Soak in the Absolute Beauty of Roatan, I took this photo at Pensacola Bay. On the North Side of the island in West Roatan Honduras. We rented a Toyota Hilux in Roatan, this is one tough truck. We put some abuse on it, out on the rural dirt roads of Honduras.
After renting the Hilux, we hit the road for a 20 minute trek across the beautiful tropical island of Roatan, to get our Honduran exploration underway.
I ended up using Google Earth to view the location of many of the resort choices in advance, before picking a place to stay. After a lot of searching, I settled on the Blue Bahia Resort.
The Grand Tour
This was the view from the Balcony of our Sunset Room when we first arrived at the Blue Bahia Resort.
The check in was quick and easy, the owner of the resort “Josh” made things quite pleasant, with a warm welcome. He kept things interesting, by messaging us every morning of our stay using WhatsApp with a unique fun fact about Roatán, or an activity to fill the day.
Here’s an example of one of the daily messages we received from the Blue Bahia Resort. They were always interesting, and useful… Thanks Josh!
Josh even came out to the vehicle, and personally helped us carry our luggage up to our beautiful room at the Blue Bahia Resort. Below is a Video Tour of our Room, and the breathtaking views it had to offer:
Sunset View
Video Tour of the Sunset View Rooms at the Blue Bahia Resort in Roatán Honduras.
There’s an on-site scuba, and snorkeling rental desk. The Blue Bahia also has Scuba training courses onsite. Roatán is located on one of the largest Coral Reef Systems in the world.
The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, also known as the Great Mayan Reef. Stretches along the Central American coastline for 700 miles from Mexico to Honduras. Offering up some of the best scuba diving, and snorkeling experiences in the world. From below the pristine waters of the Caribbean Sea.
After getting settled into our room, and forcing ourselves to tear our eyes away from the amazing Sunset Room Ocean View. We headed downstairs to pay the Beach Grill Restaurant a visit. This quickly became one of our favorite places on the island for dinner.
Kick back, and unwind at the Beach Grill in Roatán. After a long transit here, this was just what we needed to exit stress mode, and enter relax, we’re on vacation mode!For dinner, I had the Grilled Fish, with steamed vegetables, and rice.
After a delicious meal, we headed to bed early as we were tired from the long transit, and the hustle and bustle to get here.
Let’s Explore Roatán!
Just woke up selfie. One of the generous mugs of Coffee offered at the Blue Bahia Resort. Breakfast with a view anyone? Mixed Fruit BowlsNext day we got our day started with a mouth watering breakfast, before we set out on our adventures across the island.
We loaded up the Toyota Hilux, and set off across the island, enjoying some of the amazing views offered from the hill tops along the way.
The views from the hill tops are beautiful! See if you can tell where the sky ends, and the water begins.
After a short drive around the island, we finally arrived at our destination. It looked like a scene straight out of Jurassic Park as we pulled into Gumbalimba Park.
What if I was looking for a T-Rex 🦖 🤣?
The guided tour, is the way to go. After getting our guide we set off to explore the park. Every corner you turn, there’s wildlife to be discovered. You have to watch where you step closely.
Checkout the Black Iguanas
This was one of the many Black Iguanas relaxing on the ground.
The bathrooms are located next to the beach, with an amazing view, so of course we had to get our picture took.
Just lay your eyes upon this view. I could kick back, and relax in this very spot all day long! Our guide walked us through some of the local fauna that grows in Honduras. Including this Kapok Tree (photo left), and the Cannonball Tree (photo right). Which we first encountered during one of our adventures in Thailand. You can see it for yourself by clicking RIGHT HEREThis was our guide, (photo bottom right) picking some leaves for us to taste. He said the locals on the island like to make a Type of Tea with them when their sick. They had a sweet taste. Photo of a Basilisk hiding in the leaves. Better known by it’s nickname: the Jesus Christ Lizard, for its ability to run on water.
Touring Gambalimba Park
For the next part of our tour, we head inside through a Spanish style Fort Wall entrance, lined with Cannons. In here we visit the insect museum, and learn the local history of Roatán Honduras.
What a better way to enter into the Pirate 🏴☠️ history of Roatán, than through a Fort Wall protected by a row of Cannons? They had every sort of creepy crawly you could imagine on display. Some of them being of incredible size. Just check out the Beetle exhibit, with my partners hand as a size reference. This is Chief Lempira, the face that’s on Honduran money. On the next part of the tour, they immerse you in the history of the indigenous Lencas. Who fought against the Spanish Conquistadors.
Then they take you into the pirate history. Telling you about which famous pirates visited the island. Some of those names included John Coxen, Van Horn, Henry Morgan, and the notorious Blackbeard.
They also put some of the original pirate weapons on display. Some of their swords, muskets, and early guns of the time.
How Much Is The Toll?
Once the museum piece of our tour was complete. We headed back outside, where the next part of our adventure decidedly took a turn for the Wild.
The first plant we encountered upon leaving, was a Pineapple Plant. With two little pink baby pineapples starting to grow on it.
On next leg of our tour we encountered the King of the Iguanas, resting in a tree. We were told this is the biggest iguana in Gumbalimba Park. Then we crossed the longest, and most assuredly sketchy suspension bridge I’ve ever crossed.
Check out this video as we cross the sketchy bridge.
There were even Iguanas swimming across the lagoon. Turns out, iguanas are quite good swimmers.
A Walk Down The Wild Side
After crossing the bridge, we found ourselves in a wild animal encounter. My partner, being the animal lover that she is, was all for it. Me on the other hand, well let’s just say I had mapped all the nearest escape routes 🤣.
We came face to face with some of the largest parrots around. The Scarlet Macaws, as well as Capuchin Monkeys. My partner was most definitely happy to hold the Scarlet Macaws… Fun Fact: the Scarlet Macaw is the National Bird of Honduras 🇭🇳. Now how did I let my partner get me into this situation? Well to be completely honest, I never intended to hold the birds. Their trainers thought we needed a photo together, so they literally just walked up and placed these giant birds on me before I could react… I’m pretty sure the Scarlet Macaw giving me a little tongue action, was enjoying it more then I was 🤣
Just Monkeying Around
Then things got even wilder once the monkeys got involved. They were eagerly waiting for their moment in the spotlight. I thought things were going good, with my partner holding the Monkey’s, and me standing a safe distance away 😂……but then that turned into this. How did I get a Monkey?
Somehow I not only ended up with a monkey. I ended up with a Mother Capuchin, with her baby securely clinging to her back… At this point I just wanted to make sure I didn’t tick momma off 🤣By this point, I had written my partner off as an insurance loss, because I’m pretty sure once the monkeys started grooming her hair. She was officially part of the troop 🤣… Fun Fact: a group of monkeys is called a Troop
After we said our fair wells to the monkeys, we started heading for the exit.
As we exited the park. We came across another interesting tree growing in Honduras. This is a Cashew Nut tree. In the photo to the right, you can see one of the actual cashews, after it had fallen off the tree. We had one last animal encounter as we left the animal preserve. How many iguanas do you see? Hint: there’s two. Here’s a few more photos of the iguanas we spotted during our adventure through the animal preserve.
Lunch Anyone?
After our adventure came to an end, we loaded up the Toyota Hilux, and headed out to find lunch. In search of a local cuisine that’s a must try in Roatán Honduras.
Along the way, we passed a local hotel with quite the unique, and interesting roof. It was Hotel Los Corales. It had a huge Sea Turtle as its roof. Roatán is known for making “Beleadas” they are homemade flour tortillas, pounded down and grilled, then spread with refried beans, cheese, Honduran Cream, and your choice of meat. This one is Chicken, and Chorizo
A Finish To The Day
After a fun filled day of discovery. We closed out the night with dinner, and desert. We had to rest up, to get prepared for our next adventure in Honduras.
Dinner at the Beach GrillWhat’s dinner without dessert?
If you liked our adventure in Roatán Honduras, and want to know how we got here. Be sure to check out the first part of this epic Honduran adventure by CLICKING RIGHT HERE.
The Roving Gypsy
Thanks for reading my Travel Blog, I hope you enjoyed this Central American Island Adventure as much as we did. Like what you read, and want more, or have a suggestion for me? Follow, Share, and Comment to let me know… Be sure to check back for the next part of this Honduran Island Adventure!
