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Roatan and Bay Islands Discussion List Archive
| Posted On: | 19-Feb-2001 |
| From: | "Steve " [steve.....com] |
| Subject: | [Roatan] Rons Complete Trip Report! |
Hi List, Ron sent me his trip report and I've copied it out of MS Word and into this email. It's well worth a read. Best regards, Steve List Administrator www.roatanet.com - Visitors' Guide to Roatan ROATAN TRIP JUNE, 2000 ********************************************************** My wife and I spent eleven days on Roatan last June and had the best vacation of our lives. We wanted to go somewhere that was not overly populated or commercialized, on the beach, good shopping, food and a laid back atmosphere. I spent the better part of three months on the internet, first looking for the perfect place and second, looking for the best place to stay. I settled on Roatan as the place to go and the Lost Paradise Inn to stay. I was exactly on target and lucky in both cases. Roatan was everything we imagined and then some! We are in love with the island and the people on it. In fact, we have already booked the same cabana at Lost Paradise Inn in West End for the same time this coming June. It's back to Roatan in 2001!! I'll give you a bit of a travelogue of our trip. On June 2, 2000, we arrived on Roatan at the airport from San Pedro Sula at 4:50 PM and the Lost Paradise Inn bus met us to take us to West End. Lost Paradise is at the extreme end of West End just before Mermaid Beach and is an excellent place to stay. It is run by the Pineda family and managed by Carlos, one of the sons. He has become a close personal friend. His mother Eva is the overall manager but his father takes care of a lot of details. His sister Evita is also involved as is his brother (name?) who is in charge of construction of the new 2-story office and restaurant. The family is extremely nice and caters to all their guests. We had the newest of the octagonal cabanas that had AC, refrigerator and bathroom ($85/night). The room had a skylight at the peak of the roof as well as in the bathroom. It had its own porch, outside freshwater shower and was about 10 meters from the water and private beach. There are about a dozen of these cabanas on the beach side and another dozen on the other side of the road, away from the beach. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for accommodations in that price range without going to a "resort". Now, to continue…. we used the Coconut Mini-Mart a lot for purchase of smaller stuff (beer, cokes, ice) and had a wonderful seafood marinara that Paul Cleveland made for us one evening at the Salt & Pepper Restaurant. Paul is a gourmet cook, as good as anyone on the island. The staff is open and friendly. Just don't go on the Cruise Line visit days because it gets quite crowded and loud. We went to Woody's Grocery Store a number of times as well but did not get to stop at Velva's Roadside Restaurant. We did watch the West End New York Yankees play the Coxen Hole Braves our last Sunday in the field across from Velva's and West End took a double header. We went to Half Moon Bay Restaurant two evenings while we were there and had excellent dinners but, a little pricey for the West End. Richard, our waiter, was great and you may run into him again on Friday night at Fosters. We also went snorkeling from the "step into the water" several times - superb! The cabins are nice but we wanted something with a beach in front. Mavis Ebank and her daughters and sons still run the Lighthouse and the food is very fresh and good and the prices reasonable. That was one of our favorites and we ate there several evenings. We did not, however, make it to Belvedere's as it seemed like cheating on Mavis to do that. Eagle Ray's, above Suena del Mar, is a perfect place to have a drink in the evening and watch the sun set and we did this four or five times during our stay. Did not have dinner there though. The Roatan West End Car Rental had two prices of jeeps, $45/day for older, nonair-conditioned Suzuki Samurai's (rough rides) or $65/day for newer, air-conditioned Suzuki Sidekick's. We took the AC and the jeep was in very good condition. Ran all over the island in one day and had a hell of a good time. Cindy's is probably my wife and my favorite place. We got very well acquainted with both Cindy and her husband Eddie. The food is great and, as you might imagine, whatever Eddie caught that day. Lots of lobster, shrimp and fish. Lots of fun and very friendly people. The highlight of our stay was the trip on the Adventure Girl with Captain Alex (Martinez) and Mo-Jo his dog. He is great and we had a fantastic time. It was just my wife and I on the trip so Alex did his stuff. While Alex dove for lunch, my wife caught several pan-sized Groupers with a hand line and I snorkeled along the reef (unbelievable). So, we had Conch, Lobster and Grouper with lime, hot sauce and Port Royal/Salva Vida beer for lunch. It doesn't get much better than that. I recommended him to others staying at Lost Paradise and I know at least one other chartered him for a day. Make sure you schedule him for at least one trip during your stay. Tony's (Bamboo Hut) has two Italians running it. Mario in the morning for breakfast and Tony is the chef in the evening. He is a master at grilled fish and seafood pasta. We became good friends with Mario because we saw him almost every morning. He does not speak English but does speak passable Spanish and my wife is fluent. Foster's is the place to go on Friday night. It's a blast for islanders and tourists alike. It didn't get going until 9:00 PM and shut down at 2:00 AM. We danced Ragge until we almost dropped. In fact, there were several that did drop but it wasn't from dancing. I think Port Royal had something to do with it. I was kind of worried about the structural integrity of the building with 200 people jamming to unbelievably loud music but, it held up. They are now calling the beach west of Jimmy's "Loafers Beach" as there is now a 2 story bar there called "Loafers" after the proprietor, an American. It's a younger people hangout with sports TV and a pool table. Even us "old folks" were welcome and had a good time. Luna Beach Resort is further down the beach and adjoins the "rock" with the wooden walkway that goes on to Kieffitos Plantation and on down to West Bay Beach. They have a beachfront bar and a very fine restaurant. It's about the same caliber as Half Moon Bay. We spent several days on West Bay Beach taking in the sun and snorkeling. It's a beautiful beach and when you get thirsty or hungry, just go to the Coconut Tree open beach bar. Gary will cook a mean hamburger with home made French fries and Errol will fix a great Pina Colada or Rum and Coke. Then either a nice 45 minute walk or a 7 minute "water taxi" (L20 Limpiras) back to West End. The dolphin show at Anthony's Key Resort is really good, particularly with the tropical background. I was really interested in the Bay Islands Museum and the background history of Roatan and the inhabitants. My wife loved the Carambola Gardens, with special interest in the two "fica" trees at the entrance, which are as big as oak trees here in Houston. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go to the Tropical Treasures Bird Park nor the Marble Hill Farms. Next year. Coxen Hole is not a very nice place to be. We went in on a Thursday, Cruise Ship Day, to take advantage of the shops that appear right at the Cruise Ship Dock. They are not open any other day and do have a large selection of items for sale. After exchanging money (traveler's checks) at the bank we went to the El Paso Hotel & Restaurant for lunch. I had a delicious bowl of conch soup and my wife a large fish sandwich along with the normal bottle of Port Royal. It didn't look like much of a place but the food was great. The only other trip in to Coxen Hole was to again cash some travelers checks. The small buses only cost L10 each person each way so, it's fairly economical to go that way. On our day trip around the island in the rental jeep, we turned off at every gravel road to explore and got deliciously lost several times but, you can't get very lost on an island, can you? After Coxen Hole we went on to the new shopping center they have built for the Cruise Ship Tourist, Las Palmas. It was closed since it's only open for the Cruise Ships but it's really nice. Then on to French Harbor which is much nicer than Coxen Hole. We drove to Palmetto Bay, a new development, then to Crawfish Rock and Tres Flores. Unfortunately, it was too early and not open. Another wrong turn got us into Punta Gorda and some of the nicest people in the Garifuna settlement. Another highlight of the trip was Paya Bay. It's a long way out there but well worth the trip. It took quite a hit from Mitch, particularly on the lower levels. The beach bar was completely destroyed and a lower level deck almost washed away. They were doing a lot of work at the time we were there and building a new "dive shop" as well. I'm sure it's all complete by now. We were the only ones there. As we walked up the side steps and out onto the balcony overlooking the sea, a waitress walked up to us with two glasses of ice cold water and invited us to sit in the restaurant to have lunch. She then brought two ice cold hand towels to refresh us. Then Lurleen, she owns the resort with her husband, came and welcomed us and sat down for a while to chat. We had a great lunch and met her granddaughter that lives with her. Quite a nice experience. If you had to pick one thing unpleasant about the island it would have to be the sand flies. Even with a thick layer of sunscreen and OFF, the damn things still could make life miserable. My wife is evidently allergic to them as by the end of the trip she looked like she had measles. Still, we are going back again this year. It's a small price to pay for paradise. Everything is on "island time" so we didn't get upset at anything at all. In fact, I think we are still on "island time" since we got back to Houston. I have recommended the island and Lost Paradise to a lot of people this past year, a few of which have contacted Carlos Pineda and apparently are going to visit paradise as we did. If you see Carlos, please give him our best personal regards and tell him we will see him on June 1st. By the way, if you haven't chosen a place to stay, this is the best on the island, hands down. If you tell Carlos I sent you to him, he will give you the discounted room price of $68/night ($85/night is for first timers). Ask for Cabana C-8, it's the one we had, right on the water. You won't be sorry. Ron & Maria Poggemoeller http://www.roatanet.com | |
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