Roatan: Honduras' tourist paradise

By Franz Smets Mar 15, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Honduras is hardly well-known as a tourist magnet, but the Central American country is making an effort to change that. Roatan, an island paradise in the western Caribbean, is Honduras' claim to tourist recognition.

Already as one arrives at the airport in Coxen Hole, Roatan's main town, the visitor knows what the island is about: diving, snorkelling, swimming. The plane gets so close to the water's surface that passengers have the impression that the machine is about to fall into the turquoise sea.

The island of Roatan is some 60 kilometres long, and it has three wooded peaks that rise up to 230 metres above sea level.

It is around 50 kilometres off the coast of the Honduran mainland, at the heart of the so-called Bay Islands. Beyond the central Roatan, the archipelago includes Utila to the west and Guanaja to the east, as well as numerous small keys. And there is also the Cayos Cochinos archipelago, nearer the mainland.

Roatan feels like paradise, particularly for those interested in underwater activities like snorkelling or diving. 'Particularly for beginners,' says Dirk, an experienced diver from Switzerland. He is disappointed to have seen no whale sharks, another element that Honduras is trying to make the most of in the effort to draw tourists to its shores.

The island is located near one of the world's largest barrier reefs, which provides excellent conditions for underwater activities. Those who do not wish to get wet or hold their breath can also look at the water world from boats with glass bottoms. Others can choose to go out to the north side of the riff from West Bay in a mini-submarine and dive some 1,200 feet.

Roatan was made better known to the tourist world when Hurricane Mitch hit the area in 1998 and caused great destruction.

In efforts to rebuild Honduras, the World Bank sponsored the expansion of the runway at the island's airport, in order to allow the landing of larger planes that can boost tourism. Many US citizens, Canadians and Britons came and invested in small hotels, restaurants and diving schools.

This led to an even greater anglicization of Roatan, where English remains the most important language. There are no indigenous communities on the island, because they died of imported diseases after the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 15th century.

Over the following centuries Roatan was the object of constant fighting between Spain and England, as well as an important hideout for English pirates. Coxen Hole was named after one of them, John Coxen.

The oldest settlement is Punta Gorda on north-eastern Roatan. It holds most of the descendants of black Caribs who were brought in from the West Indian island of Saint Vincent by the English in the late 18th century.

With the help of the French, these slaves rebelled against their English masters at the time. Most of them moved on to the northern shore of mainland Honduras, where they developed the Garifuna culture.

Nowadays, the music and the dances of the Garifunas have become a regular aspect of the colourful shows offered to visitors who arrive in Roatan from Miami on board large cruise ships. The group led by Rolando Hill performs three days a week on the terrace of the Eagle's Rays restaurant, which is built on piles over the sea in the Half Moon Bay.

Hundreds or even thousands of cruise guests arrive in small buses and taxis at the creeks, beaches and other sites around the island to escape a ship with 4,000 passengers for at least a couple of hours.

'We don't care how many of them come,' says Hill, one of the older Garifuna singers on Roatan. 'We only get a fixed sum.'

The number of visitors is expected to grow. Honduras wants to attract tourists who arrive in Roatan to the sites on its mainland. 'Our goal is to increase the number of European tourists,' Tourism Minister Nelly Jerez told the German Press Agency dpa.

In 2010 there were 900,000 visitors. Jerez expects a rise in the number of cruises that dock on the island, from 171 ships last season to 231 in November 2010-April 2011.

In the evening, the Garifunas return to the village of Punta Gorda where one can still see the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch. A few of the homes were rebuilt, others are still being worked on.

On the beach, there are two boats. The Garifunas live off beans and maize and alone have the right to fish within the reef area. They would stand no chance in the outer sea with their wooden boats.

Most buildings on Roatan are made of wood. Hotels too, with their balconies and verandas, often standing under trees in the dense tropical vegetation as if looking for protection against storms and water. Not counting the small hostels, there are more than 1,500 rooms available on Roatan.

The easiest way to reach the island is by plane from the United States. A flight from Houston, Texas takes two-and-a-half hours, one from Miami barely more than an hour, and there are also flights from Canada. Once a week a plane flies in from Milan, while there are daily ferries coming in from the coastal Honduran city of La Ceiba.

Things are set to change. More direct flights from Europe to Roatan are expected to be established, Honduran legislator Romeo Silvestri, a businessman in the tourism sector, recently told the Honduran daily La Prensa.

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