Welcome to the latest in my Roatan Review series!This time I'm facing my post-traumatic stress disorder from my stint at a gelato shop to help save for my move to Roatan (that's how much I like the owner of this shop...and ice cream).Deliciosa Creameryentrance and front porchIt should go without saying that every tropical destination needs an ice cream shop. West End in Roatan was sorely lacking in this department. Last year we all cheered when Sophie's Ice ...
Life
5 Myths About Life as a Dive Instructor in Paradise
5 Myths about the Life of a Scuba Instructor in Paradisetough day at the office, on a surface intervalWe’ve all seen them on our dive holidays, resort websites and brochures, and movies – tanned and grinning dive instructors living in incredible vacation destinations and getting to dive for a living. What could be better?As a (sort of) tanned and (usually) grinning dive instructor who really does live in an incredible Caribbean vacation destination and gets to dive for a ...
Roatan Review: Bay Islands Original Cafe
[Update June 2014 - Bay Islands Original Cafe has since closed. As always, spaces and places come and go regularly on Roatan so please do a little research for current news when planning!]Welcome to the latest in my Roatan Review series!Bay Islands Original Cafe is located on the main road between Gibson Bight and West End (those on Roatan: between Shorkie's horse pen and the white church on the Mangrove Bight road turnoff, right next to the pink apartments that have the seahorse ...
Roatan Rent: What $300/month Gets You
Want to know all about rent in Roatan? Here's the latest in my Roatan Rent series! (You can check out the $350/month one and the $400/month one for more posts on this topic.) Hello from my new office!! this is my dining room table. it's on my deck!One of the most common questions I get emailed is, "how much does it cost to live on Roatan?" While I've answered this a couple times already, I know people have different budgets and price ranges than I do. However, ...
Roatan Month 18 Roundup
18 months!!! A year and a half!Oh, and also, yeah, I'm alive. Thanks for all the concerned emails :) I moved from the jungle back to town and I was busy with moving and then going out and seeing all my friends that I hadn't seen very often in the last 8 months! They'll be a tour of my new place coming up soon and lots of other new stuff as well, so please check back often (I promise it won't be another month - sorry to Carol who I know checks my site daily for new posts!)This one ...
Things I’m Going to Stop Doing in 2014
New Years resolutions scare the bejeezus out of me.If there's one thing I've learned about myself in my 28 years, it's that I fucking suck at sticking to stuff. (Other than checking Facebook maniacally; I've been doing that successfully since March 2007.) Like, I think its a kind of a miracle I even made it through university. I changed my major 4 times in the first year, 3 times in the second year and twice in the third year. Then I wanted to go do a masters in speech pathology. Then I wanted ...
Roatan Review: Casa del Sol
I'm really excited to be bringing you my second Roatan Review!Casa del Sol is a guesthouse located just outside the entrance of West End in Roatan that can accommodate short-term or long-term guests. I personally have been staying here at least once a month for the last 8 months every time I go into 'town' because I have been living too far away to go home after a night out. Casa del Sol used to be managed by my friend Laura which is how I first ended up there, but has been taken over by my ...
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 ...
Roatan Month 17 Roundup
Seventeen months! Did you know that's how long killer whales gestate for?Me neither. But I googled "seventeen months" and that's what the internet says. The more you know...Speaking of killer whales, holy Blackfish. This is some seriously sad business. If you like to visit aquariums, you should watch that movie. Also, someone sent me this video of Kuroshiro Sea tank with good intentions, but literally the first three seconds had me in tears. If you watch this and you think, ...
So it’s 2014 and I’m not on a yacht.
But thank you to all my readers who asked if my nearly 3 week absence on here was due to me running away on another megayacht, a la holidays 2013. Unfortunately, no, I just got totally overwhelmed at work during the new years week and understaffed in a major way, so I was in the water and handling all the administrative stuff and then had to take a little computer-holiday after that was over so my head didn't explode. I've also been battling some ridiculous power outages (like 14 hours a DAY ...