Winding Down the Week
Now that Dave has gotten a good nights sleep and his itching is down to a manageable level we can get on with the rest of our vaca.
It's Wednesday morning and first we have our vaca breakfast which today is good ol' bacon and eggs with some toast....yummy. I think vaca breakfast tastes the best, probably because I don't have to make it, but I do make the coffee so it's almost a fair trade off. Of course I also get stuck doing the dishes while Dave goes down to the dock and takes a few casts.
We've arranged a boat tour with Marvin the local water taxi driver who takes us through the mangroves into a few of the local bights (think bays) and shows us some restaurants, bars and stores. He has a hand line that he lets trail behind the boat and he gets a few bites, one which is a small barracuda which Dave reels in. Marvin then drops us off in Oak Ridge, one of the local towns and we walk along the waters edge until we come to a small place on the side of the road with a lady selling pastillitos that are similar to empanadas that are filled with beef and rice so we say - what the hell and try a couple. They are really good with some salsa and queso and better than the taste is the price - 40 Limpiras which is less than $2...perfect.
Marvin takes us around through some more areas in the east end and then back to our villa where we hang for the rest of the day.
At this point we have been on the island for 12 days now and even though we stayed on the West End for the first week, I am embarrassed to say that we did not make it to West Bay which is a bit south of West End and is said to have one of the best beaches with snorkeling right off the beach. It was one of the things that we were going to do while in West End but we were extremely lazy and just never made. Since it is supposed to be one of the best snorkeling spots on the island we are committed to making it there and today is the day. Unfortunately there is a cruise ship in port today so all the resorts are charging gringo prices for the use of their chairs so we end up paying $20 per person for a day pass at one of the resorts which does include the pool, bathrooms, showers, beach chairs, etc....so the guy keeps telling us. "How much if we don't use the pool, bathroom and showers?". "Still $20 my friend". I'm thinking for $20 we are way more than friends....LOL.
Anyway, we bite the bullet, pay the fee and plop our stuff down on our beach chairs and then go snorkeling. I've been having issues with my camera turning on for the past couple days and most times Dave is able to get it to come on but as luck would have it we cannot get it to work on this day when the snorkeling is so good. The reef in this area is plentiful and very alive. In some spots it is quite shallow and you can only go around it and could not even hover over it because it is so shallow. There are many of the usual reef fish along with some very large parrot fish, snapper and grunts. We ventured out beyond part of the reef to look for turtles and sting rays but they were not where we were this day. A couple of cool things that we saw were a pretty large barracuda just hanging on the side of the reef, his eyes watching us go by with his mouth open and his very large teeth showing. We also saw a very cool hogfish - this fish has a slanted/flat head that comes down to a snout like nose and three long pectoral fins on its back that almost resemble spines. It was not overly colorful but it was the first time we've seen one snorkeling so that was cool. As I said, the reef here is huge and we only covered a small portion of it and it would take several attempts to cover it all but we are content with our efforts and head to beach for a couple of cold cervesas......mmmmmm. On the way back to the villa we saw this Island Style Cooking restaurant and decided to stop, it was like a cafeteria style but they had a couple good looking items so we stayed. I tried the conch soup w/rice (Yummy) and Dave got some chicken lasagna which was a little sweet tasting but very good as well. They also had a piece of fried chicken that looked yummy so we snagged that too, all together with a bottle of water - $16 - sold!!
Friday is our last full day before we have to return to reality and rather than run around we decide to hang out at the villa in the morning and then head to BJ's Bar and Restaurant. On Friday afternoon they have music and a lot of expats go and hang out there. The place we are renting also has a boathouse which has renters from Wed-Sat so we introduce ourselves to Becky and Mike from Nebraska and ask them if they want to come and we all head over in the water taxi. It's a pretty windy ride but Marvin our taxi driver knows how to navigate the area and some of it is through the mangroves which are a bit protected so that helps a bit too. Thanks to the pirates and Paya Indians for these trails through the mangroves. BJ's is a cool little place and the "live" music is a bunch of expats, most of who are playing guitars and since they are an older bunch, the music is mostly classic rock and some blues which is just up our alley. In the middle of their set the power goes out and all at once everyone in the place yells: "Oh RECO!!!". RECO is the Roatan Electric Company and the power, especially on the east end, goes out for no reason and for various amounts of time. So the band finishes their song with an acoustic guitar and a little help from the audience who have all had enough to drink to participate freely!!!
We hang for a bit longer, the power comes back on and the band starts up again. After a nice afternoon of music and good company we head back and start the ritual of packing for our return trip on Saturday, one we are not looking forward to making......
It's Wednesday morning and first we have our vaca breakfast which today is good ol' bacon and eggs with some toast....yummy. I think vaca breakfast tastes the best, probably because I don't have to make it, but I do make the coffee so it's almost a fair trade off. Of course I also get stuck doing the dishes while Dave goes down to the dock and takes a few casts.
We've arranged a boat tour with Marvin the local water taxi driver who takes us through the mangroves into a few of the local bights (think bays) and shows us some restaurants, bars and stores. He has a hand line that he lets trail behind the boat and he gets a few bites, one which is a small barracuda which Dave reels in. Marvin then drops us off in Oak Ridge, one of the local towns and we walk along the waters edge until we come to a small place on the side of the road with a lady selling pastillitos that are similar to empanadas that are filled with beef and rice so we say - what the hell and try a couple. They are really good with some salsa and queso and better than the taste is the price - 40 Limpiras which is less than $2...perfect.
Marvin takes us around through some more areas in the east end and then back to our villa where we hang for the rest of the day.
At this point we have been on the island for 12 days now and even though we stayed on the West End for the first week, I am embarrassed to say that we did not make it to West Bay which is a bit south of West End and is said to have one of the best beaches with snorkeling right off the beach. It was one of the things that we were going to do while in West End but we were extremely lazy and just never made. Since it is supposed to be one of the best snorkeling spots on the island we are committed to making it there and today is the day. Unfortunately there is a cruise ship in port today so all the resorts are charging gringo prices for the use of their chairs so we end up paying $20 per person for a day pass at one of the resorts which does include the pool, bathrooms, showers, beach chairs, etc....so the guy keeps telling us. "How much if we don't use the pool, bathroom and showers?". "Still $20 my friend". I'm thinking for $20 we are way more than friends....LOL.
Anyway, we bite the bullet, pay the fee and plop our stuff down on our beach chairs and then go snorkeling. I've been having issues with my camera turning on for the past couple days and most times Dave is able to get it to come on but as luck would have it we cannot get it to work on this day when the snorkeling is so good. The reef in this area is plentiful and very alive. In some spots it is quite shallow and you can only go around it and could not even hover over it because it is so shallow. There are many of the usual reef fish along with some very large parrot fish, snapper and grunts. We ventured out beyond part of the reef to look for turtles and sting rays but they were not where we were this day. A couple of cool things that we saw were a pretty large barracuda just hanging on the side of the reef, his eyes watching us go by with his mouth open and his very large teeth showing. We also saw a very cool hogfish - this fish has a slanted/flat head that comes down to a snout like nose and three long pectoral fins on its back that almost resemble spines. It was not overly colorful but it was the first time we've seen one snorkeling so that was cool. As I said, the reef here is huge and we only covered a small portion of it and it would take several attempts to cover it all but we are content with our efforts and head to beach for a couple of cold cervesas......mmmmmm. On the way back to the villa we saw this Island Style Cooking restaurant and decided to stop, it was like a cafeteria style but they had a couple good looking items so we stayed. I tried the conch soup w/rice (Yummy) and Dave got some chicken lasagna which was a little sweet tasting but very good as well. They also had a piece of fried chicken that looked yummy so we snagged that too, all together with a bottle of water - $16 - sold!!
Friday is our last full day before we have to return to reality and rather than run around we decide to hang out at the villa in the morning and then head to BJ's Bar and Restaurant. On Friday afternoon they have music and a lot of expats go and hang out there. The place we are renting also has a boathouse which has renters from Wed-Sat so we introduce ourselves to Becky and Mike from Nebraska and ask them if they want to come and we all head over in the water taxi. It's a pretty windy ride but Marvin our taxi driver knows how to navigate the area and some of it is through the mangroves which are a bit protected so that helps a bit too. Thanks to the pirates and Paya Indians for these trails through the mangroves. BJ's is a cool little place and the "live" music is a bunch of expats, most of who are playing guitars and since they are an older bunch, the music is mostly classic rock and some blues which is just up our alley. In the middle of their set the power goes out and all at once everyone in the place yells: "Oh RECO!!!". RECO is the Roatan Electric Company and the power, especially on the east end, goes out for no reason and for various amounts of time. So the band finishes their song with an acoustic guitar and a little help from the audience who have all had enough to drink to participate freely!!!
We hang for a bit longer, the power comes back on and the band starts up again. After a nice afternoon of music and good company we head back and start the ritual of packing for our return trip on Saturday, one we are not looking forward to making......
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