It's the Rainy Season?

I almost cancelled this trip.  The morning before we were leaving, I woke with stomach churning gasping panic.  What the hell had I done? 

Reading Trip Advisor, the experts kept advising travelers not to visit Roatan before February because October through January was the RAINY season.  From the negativity, I envisioned endless days of pouring rain with mudslides, flooding, bays clouded by mud  runoff -- in other words, being stuck up here on this hill in the middle of a torrential debacle.

Well, I hope I'm not jinxing our trip by whispering this, but no rain so far.  Not a drop.

My partner in crime is thrilled with my selection of destination and lodging.  The man who hated to go to the beach now loves it!

Today we plunked down at a beach restaurant that comped our chairs in exchange for food and drink.  The waiters also keep a close watch on bags and personal items, so Craig walked to the far west end of the beach to snorkel while I floated and swam out front.

I'd also read a lot of gloom and doom about how crowded West Bay beach is on cruise ship days.  We saw the cruise ship pass early this morning from our balcony.  Notice the crowd in front of my lounger? 

I was all by my lonesome for quite awhile in the buoyed swimming area of the beach.

Maybe cruisers go more for activities like this?  (But I don't see anyone on the glass-bottomed boat?)

Wonder if this man in the yellow hat has ever read the book "Curious George?"  I think he and his monkey were hoping for big crowds of cruisers. 

Love this beach art!  Notice no one's shopping?

 

 

And here's an empty water taxi waiting for a fare.

 

Paulo, our beach waiter, did warn us that tomorrow could be quite crowded because there will be three ships in port.   I'll keep you posted when the hoards descend, but for the moment, we're in heaven!

On a funny note, we went shopping at a small grocery yesterday in West End.  I selected a little over $10 worth of items and went to the check stand.  The clerk rang my order and I gave her a $20 U.S. bill.  (U.S. is widely accepted on Roatan and the change is in lempiras.  A lot of the pricing in tourist areas is in U.S. dollars.)  Anyway, the clerk looked at my $20 bill and told me she could not make change for a bill that large.  If I did not have anything smaller, I could not buy groceries there.  I walked out empty handed. 

I told the story to the owners of the house where we're staying and their property manager tonight.  They all howled.  There's a rumor going round the island that all U.S. $20 bills are counterfeit and store owners won't be able to get rid of them.  The joke is I brought ALL $20 bills because that's what was recommended on Trip Advisor. 

Thank God we've found plenty of restaurants to pawn those counterfeit $20's off on.  LOL

No worries man.  Life is good.