westbaylodge

Hello and Happy Mother’s day to all Mothers & Grandmothers. This morning when I came out to work breakfast I received a big bouquet of flowers from our employees (all picked from our yard) and a very nice card signed by everyone. What a great way to start my Mother’s day. Now I’m still waiting for Jacob to remember. I am going to go to the beach this afternoon to hear Carleen & Dave play at The Palapa at Infinity Bay. I will buy my Mother a monkey-La-La (her favorite drink from Roatan) and drink it for her while I sit in the warm sand. Happy Mother’s Day MOM! When you get here next month I will buy you another one. Maybe Milos will buy you one also today.

Some great news for us here. We have our new large propane generator hooked up and runs fantastic. The one we had bought less than 1 year ago was having a hard time keeping up with the pool pumps and the last bungalow. It runs pretty quiet and burns clean, so no more diesel smell. With an automatic on/off switch the power outages mean we are running at full power within 8 seconds. YEAH!! The old one Milos always had to go flip on/off. We have been very lucky in West Bay with very minimal outages. I heard that West End has been hammered daily. The news for RECO is that the 2nd main generator is now fixed and they are putting it on line little by little today. Then next week they will fix #3 (hopefully) and within 6 months we were told that the island will have stable power again for everyone.

The triathlon was really fun to watch. We went to the beach at 6am to watch them get ready. There were a lot of people there even when we got there. The swim was first, some of the athletes are going to be in the next Olympics and were amazing. The first ones back were only out swimming for 17 minutes. The winners of the whole thing were both from Chile.

If you are looking for a wonderful way to stay in tuned with current local daily news and updates you can now go to Roatan Bruce’s web sight and get info, pod casts of the shows and interviews, even the current cruise ship schedule and RECO reports. The sight is www.roatanbruce.com . Thank you Bruce, this is really big for an island that only has printed news one time per month.

Now for some help that anyone coming to the island can give. The AIDS baby project here and the local orphanage are in real need of formula. These are all run by donations. I would like to ask anyone coming down to the island, whether staying here or not, if you have any room for a can that would be great. Just bring it to our front office and I will deliver it. They have asked for Similac advanced powder. They can’t accept the liquid type. For the week you are here enjoying your vacation you could be saving a babies life. When I heard the numbers I was shocked. If these babies to AIDS mothers can go to formula and not breast feed their risk for contracting the disease goes from 78% to 9%. (I didn’t verify the #’s). With us helping and Miss Valerie trying to educate the mothers as to why this is important we can really make a big difference for the island.
This morning at breakfast I had 7 large cans set on the counter by our guests that all came in yesterday. I thought I was going to cry when I saw that. Thank you soo much!!

OK, now time to go to the beach, it is really getting hot here 90+.
Celeste

Happy Tuesday. The sun is very hot and sunny today. You can tell it is going to be a warm day when it is already 84’ before 8AM.
This Thursday is a holiday here, laborers day, and most everything is closed including schools. There is going to be a big May day festival at Las Palmas starting at 10am that should be good fun. They will even have a large may pole with the ribbons for the kids to dance and weave them around. I am going to try to take a carload of the kids from here with me, so if anyone needs a ride just let me know.
This weekend is the big triathlon here on the island. It is mostly centered in West bay and Sandy bay. The roads will be shut down starting around 6am from Sandy bay west. First is the swim in West bay, then the bike ride from here to Sandy Bay and back, then the run which starts right in front of us up and over the hill through Turtle crossing. After it is finished is a big party on the beach with a band at night.
Other than that is getting really quiet around here. The cruise ships are just about finished. We are having 1 on Fridays and 1 every other Wednesday.
Last Thursday I was up early and getting breakfast ready, making my lists for the day when my friend Tricia call and asked if I could take the day off. I said NO like I always say. She told me that we had been invited out on a new yacht and would go over to Cayos Cochinos for the day. I asked Milos and he thought it would be great fun for me. I have never just taken a day off from working here unless it was when we went to the mainland for supplies or residency. It took me all of 10 minutes to pack and get to the dock before anyone changed their minds or something happened here. It takes about 45 minutes to get over there. There are 2 main islands and 13 small cays. It is so beautiful. Many of the island are uninhabited. 1 is the Garifuna village, 1 a resort, 1 a few homes. The one our friend Vern owns is deserted. Pulling up to it was like looking at a postcard of a small island all white sand with a few palm trees. We had a very good time snorkeling/swimming and having a picnic. I think I napped 3 different times. The ride back took much longer and was quite wavy. The wind picked up and we were against it and the waves. If anyone wants to set up a tour for the day give me a little notice and I will contact some of the captains that go out.
I heard that 1 of the islands is for sale. A couple of acres; 4 homes and dock for 2 Million $$.
Well, that’s about it for now,
Celeste

Hello,

Well everyone is checked in and out for the day and I have time to sit down and write. We have had a great week here this past week. With the Thursday direct flight from Houston we are getting more people staying 9 days and some staying 2 weeks. All of the guests we had this past week were very similar and all hung out together. Our friends John & Sherri were here and John brought his guitar again. He played every night on the new patio by the pool with everyone listening and enjoying. This area is now the hub of activity here. Last night was most fun. Everyone was in the pool at sunset and I brought the new margarita machine down and plugged in. We called Milos on his way home to stop and buy rum & tequila. Steve was the bartender and every pitcher was a different mix of rum, tequila, mango, watermelon, banana & pineapple. We ran out of ice and everyone went to their fridges and brought theirs. All this while John was playing. We will have to do this again. The pool also is a huge hit. Yesterday the beach was crazy in the morning with the cruise ship in for the morning and when I looked at the pool everyone was just floating and reading in the pool enjoying the quiet. We have several types of floats that I bought for the pool that are great to just lay on. We do have 1 new rule for the pool; no naked beer bottles, they must be in a koozie. I sell them in the gift shop so problem solved. No broken glass around here as I'm barefooted 95% of the time. This looks to be another great week. The new people are here and have all ready had their rum punches. I'm told every week that I make the best on the island. I was sent a picture from a guest, Dennis, of what the area where the new patio is used to look like. I may have walked through here 2 time before since we lived here. I tried to take it from the same angle.
You can now come on Mondays and we will pick you up. Yes the new law is over. It lasted 1 day. On Monday when everyone was getting stopped and didn't know what law they were talking about and said to forget it; the government said OK I guess it is really a stupid law and it went away. I'm glad Vazeillie stood in the long line Saturday to get our Monday sticker that says I promise not to drive on Monday's, and then the law goes away on Tuesday. This sounds like 2 years ago when Honduras tried to go on Daylight savings time. No one knew for sure what time it was so everyone was either late of early. After 3 weeks of this the president said "never mind, that didn't work".
Here is another one that I didn't get. Thursday was national protest day. They closed the street for 1 hour in Coxen Hole and anyone who had something to protest could just walk through town and protest. I guess that there were many different topics people chose. School teachers, wages, people who have RECO, No driving on certain days, the police, day cares, land rights etc. I don't get how this helps solve anything. I guess it just gives some people the feeling that they did something to help?
We went to one of my favorite restaraunts in West End on Wednesday night Le Bistro. They have moved in to their new place next to Pura Vida upstairs where Rick's used to be. Same great Vietnamese food and prices. I had my same thing chow mein with ginger beef sauce.
Here is one more that you just have to smile about and say "oh well, that just life on a tropical island". I spent almost 2 hours in line at the bank 1 1/2 weeks ago to pay for some things from the mainland that we ordered. While I was there I asked about our phone bill (that's where you pay it) and I was told there are not bills out yet so don't worry about it. On Monday they shut off our office phone. Vazeillie called and translated to me that we didn't pay our bill on time and they shut us off. I had her tell them that we never received a bill and I had even asked at the bank. They told her that they were too busy to hand deliver them but they were still due. Milos went and paid them and they turned us back on. Yesterday they must have had extra time because they finally brought us our bill.
Well it has been around 94' since 10am and I'm going to get in our new pool.

Celeste

Well, it is mostly finished and full of water. We just have to drain it in a couple of weeks, let it dry and paint the bottom. When we started digging it turned out that there were hugh boulders right under the ground. We tried many things to get rid of them including jack hammering them, beating on them with sledge hammers, digging them out (a couple were 3ft x 3ft+), finally Vazeillie’s husband suggested that we build a fire around them and get them really hot then pour cold water on them. It worked!! They dried out and then split into little pieces. The pool turned out more beautiful than we could have hoped for. A few rocks that we couldn’t move/dig we just made them part of the pool like a built in table and seating area. They have poured 2 levels of the patio and are working on a 3rd lower one today. It is terra cotta colored and stamped to look like cobblestone. We have 2 new table and chair sets with umbrellas. This area went from being never used to now the favorite place. Next we will build a wooden deck around the back section with bathrooms under that.
Semana Santa is the week just before Easter. This year every hotel was full and we had been booked from before the first of the year. It had been beautiful weather for weeks prior and we were told around 40k+ people would be coming to the island. Saturday many people came for the week but the real crowds come Wednesday eve and Thursday AM. A big storm came in on Wed eve and we were told the ferry was very rough with most people getting sick. They cancelled the ferries for Thursday and Friday and small planes couldn’t land. Our guests were all already here so no problems. Most people never made it here. The water and waves were very high and it only got up to 72’ (yes, in Roatan 72’ is freezing). I went to the beach finally on Friday afternoon with my raincoat; rain boots 2 shirts and jeans. The rain was coming in sideways and it felt like I was back at the Oregon coast. By Sunday the storm was gone and the beach looked like normal. I thought this was great since there wasn’t garbage left everywhere and last year even the water was dirty.
Bananarama has opened up a new restaurant in the Island Pearl section of their resort. It is the Vintage Pearl and we ate there a couple of weeks ago. It is very good. They have 3 different entries each night. Jacob and I had the fillet minion w/béarnaise sauce and it was perfect. Milos had the mahi with a mango sauce. Their prices are $25 per dinner, which includes soup/salad dinner and dessert. The soup/salad and desserts aren’t your normal types, they are very creative and wonderful. They also have a great wine selection and wines you can’t find anywhere else on the island. I even saw a wine for more than $300.
If you are staying on West Bay beach or West End you should really go, as it is the most upscale place here. Yea Lewis & Jamie for this great addition.
News on our power co RECO. There is now a new owner Kelsey Warren from Texas. The process of him buying the company was crazy. The people voted 3 different times to sell it to him. The president liked the bid from the Dominican republic and sold it to them and they gave him a kick back of $250K I was told. They have made a mess of their power and no one wanted them here. We all had another vote to over turn the president and the vote was 22,800 to 7. He finally listened to us. During this process the power got very bad as only 1 generator was trying to power the island instead of 9. One day our generator ran 19 hours in a day. With all the private generators running in West Bay it became very noisy for a couple of days. Henry Morgan resort has now offered to keep West Bay powered with their big generator until the 2 new ones are installed maybe this week or next. Out here things seem like normal. Then in a few months we will have 2 even bigger ones installed and no more power problems. This new owner wants to also start using wind and other energy ideas.
Milos’s sister Dita, her husband Nick and their 3 kids just left from spending a week here. We really had a good time with them and Jacob got to see his cousins again. They also brought us many things that we were needing from the states. This is the best way for us to get things down here. We have had many people bring things for us and it is really nice. Last week was a real treat we had a great couple from Seattle and they brought us a whole NW salmon. We had 2 big salmon dinners and made sushi twice. I didn’t know how much I had missed it. We used to eat salmon 3 times a week. Funny the things you miss huh? Saturday we had a family who brought all new science books for Jacob’s school. Thanks everyone who has gone out and brought us things we needed. We don’t usually know what we need until we run out and then find out you can’t get it on the island.
Now for the one thing that has everyone walking around and saying “are you kidding me, is this for real??”. The president of Honduras has passed a law saying that everyone who has a car has to pick a day from Mon-Sat and promise not to drive. Sundays are freebies. Some people found out Tuesday evening and word got out to more on Wed. We had from Thursday-Sunday to go out by French Harbor and register your car and get a sticker for your windshield that says what day you choose. You also had to take a Honduran person to sign for you. It took a few hours in line to do this on Saturday for Vazeillie and I, this being the busiest day of the week for us wasn’t easy. More than ½ the English-speaking people don’t even know about it yet and it went into effect this morning @6am. I thought it was a joke when I first heard but then figured no worries it can’t include hotels and business but it does. The only exception is public transportation and some tourist vans. It was supposed to include taxis but it didn’t get written in. Oh yea, also 2 door pickups are exempt for some reason. This is supposed to save fuel. We don’t have a shortage though. When I went in to ask what I could do because we have guests that fly in different days or take the ferry, also our employees have to get to work 7 days a week, and since we also have school kids to take daily, the guy says with a straight face then you will just have to buy a 2nd car! I asked him if he believes that saves more fuel but he didn’t answer. My friend Kelly called this morning and reported that they were stopping everyone in front of the airport to check your sticker, she said maybe 50+ people in line each way. We assume that they will realize that this stupid law will not work on a tourist island and it will go away soon. Of yea, the fine is lp650 or they can take your car keys away.
I am sitting in the garden today writing a very long journal entry because it is Monday and we can’t drive on Mondays. I guess I will go enjoy our new pool.
Try for now not to fly in/out on a Monday huh?
Have a great day!
Celeste

Well, we are now the first and only fruit and veggie stand in West Bay! West End only has the little trucks that come by and park when they feel like it. We used to have a truck that came to our driveway on Tuesday/Friday afternoons. He was becoming very unreliable and I was spending a lot of time each week trying to make sure that we always had fresh fruit for breakfast and the veggies we need. Vazeillie (our office manager) found a lady in San Pedro Sula that will go and pick out all of the nicest fruit/veggies and ship them to us 2 times a week for a good price. We just go early in the morning on Tuesday/Friday and pick them up. This is better than the fruit truck selling here. Milos bought a hand made Cayuco, which is like a wooden canoe and we use that to display everything. It really looks like an old fashion stand on the side of our office. We have papaya, pineapple, watermelon, melon, tomato, peppers, potatoes, onions, banana, apples, oranges etc. We are getting a lot of locals from West Bay and many condo renters coming by and telling us how happy they are and thanking us for having really good quality fresh produce to buy out here. Just for my convenience and for our guests with kitchens it makes sense. Murry from Capt Van’s has ordered a fresh fruit bowl for lunch every day. Maybe I should make them and deliver lunches that are healthy to workers at the mall.

The dry season is finally here. January was pretty dry here for the last ½ of the month. Now there aren’t many clouds in the sky during the day and around 90’, then maybe just a rain shower at night. The sky has been the most beautiful color of blue and the ocean water is warming up.

We are still full here until about March 28, then a few openings and already April and May are filling up. We are having the nicest guests here and most are staying 1-2 weeks and 1 couple just retired and stayed 1 month. It is so good to really get to know our guests and most feel like part of our family when they leave.

The pool has finally been started. The municipal wouldn’t let us start digging until the rainy season was over. Last week we started digging and laying out the design. It is going to be beautiful. It will have a flat shallow end for lying in the water then slope down toward the office with built in seating around the edges. The big rocks in the middle of the property will become a waterfall into the pool. Milos says that he hopes to have it done in 5-6 weeks. YEA!!

After we made breakfast this morning and did the dishes I decided to take a walk on the beach. I don’t do this very often and not since my sister left a couple of weeks ago. I started walking and walked all the way to West End. It was so beautiful. There weren’t many people on the beach and from Las Rocas to West End only a few. I stopped and watch some men paint an old wooden fishing boat that was turning out very nice, I watched a big gray heron in knee deep water catching his breakfast, 2 little local boys (maybe 5 years old) playing in the ocean in just their underwear and just laughing, some big sailboats just waving back and forth, a flock of butterflies floated by, the water was like glass this morning and when I went out onto a dock it was very clear. I sat on the end of the dock for a little while and just looked at our island and remembered why we fell in love with it here. It is truly the most beautiful place we have ever been. I walked back to West Bay, it takes about 45 minutes if you walk straight back and felt so much peace. We get so busy here and live so much in the moment that we forget why we live here. I asked about 10 of our friends when I got back when the last time they went to the beach and just went for a long walk. No one could remember and said that they are just too busy. I think I should remind them to “go to the beach sometimes”.

Have a great day,
Celeste

Well, I’m not sure where December went. We were very busy. For Thanksgiving here Milos went to the mainland and got a large turkey and I fixed all our guests a traditional dinner on the top deck of the palapa. The guys decorated long tables with white lights, torches and candles all over. It was beautiful. We had 23 people in all for dinner that night. The day after Thanksgiving we decorated the outside of the front office in Christmas lights and it was really cute. We wrapped the trees in white light on the property and everyone came and said it looked like a winter scene in the mountains. Only difference is that it was high 80’s most of December. We had a tree that we made seashell ornaments and hung all over it. The Christmas concert for the angels was Dec 6 at the airport and very pretty, I went but too bad Milos got stranded on the mainland and missed it. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year, but I didn’t hear the total raised this year.
I had an idea to make candy/cookie baskets for the businesses in West Bay this year as Christmas presents. An idea that my Mom does for her friends. I taught the girls here how to make homemade candy and different types of cookies as they had never done this before. We all had so much fun but it became much bigger than we had thought as we kept adding people. For a week we had goodies everywhere and then assembled the baskets. Part of the problem is that I have never tried to deliver things like toffee; almond roca; fudge; frosted cookies etc. when it is 88’ outside and humid. Things get sticky quickly. Everyone was very happy with them. We went through 25 lbs of real butter. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the fact that the island didn’t have anymore butter for 1 week after or not.
The Christmas dinner was really special here. We got another large turkey and I made lots of apps. Each bungalow brought their favorite dish that they make back home. I let everyone use the kitchen here when they needed. There was even the uncle type that brought the wine and beer. We set the tables up on the top deck again and the night was beautiful and warm. There were 17 of us that didn’t know each other in the beginning and ended up being like a great big family having wine and making toasts and talking until 11pm with everyone helping to clean up.
For New Year Eve we went to our friend Steve Romania’s Condo at Infinity Bay, he has the front penthouse. Infinity Bay had just opened up for Christmas. My sister is here and went with us. The party was very beautiful with everyone dressing up. It was catered and had music until after midnight. I was so tired the next day as I only stay up late 1 night per year.
We are getting ready to start the pool now. We were not able to start digging until the rainy season was officially over. It looks like the 4 day storm is passed also. We went from hot to 74’ and rainy for the last 4 days. 1 of our housekeepers has been stuck on the mainland since Jan 1 when the ferry was closed and then last night on the first ferry out it was sold out. She finally made it over this morning, good thing since Vazeillie and I have been covering for her.
Well now you see why I didn’t have much time to post in Dec.

Hope everyone has a very good New Year!
Celeste

Wow, November is almost over? We have been very busy here and full. The last 1 bedroom supreme bungalow is now finished and already rented. It turned out great. These 2 bungalows are already so much in demand that we only have 1 week the first part of Dec open for 1 of them and not another night until Jan 13. It looks like mid Dec until mid Jan will be another busy time with most everything full.
The weather today isn’t bad but it has been very rainy for the last few weeks. It isn’t rainy all the time but just some very big showers. It has gotten down to 74’ a few days but is usually around 80’. I heard someone say that since our rainy season came a month early that it should be over sooner and may be a nice Dec.
Thursday is Thanksgiving and we have 15 people staying here so I think I will just make a big traditional dinner for everyone. I love having a big turkey dinner. I made 1 in Sept with all the extras for lots of our friends and told them that Thanksgiving is whenever I find a turkey on the island. No one seemed to complain. We are getting one this year from the mainland.
We went to LaCeiba on the mainland last week for the day to renew our residency cards. I can’t belive it was already 1 year since we became legal residents. Milos, Jacob and I took the 7am ferry over and had a great time. We have a taxi driver who is wonderful and we pay him for the day. I have heard many horror stories about the renewal process. This driver went in with us and translated and we were out in 5 minutes, then went to the bank and paid our fees. Yes, their office doesn’t except any cash. We had time to go to the new ACE hardware store which is huge and then to the mall shopping and for lunch at Applebee’s. We went back at 1pm and in less than 1 minute they handed us our new cards. We had time to do some more shopping. When we got back to the ferry we had 9 big bags to check in. The ferry leaves LaCeiba at 4:30pm and gets back here just before 6 PM.
The Saturday before last we had our Roatan Womens’ group fundraiser. We had a casino night at Parrott tree resort. It was a beautiful and warm evening. Everyone was dressed up and there were very many people that showed up. We played blackjack, poker, bingo and roulette. I am not sure the total raised but it was for the little friends foundation clinic. On Dec 6 is the concert for the Angels at the airport. This is the biggest black tie fund raiser of the year. Last year we raised more than $50k. It will be great to dress up again. If you are coming down the tickets are $50 and $200 for VIP. Last year my mom was here for it and she had a great time and looked beautiful.
We went on Friday to one of my favorite restaurants the Vietnamese Bistro. They are now in their new location. Up above West End divers where Rick’s used to be. This is a great new place for them with much more room and having a roof helps when it rains.
The next school BBQ is scheduled for Dec 1. We are also having a rummage sale and if anyone has something to donate please let us know. We are going to try to have 200 chicken dinner this time. The cost is lp100 per plate.
Well, I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Celeste

Hello,

Well, It is almost the end of October. The time here just flies by when we are busy. The 2nd 1 bedroom bungalow is almost finished. It is already booked for Thanksgiving and into January.
The weather here has been crazy. Three Saturdays in a row it was very stormy, and the rest of the week in the 90’s. Yesterday was very hot, then last night and still today we have had thunder, lightning and just pouring rains. It is only 74F’ this morning and everyone is cold including the kitties who are all in a pile trying to stay warm. When this storm passes it will dry up and be in the 90’s again. This morning the road from here to the beach is all under water. There is a new raised gravel pathway for walking down the side which is so nice that you don’t have to walk through the water or go around to get there anymore. We also have a new concrete drainage ditch down the whole road so no more mud running into the street. They even raised our driveway like a bridge so we won’t flood again.
We went to a new restaurant in West End called Brio’s. It is in the new complex “The Palms”. Go towards the end of town and it is the Bali style place. The owner is Dino who is Gio’s (like the restaurant) son from French Harbor. It is excellent. I had tuna with a Thai sauce. It was enough for Jacob and I both for $14.
We have been trying to go on Thursdays to Bay Island beach resort for their weekly Tequila Downs crab races. It is a lot of fun and all of our guests that we take really enjoy themselves. It is a pig roast all you can eat buffet (for$15pp) right on the beach with great food, a live reggae band, dancing, shots of tequila and the hermit crab races. You buy 3 crabs for $10 and then they have 3 races. This is a benefit for the Sandy Bay school. So far Ted & Cam O’Brien have raised more than $16,000 and have bought desks, paint, drinking water, fixed the plumbing etc. We really admire what they are doing so anyone coming here we will be happy to go with you.
Saturday we had a BBQ for Jacob’s school to raise $$ for new computers. We served 120 chicken dinners with beans, salad, chamule and tortillas. We also had a yard sale going and the older kids sold mini donuts and coffee. We were all very tired but glad that we raised $850.
The kids are having a Halloween party at school this year. Jacob wants to be a pirate and carry one of our parrots. Lets just hope it doesn’t rain like last year.
I guess that’s it for now.
Celeste

Hi everyone,

It still quite busy around here. We have been mostly full still. I'm not sure when the slow season is going to start for us. The new 1 bedroom bungalow is finished and rented already this week. It turned out cuter than we even thought. It has a huge front porch and can hold 4 nicely. The next one is getting the roof on today. It should be done pretty quickly as it will be the same as the last one; good thing as it is rented in December. We only have 1 bungalow left for Christmas week and January and February are filling up already.
Big news on the island is that the new Mall next to Jackson Plaza and broken ground and they are moving dirt like crazy. It is supposed to be done in 18 months. I saw the picture of it and it is hugh. It will have a 3 story Carrion, a food court with Applebee's, Wendy's, Pizza hut, lots of small specialty stores ect. I think it is to be like the mall in La Ceiba. I know some people are grumbling about the island looking like America; but I will like to be able to shop for things here and eat a fast food cheeseburger every now and then. I have only had 2 since a year ago July. If only they would put in a Taco Bell I would be very happy, thats the one thing I really miss. If only people could bring me one. Jacob misses Krispy Kreeme dounuts the most.
I talked to Dan Taylor; owner/developer of Keyhole bay yesterday and he gave me the info on the new mall called Keyhole Village right up the street from here. It sounds very nice and upscale. It will have Dr's offices, an attorney, other office spaces, a food court with some nice restaurants, 2 floors of secure parking, upscale boutique shops, a gym (yea!) and across the street will be a large supermarket with all high quality foods. His time frame is about the same; 18 months.
A couple of new places we have found to eat. Mavis & Dixies has great food and good prices. I had hog fish with mango/curry chutney and it was super and enough for 2 people. They are next to where the lighthouse was in West End. For those who didn't hear the lighthouse restaurant burned to the ground a few weeks ago, very sad but they will rebuild. The new Que-tel-cafe is open at Lawson rock. This is a new location for them but the same great food. My favorite is still the turkey wrap, it is a grilled tortilla with turkey,bacon,tomato and herb cream cheese for $5. I have started making this at home also. Bananarama's new restaurant the Thirsty turtle will be open shortly.
For anyone looking for flight until mid December there is no direct flight on Sundays from Houston and and 1 for Delta Continental on Saturdays.
Yesterday was my errand day for running around. I was so happy that it only took me 30 minutes in line at the bank to pay my phone bill. Which is great compared to 2 hours to pay the power bill at RECO. I was thinking in line, with this amount of money ($600) they should be able to hire more people on the day your bill is due which is when everyone goes in. They I got home and the power went out, good thing we have a generator. With the money they got from all those people they should have bought parts and more fuel. This island is teaching me much about patience.
Last week we had a lady here and she wanted to go to the Sante day spa. I didn't want to let her just take a cab and go by herself so I drove and we spent the day there. Great customer service huh?? We had a great time. We had massages, facials, salt scrub and she even has something with hot soybean oil dripped on her forehead and into her hair. We had a lunch that the owner cooked which was great with wine and then just hung out by the pool reading. If anyone elsa comes and wants to do this I don't mind helping out.
It has been pretty hot here except for Saturday morning when it rained and got down to 73',I had to put on a long sleeved shirt but I got to wear my new pink plaid rain boots. Very cute with shorts!
Have a super day. It is time for me to go to the Palapa on the beach for a cervaza and watch the sunset.
Celeste

Hello from beautiful, sunny West Bay beach beach. I want to thank everyone who sent emails wishing us well and said they were praying for us. We had 50+ and most of them were people who have stayed here in the past. It really feels great to know we made such an impression on so many people. See the prayers really worked. Well, yesterday was really an uneventful day (other than it was my birthday). Early Monday morning it looked like we were to receive a direct hit from the hurricane at a Cat 5. By Monday early afternoon we had everything boarded up and tied down and the office cleared out. We knew our home and the bungalows would be fine. By the late afternoon the hurricane was heading south/west and away from us. By then most tourist had been asked to leave and a lot of locals even left. I guess in this case it is a very good thing we are not a beach front hotel. We have 2 couples who decided to stay and not cut their vacation short and see what happened. They helped us get everything ready. Milos's brother is also staying with us and Jacob is back home again. so it was looking like we would have 8 people, 9 parrots (2 are my friends) 1 toucan and 5 cats all in the house. We have the generator and lots of food so we would have been fine. Yesterday we went to the beach to go swimming and it was great, very calm water and there were only a few people. We did get a small rain shower for a few minutes then some drizzle in the afternoon. No wind at all, though I heard the south side got 30 mile winds for a time. Last night we had some more rain. This morning it looks like it did here on Sunday. The only problem here was there were no restaurants or bars open for our guests. Well, we decided to have a great lobster feast here. Milos BBQ'd lots of lobster tails and we had all that food on hand so it made sense and a birthday party for me. We all ate until we were so full. Today they are back at the beach.
The reason we have so many parrots is we had our 2 then we bought a beautiful purple headed amazon that talks like crazy and makes everyone laugh. His name is Hamish. He is named after a lovely 9 year old who stayed with his family for 2 weeks in August. Then I ordered 2 babies from a man who was raising them until they were old enough. The man showed up with all 6 babies that he was raising. I had to buy 4 3 month olds for us. They are so funny. They are learning to stand on the perch but keep falling now and then. They eat mashed banana with corn meal then stick their beaks in the small seeds. They end up with this big ball stuck to their beaks. Right now we have all 6 back in a cage until my friend gets back. In the mornings during breakfast it sounds like an aviary here with all our birds singing, including Mirah the toucan. Jacob was very surprised when he got back.
Honduran independence weekend is Sept 14-16. There will be the festivals, parade and the fishing tournament. It should be fun again this year, although I do wish that it was a "catch & release" style and not just a large fish hanging in West end until for days.
I think it is time to head to the beach for a swim on such a beautiful 88' day.
Celeste

Hello,

Well that is our new toucan's name. She already knows it. When we call her she jumps up to see you. She sings (make a very funny noise) many times of the day. We, and our guests are really having fun with her. The top part of her cage is level with the breakfast palapa so she sits on the top branch and looks in at people. She can't see straight over her big beak, so when she looks right at you she has to tip her head. She loves to play peek-a-boo with me. I'm still amazed at how much she eats. She eats 2 big (dog food sized) bowls of fruit per day and still begs for more. Bruce is even giving her bananas at lunch. She is very funny to watch her eat. She picks up the pieces with the end of her beak, then throws them up and into the back of her throat; looks like doing shots of tequila! I'm working out a deal with the fruit/veggie truck that I can have the over ripe fruit that they can't sell. This should help.
We have great news here. We have a brand new generator and it is working great. We have been having crazy power outages here almost daily for hours at a time. Now when the power goes out Milos just flips on the generator and full power/AC/water. We now also have a new water pump with awesome water pressure.
It is still very busy here. It looks like we will be mostly full until September. We do have 1 bungalow available from the 23rd until the end of the month. As busy as it is here it is very quiet with out Jacob. The first few days I kept thinking that I could hear him yelling "Mom". We have talked to him and he is having a great time, although he is very cold. He told me that maybe just having flip-flops in Oregon is dumb. Before he left for the states he started learning to scuba dive. He is doing great and loves it. This is one of the reasons he was so happy to be 10.
The new bungalows are coming along. One is just being finished sheet rocked and will ready to paint Monday. This should be done by the end of the month. The other one has the floor done. I can't wait until they are finished because then starts our pool. I have already ordered nice pool floats. These are the ones that can be taken to the beach to lay on the sand; float on in the ocean; or just in the pool. They should be here next week, maybe.
I need to get back to work and see if Miriah needs another bowl of fruit.
Have a great day,
Celeste

Hello,
We have a new member here at West Bay Lodge. She is about 6 months old and a beautiful Keel billed toucan. She doesn't look real until you see her move. She is still getting used to her new cage under the front of the breakfast palapa. We are still learning about how to take care of her. She eats only soft fruit like papaya, melon, bananas ect. It seems funny that if she eats birdseed it can kill her. The cats just keep sitting and watching her. I'm am adding a picture of her. She doesn't have a name yet and we are waiting for the perfect one that fits her. If anyone thinks of something please email me. Maybe it should be a contest for the winning name?
It has been very busy here as usual and mostly we are full until after the El Salvadorian holiday on Aug 5th. On Friday the 20th is Jacob's birthday when he turns 10. Still not sure where his party will be and he is in summer camp that day. He is very proud that he will now be "double digits". For his birthday present he is getting a plane ticket and 1 month back in Oregon to visit his Grandparents and family. He has only left the island 1 night since we moved here. He is very excited but I know he will miss going to the beach everyday and snorkeling. It is going to be hard for him at first, I heard that kids in the states have to wear shoes or flip-flops at least. Here he is mostly barefoot.
Our front office and gift shop is in such a great place that we have been asked by Alamo/National car rental to put their West bay office in with us. We will run the reservation part and also pick up and drop off for all of West bay. Until now there wasn't a car rental company outside of Coxen Hole for this area. They are going to fix the canal out front to make parking and even put in the speed bump that I have been asking the municipality about for months. Everyone there says yes, we will come and put it in for you (or they even said that I can do it myself) but so far they keep forgetting.
Today was cruise ship day here. They are gone now and everything is quiet again. We are down to only 1 every Wednesday and then Sept-Nov there is only Carnival every other Wednesday. I talked to Continental yesterday and between now and Dec 15 there will be no Sunday flight here. So anyone looking and can't find this flight, this is why. I think the Wednesday direct flight from Houston will start around Christmas time. That is great for people coming down that think 1 week is not long enough and can't stay 2 full weeks. I'll let you know when I hear more.
Well, I might go walk on the beach. I haven't been to the beach before 5:30pm in quiet a while. It has been very nice here although we could use a little rain. It is nice when we get our showers at nice with the beautiful lightening.
Have a good evening,
Celeste

Hello,

I am always surprised to see development going on so quickly here. I guess that we can't keep our little paradise secret long now. Jacob and I on Monday drove out to the east end to Marble hill farms to pick up our new order of jam, jelly & mustards. We are selling them in the gift shop. They are fabulous and made right here on the island. They use ingredients like hibiscus flowers, guava, many fruit combinations (my favorite is pineapple mango). As we were driving out past French Harbor there are so many new developments going in. I haven't been past there in months. Wow, these are large planned communities with their own shopping centers, restaurants, yacht parking ect. These are not hotels but high end condos and single homes. There is also a large 5-star Westin resort and spa going in out past Parrot tree. They have already put in the road, cisterns and some pillions. Their web sight says they will be open Jan 09. I'm sure it will be nice and very fancy however; I would still rather be right here where you can stroll down to the best part of West bay beach (the best on the island) than way out there.
The 2 new bungalows are starting to take shape. The walls are going up and they are going to be bigger than the others. They will each have 2 queen beds, a kitchenette and indoor table and chairs and hugh fron porches. The first one should be ready mid August. August is already starting to fill up so hurry if you are planning to come down and let me know. We do have a noise ordinance that Milos and the guys have agreed to: if there is any guest on the property then they can't have construction noise going on. It will be very quiet here and then when everyone leaves for the beach or diving, the guys start building like crazy and it will be noisy again. Then people start to come back from the beach and it's nice and quiet again. It is kind like living in 2 different places for us that work here.
Last night, Monday we went for 2for1 pizza at IllPomador. It is still as good as ever. We are trying to try every pizza on the menu.
We have all been waiting for months for our mangos on the big mango tree to ripen. It has been loaded with green ones. Well, they are now ripening and everyone is coming to pick them. They are the large sweet kind and even guests are standing on the railings and picking them to eat and even hitting them with a stick. We had a fireman from Portland come with his family of 10 and climbed all over the tree to get the ripe ones down for breakfast. It was awesome. Now on Saturdays we are getting our avocados from our tree by the breakfast palapa for the baleada's. We are still getting enough bananas from our trees for the banana pancakes, all we can eat and everyone who comes by can take some (it is good to eat before diving also so you don't get leg cramps). Even Coco is getting lots as he loves them.
Thats all for now.
Celeste

Good morning,

Yes, it has been a while since I was able to post. I had problems with the password resetting. It has also been very busy around here the last few months. Milos also went back to the states for 2 weeks and my Mom came for a month to help me. When she came down she brought my grandmother who is 85 years old with her for the first 9 days. This proves that anyone can enjoy our paradise. She went on the glass bottom boat; Gumbalimba and saw the monkeys; a tour around the island; many long walks on the beach, even in just the moonlight; crab races at Bay Island beach resort with a reggae band dancing barefoot; many great restaurants; and yes, even Sunday at the Palapa bar for beer and the best cheese burgers. She really enjoyed herself here.
Semana Santa (Easter week) was just crazy here. I knew it was going to be a lot of people, but couldn't even imagine how it was here. Each day there were more people than the day before with the most on Thurs/Friday/Saturday. We had been watching all morning our normally quiet street, where people had been parking bumper to bumper on both sides of the street as far as you could see each way. The vacant fields between here and the beach were turned into parking lots and every van came with at least 10-12 people in it. For lunch Milos and I decided to walk to the beach and see what it looked like. Jacob spent most of the week on the beach with his friends. When we saw the beach we just stood there stunned. Our quiet, beautiful beach had thousands of people everywhere you looked. From the palm trees to about 50 feet into the sea it was just solid people. The docked looked like it would not hold 1 more kid. There wasn't room to put down a towel with out getting stepped on. I have no idea where all these people slept as there aren't that many rooms here.
We had great guests staying here and they were able to retreat back to our hotel for some quiet time. The real fun began around 5:00pm when everyone (drunk)was trying to leave. There was a major traffic jam and everyone was honking, pulling into the street and blocking even more. There was even a firetruck with it's lights on that couldn't get through. We had friends over and we all sat on the porch of our office drinking wine and laughing at the mess. By Easter Sunday most people were gone and the beaches starting to be cleaned. Things are quieting down here as the high season ends. You can go out on the beach and find very few people on it.
The water is warming up (people from up north think it is already warm) so we are going down everyday before Jacob goes to school, walking on the beach and swimming from 6-7am. It is the prettiest time of the day. Some mornings we are the only ones on the beach and the water is like glass. Every morning last week Jacob found large starfish that had come up next to shore that were beautiful, we have also been seeing eagle rays around the dock and 2 baby puffers. It still amazes me that we can do all this and still get to school on time.
The sun in the evening is directly in front of us now and we are having terrific sunsets. Everyone's favorite place to watch the sunsets is on the top deck of our palapa. For the last 2 week, 1 of our guests (John & Sherri) brought his guitar and played every night for us up there. It was great having a glass of wine and listening to music as the sun goes down. We will miss that. Jacob said that he is going to learn to play so he can play every night for us.
Friday was the Roatan's ladies luncheon. It was held out on Osgood Cay which is now an extension of Anthony's Key. It was great to see 60 women come for this. There was a wonderful BBQ; we had a dolphin encounter, where you get to be in the water with 4 of them, and then hung out by the new pool. This was to raise money for the new French harbor children's clinic.
Well, I guess that catches you up on what has been going on here. I will be back to posting every few days again.
Celeste

Good morning,

Well, the big triathalon and come and gone. This was a very busy place to be for 4 days. The base area for the athletes was the Mayan Princess hotel. There were athletes from all over the world here to compete. They have to even haul their bikes clear here. Friday and Saturday they were all getting ready and there were runners and bikes all over the roads. The big competition was Sunday morning. The roads from Sandy bay and all the way to the end by Lighthouse estates was closed at 6:30am. The race started at 7:30am with a 750M swim right here in West bay; then they had to get on their bikes and ride 28K up and over the hills to Sandy bay, turn around and come back, then a 5K run from here around the end of the island to Keyhole bay and back. It was fun to watch it happen right in front of our lodge. Jacob and some kids from his school volunteered at 6:00am to be at stations along the way passing out water. the first few athletes started coming in just over 2 hours. It is amazing how strong these people are. Some of them are working up to the olympics. There were actually 4 different races at the same time with slightly different lengths. 2 of our guests here finished first in their category, 1 in mens and 1 in womens. The race finished on the beach and it was a big party there where they were 20ft blow up beer bottles. The event was sponsored by Barena beer, of coarse. For lunch there was a BBQ and music until 3pm. In the evening was the awards, another BBQ, more music and I guess a big party on the beach at 9pm. This was too late for us on a school night.
This week has been pretty quiet here. There was only 1 cruise ship all week. I think this is the "calm before the storm". Tomorrow evening is the start of Semana Santa holiday. This place is going to be crazy. The ferry has even added an extra crossing from the mainland for the week. I have heard that most every hotel is full until after Easter. I have also heard to stock up on food and drinks and even money as the ATM'S will probably run out of $$'s. There is a cruise ship in town every day next week. I will report more about the festivities later.

Have a great day,
Celeste

Well, it has been back to our normal beautiful weather again here. The storm only lasted a few days and then nothing but blue skys on our island. As I write this I am sitting in a hammock in our yard and it is about 86' and a slight breeze. It's funny how use to this warmth we have gotten.
Today was our newest cook/housekeeper's first day. She is Elsa and I think she will be a great addition to our team here. She is a very hard worker, smiles a lot and makes great tortillas. We really needed someone to help lighten the load for Delise since we have gotten much busier.
Here is a funny thing that happened to me today. After breakfast I was going into one of the bungalows and when I opened the screen door I guess that there as a little brown gecko on top of the frame. These are not scary, only 4 inches,rubbery and eat little bugs and love mosquitos. It landed on my head and it must have been as surprised as I was. It tried to run and then got stuck in my ponytail. I was having one of those ponytail days here that you can only get in the tropics from humidity; it looked more like one big dreadlock (my Mom says it looks like a "pony-bush"). Well, I screamed for it to get out and baby kitty came running when she heard me, I picked her up and she was also trying to get it out/chase it. I kept flipping my head and yelling for Mike, our manager to come get it out. The more the gecko and I tried the more tangled he got. By the time Mike got their he was laughing very hard and somehow it finally got loose and jumped away. I was very glad for both of us. The lady in the next bungalow said that in some countries a gecko falling on your head is good luck. So we will just see what luck I get from this.
On Saturday night we walked down the beach to a place called Bite on the beach. It is about 10 minutes walk from here east towards West end. It is beautiful to walk back barefoot on the beach after dinner with just the moonlight. We had a fantastic dinner. I had Thai peanut lobster. The sauce it like sweet & sour with peanut butter. It was so good that I came home last night and made it here. Jacob had Thai peanut grouper and Milos had lobster dripping in butter. They have a great seafood menu and prices for dinner are $11-$17. If you go remember that they are closed on Sunday/Monday.
This Sunday is the big triathlon on West bay beach. There are people coming from all over the world to compete. I have heard that they are closing the main road at 7am and will be closed until noon. At noon there will be a big BBQ and music until about 3:30. Then a dinner and even bigger party with live bands on the beach at 9pm-?? It is supposed to very crowded around here. I bet the party at night will be lots of fun, but too late for us on a school night. We have to remember that we are not on vacation here, oh well.

Have a great evening and it looks like a beautiful sunset for tonight.
Celeste

Well, what a difference a couple of days can make. On Sunday we went to the beach in the afternoon and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and 92’. The beach was very busy as a cruise ship was in for the day and there was a big church picnic, maybe a hundred children also playing and everyone that ever goes to the Palapa bar was there with their families for the day. There was just a slight breeze and the sea seemed to be warming up. This was the first day in a while that we were able to go to the beach since we have been so busy. Yesterday it was overcast and rained on and off. Last night was cool and then early this morning it started pouring. Unless you have been in the tropics when it is raining like this, it is hard to imagine how much rain can fall at once. Then it started coming down sideways and the wind really kicked up from off the ocean. Soon everything was flooded around here. Jacob had a hard time getting out of the driveway to go to school. He, by the way wore a long sleeved shirt with another shirt over that, and even shoes and socks which he hasn’t worn since July. It got down to 72’ around 9:00am. The kitties are all sleeping in one big pile to stay warm. There hasn’t been weather like this since November (when my Mom came from Oregon for a visit and to get warmed up). It is supposed to clear up and be nice for this afternoon. Good; I can take off my sweatshirt. There is a big cruise ship in today and they probably think this feels warm if they are from up north.
Jacob and his friend Julia Watkins are enjoying their fame this month. They are on the cover of the new Bay Island Voice magazine for the month of March. They were playing on the new field/play ground by Anthoney’s Key resort. They were also in another article about the beach clean up/ field trip that I set up. The kids from the school came on a Monday morning each taking a bag and going down the beach collecting garbage. When they turned in their bag they received a ticket for a free ride on the glass bottom boat. If you haven’t done this here yet it is very nice. You sit 8 feet under the water and it takes you for 45 minutes over the reef where you see the turtles and reef fish with out getting wet. Then Greg from the marine park came out and talked to the kids about what trash can do to the reef; how to go to the tourist who have dropped trash and ask them politely to help us keep our beaches and reef clean; and to always pick up trash when they see it. They really all had a great time and I think learned a lot.
More news here is that Milos bought 2 new scooters for our guests to rent. They are really nice looking, bright red and hold 2 people comfortably. It’s a fun way to see the island for very little gas and just $35 per day.
Things are pretty booked up out here in West bay from now until after Semana Santa. I believe that week is full on the whole island. For those of you who don’t know, Semana Santa is the week before Easter. In Central America they call it Holy week and all businesses are shut down and schools are closed. It starts March 30 and goes until April 8th. I have been told that is gets crazier than spring break around here.
I hope you all have a super day!
Celeste

Well our new office is open for business and doing great. The office faces the street at an angle and is towards the mall. Our front porch is already a very popular place and it seems everyone stops in to say HI when they go by. We are renting the cell phones for $25 per week which includes a lp100 phone card. These phones will work all over the island, calling to the mainland and even to the states and Canada. One very good feature is that if you reserve your phone in advance we can issue you your cell phone# and you can leave it for your friends and family back home to reach you encase of an emergency. We have preprogrammed these phone with local taxi driver and hotels/restaurants phone#'s for your convenience. We also are getting a good selection of bottled wines at prices from $10-$14.
The power is on here today, however the island is still having some trouble. I heard yesterday that the main generator can only operate at 60% until the new bigger one comes in. What RECO (the electric co) is doing is shutting off blocks of power off each day to help the old generator last. They are trying to have a schedule for everyone to stay prepared. We are on the part of the schedule where we get ours shut from 9-1pm. This is OK since it is after breakfast and most people are headed to the beach anyway. They are trying to keep power on as much as possible in West bay/West end for the tourists.It has been really beautiful here for the last 2 weeks. No clouds, blue sky and a slight breeze We have been so busy here that we haven't been to the beach for a few days. We even missed Sunday at the Palapa bar.
Can anyone believe that tomorrow is already the end of Feburary?
Have a great day,
Celeste

Well, it is looking like I can start posting regularly again. It has been one crazy thing after another. First with the battery for my computer; then the internet going away; then last week we had our new internet hooked up and then we starting having major power outages daily which even when the power came on it was still kicking off the new internet. One of the 2 main generators for the island was down and they were only able to power 1/2 the island at a time and then they got in a whole ship load of bad deisel. It looks like everything is working fine now. We have been really busy here. We are still full and booked into the first part of March. As busy as it gets for us around here it is also that much fun. We are meeting some of the nicest people. We have our new duplex bungalow mostly finished and is nice to be able to accomadate larger families with the lock of door in between. We are working on our new office down at the bottom of the driveway near the street. It should be finished by the first of next week. We have hired a new person, Tonya, to work and she is busy putting together some great tour packages. One of the new packages is Anthony's Key dolphin encounter where you go out to the dolphin pens and get to play with them and learn and then have your photo taken, this awesome if you have never been with a dolphin; the photo below is of Carrol Deal playing with the dolphins; Zip line canopy tour and then you land in Gumbalimba park where you can play on the beach and go through the gardens and then go up and play with the big macaws and feed the monkeys. This is all for $79 and you don't have to do it all in 1 day. The office will also have a spot for all Marine park information and selling of their items. We are already renting cell phones by the week out of it for $25 including a LP100 phone card. People are really loving this idea; especially for groups traveling together to keep in contact with each. We will sell some wines by the bottle and some items that people like to take home for gifts that are locally made; coffee, hot sauce, cactus juice, jam, vanilla, ect.
I was just in West End this morning and was happy to see that the main road (made of sand) has just been re graded. From the rains in the last few months it was getting very hard to drive down and it looked more like a roller coaster.
Last night was sushi night again and it was nice to have started up again. Danielle had been gone for a few weeks so she was closed.
Well, since I have started this post the power has gone out twice, and the internet has been up & down. I will just be glad that at this time we seem to have both.
Celeste