Roatan, Honduras
Julie Bootsma
Roatan was our favorite! Very primitive! Get up
early and do as much as you can in this port. The ship docks first thing
in the morning but leaves in mid afternoon so don’t sleep in on this port
day, you will regret it. You pull right up to shore here – nice! You will
see dozens and dozens of cabs lining the street waiting for your business.
After the “bus load mentality” of Belize we decided to go on our own in
Roatan. We are so glad that we did! We had read another review from a
family that did the same thing and got a taxi driver that they loved. They
posted his name and cab number on their review. When we saw ALL the cabs
we thought that we would never find this guy but as soon as you set foot
on the ground all these taxi guys bombard you for your business. We told
them that we were looking for Victor Bodden and amazingly other taxi
drivers started yelling his name and there he was. He was very nice! A young
soft spoken guy who spoke English well. We felt very comfortable with him right
away. He took us on a tour of the island, showed us his house, told us about
growing up on the island, about his family etc. It truly gave a good feel for
what life is like on Roatan. Then he took us to a beach on the West End. His
cousin manages this beach and for $3.00 a chair we basically had a private beach
for most of the morning. This beach was right next to Tabyana Beach where ALL
the cruise ships excursions go. That beach was SO crowded with row after row of
white plastic sit up chairs. Our beach was not crowded and we had nice reclining
chairs and shade under the palm trees if we wanted. Victor took us to a
snorkeling shop and helped us get our gear and helped carry it to the beach for
us.
The snorkeling was good, the water very clear. He came back and picked us up
in time to hit the vendors in town before getting back on the boat. If you want
to do Roatan the way we did it PLEASE look up our cab driver. His name is Victor Bodden. He drives cab #081. You can even email him at victorbodden@yahoo.com and
set it up before hand. He will meet you outside the boat with a paper that has
your name on it. I recommend him highly!!