A relatively uneventful last morning on Roatan. I had emailed Liz the day before to check on the cost for electricity, just to make sure that I had close to the right change on hand. Found out that power down there is 44 cents per kwH. I just looked at one of our power bills (last paper bill was 2008) and it was 8.5 cents per kwH. No wonder they're so fussy about using air conditioning. Anyway, I had told Liz that we wanted to be away from the house by ten or very shortly after, so by 10:15 we tried calling and no answer (although we were somewhat cell phone challenged)...Locked up the house and went to the rental agency office in West Bay. They called the main office, which for some reason was going to check us out at 11:30, so we just gave them our electricity meter reading, paid our $103, and off we went. Headed down to the dive shop (Sylvie said I couldn't leave without saying good bye, and the boat was out on the second dive when we paid the bill). Got our good byes in, although I never saw Captain, not sure where he went between dives that day. Got my last driving session in on those Roatan highways, I think I might have made it up to 70 Km/hr once this month on the downhill into West Bay, but it feels like you are driving so fast with all the curves and hills. Threatened to stop at Sandy Bay again to see if the Idiots were home but Eileen wouldn't let me, so we ended up at the airport in good time. The low fuel warning light came on just as we were coming through Coxen Hole, guess the gas was a little lower than I thought. Joseph was in the parking lot waiting for us, so the car turnover lasted about two minutes. That was long enough for a husker to get our luggage onto his cart, so off he went. I gave Joseph my last small bill ($5) and all the lempiras I had (5) to make up for the low gas tank. All I had left in my wallet was a couple of hundreds, so my luggage guy just told me his name, and said that I'd be getting some change when I paid the departure tax. I did look him up and got him a few bucks.
Almost nobody in line, no grief at the counter, luggage checked, extra bag paid for, departure tax paid, all within fifteen minutes. Went over to the small eating area, got a couple of Port Royals, ate the sub that Eileen had picked up in West Bay, had my last warm weather cigar, got through security, sat for an hour or so, and off we went. Flight was only half full. Arrived in Houston on time, which gave us 2 hours between flights, and we needed almost every minute of it. Hordes of people going through customs, then get your bags and go through another lineup. Just when you think you're in the clear (you haven't yet left a secure area), you need to get re-checked. Maybe the USA has higher standards for their screening or something, but it was unexpected that we would have a another, shoes off, full carry on scan before we could continue. The line up here was huge with lots of disgruntled people. It moved fairly quickly and we knew we had lots of time, never the less, we were hungry, and by the time we got through we were just able to grab some fried chicken to go, ate at the departure lounge, wiped our fingers, and on board we went. This flight was packed but uneventful.
Stayed the the Days Inn and Suites in Denver, good value, great shuttle service, and a decent free breakfast. Would certainly stay there again. Our flight wasn't leaving until late morning so we had tons of time. Cruised the shops in the airport, spent a bit more money at the horse place, and got ready to board. Some confusion as to who was bringing our plane to the gate, the pilots expected it to be delivered to the dock and it wasn't there. One hour delay finding a plane......then my dive bag didn't get to Saskatoon, Mandy was still waiting for us when we got there, the dive bag got here the next day, Gavin waited 45 minutes in line to pick it up and then got sent to a different counter.....everything is still in it, but it looks like it had a rough trip.
The good, the bad. and the ugly: loved the house and the privacy but didn't like being so far away from everything (sort of a give and take argument there), loved having the car and driving those roads, as always, the food on Roatan is awesome, the diving and the dive shop were first class. The nasty wind.......all the locals crave the breeze that you get up in the Turrets but for more than a few days it wasn't a breeze, it was a wicked wind. Maybe that would be good in the heat of June, but it wasn't nice in February. Next time we'll find something on the south side, and on the water.
That being said, it was a great holiday......now to start planning for next year......somewhere
