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 ...
Roatan
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 ...
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
First off, you all are super cool for helping me cross the 100,000 view threshold this week! When I started this blog two years ago, I never thought it would be seen 100,000 times. Internet high fives for everyone!As I hinted to in the last roundup post, I am currently trying to make a decision about whether or not I am going to stay on Roatan. This is something that's been on my mind for the last few months, and I think something that every expat struggles with at some point. When do you ...
Roatan Rent: What $400/month Gets You
(Edit 2019: guys, please look at the date of this post. It's over 5 years old. I no longer live on Roatan and cannot find a rental for you. Do not email me asking about rentals. See my suggestions below if you're looking for a place, or look at my Roatan FAQ page. There are many people on the island working as property managers and they deserve your business!)I had such a huge response to my last Roatan Rent post that I decided to dig through my iPhone photos and do another post on ...
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 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, ...
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 ...
‘Home Alone’ and Coconut Rum: An Expat Christmas
Even though this is my second Christmas abroad, it's really my first expat Christmas. Remember last year how I ran away on a megayacht on Christmas Eve? And then didn't come back for two months? I don't know if that really counted as an expat Christmas last year since I was on a fancy boat drinking endless champagne (woe is me).This year I am at my house, by myself, working as usual. When your job caters to people on vacation, you don't get holidays off.christmas at my ...
Why I Tell You to Get the F#*&! Off the Coral
Yep. I really do tell people to get the fuck off the coral. (Great news is I'm underwater, so they can't hear my foul language, but the hand signals I give them seem to suffice.)Even after numerous briefings about the Roatan Marine Park from the shop assistant and dive lead, people seem to not be getting the message. I'm not sure where this mindset of "it's okay to manhandle or feed creatures, take shells or anything else I find, or be shitty diver and smash the coral to ...
Rainy Roatan Nights
We've been dodging a very big bullet on Roatan for nearly two months now... RAINY SEASON. The dreaded few months of the year where gray skies and rain only leave us a few days of sun, where the power is out more than it's on and when you get 'trapped' in bars, restaurants or your friends house because you want to wait out the torrential downpour that just started outside. It's the time of year when you go to take out one of your clutches from the back of the closet and discover all 4 of ...