*sings* IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!Nope, not Christmas. Christmas as I used to know it barely exists for me anymore - there is no tree, no family and presents on Christmas morning, no hot chocolate and skating and snowmen. Christmas is just another day that I take people out diving (and I am totally okay with that). So, while that song might evoke images of Christmas in your mind, the most wonderful time of year on Roatan for me is rainy season.I will take a moment here to ...
Bay Islands
New Tourist Visa Procedures on Roatan
had mentioned the new-ish Honduran visa procedures in a previous post, but I am getting asked a lot of questions from readers planning to visit, move to, invest in, or retire to Roatan.Let me first be VERY CLEAR that I am not an expert, a lawyer or any other kind of official. I am simply someone 'on the ground' who has been through the procedures and has seen how it has been working since it's been put in place (late August 2014). I am also not making any sort of statement of what I ...
5 Places I Could Visit Again and Again
For me, there have been some places where I've traveled that just got under my skin in the best possible way. Places where I could see myself living, or visiting over and over (or both, in the case of my current situation!) Here are 5 places I've been that I absolutely loved, and could travel there again and again:1. Roatan, HondurasDuhhhh :) Not only is Roatan now my personal "Cheers" (where everybody knows your name), I visited this little Caribbean island a few times before moving here, ...
5 Things I Love About Roatan
"So, do you like living here?" I get this question from tourists on a near-daily basis, usually after I tell them I've been on the island for two years. Uhhhh... if I didn't like it, would I live here for two years? Now don't get me wrong, this place makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes. But so did every place in Canada that I lived at some point in time or another. (Can I be any clearer to people that paradise does not equal no problems?) But that doesn't mean there aren't amazing ...
Roatan FAQ – Part 1
The #1 thing I receive emails about is questions from people who are visiting or thinking about moving to Roatan. And they all ask me the exact same questions!! I thought I better start putting together from FAQs so that people can read through these first before emailing me since I just don't have the time to give full, detailed answers over and over. I hope people find this helpful! If you have other questions you would like answered in Part 2, please leave them in the comments ...
10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Moved to Roatan
[This post has been adapted from a contest entry I wrote for ExpatsBlog. There are so many things I wish I had known before moving to Roatan... I hope this helps future expats!]My expat home is a little tropical island in the Caribbean off the eastern coast of Honduras. Just two hours from Texas by air, Roatan is easily accessible and is steadily gaining status as a scuba diving mecca and beach-lovers paradise. After a surge in popularity due to a House Hunters International show featuring ...
Budget Breakdown: Goodbye Jungle!
So I've posted a few things about finances here before. There is my most popular post of all time on Cubicle Throwdown, Tipping Guidelines for Diving on Roatan (or Anywhere) that had quite a bit of money info in it, as well as a detailed Dive Instructor Salary on Roatan post that generated lots of love but also some threats from jerks who wanted to hate on "gringos stealing all the jobs here" (again, to those people: first, read my small disclaimer post, then, get your ...
The Best Dive Sites in Honduras
If you've ever been diving in Honduras, you know some of the best diving is right where I am - in the Bay Islands chain (Utila, Roatan and Guanaja) off the eastern coast of Honduras. We have healthy coral reef, lots of fish and pelagics, short boat rides and patrolled Marine Parks to make sure the diving stays great for generations of divers to come.I'm so excited to let you all know that I'm now a contributing author over at ScubaDiveDestinations.com, which is a killer resource for ...
Lady Luck is a Mermaid.
I've talked before a few times about how lucky I've been here, and how expat life here is like a roller coaster with some pretty big ups sometimes. Well, lady luck has been visiting me again...and this time underwater!In the past month, several times I was not supposed to have been on certain dives... I pestered my co-worker to switch, or got on a different boat because my student asked to switch, etc. And holy crap, have I ever been rewarded!First... a pod of 30 wild dolphins ...
You live in Honduras and don’t speak Spanish? Que??
I would say the #2 question* people always ask me when they find out I live in Honduras is: "So you speak Spanish then?" And then I feel guilty and ashamed for about three seconds, because the answer is "not really". BUT! I do live in Honduras.... however, I actually live off the coast of the mainland on an island called Roatan. A quick peruse of Roatan's Wikipedia page lets you know that the local islanders of Roatan are mostly of European and ...