More about Roatan
Trip Start
Mar 22, 2005
1
15
26
Trip End
Sep 09, 2005
West End, Roatan,
Honduras
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
So, Roatan used to be part of British Honduras (whatever that means) so it is technically and English-speaking island, except that its attached to a spanish-speaking country and with lots and lots of immigration from the mainland, spanish-speaking Hondurans are quickly increasing in population as a limited number of English-speaking islanders remember the good ol' days before there were tourists and too-large-a-population for the infrastructure to support and cruise ships here all the time. This clash of languages creates an odd dynamic for visitors because I never ever know which language to speak (except of course when talking to other americans or touists) although I do seem to get a better price for cab rides when I speak in Spanish. (One of the annoying/entertaining things here is the cab drivers: constantly honking their horns, saying "taxi? taxi?" and suggesting that you need a ride somewhere. When you say "no thanks", they suggest you need go to another place on the island which is "more beautiful" or "better beaches." Every day I walk through what we've named the "taxi gauntlet" and the same half-dozen drivers ask me if I need a ride and every morning I say no and yet the next day they ask all over again....)
I'm in West End on the island, a little haven of cute restaurants, tiny beaches, reasonably-priced hotels and dive shops.
big sponges
There's a gorgeous big beach a little ways down that is home to luxury resorts with cheesy vacationers, but West End has more of an authentic traveler/backpacker/cool ex-pat feel about it. It takes about 15 minutes to slowly walk from one end to the other and, we face west for gorgeous sunsets every night. But, Roatan is not the sleepy island I pictured. I'm actually quite surprised by the development here ... big resorts monopolizing the beaches, vacation homes popping up quicker than you can kill mosquitos and real estate offices all over the place. Prices going up up up all the time and a new influx of population that is changing the island very quickly. Oh, and speaking of prices, it is expensive here. Roatan is totally blowing my budget, but I'm trying not to think about it too much. I'm paying about $28 a night for a room with a kitchen (if you're in the US, I know that sounds super cheap, but in Guatemala I could get the same for about $10-12 a night) and food is not cheap and not that tasty, with a few exceptions. A large pizza is about $10, you can easily pay $10-12 for a not-so-good meal or $13-15 for a really amazing meal at Lighthouse, the best restaurant in West End. But, diving is amazing reasonable -- about $20-25 per dive, including all equipment.
I've been here "solo" for a few days now ... Zach and Chad left on the 7th, Dorian on the 11th and Jens (the same german guy I met in Antigua and spent the weekeend in Xela with) left on the 13th. But, in the time that Dorian was here I'm pretty sure he met literally everyone on the island, so there is no shortage of people to spend time with.
coral
Yesterday, I spent the morning drinking coffee and watching CNN at the bakery (if you think US media is ridiculous, which I do, just try to watch it from a developing country -- I've been embarrassed for CNN the whole time I've been in Roatan. The other morning they were actually covering a car chase in LA. C'mon people!), then went snorkeling with a few girls, killed a few hours doing nothing in the afternoon and then met up with a few people at Sundowners, the quinessential beach bar, to watch the sun set. The couple days before were the same, just replace snorkeling with diving. I'm getting good at doing nothing.
The diving here is fantastic.... the world's second largest barrier reef surrounds these islands and starts way up by Belize. The reef is just off shore -- you can swim to it in most places which means just a few minutes on a small boat to reach the dive sites. A few days ago, I went to a site called Hole in the Wall because there is a trench-like hole in the coral. You swim down the trench in what is really like a canyon of coral around you and before you know if are at 120 feet deep. The trench goes down hundreds of feet more, so we turned up and swam around in the coral trenches and through small tunnels created by the coral. Amazing. The coral is beautiful here but there are not as many fish as I expected. Locals blame that on everything from fishing (which, no surprise, is not well-regulated) to growth on the island, to too many divers to too many boats in the water.
from half moon bay
It wasn't long ago that Roatan wasn't even on the map and apparently there were more fish than you could imagine. The growth is, of course, having signficant effects on the marin life.Speaking of fishing... lobster is big here and much of the lobster sold in the US comes from waters in Honduras. Here's some food for thought the next time you go to Red Lobster.... The decompression chamber on Roatan is the busiest in the world because much of the lobster fishing is done by scuba diving to depths that no one should scuba dive to and for lengths of time that put way way too much nitrogen in your body. Supposedly, people die here every day fishing for lobster. But, if you're a poor honduran and getting paid decent money to dive for lobsters, you're going to do it. (I know you're thinking.... "I've been to Maine, they don't fish lobster by diving, they do it with those big cool looking traps..." Well, not here. You can grab a lot more lobsters with your hands than are dumb enough to walk into the traps and don't think for a minute that in developing countries a good day's lobster catch isn't worth a couple human lives.) Also, the "legal" size lobster goes for export but there is plenty of lobster illegally caught and sold and consumed on the island and the mainland. Lobster has to be a certain size (thus, age) in order to catch it, because there are concerns about depleating the whole population of lobsters. But, again, not well-regulated, and people here catch and buy too-young lobster all the time.
me on the dock
This was a problem in Belize when I was there 3 years ago as well. Too bad, we've had some delicious lobster for dinner, but now that I have all this info, I don't think I can buy it anymore here (or at home). I may be a vegetarian by the end of this trip, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the shrimp here. Luckily, I haven't heard anything negative about the shrimp fishing here and have had some darn tasty shrimp. (I love shrimp, but have for the most part quit eating them in the US because almost all the shrimp sold in the US is farmed in SE Asia where the run-off kills the coral reefs.) On a similar topic.... I have mixed feelings about being here at all. Roatan is gorgeous and a beautiful place to visit, but it is very apparent that the growth is having a negative impact on the island, the coral reef, the marine population and the people who have lived here for generations. And, I, as a tourist, am part of that impact. And, its happening so quickly, you can practically see the island being destroyed -- everyone trying to take their piece of the latest "hot spot". On the one hand, tourism is an opportunity to boost the economy of Honduras and, in theory, improve the quality of life for the whole country. But, when its done without any regulation and without any consciousness for long-term sustainability (not to mention, managed by a government that is most likely going to line the pockets of politicians with the revenues rather than improve schools or health care), it has the potential to ruin the environment (the same environment that people are coming to see) as well as hurt the local people, who's public systems can't support the population growth and who are, in many cases, being exploited for the benefit of resort-visitors and lobster-eaters.
sunset from Sundowners, the beach bar
Alright.... enough on that depressing topic. I'm sure it will be a theme of my ramblings when I'm done with this trip.
Roatan has also been my introduction to heat and humidity that will be the pervasive elements for the rest of my time in Central America. People are saying this is supposed to be the hottest year ever. Great. So, I'm getting used to being hot all the time (and without A/C). But, I am adapting quickly and now can tell a difference between really really hot and just plain hot. Also, I'm getting used to layering chemicals (some poisonous) onto my skin every time I leave the safety of my little apartment/hotel. Every day the routine is sun screen, deet for the mosquitos and then cactus juice for the sand flies. Lovely.
There are no good grocery stores in West End, or so I thought. Yesterday I discovered right next to our hotel, the best store in West End. Had I just walked a few more feet down the road two weeks ago (we're toward the end of the road with most things the opposite direction), it would have saved countless trips carrying 5-gallon jugs of water in 100-degree heat. One thing I've become a little obsessive about travelling is not buying unneccessary plastic bottles of liquids. In general, none of these countries recycle. But, because the tap water isn't safe, you're forced to buy gallons and gallons of bottled water. As a rule, I try to always buy the largest container possible. Here, that means refilling bottles from 5-gallon water-cooler-esque bottles and lugging those 5-gallon bottles around.
turtle -- my favorite sea creatures
Not fun, especially when we could have been carrying them for one minute as opposed to 15. The people on Roatan are an interesting mix of locals, ex-pats, travellers, vacationers and people like dive masters who move from one exotic location to another. Some of the characters:
-- a guy I had pizza with last night who, after 5 trips to the island, decided to move here from the UK. He bought everything he needed to start a couple businesses (one is a coffee shop) on ebay in the US and drove around the US collecting the goods before driving to Honduras. When asked if he was scared to drive a truck full of expensive equipment through Mexico and Central America, he replied "No, because I went to Arkansas first."
-- a former Nike finance exec from Europe who quit her job and decided to become a dive master
-- a guy who lives here and, starting when he was 15, built his own submarine and takes people on trips down 1/2 a mile underwater. He's searching for sunken pirate ships off the coast of Honduras now.
-- a former song writer for Janet Jackson (or so I'm told) and musician who lives here and runs one of the bars. Saw him last night perform acoustic and it was some of the best live music I've heard recently. Apparently in the busy season, his connections bring all kinds of bands to Roatan to play at the bars.
So, that is the scoop here. Will arrives on the 19th and we're diving for a few days before flying to Nicaragua. In the meantime, I have lots of time to kill, so please send me email! :)
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