Catch Up #2: Roatan Honduras

On Wednesday the 10th (our anniversary) we got up super early and creeped out of the house at 4:30am to make our flight at the San Jose Airport. We went to a special desk by the ticket counter, flashed our diplomatic passports and got a waiver for the exit tax, and made our way to the gate. I did a little shopping at the Cafe Britt store for a magazine to read, a magnet for my mother-in-law, and some bottled water. 

The flight to San Salvador was great, we had a really nice plane with TV's in the back of all the seats. John watched Date Night with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey, and I watched Valentine's Day (which I STILL haven't seen the end of!). After a 1 hour and 20 minute flight we were in San Salvador. We waited for a little bit and walked out to the next plane...a prop plane. I wasn't very happy about that at all. However, except for the noise, it wasn't as bad a trip as I expected. It wasn't nearly as bumpy as we thought it would be, and after about an hour and a half we landed on the island of Roatan.

Our B&B was ok. We got the top room (read: biggest), but it needed some work done on it, and we only had maid service one day out of five. We'll definitely go to Roatan again, but I think we'll stay somewhere else.

Unfortunately their rainy season was just starting, so we saw more rain than we would've liked. Fortunately for us we brought umbrellas! We did have a great time though. We had a guided tour of the island, just the two of us and our guide, it was awesome. The Eastern side of the island is very rustic still, but beautiful non the less. During the tour of the island we went to a restaurant called The Hole In the Wall. It's only accessible by boat, and is run by a couple of retired US Navy men. After lunch we went on a tour of the mangroves which were pretty cool, we saw some wildlife there, and we saw a cove where pirates used to hide.


We had a realtor take us out to look at properties that are for sale that would be good for renting out. We are very interested in owning this kind of property. With our lifestyle it would be the best way to own since we wouldn't be occupying it. Roatan is a great place to buy right now because it's still developing, and the properties are still very reasonably priced.

Then on day three the sun came out! This was perfect timing because this was the day we planned on going snorkeling. We had already made reservations at a spa for treatments and massages, and the owner said that we could go early and snorkel with their equipment, so we did. It was beaufitul! We had to swim out a ways to get to the coral, but once we did, we saw so many fish, and the coral was so great. The coral was really close to us, at times I thought I was going to cut my belly on it. After swimming back (and wanting to collapse because of how much work that was), we went to a restaurant down the beach from the spa and they gave us a free appetizer because we're guests at the spa and we had a good meal.

Then to the spa...ahh...it was so nice. We ordered a choloate wrap. Neither of us had done a wrap before, and it was very decadent. After we rinsed off, we got hour long massages. They were so nice! I had issues with my shoulders and neck, and I swear he worked on that area for over half an hour. John and I had a great time, and would like treatments again some day.

We had food at an Argentinian restaurant four times, the first two just being dessert. Their food was amazing though. We ate at the noodle hut once and had great asian style noodles, we had dinner and brunch at a seafood restaurant right on the water (the candle-lit dinner was actually on the deck that was over the water), come to think of it, the noodle hut was over the water, and the Argentinian restaurant was just across the small road from the beach.

On our last full day, we decided to swim with the dolphins. We did the typical encounter where we were in the water with the trainer and a dolphin. But after that we paid a bit extra and we literally swam with the dolphins. For 30 minutes with snorkeled with the trainer and eight dolphins, who wanted to play catch with us and seaweed. It was an amazing experience.

It was so nice for us to just have five days with us by ourselves. Meals were a breeze, since we didn't have anyone that needed help. We watched a lot of Glee, and a few old movies on their VCR. Thank you so much to my mother-in-law who made this possible!

The island is beautiful, and we really enjoyed our time. It was a great way to celebrate nine years together since for our 10 year anniversary we probably won't be going anywhere since we'll then have three kids. Three kids!!