Sherry and I went diving in Honduras for the last week of September and the first week of October. We decided to go pretty far off of the beaten path this time, opting for Guanaja, Honduras rather than our usual Bonaire.
All photos are in this album
The three Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras are, left to right, Utilla, Roatan and Guanaja.
The End of the World is on Guanaja.
Getting to Guanaja required flights from DC to Atlanta, Atlanta to Roatan, Roatan to La Cieba and then finally La Cieba to Guanaja. Delta got us to Roatan and Lanhsa airlines took care of the last two flights. The Lanhsa airplanes are little puddle jumpers jammed with people and packages.
There aren't any roads or cars on Guanaja. Google Maps can't find a route from the airport to the resort.
Getting picked up at the airport by the son of the owner. This is our taxi and our dive boat.
Here are a few Facebook posts that we submitted while we were there:
Mike's review of the resort posted on Tripadvisor
Most of the reviews of the resort seem to be from people who have not actually stayed here. We stayed at the End of the World for two weeks in September/October 2019. Here is our review of the time that we spent here. For reference, we are scuba divers and we have been to Bonaire 7 times, and have been to Roatan as well as a number of other locations and we have traveled extensively throughout the Carribean.
The Diving:
The scuba diving was simply fantastic. We saw one other dive boat once in the two weeks we were there, so we had the whole reef to ourselves. We mostly dove sites along the reef out in front of the resort. The reef is pretty amazing, and there are nice dive sites at 30 feet and sites at whatever depth you want to go to. The Pinnacle is close-by, and it makes for a nice dive that starts close to 100 feet and slowly winds its way up to the shallower reefs. There are well constructed buoys on all of the sites, so getting tied off is quick.
The staff carries your gear to the boat in the morning. After breakfast, we would walk the 100 feet to the dock and get in the boat with our gear already assembled. 10 minutes later, we would be tied off and ready to dive. The water was amazingly warm, and we dove in t-shirts and shorts or a thin skin. Because nobody is there, the reef is in astounding condition. Roatan gets cruise ships and huge numbers of snorkelers and divers, so the reef is more abused. We dove with nurse sharks on at least half of our dives, and the explosion of fish was always spectacular. This is the easiest diving that we have ever done. No current, calm water and a staff that carries the gear make for stress-free diving. We would generally just throw our tank and BC off of the boat into the water and gear up in the water. The owner of the resort, Bryan, doubles as the dive guide. The boat is small, and would fit four divers and the guide comfortably. Mostly, it was just the three of us on these dives. We only wanted to do two dives per day, but I think that you can do more if you want to. Work it out with Bryan.
During the two weeks we were there, we took one expedition to the other side of the island to dive near South West Cay (there is a wreck there) and we took a longer expedition out to Isla Barbareta. The Barbareta dives started pretty far off shore, so there was certainly an element of adventure diving into the open ocean. In the end, though, the diving off of the resort reef was consistently excellent and we didn’t see a need to have the guide go to such far-flung locations.
There is a scuba shack which houses the compressor and the dive gear. All tanks are filled on-site. The compressor is hellishly loud, but they run it while you are out diving. There were a few occasions where it still had to run for a few minutes when we came back, but it was otherwise invisible to guests. We brought our own gear, but it was nice to know that additional equipment was available in case ours had a problem.
There is also a nice snorkel spot with a quiet little beach within a 10 minute walk from the resort. Look for “Michael Rock Beach” on Google Maps.
The Location:
Guanaja is a small island and the resort is not near any of the small villages. It is off of the grid, so just realize this when you go there. The electrical power is reasonably reliable and a German engineer was there tweaking the solar grid, so it is probably even better now. There is Internet, but you won’t be streaming Netflix while you are there. The bandwidth is fine for email and general browsing. The resort is right on the ocean, and it is very quiet. Other than the occasional local walking past, or a few people tying up at the dock to sell fish or have a beer, you won’t see a lot of others.
Getting to Guanaja is definitely a day-long process. We flew from Atlanta to Roatan and then took the puddle jumpers from Roatan to Guanaja via La Ceiba. The airport in Guanaja is tiny and, because there are no roads in Guanaja, we were picked up by boat at the airport and shuttled to the resort. It is only about a 15 minute scenic boat ride.
There is only one short road in Guanaja, so boats, feet and dirt bikes are the way around. The staff boats into either Low Cay ( Bonacca) or Mangrove Bight a few times a week for supplies, so you can catch a ride with them if you want to walk around town. You can walk 40 minutes down the beach back to the resort from Mangrove Bight, but you will need to boat back with the staff from Low Cay.
The Accommodations:
This is a small resort. There are two guest houses up the hill, each with two separate rooms so, completely booked, four couples could be there. The owner and staff have houses down at beach-level. The scuba shack and restaurant/kitchen/bar are also at beach level.
The rooms at the resort are spare, bordering on monastic. There are 95 steps from the beach up to the rooms so, if you have heart or joint problems, this is probably not the place for you to stay. There is running water in the rooms but no hot water, so be ready for cool showers. I say cool, not cold, because you are in the tropics. Nothing is ever that cold. Because the rooms are up off of the beach, there aren’t many biting insects up there and the rooms catch a nice breeze. The rooms have no air conditioning, but they have fans. This was generally not a problem because it cools off nicely at night. There are good quality screens on the windows, so flying things don’t come in to bother you. The staff brought fresh towels and sheets and straightened up the room while we were out diving.
We did not wear shoes or sandals unless we were about to go into town. We lived in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The staff will do your laundry for a small fee, so don’t bring too much stuff. If you need air conditioning, fewer steps or a reason to wear that party dress, just pay twice as much and stay at Dunbar Rock and go out in their big dive boats with a gaggle of other divers.
The Food:
Just a reminder that you are at a small, modestly priced resort on a remote island - don’t expect big cruise ship buffet food. With that caveat - the food was consistently good and very fresh. The fruit smoothies are from fruit picked locally, the fish was caught this morning, the shrimp is not frozen, and so on. Marley, the cook, is really friendly and accomodating. If you have something in particular you want, and she can get the ingredients, she will make it for you. If you want more (or less), just let her know. Her seafood stew (soup?) was stunning. What you won’t be able to get is your favorite marmalade, your favorite cut of beef or any other bespoke foodstuffs. One look at the local stores and you will see why. If you have something special that you can’t live without, bring it with you.
One building houses the Tiki Bar, the dining room and the kitchen. The bar was generally very quiet. The occasional small group of locals would be there, but it was mostly just the guests. The beer ($2) and drinks ($5) are reasonably priced. They try hard to keep well stocked and, if you are staying a while, they will specifically purchase the mixers and alcohols that you like.
Summary:
If you want luxury accommodations, dancing to live music and a buffet, go elsewhere. If you want a somewhat off-the-grid experience with fresh local food, really good diving, and a quiet beach - this is your spot. It is pretty astonishing that a place with electrical power, Internet, a dive compressor and a bar even exists in this location. Bring a book.
