We slept in until 8 am (four more hours than yesterday haha) and headed over to the bank right away to take out the money we needed for Roatan. The place where we were going to be staying in Roatan did not have any ATMs or banks, so we both took out plenty. After I got through the line, I was counting my money and realized I had been jipped 500 lempiras ($25). I was about to go back up in line and tell them they miscounted when Tad spotted under my seat on the floor! Thank goodness. Since Ceiba is one of the more developed and bigger cities in Honduras, we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. This was comparable to a Starbucks for us being in Honduras and you could tell by the cliental that more middle class Hondurans like breakfast there, too. We went back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading back out again to buy some groceries for Roatan. Basically we had heard food (well, everything) was expensive on Roatan, so we bought stuff for breakfast and snacks to help keep costs down. The hotel we finally had arranged on the island had a little mini-fridge as well. We had some more good American Wendy’s for lunch, checked out of our hotel in Ceiba, and made our way to the ferry dock.
There’s only one ferry that goes back and forth between Roatan, Utila and Ceiba. It ended up being more money than I had read about, but whatever, it’s just money, right? We were pretty early, so we waited in the lobby, called some friends and fam, and watched some more World Cup games until the ferry came. The ride went pretty well…until it started clouding over, raining and the Caribbean Sea became wavy. I don’t get motion sickness too badly, but I definitely had to concentrate and look out the window at the horizon to make sure I didn’t lose it. Thankfully the rain stopped when we arrived at Roatan! We captured a taxi ($15 each to West End!) and made it to our hotel. Checking in with this hotel was not very efficient; basically the whole process with this hotel was typical Honduran. But we dealt with it and waited to pay the full amount as long as we could until we knew if we were getting discount or not for the trouble they put us through. West End is a small town, but has a beautiful ocean view.
There’s one sandy road leading down the center of town with restaurants and shops along the edge. It was about dinner time, so Tad and I wandered down the sandy road and found a restaurant that was built up out of the water with a great ocean view, an ocean deck restaurant if you will called Eagle Ray. It was very relaxing; when you think paradise, that’s how it felt: calm, relaxing, beautiful. We enjoyed our dinner and some after dinner drinks and headed to bed. Island activities tomorrow!
Sunday, June 20th
First full day in Roatan! We woke up, had our cheap milk and cereal in red plastic cups, and got our day started by kayaking in Half Moon Bay, the bay directly in front our hotel. The kayaks were free to people who were staying at the hotel, which was awesome. Roatan is known for its amazing coral reefs, second to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia; in other words, awesome! So I didn’t realized the deeper I went out, the more coral I would encounter and that perhaps the coral might stick out above the water. I’m not a good kayaker in general, but when you added the coral to the mix…I got stuck. On coral. And couldn’t move. I had to keep rocking back and forth, using my paddle to get myself into water again and kept apologizing to the coral. I felt so stupid because here’s Tad, just kayaking away like he’s a pro and here I am, stuck on coral. It was an awesome experience, but nonetheless a great way to start our morning.
Late morning we took a water taxi (they have so many different modes of transportation here in Honduras) to West Bay, the most infamous and most gorgeous beach on the island. This is the place you have crystal blue water and coral and tropical fish you’ve only seen in Nemo. Right on the beach where we put our stuff down was a high end hotel called Infinity Bay, with a swim up bar and beach restaurant. Tad and I looked it up later; I think it was about $200/night during low season. Not astronomical, but definitely not something you can just ‘do.’ We saw people snorkeling and since we weren’t spending enough time on the island to get our diving certification, it would have to do. We found a guy who rented us scuba gear for $5 each and got to it. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had in my life!! I felt like I was watching the world of Nemo with my own two eyes. I saw waving fans of coral, brain coral, brightly colored fish of all shapes and sizes and all in crystal blue water.
The whole day was spent that way, except for our break for lunch at the hotel’s restaurant. We almost didn’t bring enough money to cover lunch, but squeezed by. After we got back from lunch, the guy who had rented our scuba gear from wanted it back because he was leaving for the day. We reluctantly gave it back to him; Tad was suspicious and didn’t really think he was leaving and he was right. The guy just didn’t want his stuff laying around while we had lunch when he could’ve rented it to someone else. Tad decided to confront him and after a slightly heated conversation, we didn’t get our scuba gear back, but got five of our ten dollars back. We decided to head back late afternoon and began to realize we had not put on enough sunscreen. Because Tad and I had been snorkeling all day with our backs and legs bare to the sun, we were both fried on our backsides. I don’t think I have been that sunburned in years; it hurt terribly! We checked with the hotel to see if our payment problem had been taken care of yet, but no news, so we got ready for dinner. Mealtime consisted of us wandering up and down the street, seeing what restaurants were open, what ones we wanted to try and how much they cost. We settle on Thai that night; Tad’s a big fan, but I haven’t tried it much. We got a table on the dock with candlelight. I had no idea what to choose, so I asked for Tad’s opinion, saw some stuff I thought might be good and ordered Spicy Chicken.
I like spicy foods, but when I ate my first bite of this stuff, my mouth was on fire! I can usually handle hotter stuff, but I have never had anything that spicy. I was literally sweating and all I could taste was heat, not the food. I had to ask for more rice, which helped tone it down. I was blown away to say the least! I took the rest back to the hotel, hoping it would ‘cool’ down overnight and I could eat the rest tomorrow. We relaxed by the beach with a drink, watching the stars and saw the most brilliant shooting star we both thought it was an airplane at first! Great way to end the evening in paradise.
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