I’m so excited to share some of my favorite photos from Roatan, Honduras with you! I also want to share a bit more of my thought process around why I choose the locations I do, and how I plan my trips there. Obviously as I mentioned in my trip announcement post, I chose Roatan because I was invited to the wedding of my friends Shawn and Danyeal. But I’ve also wanted to visit this island for a very long time. I’m thrilled to finally have a reason to do so. My friend Emma came along as my plus 1.

We spent a total of 7 days in the town of West End, relaxing on the beach, SCUBA diving, boating and celebrating the wedding of our friends. The location of the wedding was Sunset House, about half way between West End and West Bay. After researching both towns and comparing the price of lodging, I settled on West End. From what I read, it seemed to have a more laid-back vibe, while West Bay looked to be a bit more upscale. I am happy with that decision. West End is a charming and colorful little town filled with restaurants and dive shops.

Most of our time on the island was spent SCUBA diving. I’ve been open water certified for about 10 years and advanced certified for 5. Any time I travel to a country on the water, I always make a point of trying to get at least one day of diving in. On a previous trip to Belize, several people we dove with raved about the diving in Roatan. Because I love diving, I knew someday I’d have to check it out. Thanks to Shawn and Danyeal, I finally have that chance!

Originally, I figured we would do somewhere between 6 and 8 dives. I wasn’t sure exactly how much time we would have, how many dives Emma would want to do, and how much money we would want to spend. I also didn’t want to commit us to a shop before we checked it out in person, so we waited until we arrived to choose. After talking to a few different shops, we decided on our hotel, Splash Inn Dive Resort. It’s close (ha), the dive masters seemed like good guys, and the prices were reasonable.

We end up doing a total of 10 dives, partly because there’s no such thing as too much diving, and partly because Emma decides to get her advanced open water certification. Worth it!

I’m not going to lie, editing underwater photos is hard. It may take awhile to get to these full posts, but I’m furiously working on them!

Of course, the whole reason we’re here is for the wedding of Shawn and Danyeal! In 2015, they got engaged on this very beach. A year later, they’re back to get married!

On our last day in Roatan, my friend (and fellow wedding guest) Dave organized a boat tour of the entire island. At $165 per person, it’s a bit more than I wanted to spend. But it includes a full day on the boat with snorkel stops, snacks, all the water and alcohol you can drink and a lunch stop on a deserted island. About 30 people from the wedding were going and it would be a shame to miss out.

All in all, Roatan ended up being a very easy to plan, if more expensive than expected destination. It helped that diving kind of plans itself, and everything else revolved around the wedding. If diving isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other activities you can do – golf, swimming with dolphins and a baby sloth encounter, to name a few.. I didn’t have a chance to do any of these things, but my friends who did enjoyed them very much.

Roatan, you definitely lived up to my expectations.