Carribean Relaxation in Roatan

Roatan is the perfect place to chill out. It's a small island in the Carribean off the north coast of Honduras, a 1.5 hour ferry ride from the town of La Ceiba. The main tourist areas of the island are on the western end of the island at West End and West Bay. West End is home to mostly bars, restaurants and cafes, whereas West Bay has a fantastic beach with resort hotels backing on to it.

We stayed a few minutes walk from West End town which made life easy and our hotel backed onto a small bay, which meant we could sit in a hammock out on our balcony and watch the water at will. To get to West Bay, you could take a cheap water taxi down the coast for 5 minutes and you were there. Because the resort/hotels all back on to the beach at West Bay, there's a huge amount of sun chairs available for purchase. Seeing as we were a big group, we simply split a chair between a few of us, as a place to stow our belongings under the watchful eye of the hotel security.

Going for a wander down the south end of the beach, we came across some volcanic cliffs and more fish than we had come across anywhere else at the beach. It turns out, many snorkelling tours take people to the far side of this rocky point as it is one of the better spots for watching marine life.

The highlight by far of Roatan, was the floating bar known as the Reef Rider. The Reef Rider is a two level boat that has fitted out the lower deck as a bar and sits a short swim off the beach of West End and West Bay, alternatively. Once you've figured out how to get money over to the bar and keep it dry, you're set. Drinks weren't terribly expensive and were always generously strong in keeping with Carribean tradition. Quite popular aspect of the boat, was that from the second level, you could jump into the water, only having to negotiate the railing of the first floor sticking out a little below you.

Once out on the Reef Rider, the rest of the beach faded into the back of everyone's mind. Eventually, the bar closed up and was due to up and move over to West End for the next day. This afforded us the opportunity to get a free ride back to our end of the island, all the while continuing on with the good times. Taking the bar home was certainly a fond memory for many in the group.

At night, there's a number of bars and clubs going into the wee hours, but also public bonfires on the beach. Our group decided to make for a bonfire that we had been told about earlier and bringing our own drinks we had a fun and cheap night by the fire and water. Many of us were worse for wear the next day.

Other options for activities outside of swimming and snorkelling on Roatan include diving, with some reasonable PADI certification sessions; and renting scooters to do a lap of the island. While maybe not as polished as other island destinations in the Carribean, Roatan has plenty of fun and relaxation to offer for a reasonable price.