Roatan, Honduras

Every November we visit Marshall’s parents in Florida to celebrate "Thanksmas" (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and soak up some sun while it’s gloomy in Seattle. There are so many amazing places within just a 2-3 hour flight from Florida, so we always try to visit a new country while we're out there. This year we decided to tack on a trip to Honduras! After a quick 2-hour direct flight from Miami, we landed on the beautiful island of Roatán, Honduras. We picked up our tiny little rental car, shoved all our suitcases in and headed to the north side of the island to our eco-friendly hotel, called Tranquilseas.
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The hotel has 9 themed bungalows and we were in the biggest one overlooking the pool and beach, called the Octopus room. There were two separate bedrooms for us and the boys and an even bigger luxury, two bathrooms!! Plenty of space for us to spread out! We dropped our bags in the room and then the manager gave us a little tour of the hotel and reminded us not to drink the water and to wear bug spray. The first thing the boys noticed were the many cats roaming around. Cats aren’t spayed quick enough in Roatan so they keep multiplying in the jungle and just freely roam around the island. There were three cats that always hung around our hotel and the boys named them Jeremy, George and George Junior.

After getting their fill of cats, the boys quickly found the pool and wanted to go for a swim. They dipped their toes in and said it was like 50 degrees and 'freezing', lol. Marshall pushed the boys in the pool and jumped in himself. I guess that’s one way to quickly get used to the water! The boys found some pool noodles and started playing noodle battles, quickly forgetting about how 'freezing' the water was.
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Once the boys got out and dried off, we walked down the hotel’s giant dock and found 3 big wooden swings overlooking the ocean. We swung for a while soaking in the gorgeous view. It was nearly sunset and we thought it would be fun to take paddle boards out and watch the sunset. Tyson and I paddled together on one and Marshall and Wesley paddled together on another. The water was so calm and crystal clear. Never experienced a sunset over the ocean on paddleboards, but definitely want to experience that again!

​Later that evening we enjoyed dinner at our hotel’s restaurant that overlooks the ocean. We all had various pasta dishes that were all very flavorful. Wesley made Marshall order the seafood pasta that came with all the seafood from the island and proceeded to eat all of it. Marshall got to enjoy the plain cheeseburger from the kids menu that Wesley ordered. Oh boy!

The following morning we ordered fresh fruit smoothies and a royal breakfast that big enough for us all to share. It came with pancakes, waffles, banana Nutella crepes and fresh fruit. The boys were in heaven!

When we went back to the room, I took a hot shower and then realized there was no blow drier. For real? Not again! I looked in every crevice of the room and it was nowhere to be found. Marshall even walked to the front desk to see if they had one, but it was closed. I had an important board meeting that I had to be on camera for and couldn’t show up with a wet bun. Looks like we’re going on a mission to find a blow drier! Of course, we had to stop at Bad Ass Coffee first to grab a frappe to sip on our mission, lol. We then drove to the main town and everyone looked at me like I was crazy asking if they had a blow dryer. It seemed like they had no idea what I was talking about...does nobody dry their hair on this island?! While I was in one of the stores, an expat said the only place I might find one is a grocery store like 15 mins away. We had about 45 minutes before I had to be on a call. Plenty of time! Oh, except a CRUISE SHIP had just docked and there was a massive deadlock of traffic on the only road to/from the town. We sat patiently for 30 mins in stopped traffic, then when the road opened up, we sped over to the store and found the last (and probably only) blow drier on the entire island. Phew, thank God I won’t look like a disaster on my call!

​We made it back in time and while I was on the phone, Marshall ordered lunch for us. He tried to order Tyson a plain hamburger, but there was a bit of a language barrier and the server kept giving him a weird look when he was trying to order it. When he read the order back to him, he said 'plain burger with ham'. It took a few times trying to explain it before he finally pulled out his phone and showed him what a hamburger is...not HAM. Tyson had a good laugh about that.
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After lunch we drove over to West Bay where all the upscale resorts are and peeked in a few shops. As we continued driving, we came across a building that looked like a little lighthouse. The top level was a shop who welcomed us in then tried his hardest to charge us a $2 per person fee to go up the stairs to take a picture. We smiled and said no thanks. Instead, we walked down to the lower level which was a cafe and grabbed a drink while enjoying the free view. Wesley enjoyed some coffee flavored ice cream while Tyson held off for a different dessert option later - 'saving his sugar for the day'. Our waiter asked if he could take a picture of us to use for their social media. The boys were excited that we were going to be famous!

We continued our journey and headed to West End which is the main town on the island. As we were strolling around the town, Tyson found a gelato shop and ordered a scoop of chocolate gelato. Yum! Dont mind if I try a bite or three

After a short while at West End, we were ready to head back to the hotel and go swimming in the ocean. The boys were surprised that the ocean water was actually warmer than the pool. And the water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom. There was a lot of seagrass at the bottom and one of the scuba diving instructors said to be careful not to step on a sea urchin, so the boys didn't want to go near it. There was plenty of sandy beach area though and they enjoyed swimming around and asking Marshall to throw them up in the air and splash in.
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Before heading to bed that evening we enjoyed dinner once again at our hotel’s restaurant….along with the three cats that hung around us.

After another royal breakfast (kids wouldn't order anything else for breakfast) we went for a morning stroll along the beach to burn off that super sweet feast. It was very quiet along the beach. This time of year is their slow season because it’s considered their rainy season. We took a gamble with the weather and thankfully we lucked out with lots of sun.
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When we got back to our hotel, we grabbed a couple of kayaks and cruised around the pristine waters. Tyson and I raced against Wesley and Marshall. They claim that they won but they were like 20 yards in front of us before the race started so let’s just call it a tie. 

After we put up our kayaks, we ran into the masseuse who does massages out on the 2nd story of the hotel’s dock over the ocean. Sold! Tyson also wanted to get a massage so I let him have my last 15 minutes. Lucky guy! We asked him how his massage was and he said it hurt and she pulled his hair hard. Marshall’s response was “did you get her number?”

​Later that afternoon we headed to West End to stroll around and check out the local shops. There were handmade arts and craft stores and souvenir shops….that all had cats randomly roaming around. We found the chocolate factory and tried some samples of their various flavors such as spicy chili. Yum!

​Once we were shopped out, we returned to our hotel just in time for another gorgeous sunset. This time there was a blue steak in the sky unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Amazing!!

Once the sun had set, we headed to dinner at Ankor Seafood Grill just down the street. I’d say it’s definitely the most upscale restaurant on the island and the food was delish!

The next morning, we were excited to check out Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. Tyson, Wesley and I held a sloth while Marshall was the paparazzi. They are so cute and pose perfectly at the camera. The three of us then went into the monkey cage with about ten monkeys swinging around. They warned us the monkeys would jump all around us, but I didn’t expect them to actually jump on my head and destroy my hair. Naughty monkeys!  We also go to hold a couple macaw parrots that apparently can say several words, although they were pretty quiet for us. The guide showed us a few other animals that are native to the island before wrapping up the tour. This tour is definitely a must while in Roatan! It’s such a great experience to interact with these animals.

Next on the agenda was Arch’s Iguana & Marine Park that was just down the street. There were over 100 iguanas at the park just roaming around. It was hard to walk around without stepping on their tails. The guide handed the boys leaves to feed the iguanas and they each had like 20 iguanas coming up to them trying to get a bite. They have some sharp teeth but surprisingly they were friendly enough that you could pet them without losing a finger. The park also had tons of fish out by their dock. The tour guide gave the boys tiny fish to throw into the water. All the fish went nuts each time the boys threw them food. Pretty entertaining!

Later that afternoon Marshall rented some snorkel gear from the hotel and took the boys out for a swim in the ocean. Marshall dove down to the bottom and found a conch shell with a little crab claiming it as its home. We showed the bartender the shell and she said it was illegal to have it out of the water. Oops! We’ll put the little guy back to where the boys could keep an eye on it the rest of the trip.

That evening we drove to the West End and had dinner at Ipanema. The restaurant was over the water and had panoramic ocean views. We got there just in time to catch another gorgeous sunset. The water was so clear, we saw several colorful fish swimming around the restaurant.
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Once the sky was dark, we headed back to the hotel and stargazed out on the dock. The sky was so clear we could see a sky full of stars. Marshall told the boys stories about his childhood and then we all took turns sharing stories about pooping our pants at some point in our lives. The boys love hearing all the “juicy” details!

The following morning, we drove to West end and grabbed coffee at Bean Crazy. I finally found a place that had amazing frappes! Wesley found a sloth stuffy in the store next door that he had to bring home to add to his stuffy collection. We gave the boys $20 of spending money for the trip to spend on anything they wanted. They profited another $10 or so from their uncle and grandpa while we were in Florida selling them the 'gems' they got during a pirate cruise we took while we were there. Wesley spent all of it on the sloth and Tyson bought some candy. I think we still owe him some change, lol. After that, we strolled along the other side of town that we hadn’t yet seen before heading to Anthony Key’s resort for our main event of the trip. 

It was time to go swimming with dolphins! The trainer introduced us to the two dolphins we’d be interacting with. We first got to rub the dolphin’s back and see them do a few tricks. Then we got in the water for the interactive swim portion. Each person took turns having two dolphins swim up next to them and grabbing on to their fins for a ride. We then got to ride on a boogie board and have the dolphins push our feet super fast to shore. So cool! Of course, we also took pictures with the dolphins kissing our cheeks and posing next to us. Everyone agreed this was the highlight of the whole trip!

By the time we got back to the hotel we only had about 15 minutes for us all to take quick showers and check out of our room. What a scramble! It was time to head to the airport but we knew there wasn’t much to eat at the tiny airport, so we stopped at a local Oceanside restaurant called Bayside Restaurant for a quick bite to eat on the way.
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Honduras was quite the adventure and we made some great memories that will last a lifetime!