We loved the amazing diving found right off the back of your boat in West End, Roatan. Diving, in general, was easy and convenient in this area. Tank refills were $4 (4 tanks in 6 minutes) and Mares also had a fully stocked store and workshop for repairs. They were the nicest people to work with too.
The town of West End is small and quaint with some good food options. Our favorite was Sandy Buns. We LOVED the brisket sandwich and top on the list was the cinnamon bun and breakfast sandwiches. You will NOT leave there hungry...you probably won't eat for a couple of days! Don't miss it!
NEW TO OUR CHANNEL? We are Eileen and Brown Councill. Welcome to our channel and a glimpse into our life adventure! 2020 was a year of uncertainty and change (for all of us, right?), but we overcame the challenges and decided it was time to chase our dream, to sail around the world! Did I mention that we had very NO sailing experience? Before leaving Qingdao, China, our home of 4 years, we sold almost all of our earthly possessions and started our international search to find the right sailboat that we would call "home." After 5 months of unanticipated twists and turns, we found what we were looking for, a used Leopard 44' Catamaran located in St. Lucia.
So, here begins our journey, filled with unmatched excitement and honestly, a bit of trepidation as well. We have much to learn as we travel the world on our floating home and we intend to document that journey and share it with you. We are so glad you have decided to join us, and we hope that you will find our story so compelling that it will inspire you to chase your dreams too!
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The islands consist of eight islands and 53 small quays
lying 10 to 40 miles off the northern coast of Honduras.
These islands have been part of the country since 1872.
Located on the Caribbean Sea, the total island population is estimated to be
around 70,000 people. We checked into the
country of Honduras on the island of Utila. It is third in
size of all the bay islands and characterized by low mangrove swamps
and a few small low hills. The main town sits on the water
and dozens of scuba diving schools line the bay. Utila is most famous for having
the cheapest dive schools in the world and many young divers flock to the
island to get certified. The animal life and reefs are decent for
Caribbean diving, but after a week of constant rain we were
ready to move on to Roatan. We've been in Utila for a week and
we're gonna take off for West End Roatan this morning. It's
a calm morning. It's probably the best we're gonna get to get over there. So
really important is visual navigation in Honduras. The charts are really bad
here, so I am up front. Brown's at the helm
and our friends Heidi and Jurgen are behind us.
We started our exploration of Roatan in West End,
a mile-long village located on the northwest corner of Roatan.
Aside from cruise ship visitors, it exists like Utila
to serve scuba divers. This is the cute little town
of West End and our favorite place to eat is right here,
Sandy Buns, the best food in the West End.
So I'm getting emotional. Designated a national park,
the reef system is well protected and maintained.
Every dive site has a mooring ball for boats to tie to
rather than dropping anchors and destroying the coral.
Despite a lot of divers in the water, the reef is in great shape and has
incredible diversity in both flora and fauna. Cruisers are also
well cared for with a maintained mooring field inside
the reef with a short swim or dinghy ride to 80 different dive sites.
This is our first dive off the back of the boat. We're very excited
and the mooring prices are quite reasonable. In town,
the Mari store can refill four scuba tanks in six minutes
and it only costs $16. They are a full service shop to fix or replace
any of your gear.
The rule is you have to hit the tree. Hit the tree or lose a point.
Minus one. So cruel.
While most of our days were spent on the reefs, we also enjoyed doing things on
shore. But quickly we were back in the water
again, spending time with the critters and taking advantage of the cheapest
tank fills we have ever found. It was clear from the behavior of the
wildlife that the reefs are well protected
and the animals have no fear of divers. We enjoyed numerous close encounters but
one of our favorite was playing with two octopuses during the night dive
and one of them curiously checking out my hand with all eight of his.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week when we head east on the
island of Roatan.
