It was a four hour drive to La Ceiba, and we got in just before dark. The original plan was to spend the night, and take the morning ferry to Roatan. But we woke up and it was rainy and the clouds stretched out over the water towards the islands. We checked the weather forecast and it confirmed lots of rain that day out on Roatan.
Cangrejal River
We decided to wait a day for the weather to clear out on the island and instead headed up the Cangrejal River to Omega Lodge and Tours near Pico Bonito National Park. We got the last room in the guesthouse and signed up for an afternoon rafting trip. Our intrepid guide Miles took us down some fun rapids and past giant boulders.
At one point all three of us were thrown from the boat, but aside from a few bruises, it was good fun.
Dave's long hair worked well with the helmet.
Mom jumped off a big rock
I tried to but chickened-out.
Dave jumped too, but went too fast for me to get a video.
The lodge was full of interesting people, most notably our new friend and temporary stalker, John, who followed us out to Roatan. While the area around the lodge is beautiful, and if our visit was any indication the people staying there are generally awesome, and the rafting is fun, the food alone is reason to get out there for dinner if you are in the area. Specifically, order the spatzel. But not just any spatzel, spatzel baked into cheesy-greatness. It makes mac-n-cheese look lame. You can get it with crispy bacon, you are a fool if you skip the bacon, the crispy salty pork perfectly compliments the cheese and spatzel. It is gluttonous, so if you ever go take someone with you so it can be shared. Also, go ahead and end with the homemade chocolate and coconut ice-creams, they are nearly as good as the popsicles in Suchitoto, nearly.
In the morning we hiked up to the waterfall in Pico Bonito National Park. The first step is to cross the suspension bridge over the river.
About three and a half hours round-trip through the forest on the other side of the bridge takes you to the falls and back. It was great to get a close-up of the falls we had seen while driving up to the lodge and rafting down the river. See Dave's blog for more pics.
After the hike and a cold shower (no hot water at Omega Lodge) we drove into La Ceiba to catch the 4:30 pm ferry.
I would prefer not remember the hour and fifteen minutes I spent with my head between my legs crossing to Roatan. No one was sad for the ride to be over, and all three of us were happy to not have needed the little baggies one crew-member walked around handing out.
Roatan
We stayed at Posada Las Orchedias on the far end of West End. The view was great, the room beautiful and full of building defects and staffed by less-than-friendly women. It was quiet and the hammock was nice, and it was right next door to Sea Grapes Plantation and their dive shop.
After an over-rated breakfast at Rudy’s, definitely NOT the best banana pancakes on the island (Dave wants me to mention that he loved his granola, fruit and yogurt), we looked for a dive shop. I did an afternoon dive with Pura Vida, and mom did a refresher dive with West End Divers. The entire next day we dove with Pura Vida as well. Mom did two dives, I did all three. The next two days we dove with Seagrapes. Both shops were good, but very different in style. I would recommend either.
The diving was amazing. I saw at least one sea turtle on every dive. Lots of Queen Angel fish, lots of Black Angel fish, barracudas, two spotted eagle rays, trigger fish, puffer fish, box fish, cow fish, anomies, huge barrel sponges, tall purple sponges, giant fan coral… While it is obvious the reef sees a lot of visitors, the diving was enjoyable with lots to see.
Dave, the non-diver, spent lots of time reading and did some snorkeling.
He got to use my camera, because we were always going deeper than 30ft, the maximum depth my camera stays water-proof.
Here is some of his fine work. There is more over on his blog, as well as video.
Me giving the ok on the descent to Blue Channel
Mom and I at the shallow, inland side, of Blue Channel.
Post-dive interview with Dave
Roatan was expensive. If you aren’t going for diving, I would probably suggest finding another beach that is a little more off-the-beaten-path and where you can get quality food at reasonable prices instead of reasonable food at quality prices. Noteable good food that didn’t cost as much as a dive was
1. the set breakfasts (between 75 and 90L) and lunch sandwiches (around 115L) at The Beach House. But not the bakery items, just the restaurant dishes.
2. the Sunday bbq lunch across from Woody’s grocery
3. the meatloaf and mashed potatoes lunch from the soft-serve ice-cream place across from The Beach House. Every week-day they have a different hot lunch option for 100L. The meatloaf was Mondays and it was tasty and filling.
We took the 2 pm ferry back, and sat downstairs. Mom and Dave were fine on the ride, and they think sitting downstairs helped. I still felt awful for most of the time.
After finding the car safe-and-sound we paid for the parking, loaded up, and headed towards Tela, about an hour and a half drive down the coast towards San Pedro Sula. Tela was much more pleasant than La Ceiba, as far as the town. I hear there is lots of bird watching around there. We stayed at the Mayan Vista hotel, and enjoyed the views of Tela bay and some reasonably priced food. The next morning we headed in to San Pedro Sula. There were a few stops along the way. One for mom to buy some bananas to snack on, one for mom to buy a hammock and some local honey, and one for lunch at a Baleada stand on the highway. Baleadas are a Honduran snack food of a flour tortialla filled with beans and cheese then folded and lightly grilled. Not like a quesadilla because there is just a little cheese and it is the crumbled kind, not the melty-gooy-deliciousness kind.
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