“A ‘Work’ Trip to Roatan, Honduras”
Tuesday was passport day. I had made an appointment at the downtown Dallas emergency passport office. All the necessary documents were reviewed and I was sent to another window, anticipating receiving my shiny new passport. Not so fast – “You have to come back tomorrow afternoon to pick it up.” “But I live so far away and can’t afford to take time off work again, and if I don’t go on this trip I’ll get fired.” My fabricated sob stories were all in vain.
Deciding to make the best of another drive downtown, I invited Diana to accompany me and have lunch afterwards in Oak Cliff. The passport was ready – all set to travel again. I surprised Diana with a new place for lunch – Paradiso in the Bishop Arts district. We sat in the courtyard and enjoyed an excellent lunch – one of the best salads that we’ve had in a long time. A nice new find to add to our Oak Cliff rotation.
After lunch we strolled around the corner and enjoyed a browse and a coffee at the delightful Wild Detectives book store. This is my favourite retail establishment in all of Dallas.
We woke up very early on Friday morning, grabbed our passports and luggage and headed for the airport to catch our 7am flight to Miami. A quick change, and we were on our way to Roatan, Honduras. Here’s a picture from the plane as we flew over the beautiful Caribbean islands:
“Where is Roatan?”, you ask. Here’s a map to help you get oriented:
Roatan is a Caribbean island, about 40 miles off the coast of Honduras, with a population of around 100,000. It has the second largest coral reef in the world, after the Australian Great Barrier reef. We had the choice of attending year end award celebrations in Las Vegas, Roatan, or Cancun, and decided to try somewhere new. What a great choice that ended up being!
A bus was waiting for us at the tiny Roatan airport (4 gates) to shuttle us to the Grand Roatan resort.
This is located on the very West end of the island and was just gorgeous. Not too big, with an awesome beach and beach front restaurant. Here are some pictures of the resort.
Our condo was behind the tropical forest on the right hand side of the last picture, and had a wonderful view out over the reef.
The advance party, Blair (COO), Lachie (CEO), Nikki (CRO) and Lisa (Blair’s wife) were already installed at the beach restaurant, and we joined them for lunch and margaritas.
We hung out chatting on the beach for the afternoon, and then an impromptu dance party broke out.
Jorge (VP for LATAM) arrived in the late afternoon, just in time to teach McD some new dance moves:
And to sing for Lisa:
I am very fortunate to work with such fun and kind people.
After the sun set, we walked down the beach and enjoyed a yummy meal on the deck of the Argentinian Grill. D’s lobster tails were gobbled up.
Lachie had planned on renting a boat on Saturday, but the rainy season was in full force in the morning, so we pushed that to Sunday. As we were heading down to the beach in the afternoon on Saturday afternoon, we ran into Lachie, who joined us for the afternoon. We told stories and he worked on both of us to try and push my retirement date out as far as he could. “You want to work from the south of France? That’s totally fine with me.”
I forgot to mention that we did get one workout in on Saturday morning. The gym was brand new and very well equipped, with a terrific view.
When the rain let up, we had a nice walk down to the far end of the beach.
Sunday was one of those fantastic days that just evolve. The rain came again during breakfast, so we relaxed for a while and waited for it to pass. Around 10am, we made the short walk down the beach and boarded our boat for the day. We cruised around the island, stopping for some snorkeling, and then pulled into an isolated restaurant, “The Cove”, for another great meal. Blair and I hiked into the jungle to “The Brewery” in search of cigars – no luck. I did have a good chat with the owner – used to work the front of the house at the Granada theater in Dallas – where we’ve seen many concerts.
The girls made me a bit nervous making their way to the bow of the boat for a better view and sunbathing.
Unfortunately the rain came again in the late afternoon. We were out beyond the shelf in 2,700 feet of water, and so our captain put some lines out, hoping to catch some dinner. No luck on that, but we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow.
There are not many better ways to pass a day than cruising around a lovely island with good people.
Our award winners arrived on Monday morning. We greeted them at reception, got them checked in, and then participated in some games on the beach. Everyone got a welcome bag with a swim shirt and button down shirt for the evening. Here’s the crew in their swim shirts.
I really didn’t enjoy the “beach skiing”, but did well at the canoe race.
While we rested up for the evening event, Diana and Lisa went off down the beach shopping with the wonderful Alex as a tour guide. He took pictures of them on the oversize chair.
I’m so fortunate that Diana has become such good friends with Lisa – they really enjoy hanging out together while we’re “working.”
The awards dinner was so well produced with so much heart. The stories and videos of the winners were really touching.
The after dinner dancing got off to a slowish start until the two party starters took over – doing an excellent job of getting everyone on the dance floor.
Diana was having so much fun dancing that I kept getting the “Just 15 minutes more” story when trying to head to bed.
Tuesday was a free day and we spent it relaxing on the beach and reading. BP made an appearance – although the park ranger did tell me “no penguins allowed on the beach.”
We enjoyed a late lunch with Pepe and Rebecca – such a nice couple, and Rebecca was a good, chatty addition to the D and Lisa duo.
Travel home on Wednesday was smooth – just a short delay in Miami and, as is typical these days, folks behind us that talked for the entire flight. My new passport worked without any issues.
There had been some storms in McKinney while we were gone, so it was straight back into pool girl cleanup mode for McD.
My book this week was “The Dark Remains” by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin – two authors that I enjoy very much.
McIlvanney’s Laidlaw books were a completely new force in crime fiction when originally published years ago. When he died in 2015, he left half of a handwritten manuscript about Laidlaw’s first case. Ian Rankin finished what McIlvanney started.
This is an excellent tale of the criminal world in 1970s Glasgow, and the Laidlaw character is wonderful as always.
From a conversation with both authors transcribed at the end of the book – McIlvanney:
“I come from twenty miles outside Glasgow – “How can a Kilmarnockian write about Glasgow?” It’s twenty miles! There’s buses and things! But it was regarded as kind of preposterous that he would have Camus and so on.”
Thanks for letting me steal this book, Mum.
“Walking Wounded”, McIlvanney’s short story collection, has pride of place in the Top 10 books I’ve read section of the bookshelves.
Somebody, likely Lachie (Aussie), was playing this INXS song on the trip. Such a great band:
This was a staple on Jorge’s playlist. Something a bit different for me but a super catchy hook:
And finally, some sweet singing and guitar from Gary Clark Jr.:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!