So we’ve been in Honduras for a week now, and today was the best day yet. When our plane landed a week ago a storm was just starting, and it stayed overcast and rainy for the next four days. It’s the wet season so this isn’t much of a surprise, but we hadn’t totally realized how awesome this place is until the sun came out. Since then we’ve been in the water every chance we get – there’s no telling how long it will last!
Yesterday one of the local boys Charleston showed us around the nearby towns Jonesville and Oakridge. By boat of course! He got his first boat at age 12 and spent much of his childhood boat racing and doing stunts. He explained some of the tricks and told us stories of blasting through the mangrove tunnels at full throttel, guided only by a strip of moonlight coming through the trees. We blasted through them ourselves then took a leisurly cruise around the neighboring bights as he pointed out the best local shops and some hotspots you can only get to by water. We went for lunch at Pookie’s which has a bit of a zoo going as well as delicious homemade hot sauce. As you can see, Colin made friends with their monkey. I admired the small crocodiles which were caught from the wild just one cove over (scary!). Turns out Charleston was also an avid video gamer and Colin persuaded him to playtest Clutter when we got back.
Today we took the kayaks out to the end of the bight and went snorkelling in the most amazing spot ever. Move over Koh Phangan, Roatan’s got it (specifically Caribbean Point Bight). The visibility was amazing, and everything was so up close and personal. The huge coral formations make caves and canyons you can swim through, giant purple fan corals and vast fields of orange finger coral. A million multi colored fishes – parrotfish and barracuda and puffers I could name but I’ll have to look up the other hundred species. We swam out to where the reef drops off twenty feet and could see nearly to the bottom. Spectacular!
In the afternoon we threw some inflatable beds into the water and just floated around for awhile. There is a steady current flowing out to sea from here so we have to anchor ourselves or slowly drift away, but next time I’m just going to let go and see where I end up (but bring the fins with me so I can get back). There are starfish, monstrously huge sea cucumbers and schools of little silver fish right around and under the dock and the reef is just a couple hundred meters away.
Did Colin mention the hummingbirds? As soon as we arrived and opened all the doors and windows, we had hummingbirds shooting through the living room and zipping up to us to chirp inquisitively. They’re wonderful! Marcia brought us a feeder which she warned us not to leave out because bats would come visit it – so of course we’re leaving it out tonight because we want to see them as well.
And for anyone who wants to follow along on Google Maps, we are here.
