"I am ready to get...off this island"

Departure, Roatan airport

Collin woke up today and said, “I am ready to get…off this island.” He read my mind. Roatan is a weird place. Like Groundhog Day. And everything is distorted. The locals are comprised of expats from the US, Canada, and Europe, plus local Honduran women who are all looking for a dollar. Then you have the tourists. That’s it. A weird artificial culture. Mind you, me and Collin got submerged into the deep underbelly of the local/expat scene very quickly; not something most tourists will see. We are over Roatan.

Today (Wednesday Jan 12) we flew to La Ceiba to pick up fuel (Roatan has no Avgas). We ran into a local commercial pilot who helped us out. We asked about plates, and he’s like, “We only fly VFR, man. The plates are really really old and not updated. I wouldn’t use IFR approaches unless they’re into big airports.” Interesting. We had to pay $28 for flight service fee (flying from Cozumel) and $54 for airport and ramp fees for 4 days. Added to that a $14 customs fee and our total fees at Roatan came out to $96. A VFR flight to La Ceiba was without incident (only 40 nm). The ground crew is great at La Ceiba! Much better than Roatan. But it might also be because Collin started greasing everyone’s palms with $5 in La Ceiba. But beware, everyone is trying to rip you off. For example, the guy at the ramp walked us out to the taxi and said it should be $8; but the cab driver wanted to charge us $11. Not a big deal, but it’s the principle! The ramp guy set him straight. We paid him $10 as we went further to find a hotel. Also, they fuel guys claim they put 26 gallons into the mooney. No way did I burn that much fuel with a 2.2 hour flight from Cozumel and a 15 minute flight to La Ceiba. I would have expected 20-22 gallons. So I question their meter in La Ceiba.

Bottom line: Flight services is much better in La Ceiba. There is no fuel in Roatan.  Outbound fees $82. inbound fees, none; domestic flight.

La Ceiba airport

We are staying at The Rotterdam, a backpacker hotel on the beach, for $14, and tomorrow, we hope to go to Managua, Nicaragua. We are still waiting for flight permission to Nicaragua. My sister Sue is helping us with this, serving as intermediate, since her Spanish is better than mine. She’s been a big help.

 UPDATE: WE just got our clearance into Manaugua! Nicaragaua tomorrow, weather permitting. Speaking about weather I hear NY is expecting 10-15 inches of snow today? Not all is perfect here. I got bit by a sandfly or two and Collin got sunburned...hahaha...