For our anniversary this year we wanted to go someplace beachy and warm, where we could refresh our scuba diving skills. The small island of Roatán just off the northern coast of Honduras fit the bill perfectly. The island is part of the same coral reef chain that extends northward to Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. The small island is home to about 100,000 people and has almost as many dive shops (or maybe it just seems that way!)
We scheduled an Advanced Open Water Dive Course with West Bay Divers. Kevin and I are both already certified but it was worthwhile to take the Advanced certification to fine-tune our skills like buoyancy control and underwater navigation.
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| Photo credit: Juan Darhanpe West Bay Divers |
Another benefit of this course is that we are now certified to dive to 100 feet. A highlight of our diving was being able to dive the wreck of the Aguila which sits in over 100 feet of water.
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| Photo credit: Juan Darhanpe West Bay Divers |
The reef here is very healthy. We did six dives in total and every part of the reef was teeming with aquatic life. Several times we were surrounded by enormous schools of colorful fish.
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| Photo credit: Juan Darhanpe West Bay Divers |
The island population swells by several thousand people per day when the cruise ships come into port. During the nine days we were on Roatán, there was at least one cruise ship in port every day. On one of the days there were 19,500 passengers in total across four ships (and that's not even counting the crew)! On those days the island gets pretty busy. We caught a glimpse of the Icon of the Seas lumbering off into the sunset; it's currently the largest cruise ship in the world at 250,000 tons. It's got 20 decks and in the twilight it kind of looks like a building lying on its side.
After we completed our scuba course, we enjoyed doing absolutely nothing for a few days. We drank some beers at the beach bars...
...And spent plenty of time lounging by the luxurious hotel pool, just reading books, sipping drinks, and watching the world go by.
We had a wonderful, relaxing, trip. Maybe not quite as exhilarating as some of our other adventures, but we loved our visit to this friendly, beautiful tropical island.
