Honduras

Andrew Baxter Cook (Dre)
Apr 19, 2022
8 min read

Updated: Nov 16, 2022

Of the 30 countries Babygirl has visited across the world, (as of the writing of this post 😂), her favorite is the small isle of Utila off the northeast coast of Honduras in the tropical Islas de la Bahía (Bay Islands). Almost every trip we’ve planned together, we’ve considered going back there so she can show me the island's simple allure.

She loves it that much...

Our 6 day/night trip would begin in San Pedro Sula where we’d spend a night before flying to the island of Roatán for 3 days. We then would take a private boat over to the small island of Utila for 2 more days before finally taking a ferry from Utila back to the Mainland, and a cab back to San Pedro Sula for our final night. We’d head back to the states early that next day. For details on our travel logistics, check out our Trips, Tricks & Hacks page.

San Pedro

Our trip began in, of all places, Houston.

...where our connecting flights converged.

Never to pass up an opportunity to utilize her Platinum AMEX lounge perk, Babygirl led us on a mini-adventure through the airport’s winding labyrinth of construction and underground tunnels to find the Centurion Lounge. 2 hour layovers can’t get much better than when you can enjoy them with free food, drinks, and High-Speed internet. 😎 (REEL) Our tranquil stay was all too brief, soon we heard our boarding call to hop on our 1800 mile flight.

3 hours later, we arrived in San Pedro about 7PM. The distance to clear customs and exit the small Aeropuerto Ramón Villeda Morales (SAP) could not have been more than a few hundred feet, hatch to curb.

We were a bit worried about safety and security based on the current US Travel Advisory (ok, I was 😅).

When I 1st read the warnings, ...

... we had a private cab set-up with a friend to take us into the city and show us around. For our brief time in San Pedro, just that night, we stayed at the lovely Hilton Princess. In the morning, we’d be back at the airport to venture on to Roatán.

Our 1st meal of the trip was at OKI POKI for dinner with our new friend who’s also a fashion designer!

(Check out her style! xactivewearhonduras / xactivewearmiami)

Something about eating an amazing meal when starving from traveling all day just hits different 🤤...

Roatán

The next morning following a quick photo shoot, we were back at the airport.

Taking a local flight was a completely different experience than passing through international customs the day before. Waaay less formal, more like a bus terminal than an airport. Babygirl still found the lounge tho! 😎 She never be slippin.

The best way to get to Roatán, 200 miles to the northeast, is by small propeller plane. (see our Trips, Tricks & Hacks).

The 40 minute flight...

As we approached the island, we took a few shaky circles around the runway before landing at the Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport. It felt like we were in an adventure movie.

Crime was significantly less on the island...

West Bay

Bananarama Dive & Beach Resort

We unloaded after pulling up to the resort check in, a diminutive building filled with rental towels.

A few minutes later we were on our way to the Thirsty Turtle, the tiki hut themed bar nestled next to the beach filled with activity. A few feet from the bar, up a flight of steps above the ice cream stand, was our cozy circular room, with a view of it all.

Ensuing a day relaxing at the Thirsty Turtle and laying in the sun. We cleaned up and headed out to the nightlife filled West End.

Getting north up the coast to West End, we decided to use one of our favorite transportation methods, water taxi!

Available for $5 per person, we were able to take the 10 minute ride with a few other tourists over to Happy Harry’s Hideaway. Harry’s was one of many pier bars built over the water, with a deck for the water taxi to land. You have the option to be dropped off at any one of the pier bars that wove up the coast. (water-taxi)

Pulling up to the dock...

Our first stop was Franks Beach bar. We watched the sunset and enjoyed craft cocktails. (check out our sunset time-lapse REEL)

As it was Tuesday night, most of the night clubs were not popping like on a weekend, so we only briefly inspected the Booty Bar, Afrobeats reverberated through the hollow dance hall.

We ended up back at Harry’s for dinner and drinks before heading back to West Bay.

The 12 minute cab ride back to the resort was surprisingly about as long as the boat ride over. The evening still felt young, by our standards, so we decided to walk the beach south past the neighboring resorts.

Our peaceful stroll in the night’s warm ocean breeze, felt pretty safe with the armed security patrolling. 😅

We stopped at Cuyaco Beach Bar for the tail end of a live band set covering 80’s rock classics...

Sloth Dreams Do Come True

The next day would be one of the most special of our relationship.

Babygirl planned the day perfectly. We took a 40 minute cab ride up to Daniel Johnson's Monkey and Sloth Hang Out, which was also next to our 2nd stop of the day, Little French Keys. We packed our bathing suits, cameras, and bootleg sunscreen I got from the Farmacia.

Oh yeah, we forgot to bring sunscreen...

(Animals REEL)

And this is when we encountered a sloth. 🦥(REEL)🦥

Recovering our senses from the emotional rollercoaster that we just experienced, we took a 3 minute cab ride over to the ferry dock to Little French Key.

About 1000 feet off the coast where our sloth encounter occurred, was the small private island of Little French Key.

With its hundreds of hidden nooks, sea swings, sapphire blue coves, tropical drink serving bars,…rope swings, and Instagram-able backdrops filled with aspiring Instagram models,..phew. Little French Key is as beautiful as it is relaxing.

We shot several photo shoots (photo-shoot) and a (REEL)

Baby then got her hair did...

Shout out to our awesome cab driver!

Following showers and a nap, we went back to Cuyaco Beach Bar for a delicious dinner of orange chicken and pasta.

Birthday Boat Tour

Today I turned 45.

Before we get to the “tour boat”, let me talk about what was almost lost in that boat, my newest gadget, lil DRONE, Babygirl’s absolutely perfect gift for my birthday. THANKS BABY!!!! I will love it like a child.

No, I will.

Back to our “tour boat”...

Something was wrong.

When the 20 foot “water taxi” that we were told was an “ocean tour boat”, and paid $600 for, piloted by some 20 year old captain, and his even younger 1st mate pulled up to the dock, I knew something definitely was wrong.

I don’t know how big a boat should be to travel from that small dock off the beach in front of our resort across the 25 mile ocean gap from Roatán to Utila, but this wasn’t big enough.

I actually just googled the distance of that ride. We were 25 miles from Utila. And even further from the Honduran coast some 30 miles away. In that moment, we thought that hour-long ride was like 5 miles. 😂. Forget losing our belongings, we would have died.

At least we took some nice photos in the beginning …

and this video

Then shit got real 😂

Also, about that $600 and how we were hustled by the government as well. We paid for the trip with a credit card and could have saved $100’s on sales tax if we had used cash. See our (Trips, Tricks & Hacks)

Utila

Finally, after two commercial airliners, an evening in the capital city of San Pedro, a propeller plane, and our mini whoopty boat ride (teetering on the brink of oblivion) we arrived at the lazy secluded cove of Utila.

As our small craft rounded the protective sea wall...

...we headed to the dock, exhausted from the day's adventures. It was barely 11am. As we pulled up and unloaded I remembered an important fact.

There are no cars.

The only motorized way to get around the extremely tight streets was dirtbike, moped, auto rickshaw (very common in India) or ATV. Luckily, Babygirl had this covered as well. Our rental for the duration of the stay was $70 a day and a star of one of our many non-viral 😅 (REEL)s

Pretty cool with the drone, huh?

We decided to have lunch at one of the best places on the island, Captain Willis. The pasta alfredo and Tacos were amazing.

We checked into the Hotel Trudy (info), next to UnderWater Vision Dive center. The main building had the hotel checkin and dive HQ on the second story, with a lively open air beach bar we’d come to enjoy each night on the ground level. That level opened up into a courtyard, filled with palm trees, a volleyball court, and a dock where we witnessed incredible sunsets.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to take the ATV and explore.

1st, we stopped at Bando Beach ...

Then stopped at The Beach House Lounge Utila for a drink and watch the sun-set.

That evening we took showers, and we headed out on foot for dinner. If you’re looking for a nice drink that’s not watered down and don’t mind paying US prices for a meal, Mango Tango is for you.

Local, but filled with foreign nationals ...

For $80, it ended up being the most expensive meal of our trip, filled with mostly reasonable cost experiences. (REEL)

Following dinner we wanted to have some fun. Besides, it was my birthday, a national drinking holiday! 🍀 We started at Tranquila Bar, a dive bar on a dock where the forthright bartender told us, “honestly the only decent alcohol here is the fireball” So we had two of those. 🥃😂🥃😂

I wore my fancy new Hugo Boss Polo

Next stop was La Cueva.

This was the SPOT.

Dre Drone Day

In the morning, we had homemade french baked goods with bacon and eggs. (I seriously can’t remember anything from entering that club until breakfast 😅)

Camilla's Bakery was filled with fresh, homemade donuts, breads and croissants, complete with Camilla in the back rolling dough. My egg sandwich was magically rejuvenating.

The time had now come...

We packed our beach gear up for the day, hopped onto the ATV and headed back to Bando Beach.

To use the beach, one must pay $8 adult, $4 children in the local currency and then be waited on the rest of the day with food and tropical drinks. It's a great deal.

Drone Videos

Iron Shore Beach (North Shore)

By the Reef Bar

Main Street Bridge (with Babygirl)

Divers

Docks

After a perfect beach day, we got back to Hotel Trudy just before sunset. All the divers and tourist inhabitants seemed to be out in the courtyard, like it was some sort of ceremonial evening ritual to congregate on the edge of the Utila Bay and watch the sun slowly sink to the rainbow fire horizon.

For dinner, we walked a short distance up the street to have an authentic local meal. Babygirl knew exactly the spot, La Casita. For a few dollars each, we had some of the best food of the trip.

Dining was situated around a small 10’ x 10’ kitchen filled with 4 people whirling past each other. One took orders, 2 cooked, and one served in perfectly synchronized activity.

The magic of the motion was clearly centered around the oldest among them, the main cook, an elderly woman, perhaps their grandmother. She owned the real estate in front of the black greasy stove. Everyone else moved around her.

It's amazing how good local food can be, and for a fraction of the cost of western cuisine.

When we returned from dinner ...

It was time for some clubbing.

It being Friday night, the locals were out in full force. We chanted Spanish hip hop in sweaty crowds of young islanders. We started at Tranquila Bar, and then to Vinyl Utila next door. The final spot, as always, was La Cueva, which tonight was visited by the police brandishing machine guns, but they just stopped by to smile at the crowd and move on.

The night ended with a peaceful ride back to Trudy’s for our final night on the island.

One Last Adventure

Checkout the next day was 2 PM, which was amazing timing coinciding with our 3PM ferry ride back to the Mainland. We spent our last day on the island making drone videos and networking with local developers to plan a dream home.

The Utila Dream Ferry from Utila back to La Ceiba was nuts. The 100 foot, 100 tonne, catamaran style, multi level ferry was not a little boat. I was having flashbacks to our trip over in “Lil Ocean Ferry” and was so happy to board this 240 passenger, solid steel craft capable of slicing through the surf at 28 knotts.

The sun was out and the day was a humid 85°F.

(Before/After)

Mentally exhausted, we arrived in La Ceiba and took a 3 hour cab ride to San Pedro.

We only had daylight for the 1st hour...

Our final night in Honduras was at the Isabella Boutique Hotel. We arrived late, 8:30PM, and barely had any time to enjoy the hotel's luxury amenities and pool. We did have time to enjoy the room service and ordered enough food for 4 people.

Where’s Junior??

On our way home, we were able to make the most out of our brief layover in Houston, a certified location to complete my Global Entry Interview. $100 for 5 years will save you countless hours taking the fast lane through TSA security for domestic and international flights. Completing my interview in about 20 minutes left 15 minutes for us to make our connection.