27 – 28 November, 2012
The flight from Houston to Roatan was only 2 hours but felt more like 10, after the long sleepless night before.
We left Swartz Bay, on the 7:00pm ferry and drove in pouring rain to the Walmart in Skaggit, Washington; stopping for a quick bite to eat and whiling away the time since our flight to Houston only departed at 6:00am. We needed a light poncho or raincoat to bring with us to Roatan, at Cary’s suggestion. It is the start of the rainy season which runs from October through to December, but still hot.
I’m going to back up to a few months ago, in an attempt to give you the background and explanation as to how we came to be here.
I was surfing the net, looking for warm sunshine and a possible place where we could put down roots once we decide to retire (if we decide to retire) when I typed the following search-string into Google: “working and living in Honduras” – that’s when our plans took an interesting turn.
I answered a blog from 2008. A lady, Cary was retiring to Roatan and looking for a caretaker/couple to take care of her and her property – I thought that for sure she would have found the perfect couple but I answered her advert anyway, asking whether she might know of any other property owners looking for caretakers; her answer was that she is still looking for someone, and yes, there are many developers who prefer to have expats looking after their properties.
We struck up a friendship emailing each other regularly, and eventually she said “Come on down, Barbi let’s get to know each other in person. “In exchange for a few chores you can stay with me, and get free board and lodge” … the rest is history… We booked our flights and this episode was born.
2:55pm on 27th October, we touched down at the Roatan International Airport, our hostess met us and drove back to The Villas at Sandy Bay, Gibson Point. The house is a pretty, Island- style double-storey building made with cement blocks. Upstairs has a spacious open plan kitchen, dining and sitting room with a big balcony overlooking the ocean. Palm trees line the surrounding 5ft wall, and a huge Almond tree gives much needed shade.
The house is in a complex and Cary’s is closest to the sea. The owners share a pool and the jetty. Downstairs are 2 bedrooms each with en-suites. Originally we had thought that we would be living in a caretaker’s cottage but that has occupants so we settled in to the second bedroom.
We were exhausted and Cary suggested we go out to dinner in West End – we had a great meal a few glasses of wine and flopped into bed as soon as we arrived home.
28th October, 2012
We woke at 7:00am to blue skies, grabbed our cameras and headed along the beach snapping away merrily. The wind was warm the sea calm and the reef, which is only 20mts from the shore looked very inviting. We strolled along the jetty but soon realized that it is far too shallow for even the smallest of boats to moor. Even off the end, it is only about 1mt at high tide.
Back at the house we set to work on some of the chores we had discussed. First thing for me was to give the house a good cleaning. Cary has a cat and a young 10month old “pavement-special” puppy, Zieza that she rescued from the local animal shelter. The puppy is wild and boisterous, still untrained and allowed to climb on the furniture, sleep on the beds etc. All very well if she was a house-dog; however, she has a friend about her own age that she romps with during the day; in the flower-beds, rolling in the red sand and very often mud.
Wolf set to work on fixing the bamboo window-blinds which were no longer able to open and close. He replaced light-bulbs, repaired window latches and even some taps. We worked until around 10:30am when Cary woke up, had breakfast and set off to the shops. The main supermarket has almost everything one would need to live comfortably, obviously not the variety we get in Victoria, but certainly enough to satisfy ones needs.
It was Sunday so some of the major stores were closed. After storing our goods back home and putsing around the house, Cary decided to take us to West Beach to show us the main tourist area. It is a fun place with a real holiday vibe – we sat on the terrace eating a light meal and enjoying the music of a live local band. We got back in time to watch the sunset, and Cary invited Christine and Patrick to join us for a drink on the jetty – A wonderful evening ensued and new friendships were made. Patrick is a Dive Master and Christine is a Dolphin trainer at Anthony’s Cay Resort.
29th October, 2012
I woke to the sound of wind through the trees, the sky was overcast. We tidied the house and set off for a walk to Gibson’s Bight Marina, then made our way back to have breakfast after which we set off walking towards Anthony Cay Resort about 2km from Sandy Bay. The sky grew darker and the wind strengthen, caught half way between the house and the resort we decided to keep going and try to find shelter at the resort.
Well we weren’t that lucky, within seconds we were hit by a violent squall – rushing to find shelter under the trees didn’t help in the least and we were drenched in under a minute. We decided just to continue walking hoping the rain would stop. We passed a little hut and Patrick called to us to come under the porch. We stayed until the rain eased to a gently drizzle and Patrick led us through the mangroves to a point where we could watch the dolphins being trained.
The dolphins are really not in captivity as the enclosure is extremely low allowing them to come and go as they please. It is amazing to think that these fascinating creatures are so well treated that they stay in the enclosures of their free wills … more about this when Wolf and I go on a snorkelling encounter with them.
It rained on and off all day and much of the day was spent doing more chores around the house. I use the word chores but really it is a fun project, helping Cary to get her house fixed. Already it is so different and she is as pleased as punch. We cooked a meal of red-snapper and garlic fettuccini which went down well.