Guanaja Honduras is a stunning tropical gem. A small island, only three by eleven miles, it is located in the Bay Islands off the northern coast of Honduras. When I was growing up in the Pacific Northwest, little did I know that someday I would be opening my eyes to a sunrise in Guanaja!
So we are here, my husband, our little Maltese dog and me. We came down to visit this Central American beauty for our birthday celebrations, only two days apart.
My son and I spent a week last month on the island of Utila, each getting our advanced open water C-card.
Completing accommodation arrangements was the toughest part of the trip; the entire island lost internet service Jan. through March.
We took the ferry from La Ceiba, arriving without reservations but found out that there are many lodging sites. We chose a combination package with Cross Creek, staying in a duplex bungalow and taking our class work and dives through their school. This resort is mainly geared for lower budget travelers and those interested in obtaining certifications from open card to dive master. The instruction was very organized and thorough.
I looked out our twin engine aircraft’s window at the island of Guanaja’s verdant peaks. We had just landed on the airstrip in this valley. The “terminal” was a thatched roof house set off to the side. Moments later we were cruising over a cobalt sea, past a jungle choked coast that looked as if it might conceal Jurassic Park.
On the way, we passed a town that rose out of the sea on posts. This was Bonacca, the island’s capital, a town that outgrew two tiny cays, forming a 17 acre stilt village. It was christened a “little Venice of the Caribbean” by author Jane Houlson (Blue Blaze, 1934).
I was a little worried as the young man lifted me up and hooked my harness to the cable. He smiled and warned me not to crash in to any trees.
He then let me go and all at once I was flying through the treetops at Gumba Limba Park in Roatan, Honduras. I really enjoyed this great adventure, even though, after my canopy tour, a very impolite monkey stole my water bottle out of my back pack.
There’s nothing better than learning something new while traveling, learning about ancient and unknown worlds, lose myself in nature and exercise, and be pampered in total relaxation. Honduras offers all of this and a lot more.
ROATAN and COPAN RUINAS, Honduras
The woman on the plane studiously memorizes tropical fish. She pores over a picture of a blue tang, contemplates the features of the banded butterfly fish and wins respect by focusing on the mean-looking six-gill shark.
She is a diver, she says, and she wants to know what she is seeing under the sea.
She will see a lot, since the coral reef that surrounds Honduras’ Bay Islands is one of the largest and most diverse in the world, home to as many as 800 different types of fish.
An Inland Empire marine biologist is on his way to Honduras this month for a turtle awareness biological tour and will take four Yucaipa Valley locals with him for the experience.
Dr. Stephen G. Dunbar is heading up a group of 10 people from Loma Linda University on an eight-day tropical, marine biology excursion starting Sept. 10.
Tagging along for the adventure will be Cindi and Kenneth Wright and Elmar and Darilee Sakala. While some participants on the official university trip will receive academic credit, the class is geared toward non-specialists interested in learning more about tropical, marine environments.
Wedged between Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, Honduras is Central America’s crooked elbow, jutting into the Caribbean with 400 miles of banana- and palm-lined seashore. Many Americans associate this steamy land, once known as the Banana Republic, with political instability, voodoo and malarial swamps.
But adventurous travelers willing to look beyond the stereotypes and Honduras’ checkered past will find many tropical wonders ripe for exploration. Some of the finest treasures lurk in the warm aquamarine waters just offshore. The tranquil island of Roatan is a scuba-diver’s dream, an endearing hodgepodge of Caribbean culture and a getaway that’s increasingly easy to access.
If you like riddles, you will love Honduras. Is it in Latin America or the Caribbean? Is it just another banana republic or something more sophisticated?
Obviously foreign elements, such as the exotic tropical flowers, blend with elements so familiar that you could be in Woking. The driver who meets me at San Pedro Sula airport speaks Spanish, but there is a poster of David Beckham on the road into the city. A horse-drawn cart pulls out of a Pizza Hut. An olive-skinned bride emerges from the back of a black London taxi. The McDonald’s in the main square is so close to the cathedral that you must be able to smell the barbecue sauce mingling with the incense and vice versa. Complete strangers throw enormous smiles at me just because I am wearing a Barmy Army T-shirt. I am going to enjoy myself.
COPAN RUINAS, Honduras
Men in jeans and straw hats walked along the highway that snaked through the mountains from San Pedro Sula to Copan Ruinas; fruit stands and shantytowns speckled the route.
A small landslide caused by some heavy rains made part of our drive difficult, but my local guide, Eli, told me this was nothing - there had been times when he was unable to bring tourists to Copan because labor strikes blockaded this road.
In my mid-20s, this was my first solo trip. And to a country where I didn’t speak the language, no less.
Right now writing you from an internet cafe from the island of Utila on the Bay Islands group in the carribean ocean! Hurricane Gamma was right over us last night and it has been very windy and rainy for 3 days now. Tonight will however be the last night of stormy weather, and tomorrow it’s supposed to calm down alot. Maybe we might even see the sun (my tan from Puerto Escondido is now completely gone).
The ride here took 14 hours, starting in Antigua in Guatemala at 4 o’clock in the morning, and having two stops on the way (Copan and San Pedro Sula in Honduras). Managed to sleep most of the way.
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