Fantasy Island Get-Away

In 2003, we flew to Roatan, Honduras for a scuba diving vacation at Fantasy Island Beach Resort. the Resort is located on a private 21-acre island off the south shore of Roatan. Fantasy Island is one of over a dozen first-class resorts located on the Island. The coral reefs surrounding Roatan attract divers, snorkelers and kayakers from all over the world.

During our week-long stay on Roatan, we explored fourteen different dive sites, hiked and kayaked, visted Coxen Hole and the West End for shopping and restaurants, relaxed on pristine beaches, enjoyed delicious meals (including all you could eat grilled lobsters), and met some wonderful people.

Roatan is a fairly short flight from Houston or Miami - check out the internet and diving magazines for airfare and lodging specials a couple times a year. The Bay Islands are one of those places that everyone should visit during their lifetime.

Next time we return, it will be in our own sailboat.

The reefs surrounding Roatan are some of the healthiest, most spectaclar that we have ever seen. Mary's Place and Doc's are known world-wide. While we were there, we went diving every morning, every afternoon, and many evenings. Here are a few of our favorite underwater memories:

Located about 30 miles off the Northern Coast of Honduras, Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands. Paya Indians were the original inhabitants of Roatan. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Europeans discovered the Islands. For almost 200 years, Spanish consquistadors and British pirates battled for control of the Bay Islands, ignoring the Indians for the most part. uring this period, the Islands were used for food and wood supplies, safe harbor, and slave trading.

One group of slaves was shipwrecked here. These are the garifunas who populate much of the Bay Islands to this day, still maintaining their cultural identity and language.

Shortly after the U.S. Civil war, some Confederate families, including descendants of Andrew Jackson, settled here.

As a result of these events, the Bay Islands of Honduras, have evolved into a microcosm of many cultures that is not easy to describe - but delightful to experience.