I try to make it a point to pack at night because I’m the type of person that would rather sleep later the next morning versus getting up early (or forgetting to). I packed the night before and slept fairly ok (being on the islands with the bugs and what not-a bug fell on me in bed while I was laying down and I saw a tiny lizard in my room so yeah the last 2 nights in Roatan I didn’t sleep well. Tidying up this morning was easy and I again brought some shea butter as a gift to my host for the stay. I was set to meet Julio with West Bay Tours at 9:30am for Jet Ski’s and Parasailing only a few minutes down the road. I decided to go ahead and check out before leaving because I knew I wanted to run a few errands afterward. I gathered all my things, packed the car and left.

The directions seemed so simple as to the meeting location except for the fact that I needed to go inside of a property to find the location (which was not mentioned as I was looking on the outside). I double parked and spoke to security at the gate, went inside but couldn’t find Julio but found someone that would help me. I went inside to park and waited for Brent Fisher to find me and start my tour. After waiting a while I figured I would just find the West Bay kiosk I was supposed to meet at just to end up finding him there. Believe it or not Julio wasn’t even there and no one was really expecting me despite me showing them the confirmation email and directions from Collette the Tour Manager (I am criticizing these tours-they need to do better).

The people at the kiosk rushed to make phone calls to get everything set up for me because time was ticking, I had things to do afterward and needed to get to the airport to leave today. Finally it was suggested that I do the jet skis first and then parasailing so I went and did the jet skis. The tutorial was really simple and quick as there was just Start/Stop, Accelerate and Reverse. With my lifevest on I followed my guide far out into the water. When we got to a certain point we stopped and he told me, “Don’t go past this point and don’t go past that point but you can go way out there” pointing further out into the ocean. He told me I had 30 minutes and I looked at him like, “You want me to go out there by myself?”

I basically had to explain to him that this is not what I do and I’m not even a fan of the deep waters that I just wanted to try this out and that it was good and fun so far but that I wasn’t that comfortable just gallavanting out in the deep end on my own. He understood but stayed parked where he was so to get the most of my experience I went out a bit from him but not too far and I kept circling back near him. I made circles, triangles and squares all through the water within a certain radius. As I was doing this I thought I saw some gray fins pop out of the water. I kept my eye on them but from where I was I was out and they were more inland so I thought maybe it’s just the waves. Either way I stayed away from that area and kept looking over that way to see if I kept seeing it and I did. I drove over to my guide and asked him if they have dolphins out there and he kind of laughed and said jokingly, “We do but you hardly ever see them”. I pointed where I saw the fins and you could clearly now see that they were dolphins.

My guide was so surprised and excited that he grabbed his phone and raced towards them signaling me to follow. He asked me if I had my phone and I said no I was afraid I’d drop it or get it wet (especially with this being my first time jet sking). He managed to get close and get some good videos and pictures and so did the people on another boat nearby. I thought it was pretty cool to see them out in the water with us (or I should say we’re out there with them-them being the dolphins) and there were at least 6 of them. I got a chance to see them come up out of the water a bit and follow each other as they went there own way; it was pretty cool. While my guide did that and after I got my fixation of looking at the dolphins I did some more laps in the water and told him I was ready and done. Time was ticking and though jet sking was cool parasailing was an absolute must before I go.

I met up with the guys doing the parasailing tour and was happy to see that someone else was doing it too. The lady didn’t speak English and was from Guatemala so I pulled out my Guatemala wallet to show her and she smiled and asked if I’d been to different cities so I told her where I went. She had a friend with her as moral support and we took off in the boat after being strapped in the safety gear needed for the activity. We went out in the water a bit and the music was on par until we got to a good point to get strapped and ready to be lifted up. All I could think of was this was it and how I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time. Thankfully one of the guys took photos and videos of me on my phone and we went up up and away.

The feeling I felt while up in the air with the wind beside me on both sides, under my feet and above my head…this is what living feels like. As we got higher and further from the boat it all became real and again just a feeling of gratefulness fell upon me. As I looked down and around I couldn’t for too long because I was like, “Whew we are really high up, the boat looks itty bitty” so at point (or two) I did close my eyes. After being up and riding around with the boat below he brought us in but not without dipping us in the water first (which I was not expecting but was wondering how we’d land). We were unstrapped and got to enjoy the ride back to the beach. This was truly an experience that was so worth it!

I was soaking wet pretty much when I got off the boat with the exception of my shirt so I went to the car and grabbed some new bottoms to change into before leaving. It was time to head to the airport but I had to make 2 stops: the Rum Company and Petrosun to get some gas. The Rum Company was just up the street from the Airbnb but had been closed the last couple days and thankfully today they were open. I sampled different flavors but ultimately left with a butter vanilla rum cake. The Island Infused Spice Rum was good but they had no small bottles and I’m team carry-on (especially with these budget airlines) so no take home rum for me (not sold in the airport).

I headed towards the airport and thankfully my drive going back was nothing like the drive coming (no traffic). The gas station is conveniently right across from the airport so I was able to get that done and turn the rental car back in to Avis. The same girl that helped me with the car helped me return the car and she said everything looked good. It was now around 1pm and my flight on CM Airlines was set to depart at 2:40pm. I went inside as was told I’d have to wait 30 minutes before checking in. Thanks to easedropping I heard that the flight was delayed. I waited by the gate and 2:40pm came and passed. I thankfully went looking at food nearby and saw they sold a baleada there (which I had been wanting to try since I’ve heard about it). Of course I had to get the “super” one with meat and all the extra things (it was good and was my dinner-I might try to get another one tomorrow).

Finally they lined us up for the flight and it wasn’t a lot of us. A gentlman and I realized early on (the one I was easedropping on) that we were going to the same place so while delayed we kept inquiring with staff on updates and would update each other. His wife informed me that it’s because of the fire that a lot of flights are getting delayed due to the smoke and fog. As we go outside there’s this little CM Airline plane so small that my seat 13A didn’t even exist inside so I sat in 6A right by the wing (emergency exit). It was a one by two 20 passenger plane where you can see the cockpit from the back row. There was no air on board just a little fan in the front so people were fanning themselves.

We took off and you couldn’t really see too much of your surroundings due to the smoke but we had a good smooth ride (I was in and out of sleep). When we landed and the doors opened the smell of smoke was much more apparent here (even though every morning in Roatan smelled like smoke). I got my bag from baggage claim and went to the souvenir store to get a wallet I saw that I liked and a bookmark for a friend. I walked around got a donut and a tea and was ready to just go so I called an Uber. I was out walking around looking my Uber meanwhile he’s in an entirely different vehicle with different plates and had he not said my name (because how would he know it) I wouldv’ve paid him no attention.

San Pedro Sula doesn’t have the best reputation and I’ve heard from many people this time around that when it comes to there to be careful and not be out too much if I can help it. Guides in Roatan have even told me about the gangs and crime here and one guide said he’s afraid to even come back here and that he hates coming over here but he does to visit family. It may be the mainland of Honduras but it isn’t very tourist friendly as even I learned through research before coming that there’s nothing to do here (which is why most of my trip was in Roatan). My plan was I already had my food and drink, just go to the Airbnb and chill for the night. My flight going home leaves tomorrow at 3:25pm and I plan to sleep in.