The Ferry to Roatan, Honduras and A Look at the West End

The boat from La Ceiba, Honduras to Roatan seems simple enough.  Relatively cheap at $500 lempiras, fast at only 1 hour and 10 minutes and huge, holding about 400 people, the boat leaves twice a day.  Great.  We arrived at the port of La Ceiba about half an hour early for the 9:30am ferry.  The place was BUSY.  The boat was going to be relatively crowded.

As soon as the boat pulled out of port, an employee came around and handed everyone a small striped plastic bag.  A sick bag…as well as a paper towel.  We all thought it was a joke…or at least we thought it was funny at the time.  Silly, silly us.  Here is Cesar posing with his bag.

This boat is ROUGH and most of the passengers are stuck inside.  Though it is air conditioned, you need to be in the fresh air for this kind of sea. If there are three stages of sea sickness, midway through, I was at level one (spittle in the mouth), Cesar (who was in the US Navy!) was at a one, Dani was at two and Emily?  She got full blown sick.  She wasn’t the only one on the boat.  For those who might get sea sick…dramamine is a must.  I couldn’t wait to get off the Galaxy Wave.  I wasn’t the only one…the trash bin was quite full.

After picking up our luggage, Cesar’s friend George pulled up.  Isn’t it great having friends…or friends of friends in foreign places?  We did some food shopping and headed back to his GORGEOUS 2 bedroom condo in the West End.

Lots of food shopping.  The grocery stores in Roatan are well stocked.  Time to unpack and have some Pain Killers…a recipe Danni and Cesar brought back from the British Virgin Islands.  These drinks are seriously good.

Pain Killer

1 part Orange Juice
1 part Coconut Cream
4 parts Pineapple Juice
Dark rum…as much as you like

Pour on ice and stir.  Sprinkle with nutmeg.

We tried the most popular rum down here, Flor De Cana…it’s actually from Nicaragua and seriously good.  It comes in about 5 different ages…2 years, 4 years, 12 years, 16 years.  I am bringing some back to Belize.

Check out the view.  Emily was very excited about giving Danni a hair cut.  Is Emily a professional?  No.  But the results were pretty good.

We headed down to maybe the most popular bar in the West End of Roatan…Sundowners.  They have a crowd at all times and a great little beach.

And then watching the sunset at this bar isn’t half bad…

The entire West End of Roatan is very very cute.  One main sand road, lots of restaurants and bars, mostly hand painted signs…they have done a really good job of keeping the beachy charm that attracts tourists and residents.

Lots of food and little cafes to choose from…

There is a water taxi to the West Bay…a long, white beach with bigger resorts.

And this super cool bar/barge for sale.

And some more pictures of the West End.  It reminds me of Caye Caulker in Belize but with a better sand beach and more options.   I love that you can watch the sunset from the bars.  Totally different orientation.  It is the WEST End after all…

Prices in the West End are generally quoted in US dollars and lempiras.  And, though I hate to be a dumb gringa, my Spanish SUCKS.  Roatan, and all of the Bay Islands, speak Engligh.  $1.00 tequila?  Oh my.

Slightly different rules than Ambergris Caye, Belize.  We have a rule against public alcohol consumption (not really enforced) and Roatan is more concerned about the glass bottles.

We headed to Guanaja, a very sleepy, GORGEOUS island next.  Potentially the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.  I am headed back to Belize on Friday.  Thursday morning ferry to La Ceiba, bus to San Pedro Sula and my Tropic Air flight back to San Pedro, Belize.

I have much more to report.