We had a wonderful visit with John and Jana last week. The weather was good if a little windy at the beginning of the week. We spent the first day people watching and snorkeling at West Bay Beach.
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| Going to explore Anne Jennings place with Walter one of our guides |
Early Monday we left for our trip to
Mango Creek Lodge.
We arrived at Oak Ridge with the rest of our group to travel to Port Royal by boat. Because the wind had been blowing steady from the East for several days, the seas were up. Terry brought his large sport fishing boat to transport us more comfortably to the lodge through the rough seas. The sun was bright and the water deep blue so it was a glorious day. After checking into the lodge, we took a boat tour with a history lesson on the area with Terry. We gathered for a lunch in the restaurant and planned on how to spend the rest of the day. A large group of us decided to go to Anne Jennings Browne’s home site at Fort Frederick while Michael and John took kayaks out to the Cow and Calf cays to look for buried pirate treasure.
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| Howard Jennings found pirate treasure on Cow Cay |
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| Castle took us to Anne Jennings Browne's home site in the bush |
We enjoyed hiking through the bush and are still in awe of Anne Jennings staying alone out here for years. Unfortunately there is not much left of her homestead but the views are just as amazing.
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| Some of our group in the bush |
After our excursions, we relaxed as the sun went behind the hills and we prepared for dinner. Terry and his staff served a tasty jerk chicken dinner with plenty of tasty side dishes and desert of fresh coconut pie. Yummy!
After a busy day we decided to skip a movie (Terry and Patrice have a large selection) and go back to our lodging. Some folks stayed in cabins over the water others stayed in the lodge.
The next morning after a hearty breakfast of pineapple pancakes and Jimmy Dean sausage we prepared for our mangrove tour and Pigeon Key snorkeling trip. The wind and seas calmed down and the sun was shining in a deep blue sky…Perfect!
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| Beautiful beyond belief! |
The ride to Pigeon key was fun and we had to take three of the skiffs to accommodate all thirteen of us. It was one of our friends birthday and we planned a picnic lunch on Pigeon Cay complete with champagne and a surprise birthday cake compliments of
Mango Creek Lodge.
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| Arriving in the skiff |
One of the kitchen staff even went with us to help set up and serve. We are generally alone on Pigeon Cay when we go as it is off the coast of the Island of Barbaret and at the far East end of the Bay Islands before you jump over to Guanja. This day we were joined by a couple of other boats.
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| You can walk around Pigeon Cay in 5 minutes |
One must have been a clothing optional group because one big boy (300+ lbs) showed up in his birthday suit! He had better watch out for the barracuda. One of the boat staff caught a large one off the beach and several of the guys in the party tried their hands at salt water fly fishing.
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| John likes to say he caught this with his hands.....right |
The staff took us out in the boats to snorkel so we wouldn’t have to swim against the current. That was really nice and made the snorkeling even better.
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| Castle with Pigeon Key in the background. |
After our wonderful lunch of curry chicken and salad we enjoyed cake and champagne on the beach. It doesn’t get much better than that…..ever! We relaxed and swam but we eventually had to prepare for our return to Port Royal and then Oak Ridge.
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| Pigeon Cay is picture perfect |
We still had a drive back to the West end of the island. We all wished we could have stayed yet another night at
Mango Creek and some of our group were already planning to return for another even longer stay. You really have a wonderful, memorable trip when you go to
Mango Creek Lodge. Terry, Patrice and their staff provide an excellent experience, with attention to detail in an exceptional environment. I can’t thank them enough. A special thanks also must go out to Claudio and Emiliana of
vivaproperties for arranging such a delightful adventure.
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| Michael and I at Pigeon Key |
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| John and Jana at Pigeon Key |
The rest of the week flew by with boat taxi trips to West End for shopping, lazy mornings in the sun at Meridian Beach and shrimp and lobster dinners. We even made it into Coxen Hole for “Rock on the Dock” at Town Center, more shopping (I found the perfect panama hat) and a final day at Infinity Bay for more people watching, snorkeling, sun and food. Before we knew it the week was done. Roatan is a beautiful location and one week is hardly long enough to enjoy all it has to offer.
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| Jana and I at West Bay Beach |
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