Roatan is hosting a Women Empowered Conference March 18-19, 2012! Post by Barbara Wastart.

Join us at Upachaya Eco-Lodge and Wellness Retreat for some fun while empowering yourself. This program, Women Empowered - Gettin' in the Groove, gives you the tools you need to break free from limiting beliefs and blind-spots that may be holding you back from moving forward in business or keeping you feeling stressed, stuck or uninspired in your personal life.

This personal foundation program is a robust and powerful tool that creates the awareness you need to make powerful choices for your life.

Whet your Whistle Intro - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - $50.00

Groovin' and Thrivin' Retreat - March 19 - 23 $1170.00 with accommodations, or see below for a la carte pricing.

Barbara Wastart, Registered Yoga Instructor, Co-dreamer/Co-owner of Upachaya. Increase your resolve while strengthening your body with daily yoga and meditation sessions. Barbara will nurture your soul and awaken the inherent power deep within each and every one of us. This will provide you with an incredible daily base for learning and discovery.

Cathy Yost, PCC, Professional Certified Life Coach, Calgary, CA. Create the life YOU want. These inspiring daily sessions are designed for you to look within and discover what is really important to you and move toward it. Learn simple tools that will identify and eliminate what's not working in your life so you can ignite and focus on what is. The real measure of a successful life is the level of inner peace achieved.

Canadian-born Intuitive Chef, Daphne Newman Owner/Creator of Besos Restaurant and Lounge. Nourish your heart, soul, and every cell in your body while creating simple, healthy and delicious recipes. Daphne shares the insights of her own evolving life journey, while guiding, teaching and empowering you. Feel light and energized as you are guided to the very special gifts within you.

Pricing for Roatan Residents, and guests not staying at Upachaya, partaking only in a la carte sessions:

All yoga sessions from 7:30 - 9:00 $10.00. Tuesday and Thursday Aqua Kriya (water yoga) will be held in the pool from 2:30 - 3:30, $10.00. There is only room for 6 participants for water yoga. If we have a larger demand, we will add classes.

All coaching sessions will be scheduled from 4:30 - 6:00.

Personal One-on-One Coaching Sessions. $100/50 minutes, with additional time available at $25.00 per 15 minutes. This is the perfect complement of time if you are eager to begin the inner process and start living with greater levels of success, courage, fulfillment, confidence, creativity, joy, purpose, vitality, love and self-love.

'Quickies' - 15 minute Laser Coaching Sessions $25.00. Timely for those who want a quick solution or new perspective to a current challenge in their life.

Informal Small Group Sessions on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. For those who would like to harness the power and wisdom of Group Coaching. Participants (3-5 people) share the $150 session fee, great deal for friends to share the experience.

All cooking classes will be from 12:00 - 2:00 and includes lunch, $20.00 each day.

For more details and to book your reservation visit our website at www.upachaya.com. For booking a la carte sessions, a 20% fee will be charged and must be paid prior to commencement of retreat to hold your space.

Contact Barbara Wastart for more details and questions

There are many local Roatan businesses offering special foods, menus and entertainment to help celebrate Valentine’s Day this year. Below are just a few of the many choices available at Roatan’s Restaurants and Bars.

Thirsty Turtle Beach Bar & Grill at Bananarama

Dinner Special For two: Orange glazed Cornish Hen stuffed with wild rice and served with a salad

Price for 2 is $20!. Live Music from 6 to 9 pm. Dinner special from 5:30 until sold out. WEST BAY BEACH

Blue Parrot Restaurant

Come join us Valentine's evening for a "Buffett Meal" sweet music and the opportunity to sing a 'Love Song" to the one you love. That’s right on Valentine's night we will have karaoke for lovers, so come on by and say I Love You in a song. SANDY BAY

Hungry Kiwi

Valentine Lunch

Tuesday 12 :00 pm until 3 : 00 pm

One glass of Champagne or one glass red house wine. Soup or fresh garden salad with our own special Hungry Kiwi salad dressing.

Mahi Mahi fish - green beans casserole with your choice of garlic mashed potatoes or rice

Desserts - your choice of Banoffee Pie, Cranberry Cheesecake, or our special South African Dessert.

$25/person. SANDY BAY

Parrot Tree Plantation

Surprise your loved one with an exquisite romantic dinner, we will have live music with a special performer from the mainland.

Menu:

Option one $16.00: oriental salad, beef tenderloin stuffed with stuffing in mushroom sauce, accompanied by green beans, almonds and red peppers, dessert: homemade chocolate cake.

Option two $17.00: French onion soup, chicken stuffed with shrimp and spinach in Champagne sauce, wild rice, veggies, broccoli and grilled carrots, dessert: Fusion flavors of pear, strawberry and chocolate ice cream.

Both meals come with a glass of red or white wine. EAST ROATAN

Diddily’s Gift Shop in West End

New stock arrived just in time for Valentine’s – sundresses in various colors and styles! WEST END

Blue Bahia Resort

Our regular menu service is available on St. Valentine's Day; our regular menu service will include a complementary glass of champagne.

Appetizers:
Spicy tuna rolls toped with rojo caviar served with wasabi, soy and pickled ginger. $9.95

Ahi tuna seared rare $10.95

Mixed seafood ceveche $10.95

All dinner specials are served with our Blue Bahia Dinner salad to start. Each of our special Valentine Dinners is served with complementary champagne throughout your meal.

Lobster Colorado – Two bacon wrapped tenderloin filets grilled to perfection and topped with pan-grilled chunks of lobster. Mashed potato with white truffle oil, seasonal veggies. $22.95

Grilled lobster with garlic infused butter and accompanied by a grilled tenderloin filet with béarnaise sauce. Baked potato, seasonal veggies. $23.95

Tenderloin Medallions topped with our rich Gorgonzola sauce and served atop bacon mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies on the side. $21.95

Garlic Lobster- Choose from an array of 9oz to 16oz lobster tails, we will steam your lobster in a garlic broth and top with our award winning garlic salsa. Served with herbed rice and seasonal veggies.

9-10 oz $24.94 -11-12 oz $27.95 - 12-13 oz $29.95 - 16 oz $35.95

Desserts

Double Chocolate Overload with vanilla ice cream. $6.95

The one and only Elvis Presley Egg Roll. An egg roll filled with banana, peanut butter, milk chocolate, and nutella then deep-fried and served with vanilla ice cream. Way too good. $6.95 SANDY BAY

How about some gift-giving ideas for Valentine's Day?

Diddily’s Gift Shop in West End

New stock arrived just in time for Valentine’s – sundresses in various colors and styles! WEST END

 

Wherever you find yourself on Valentine’s Day, the local Roatan Restaurants, Bars and retail shops will take great care to make it a special one for you!

More information on Roatan Dining and Entertainment.

A new restaurant opens this week on Roatan: Caribbean Blue Tex-Mex Grill and Cantina. The former owners of Sunshine Beach Bar & Grill have a reputation for excellent Tex-Mex cuisine. To celebrate the grand opening, the restaurant are offering specials all week:

Regular lunch specials on Tex-Mex for L100 which includes a drink of iced tea.

Happy Hour every day 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with $1 off all well drinks and domestic beers. Free munchies included.

Wednesday all day will be BBQ sandwich with a side - only L100 (only thing available on Weds) with full bar all day.

THIS THURSDAY NIGHT! 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the local celebrity Bobby Rieman will be entertaining us.

Beginning next Sunday and every Sunday, all you can eat wings for L100 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. AND - L30 Salva Vida (local favorite beer).

 

For a closer look at Roatan Island, browse the Tourism Roatan site. We provide detailed, comprehensive information on Roatan diving, Roatan accommodation, Roatan dining & restaurants, Roatan shore excursions, Roatan spas, Roatan Weddings and more - the most comprehensive travel information website for the Western Caribbean Island of Roatan.

Roatan Shopping - Cruise ship passengers visiting Roatan for the first time may be surprised to see how a small island has such a vibrant and active artistic community. Local artists create one of a kind keepsakes that help visitors remember their trip long after the ship docks back in home port.

If you have limited time shopping on Roatan, gift shops and galleries are a great way to ensure you see the most of local artwork and souvenirs in just a couple of stops. As many cruise ship passengers make it to West End Village, shopping here can be part of your visit along with snorkeling, swimming, checking out the many restaurants and bars. Most shops are located along the main road that runs parallel to Half Moon Bay and the beachfront.

A great selection of local and Central American crafts like Honduran Lencan pottery, mahogany carved boxes and embroidered wall hangings can be found at Diddily’s Gift Shop, West End. They also carry cool jewelry like turquoise earrings and all sizes of toe rings, beachwear, sun dresses and sarongs. Oh, and tons of T-shirts! The cigars, rum and Honduran coffee are great deals.

Waves of Art Gallery & Gifts in West End Village is the place if you are looking for a truly exceptional piece of local artwork. Their selection of jewelry includes stones and silver, glass, Mayan jewelry and the unique line of, “organic jewelry”. Waves of Art support fair trade organizations and local artisan coops. Bonus – air conditioned!

Are you a foodie? Not far from the cruise ship terminals in the community of French Harbour is The Bulk Gourmet. Unquestionably Roatan’s best selection of gourmet and imported specialty foods and liquors. And by selection I mean over 800 cases of liquor, wine and imported beer. Their order online feature allows you to get more of something you may have picked up on the island and just have to have again.

Roatan shopping may surprise you – if you are arriving by cruise ship, make sure you build in time to browse some of the local shops to see what the talented local and Central American artists have created.

Casa del Sol is a boutique resort located at the entrance of West End, Roatan, across from beautiful Half Moon Bay and happens to be one of the best Roatan accommodation deals on the island. If you like being surrounded by tropical, lush gardens in a small boutique-style resort with reasonable rates and within walking distance to all of West End’s restaurants and activities, Casa del Sol is a great option.

Casa del Sol has 10 beautifully appointed rooms and all have either patios or porches that overlook a tropical garden. And don’t let the modest prices fool you; these rooms have the design and style of something you’d expect to pay significantly higher rates: tiled kitchen countertops, tropical colour-washed walls and floors of ceramic tile. Pay a bit more for a deluxe room and you get hand painted Spanish style Talavera sinks along with hard wood French doors leading to a private porch. If you are a fan of local artisan wares, note the Central American handicrafts incorporated into the interior design.

There are different room types to choose from so finding something within your budget or needs is easy. Prices range from $40-$75 making Casa del Sol a great Roatan budget accommodation property. Even more affordable are weekly, monthly and low season rates.

Casa del Sol Budget Rooms are $40 and come with either two single beds or one double, kitchen bar and some have connecting rooms which are great for families.

Casa del Sol Deluxe Studio Rooms and the Deluxe Double on the second floor have kitchens/breakfast bars, queen beds with singles or sofas and talavera sinks in the bathroom.

The One Bedroom Suite at Casa del Sol provides a queen bed, 2 sofa/single beds in the living room along with a full kitchen and breakfast bar and large bathroom with a talavera sink.

Roatan diving and island activities can be arranged with Casa del Sol staff including deepsea fishing, boat tours and snorkelling.

Enomis Divers is a Roatan PADI Dive Resort, specializing in "Valet Diving". Limiting dive groups to no more than 6 divers per divemaster and boat along with small dive classes with no more than 4 students per instructor provides a more personalized experience.  And with no time limits on dives (dives last as long as you can make your air last, within normal accepted safety considerations), Enomis makes sure you get value for your money.

Enomis Divers will cater to divers’ certification and skill levels, choosing dive sites that suit your comfort level. Roatan is blessed with more than 30 dive sites within a distance of 5 to 8 minutes by boat so getting to your underwater playground is easy and fast!

Enomis Divers offers a "Discover scuba diving experience" so you needn’t be certified to try out scuba diving to see if it is something you love.  Master Scuba Divers can take a range of dive specialties from our divemasters - all extremely experienced with the Roatan dive sites, and have over a combined 10,000 dives under their weight belts!

Roatan diving just got even greater with the addition of Enomis Divers! See more details on Enomis and what they can offer you in the way of a Roatan diving experience.

For a closer look at Roatan Island, browse the Tourism Roatan site. We provide detailed, comprehensive information on Roatan diving, Roatan accommodation, Roatan dining & restaurants, Roatan shore excursions, Roatan spas, Roatan Weddings and more - the most comprehensive travel information website for the Western Caribbean Island of Roatan.

Roatan hotels and resorts can be found all over the island and there are some main tourism hotspots where there are plenty of choices both in terms of the number of properties to choose from as well as the type of accommodation experience you might be looking for. Here is a run down of popular places on Roatan where you can stay, play, relax and unwind.

Where to Stay

West End is a centre for diving, dining and nightly entertainment offering a great selection of accommodation styles. As one enters the main road of West End, properties heading to the right (north) offer a quieter, more laid back environment. Those wanting to be in the middle of all the action may wish to choose accommodation along the main road heading left (south). Evenings here can be very active with several restaurants and bars offering live music and the main strip busy with both foot and vehicular traffic.

West Bay is home to one of the Caribbean's best beaches, West Bay Beach. In the daytime, West Bay can be a flurry of activity, particularly on a day when cruise ships are visiting the island. But at night, West Bay turns into a small, quiet tropical hideaway. With a handful of beachfront and hillside accommodation, West Bay is ideal for families, honeymooners or those wanting to escape the masses and witness the perfect sunset. Choose from small scale modern resorts, beachfront and garden bungalows, vacation rental homes and luxury B&Bs. And if you do decide you want in on the action, West End's nightly dining and entertainment is just a 10-minute taxi ride away. (See our taxi fare guide page).

Sandy Bay's quiet, small community feel along with its close proximity to West End makes it a popular choice for accommodation with many Roatan visitors. There are a number of boutique resorts and vacation homes here along with an all-inclusive resort and some budget-type accommodation. Sandy bay is home to Anthony's Key Resort, the first Roatan resort and one of the largest dive operations in the world.

Eastern Roatan is sought out by those wanting a less visited, off-the-beaten-path experience. Where the paved road ends, the serenity blooms and you may find you have entire stretches of beachfront, and miles of nature trails and coral reef to yourself. Resorts are small and intimate and you can expect personalized service that includes arranging small-group dive expeditions, Sunday afternoon barbeques and getting to know the locals that call this area home.

Mid-island accommodation includes the north side of Roatan from Mud Hole east to French Harbour and back along the south side, west toward Coxen Hole. Find solitude in remote parts of the north shore while being pampered at renowned resorts like Palmetto Bay Plantation. Try the brand new luxurious Pristine Bay Resort and its 18-hole golf course, just minutes from French Harbour. Rent out an entire cay for your wedding or special event at Barefoot Cay Resort, located just metres from one of the best wall dives on the island.

For a closer look at Roatan Island, browse the Tourism Roatan site. We provide detailed, comprehensive information on Roatan diving, Roatan accommodation, Roatan dining & restaurants, Roatan shore excursions, Roatan spas, Roatan Weddings and more - the most comprehensive travel information website for the Western Caribbean Island of Roatan.

Cruise ship passengers and hotel resort guests now have more choices when wanting to book a Roatan shore excursion.  Barefeet Tours has developed a new set of tours that include pick up and drop off at the cruise terminals and hotels, guided tour transportation, a visit to West End Village with time for water activities, shopping and sightseeing.

Barefeet Tours can be booked online via the Tourism Roatan website by going to the Book Now! menu. This tour has been designed to offer big discounts on two or more people travelling together in a group. See "Prices" below.

To book, only a 10% deposit is required. The remaining amount is paid to the tour operator upon starting the tour. US cash is the accepted form of payment.

Ronny and Issis, the owners of Barefeet Tours, were born and raised on Roatan and act as your local expert guides. They provide the inside scoop on Roatan's wild history including the days of pirates and early settlement. If you are looking for a personalized, friendly tour that connects you with the local people of Roatan, read on...

Barefeet Tour’s Island Discovery Tour Details:

Your Roatan experience starts with a pick up at your cruise ship terminal or resort and then a tour up to the east end of the island as far as the 'view point'. There is a stop here with a chance to purchase handmade local crafts from local vendors plus a stunning view to the south and east; on a good day here you can see all the way out to the Mosquito Coast on Mainland Honduras. From here you will head back toward West End Village while learning of island history, pirates and ship wrecks by your local tour guides Ronny and Issis.

The bus then takes you to Barefeet Restaurant and bar, which is a locally owned and operated and located right on the beach in West End. Here you can relax under a palapa on the white sands of West End Beach, enjoy your appetizer and fruit drink and then enjoy the beautiful turquoise waters of the Western Caribbean; go for a swim or snorkel on the reef or ride on a Banana Boat. You will have plenty of time to walk through West End Village to do some shopping with plenty of local vendors to choose from. You will be driven back to the cruise ship terminal in plenty of time for departure.

This personalized tour includes

- Pick-up/Drop-off from cruise ship terminal, including Mahogany Bay and Port of Roatan or hotel resort

- Water

- A/C Vehicles

- Tour of the island

- A fresh local fruit drink

- Choice of an appetizer – shrimp cocktail, prawn or chicken fingers

- Private beach

- Snorkelling or banana boat ride

- Shopping at both the View Point and West End Village

Prices:

$60 single person
2 person group $60
3 person group $75
4 person group $80
Prices are in US dollars.

What to Bring for this tour

- Swimwear

- Comfortable clothing

- Hat, sunglasses and sunscreen

 Barefeet Tours can be booked directly on the website by going to the Book Now! section.

 

For a closer look at Roatan Island, browse the Tourism Roatan site. We provide detailed, comprehensive information on Roatan diving, Roatan accommodation, Roatan dining & restaurants, Roatan shore excursions, Roatan spas, Roatan Weddings and more - the most comprehensive travel information website for the Western Caribbean Island of Roatan.