Roatan Divers, West End, Honduras

Just some of the staff at Roatan Divers - from left, Victor (boat captain), Ann (videographer), Peter (divemaster), Saaya and husband Karl (owners), Steph (divemaster), Chuong (divemaster), Iva (student), Scott and Heather

Scott with Chuong and dive buddy Philip

The hectic activity of preparing for the dive

Scott and I dove and snorkeled with Roatan Divers during our stay in the West End. Owners Carl and Saaya. Karl is a  PADI IDC Staff Instructor and Saaya is a PADI/MSDT Instructor and holds a degree in film production from USC. They bought the dive shop in November 2013 and check out Trip Advisor's reviews since - perfect! They have a new boat and group size is always small. Often Scott had only one other diver and a divemaster (either Peter or Chuong).
I went with him most of the time and snorkeled. One of the divemaster course students went with me, either Iva or Iga, both from Poland. They were a lot of fun and the snorkeling was great everywhere.
Everyone on the staff was so helpful and friendly. We felt really at home here. We left our dinghy here to shop and Karl glued the rubber knee pads back on Scott's wet suit as part of the thoughtful overall service. Scott rented an underwater camera one day and Saaya gave him some pointers. As you can see from some of the shots he took (all in his first hour ever), she was a good teacher.
We look forward to being back next season and for a longer time. This is the best place we've been to dive and snorkel, along with Bonaire.

The floor around the dive boat

Coral formations, fish of all kinds

The West End, besides Roatan Divers, is a fun place. There are lots of bars and restaurants strung out along the beaches and it's always laid back and relaxing. This area is all part of the Roatan Marine Park and administered by the West End Marine Reserve. There are a bunch of moorings being fixed up with 12 already usable. Eventually when the work is complete marine reserve officials will collect a $10 a day fee for using them.
It is possible to walk for miles along the beach from Sandy Bay thru West End down to West Bay. We did it several times, jumping into the water along the way to cool down.

Great colors

The fish didn't always stay put for their photo, but this one
did

We didn't even have to touch this one up

Well, adjusted the color and contrast

Not here, but often the wall goes down over a 100 feet

Where are all the fish?

As you can see, they're trying to get away - here a French
Angel fish.

Nice action shot here with Chuong and a hog fish

Russ' Visit - Our Fifth Anniversary

This was our fifth anniversary with Russ on Scott Free. We look forward to his visits every year and he often has done long passages with us. But this year we had a lovely lazy visit (lazy is not a term you really should use with Russ - he swims a mile each day and that's just the start) in Roatan. We hardly traveled in the boat, only one lovely sail from French Cay Harbor to the West End in Roatan.  But it was filled with great conversation, fun diving/snorkeling (Scott dove and Russ and I snorkeled), swimming, walking and of course many great Happy Hours and meals.

Scott, Heather and Russ at Temporary Cal's Cantina on top of Roatan, Honduras

The first five days of Russ' visit we spent at Fantasy Island
Marina in French Cay Harbor. This is the Tiki Palapa, the
center of social activity in the anchorage

Besides solving the problems of the world in the evenings,
Russ and Scott repair the boat in the daytime

The view from Cal's Cantina - this is just one of the four
bays visible from the deck.

We sailed down to the West End of Roatan for the remainder
of Russ' visit. This is one section of the miles long beach

One morning Russ and I (Heather) took a long walk from
the town of West End down the beach to West Bay

We wore our suits so we could cool off in the crystal
clear water

Occasionally rock outcrops provided some careful
footing

Breakfast on our anniversary morning across from the beach
with Lennie and Sue from Windancer

Our big celebration was the Russ' last night, between
our anniversary and Heather's birthday. Sue Ann
Solomon, our friend here in Roatan, invited us for a
bonfire on her beach with wine and snacks

After that we all went out for dinner at the Oasis Restaurant
up on the hill above the West End

Sue Ann and Russ at the Oasis

Hiking on Guanaja, Honduras

This beautiful schooner anchored off the Bight and one
early morning raised their sails and took our breath away

We did four hikes on Guanaja. The first three we followed Dave and Ellen on Cordelia who had spent some time here three years ago. They were all on the south coast starting near The Bight. Our first one was covered in the previous post. The second started at the closed resort on the southeast corner of the anchorage and went up the east coast. The next one started on the shore just west of our anchorage and went along the coast down to the mainland section of Bonacca.
While in Bonacca we met Giovanni and really liked him. We hired him for the day to bring us over to the north coast and hike up to two waterfalls. The trip took us through the canal which joins the south and north coasts of Guanaja and then north past Michael's Rock to Bush's Island Home. This is a beautiful spot and we had an excellent lunch there. The waterfalls were really impressive, the hikes interesting and it was a marvelous day. Giovanni brought along his 6 year old neighbor Jovan and he was great fun. We LOVE Guanaja!

Looking east down the south coast 

The wooded trail was a delight in the heat

But then we don't mind some time in the
sun on the lovely beaches

Part of our walk took us through a hotel/condo development
that may actually open (again)

The Manatee Restaurant had it's baking day during our
weekly Mexican Train Dominos game

Our buddy boats for this trip; Deborah and Jerry on CzechNMate and Ellen and Dave on Cordelia

Baking is done outside in a wood fired oven

A lime cheesecake looks tempting

A family of 5 (daughter above) live with Annette and Horst
and together they run the restaurant

Our second hike took us down the coast going west
through a more developed section of shrimp boats and
homes

Christopher Columbus called this the Isle of Pines but
many of these beautiful trees were lost in hurricanes

A series of increasingly difficult crossings challenged us

Next challange

The third one 

This was the hardest

Especially carrying Thesbe, Dave and Ellen's dog

That's Bonacca off in the distance

The path took us along the side of the hill with lovely
views

The "suburb" of Bonacca on the mainland of Guanaja -
still no cars

Many of the houses are built on stilts over the water. I
loved this green couch on the raft

Both these towns reminded me of Lake Town in Tolkein's
The Hobbitt

A good view of the settlement

The main street

There are even street signs

That are very descriptive

Our last hikes were on the north side of the island. We
hired Giovanni for the day long trip.

Lunch was at Bush's Island Home - a lovely place built
on stilts over the water

This is the beach looking west

And then east

Our first hike took about 1 and 1/2 hours going up, shorter
coming down and was very rugged, climbing over the
rocks and crossing back and forth over the stream

Much of the time was in the stream itself and once we got
over trying to keep our sneakers dry we were fine.

The waterfall was worth the scramble for sure and the water was perfect.

Giovanni got right in the center

Scott and I cooling off

Our second waterfall with Deborah 

Group shot including Jovan

Jovan was a delight to have with us on the trip. He spoke
perfect English as well as Spanish