Port Royal, Roatan

Port Royal is a large bay on the eastern end of Roatan. In the 18th century it was a hangout for some notorious pirates including Henry Morgan. Nowadays it is a hangout for cruisers and fly-fishermen, most of which are not notorious.


Ashore here is Mango Creek Resort which is a world-renowned fly fishing resort offering some of the best in permit,tarpon and bone-fishing in this part of the world. The owners, Patrice and Terry are former cruisers and world circumnavigators. They are very hospitable and it is possible to eat ashore in the resort restaurant if they aren't full with their own guests. The food is delicious. They make a fish stew which can't be beat.

In the small-world category, Patrice and I discovered that her ex-husband and I were college fraternity brothers at Tulane 40-odd years ago. How's that? She didn't hold it against me.

While anchored here we hiked some 3 miles over the mountain to Camp Bay, a small settlement on the north side of the island.It is very laid-back here. We ate lunch at Sirena's Bar and Restarant which sits out over the azure blue water. Very nice.As you can see Mary made another friend here.

When we leave here we will begin to slowly retrace our steps back toward the west with our plan being to cross the bar back into the Rio Dulce late this month. We are flying back to Memphis in mid-May.

Calabash Bight, Roatan

The south coast of Roatan is studded with inlets that provide good protection from the prevailing trade winds. The north coast, by contrast, is fringed by reefs and is exposed to the easterly trades and the northerlies that accompany cold fronts during the winter. Therefore most large settlements are on the south coast. Some of these such as Coxen Hole and Old French Harbor are commercial and provide ports for the local shrimp fleet( the largest in the Caribbean) and cruise ships.




The others such as Calabash Bight are beautiful bays surrounded by hills and are the location of a mixture of homes for local fishermen and for ex-pat gringos as well.


We had just dropped anchor when two local fishermen brought some lobsters which we bought and put on the grill last night....hmmm good.

Even anchored out here we have access to the internet thanks to the entrepreneuership of former cruisers Mark amd Laurie who sell access to their satellite hook-up for a good price. They live in the house on the hill in the upper photo.

Well thats all for now. We will be moving on to Port Royal in a day or so.