{"id":1274,"date":"2011-10-15T07:59:57","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T13:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2011-10-15T08:14:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T14:14:44","slug":"my-super-cheap-trip-to-roatan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=1274","title":{"rendered":"My Super Cheap Trip to Roatan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve already been following our blog, you&#8217;ll remember that I was just bragging about booking an open-jaw flight into Honduras that I booked for $25 and 35,000 Delta Skymiles.<\/p>\n<p>I went to link up with a friend and to do some scuba diving. \u00a0As is becoming customary, a nasty autumn snowstorm sent me skipping to the airport. \u00a0I&#8217;ll admit that it wasn&#8217;t the greatest flight arrangement, but it did enable me to watch the first half of the Boise State game on the in-seat TV en route to Atlanta. \u00a0At the risk of exposing my cheapness-insanity, I&#8217;ll confess that I slept in the ATL airport. \u00a0If I was with anyone else, I would have ponied up for a room, but it was already late and it just made sense. \u00a0Plus, I was comforted by the stories I read on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sleepinginairports.net\">www.sleepinginairports.net<\/a>. A<del> stolen<\/del> borrowed blankie from my first flight and my backpack for a pillow, along with an over-the-counter sleeping pill helped me pass the night in relative comfort.<\/p>\n<p>My flight into Tegucigalpa was among the most interesting I&#8217;ve ever been on. \u00a0TGU has a short runway that is in a &#8220;bowl&#8221; in the mountains, and it&#8217;s surrounded by residential areas. \u00a0From what I understand, only very experienced pilots can land there, and as we came in for landing, I understood why. \u00a0We basically corkscrewed in and were banking slightly right up until we hit the tarmac. \u00a0All the while, I could almost see into the surrounding housing&#8230; the wind from the jet seemed to help with the drying process of clothes out on the lines (as if the hot Honduras sun wasn&#8217;t enough). \u00a0I met up with my friend there and took a short domestic flight out to the island.<\/p>\n<p>The next day we started our $40 dives with a charismatic former Canadian firefighter for our divemaster. \u00a0He took us to a divesite called &#8220;Hole in the Wall,&#8221; where we essentially did some underwater rock-climbing. \u00a0In the warmest ocean water I&#8217;ve ever been in, we swam through underwater canyons and caverns in the reef&#8230; poking in on the variety of colorful marine life, and marveling at the sight of peering up through 110 feet of clear, blue water.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412.jpg\"><img data-attachment-id=\"1275\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?attachment_id=1275\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2592,1936\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 4&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1318188434&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;3.85&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;80&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0034965034965&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_2412\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412-300x224.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412-1024x764.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1275\" title=\"IMG_2412\" src=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/IMG_2412-1024x764.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>That afternoon we took a water taxi to check out West Bay, where they hold a weekly hermit crab race that has all the makings of a horse race, including the gambling, but with the added benefit of supporting local charities. \u00a0A beachside BBQ, an amazing sunset, and a UFC fight on satellite TV completed our night.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2.jpg\"><img data-attachment-id=\"1276\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?attachment_id=1276\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"500,325\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Lionfish 2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2-300x195.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1276\" title=\"Lionfish 2\" src=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Lionfish-2.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Two more dives the next day took us through more underwater scenery. \u00a0We found a sleeping sea-turtle, some monstrous lobsters, and colorful sponges galore. \u00a0On the second dive, we came across a few lionfish &#8211; a non-native species of fish with poisonous spines and no natural predators that they fear will overtake the Caribbean. \u00a0The policy is &#8220;shoot-on-sight,&#8221; and the were actually holding a lionfish derby that day, but our divemaster had his spear stolen the night before and we were weaponless.<\/p>\n<p>That night we partook in the fruits of the lionfish derby &#8211; a lionfish cook-off held by five local restaurants. \u00a0For 100 honduran lempiras ($5), we had an array of fish tacos, blackened fish, ceviche, fish cakes, and coconut-dipped fish balls. \u00a0I&#8217;m not much of a seafood fan, but every single item was beyond delicious. \u00a0After we&#8217;d filled up our bellies, we passed up the local dance scene to watch the Detroit Lions in a bar with some fellow fantasy footballers.<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned for the continuation of this post&#8230; I&#8217;ll tell you about diving with sharks and the Honduras vs. Jamaica soccer game.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, here&#8217;s how you can start to put together some FF miles by applying for credit cards.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/track.linkoffers.net\/a.aspx?foid=2695053&amp;fot=9999&amp;foc=2\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/content.linkoffers.net\/SharedImages\/Products\/73\/1201.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve already been following our blog, you&#8217;ll remember that I was just bragging about booking an open-jaw flight into Honduras that I booked for $25 and 35,000 Delta Skymiles. I went to link up with a friend and to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=1274\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[14,16],"tags":[335,331,332,184,333,334],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1DhXV-ky","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}