Attack of the moray eel

We had breakfast at the cute little shack in front of the hostel named Yahongreh? (You hungry?). I had fruit salad (50L), the others had 2 huge banana pancakes (80L) which they struggled to finish. Again, surprisingly low prices for great food with a sea view. We picked up a gallon of water for 50L, which is also v cheap. We saw several hummingbirds whilst we ate.

A few people have been telling us how they don't like the mainland Hondurans who are from the capital or SPS - they are rude, messy and look down on the workers. So much so that 'Roatans' don't like to be called Hondurans as they don't like the association.

We went to talk to the dive shop next door, Native Sons, and signed up for an afternoon dive. They are very chilled, have no other customers at the moment and set up your equipment for you. Price is the same as Utila - $30 per dive, with a $5 discount per room for each day you dive; you also have to pay $10 a week for marine conservation but get a cool band as a keepsake. $5 for Anna to snorkel. The equipment looks much newer - saying that the snorkel leaked and my reg hissed each time I breathed!

We went for a snorkel (free hire for divers) in the bay in front of the hostel. There are marked off areas to protect the reef and snorkellers from boat traffic. It starts off as seagrass but then turns into a fairly decent, large reef with a fair few fish. The highlight was about 5 glowing squid. I had a baleada (20L) and Hannah had fruit salad while Anna munched on crackers for lunch.

There are 3 dives per day - the boat comes in after each dive since all the dive sites are so close. This means each dive can be longer which is another bonus. We went on the 2pm dive and were the only ones going on the huge, spacious boat which is specifically designed for diving. A bit of a change! Our DM was called Eddie, a man of few words but who was always checking to make sure we were with him unlike the last few DMs we've had. There was another guy called Alan who used to work here and was lionfish hunting - one of my favourite fish from Asia, it's not native here and is considered a pest species as it eats everything in sight and is decimating the reef life. They have introduced lionfish to the menu to try and get demand up so more people will go hunting, however they have poisonous spines so some people aren't keen!

The dive site was called Fish Den and was the best dive we've done in Honduras by far. The coral was plentiful and varied but not overly colourful; the visibility was great and there were loads of fish. We swam through valleys of coral and a couple of long swim-throughs. We saw a small hawksbill turtle and at the safety stop a huge green moral eel swam by and stayed with us for about 5 minutes. At one point it was coming for me, getting closer and closer as I gently tried to move away, and I started to fear he was going to attack! Eek! Apparently they do attack divers carrying lionfish.

Alan caught 5 lionfish. We saw him catch 2 of them. He gave them to the boat skipper who filleted them and offered them to us - Anna took a couple of bits and fried them up in coconut oil and we all had a taste - typical whitefish flavour. Can't get much fresher than that!!!

We soaked up some sun and then explored some of the shops. Rusty Fish is a very cool shop with tons of colourful, sea-themed knick knacks made of recycled material. Hannah got some great bargains from there. Anna and I headed to the Chocolate Factory shop and tasted all the samples but at $5 for a tiny bar, we didn't buy any. Anna asked if we could tour the nearby factory and they called the owner who said he'd pick us up and take us on a tour for free. He was bery enthusiastic but I'm not sure we'll take him up on his offer as we'd feel pressured to buy things.

We went back to the same restaurant and then had a drink at Sundowner's, the bar opposite the hostel. We sat on sun loungers by the sea, with a bonfire and candles lighting up the area, listening to some good live music. Lovely atmosphere! There are plenty of crabs here too, on the beach, on the path to our cabin, or rustling in the bushes.Read more