Roatan Island Tour

If you go to Roatan you should find Omar and take an island tour for about $10/hour. He'll bring you everywhere and show you everything. These days most of the island tour is looking at new housing developments. "The whole island is for sale," Omar says. There certainly were some beautiful areas on Roatan if you wanted to get away from it all.

The view from the Lighthouse Estates located at the very southwestern tip of the island. We're looking at West Bay beach in the distance.

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A baselisk lounges on an agave plant. This one is a male - you can see his crest. Whent they are young and therefore smaller, baselisks can run across water. That gives them the nickname of Jesus Christ lizard. They have another nickname here on the island - the Monkey La La. But I don't know why they call it that. There is also a delicious alcoholic drink called the Monkey La La that you simply must try.

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On the extreme west side of the island lies a beach consisting entirely of volcanic rock. Jagged spires span as far as the eye can see in either direction. The water is rough here - don't venture out this far from West Bay in your sea kayak or you might not come back.

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Somebody built a gazeebo on the lava beach at the extreme west side of the island. It's worth a stop.

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On the extreme west side of the island lies a beach consisting entirely of volcanic rock. Jagged spires span as far as the eye can see in either direction. The water is rough here - don't venture out this far from West Bay in your sea kayak or you might not come back.

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An interesting pier on the drive up the beach towards West End. It's kinda neat to be driving on the beach itself.

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An interesting pier on the drive up the beach towards West End, Roatan. It's kinda neat to be driving on the beach itself.

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My daughter stops to take a closer look at the crystal clear waters off of the West End beach in Roatan, Honduras.

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If this entryway were just a little wider, it would be perfect for a wedding. This is Lawson Rock, a subdivision of Sandy Bay on Roatan.

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Family portrait sitting under the gazeebo-trellis thingy at Lawson Rock on Roatan.

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Looking back at Lawson Rock from the end of the pier.

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This is one of the largest thatched roofs I've seen. Not sure why they put so much effort into making it so tall.

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My daughter poses next to a small boat beached at Lawson Rock at Sandy Bay.

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Climbing back up the stairs from the pier to the car, we saw a long vine hanging right there. It was just begging to be grabbed and swung on, but my daughter could not reach it.

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The view of the pier from Lawson Rock. Only one boat was harbored there, although all the slips had signs saying that they were reserved for somebody.

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On the road again. We stopped at a wild mango tree to try and pick a few. Here our island guide, Omar, came up with a few. He said there were 17 different species of mango on the island.

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My daughter poses beneath a palm tree at our next stop. This pace was beautiful and completely desolate - just waiting to be purchased and subdivided and built upon. Wish I could remember its name, but it was in between Sandy Bay and Palmetto Bay.

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Omar shows our daughter a thin line going up the trunk of a tree. It was a termite tunnel. If you broke it open you could find termites traveling up the tree and over to their nest. Not sure why they needed to be protected beneath a tunnel. Perhaps they prefer the dark.

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A peculiar fungus grows in the sand.

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Here's the termite nest in that tree from 2 pictures ago.

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These are sea grapes. Real grapes that grow from a huge tree in the sand. They're not ripe yet. Omar says they taste OK.

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The pier at Palmetto Bay, Roatan. Palmetto Bay seemed pretty swank and very private.

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Omar showed us a ship that around 20 Cubans used to flee their regime. They were headed for the US, but strayed off course a bit. I think they probably made out better. The wildest thing about this picture is that here the boat has been abandoned at its original landing site for less than a year!

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This is what an almond looks like fresh from the tree.

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I forget what kind of fruit this is, but its tree was not very tall. Email me if you know what it is.

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A beautiful wood carving adorns the grounds of Palmetto Bay.

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Hibiscus are everywhere on Roatan.

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This was a bizarre tree. It was quite large. Take a look at the fruit it was bearing - the size of a watermelon. And so high up, too!

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A hummingbird perches on a branch in the large fruit tree from the previous picture.

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On the road again - here we're at the second highest point of Roatan, and this beautiful lizard was resting on a roadsign.

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We made our way down the mountain to the south side of Roatan to a town called French Harbor. It was kind of refreshing to see civilization and paved roads again. Omar took us to a nice restaurant for lunch and then temporarily disappeared.

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We ate lunch at Gio's restaurant where my wife had some delicious seafood and I shared a plate of wonderful spaghetti with my daughter. They have a lovely outdoor patio which overlooks the waves crashing against several shipwrecks. I guess they've got higher priority things to spend their time and money on than cleaning up shipwrecks. Funny that there were more than one - you'd think one would be enough to warn everybody else.

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We ate lunch at Gio's restaurant where my wife had some delicious seafood and I shared a plate of wonderful spaghetti with my daughter. They have a lovely outdoor patio which overlooks the waves crashing against several shipwrecks. I guess they've got higher priority things to spend their time and money on than cleaning up shipwrecks. Funny that there were more than one - you'd think one would be enough to warn everybody else.

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A house on the water's edge right next to Gio's restaurant.

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Parrot Tree Planation is another swank subdivision that was largely full of homes and empty of people. It was the low season, but in this huge area we didn't see more than 5 people.

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Parrot Tree Planation is another swank subdivision that was largely full of homes and empty of people. It was the low season, but in this huge area we didn't see more than 5 people.

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Parrot Tree Planation has a really cool manmade lagoon to relax in. Didn't see a sole there, though.

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An amazing bridge across the manmade lagoon.

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There are 2 small bridges that take you over the lagoon's inlets to the sea. That's one of them there.

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The completely unoccupied bridge over the manmade lagoon at Parrot Tree Plantation.

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A woodpecker hammers on a mangrove tree at Parrot Tree Plantation. Maybe they should have named the place Woodpecker Tree Plantation?

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The town of Oak Ridge is a fishing village fairly well isolated from the rest of the world. Access to all houses are by water. It looked colorful and quaint from the hill we stopped on. We saw someone giving little boat tours of the village, but we did not take advantage of the opportunity.

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Coxen Hole is the capital of Roatan. It's also where the cruise ships dock once a week. Apparently before the cruise ships started docking here this place was a wreck. Tourist money has helped many islanders. There are plenty of small shops to visit if you walk up and down the streets. Roads are too narrow to allow cars to travel in both directions.

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Coxen Hole is the capital of Roatan. It's also where the cruise ships dock once a week. Apparently before the cruise ships started docking here this place was a wreck. Tourist money has helped many islanders. There are plenty of small shops to visit if you walk up and down the streets. Roads are too narrow to allow cars to travel in both directions.

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Coxen Hole is the capital of Roatan. It's also where the cruise ships dock once a week. Apparently before the cruise ships started docking here this place was a wreck. Tourist money has helped many islanders. There are plenty of small shops to visit if you walk up and down the streets. Roads are too narrow to allow cars to travel in both directions.

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MickTravels Around the World Travel Guide
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Honduras Vacation Preparation
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