One of my fondest vacation memories is the first trip we took to Roatan, Honduras back in 2010. We had been to Mexico a few times when a friend of ours invited us to go down there with them. We ended up with six people going on what would be a heck of an adventure.
We flew out of Houston early on a Saturday morning and arrived on Roatan around lunch. I had been watching the weather and Hurricane Richard was making it’s way towards Roatan. Now Roatan is very far south in the Caribbean. Because of this, they do not get a lot of hurricanes. I was hoping the storm would move further north, but it wasn’t meant to be. When we landed, the runway was dry, but by the time the plane came to a stop it was pouring down outside. We had to sit in the plane for a while for the rain let up before they would open the doors to let us out. This is a small airport and you exit the plane and walk inside to the terminal.
Once we went through customs we waited about 30 minutes for the last two people to arrive. Once we were all there we went out to grab a taxi. The first stop was at the grocery store to stock up on supplies and then we were off to the house. The couple that we went with, Misty and Riaan, had been several times before and Riaan had worked down there as a dive instructor so he had the hook up on a rental. It was a two bedroom home and it had two cabins on the property. We stayed in the house with Misty and Riaan and Michelle and Mark stayed in the cabins.
After we got settled in we walked in to town and looked around and had dinner. Even the dive shops were warning people about the hurricane!
We had a great evening even though the weather was getting worse. After a long day of travel, we all turned in fairly early. Even though we went in October, it was still hot down there so we slept with the A/C on. I remember about 5:00 am hearing the A/C cut off. It woke me up and I realized that the power was out also. It looked like Hurricane Richard had arrived.
We got up and went upstairs to check things out. Misty and Riaan were also up at this point. Although it was still pitch black outside, the wind was howling and it was raining sideways! I don’t know what they are called, but the deck had heavy duty clear vinyl “curtains” that snapped on all the way around the deck to protect it from the elements. Knowing the hurricane was coming in, this was snapped on the evening before. Here is Jenny, our neighbor, checking on us before daylight.
Soon enough it was daylight and I was mesmerized by the ocean and the wind. The ocean looked angry and had some pretty big waves and the trees were swaying with leaves blowing off. Thankfully, this was only a Cat 1 hurricane, but a Cat 1 has winds between 74-95 mph! Definitely the highest wind I had ever experienced.
The house we were in was a two story duplex. Jenny, the owner, lived next door. Around 7:00 am, once it was light, she knocked on the door to see if we were doing ok and to let us know that she had sandwich stuff and cereal if we needed anything. Unbeknownst to her, we were quite adept at surviving. We fish, hunt and camp. We had already gotten the portable stoves from the cabins and were in the process of cooking bacon, eggs and potatoes for our breakfast. We weren’t going to let a little hurricane slow us down!
By Monday morning Hurricane Richard has passed. We ventured out to town which was a 5-7 minute walk to see what the destruction was. I was surprised by how little damage there actually was. There were a few trees own and lots of debris and leaves on the roads and beaches, but that was about it. The locals were already out cleaning. By Tuesday morning there was no sign that a hurricane had passed through there. The locals take pride in their community and it showed.
After a rocky start to the week, we ended up having a wonderful time there. It is my favorite place to visit. We have been back there and will go back again.