for 3 people.

After dinner we had happy hour drinks while the band played. They were quite good and we all danced a lot. Towards the end of the night a young Honduran guy with a woman bought drinks for me mom and Elena. We thought it was just because they enjoyed the entertainment of us dancing, but in reality the man wanted to pick up on me and Elena. The woman he was with came over and told us all about it, she was pretty hilarious. Apparently the guy was a Honduran millionaire in the making looking for a gringo girl. I could have had a stake in millions of dollars worth of Honduran cows so I hear… no thanks, I’ll keep my fantastic gringo boyfriend and his cow-sized cat thankyouverymuch. 🙂

We had a very fun evening and danced until about 9:30. My feet were hurting by the end. The band didnt know Caribbean Queen, that was the only disappointment, oh well.

Tomorrow we’re going Scuba Diving!