Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: snorkeling

Flying a Drone in Honduras

Our trip to Honduras in April was my first opportunity to travel with the DJI Mavic Pro since I purchased it, so I thought I’d write a little bit about the process of traveling with a drone and share some of the images I took with it. (All photos in this post are from my trusty little Mavic.)

I actually bought the drone before we left for our trip to Peru last summer, but I didn’t yet feel confident about flying it at home let alone in another country, so I decided not to bring it despite all of the amazing photo opportunities we would have had with it. And then our next trip after that was to New York, where my understanding is that drones are pretty much a no-no in the entire city. The whole reason I settled on the DJI Mavic Pro, though, was for its highly portable design, so I’ve been itching to take it somewhere scenic. Enter Roatan, Honduras!

So my first order of business before packing the drone was to research the country-specific guidelines and laws for entering the country with a drone and for flying an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV. I have no interest in breaking any rules and ending up starring in an episode of Locked Up Abroad. I’m a very law-abiding traveler.

Simply doing a search on “drone laws Honduras” provided enough sources to verify their general drone laws, such as not flying over people or large crowds, respecting people’s privacy, and stay out of areas like airports and military facilities. We follow their same guidelines here in the United States plus some additional laws, so after some thorough reading I felt comfortable packing the Mavic in my carry-on camera bag and heading off to Honduras.

Law review, check. Next up: general safety. The Mavic operates on Lithium-ion Polymer batteries and since they can (very rarely!) be hazardous, I purchased a LiPo safety bag and port covers for extra safe transport of the batteries. For anyone wanting to travel with a drone, keep in mind that LiPo batteries are not allowed to be packed in your checked baggage, so you’ll need to plan to carry them on with you. The fire resistant safety bag keeps the batteries contained if they should short-circuit and spark. I also read that the batteries travel best if they’re partially or mostly discharged, so I let them drain before the trip.

Going through security at our airport, Dulles International, was a breeze, or at least as much as it can be these days. I took my Mavic out of my bag along with my other electronics that are larger than a cell phone, and everything cleared the security process with no issues. And just a quick note on going through security, Chris and I have been using CLEAR for almost two years and we absolutely love it. We’ve never had to wait in line, and that gives me plenty of extra time to unload my electronics for the x-ray and re-pack afterward. If you sign up through my link, you’ll receive two months free (and I will, too)!

When we arrived on Roatan, we didn’t have to do any paperwork or processing on the drone like I’ve heard some other countries require. For instance, in Peru you need to apply in advance to receive approval and there is a tax assessed and charged that gets refunded as you exit the country. Bringing the Mavic to Roatan was easy breezy! But since drone laws are constantly evolving, we’ll check the laws again if/when we return to Honduras someday in case anything has changed.

Our rental villa in Camp Bay was the perfect spot to practice flying without disturbing a soul. The last thing I want (besides breaking laws) is to make anyone feel like I’m being a creepy spy, or to bother people with the noise. Once the Mavic is up in the air you can’t hear it, but the take-off is a little loud.

We even had plenty of time and resources to get a little creative with the aerial photos. I had a version of the image below in my head ever since we planned this trip and I had a blast executing my vision! Now I just need to learn how to take images with the Mavic on a self timer so I don’t have to be holding the controls.

This area just down the beach from our rental home was also a fantastic spot to fly. We had the beach all to ourselves one afternoon! I’ll never get over how gorgeous it was from all angles – on the ground and from the air up above, Camp Bay is simply stunning.

I’m really looking forward to traveling with the Mavic more in the future! I also brought it with me on a recent trip to St. John, USVI, with no issues at all and those posts are coming soon. If you are a drone pilot and have any good travel tips or recommendations, please let me know in the comments or send me an email!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for reading and for your support!

June 25, 2018
Island-Hopping the Bay Islands of Honduras

Staying on the island of Roatan gives visitors the opportunity to easily explore other isles in the Bay Islands. The archipelago is made up of three large islands, Utila, Roatan, and Guanaja, and also several smaller islands including Santa Elena, Barbareta, Morat, and, Cayos Cochinos.

Chris and I jumped at the opportunity to do some island hopping while on Roatan, first with local guide Mr. Johnny who picked us up in his motorized canoe for an off-the-beaten-path experience through the mangroves forest.

We passed along the familiar shoreline until the trees changed shape into those of mangroves with long, thirsty roots. Mr. Johnny expertly maneuvered the canoe into an extremely narrow opening in the forest where we navigated through a cut just wide enough for the boat.

Mr. Johnny taught us about the plants and animals indigenous to the mangroves forest all while paddling and simultaneously ducking as we glided along smoothly under the forest canopy. The mangroves roots were close enough to touch and I wondered how we didn’t get stuck! Mangrove fun-fact: they are salt-tolerant trees that have adapted to life in harsh coastal conditions.

Once we found our way out of the mangroves maze, Mr. Johnny pointed us to a tiny island on the south side of Roatan. We had a pretty beach to ourselves along with a view of a sunken fishing boat near the reef. In my excitement to go on this tour, I grabbed our snorkels and fins, but completely forgot to bring our dive masks. Snorkeling fail!

For our final stop, we explored the shore of Santa Elena to do some beachcombing – I love looking for seaglass and special shells or rocks. It was the perfect ending to a fun and informative tour around the islands.

Speaking of special rocks, our Camp Bay neighbor, Chrissie, recommended a trip out to Barbareta to see Jade Beach where we would likely have the beach all to ourselves (our favorite kind of beach). Another fantastic local guide, Hanford, whisked us away in the Little Jeyni for a quick ride along the coast heading east toward our destination, Barbareta.

Miles of unspoiled beaches, lush tropical forests, and a huge stretch of reef make up a marine national park on the privately owned island of Barbareta. We arrived on the shore of Jade Beach where we were greeted by armed guards protecting the perimeter of the park. My understanding is that visitors are allowed to spend time on the beach or in the water, but may not go into the forest in order to protect the island’s parrots and other wildlife.

We snorkeled to our hearts’ content to find some of the most healthy reef we’ve seen to-date. Oddly we didn’t see tons of fish, but we were impressed with the abundance of colorful corals. Chris was on underwater camera duty this day since I was having major equipment issues (new mask, not impressed with it!) so the photo credits on these stunning reef photos go to him.

We walked the length of the beach a couple of times to find the best pieces of natural jade stone. I probably could have filled our suitcases with the beautiful stones, but I made myself settle on just one to bring home. Okay, okay, I brought two pieces home – one is much smaller and I’m hoping I can have it made into a pendant for a necklace.

After snorkeling we worked up quite an appetite, so we were thrilled to enjoy such an amazing lunch at one of Hanford’s relative’s house on Santa Elena. Geraline (I hope I spelled that right!) served a huge home-cooked spread for us and it was one of our favorite meals of the trip.

If you’re on Roatan and especially if you’re staying toward the east end, don’t miss the opportunity to do some island-hopping with Mr. Johnny and Hanford! At the time of writing this blog article, I don’t have contact info to post for Mr. Johnny’s mangroves tour, but just ask around – he is well-known, and if you’re staying in Camp Bay he will be easy to find. Hanford can be contacted here. Happy exploring!

May 22, 2018
Off the Beaten Path in Camp Bay, Roatan

You know when you find an unspoiled, incredibly special corner of the world and you sort of want to keep it a secret, but you know you probably should share it so as not to be a completely selfish human being? Camp Bay, Roatan is one of those places. Chris and I fell pretty hard for it, so I’m doing the right thing and spreading the word about this Caribbean gem.

While the west side of Roatan is a popular Caribbean cruise destination, Chris and I generally love to get away from the crowds and find spots that are less developed for tourism. So once we honed in on the idea of visiting Roatan, we looked away from the cruise ship ports to see what else we could find. I discovered information about Camp Bay and immediately decided we should head all the way east on the island to find our peaceful paradise. Plus, once I saw photos of a villa called Living Waters, I was sold. You’ll see what I mean.

During my trip research I read several mentions about how tricky it is to drive to the east end, but Chris and I are always up for a bit of adventure. Undeterred, we decided we would rent an SUV and hit the road toward the more undeveloped part of the island.

The roads were indeed bumpy since they are unpaved about 1/3 of the way, and even the paved roads are a bit of an obstacle course with some pretty serious potholes, but we took it slow (there’s no need to hurry on island time anyway!) and we had zero issues getting to and from Camp Bay.

Once we arrived, my jaw hit the beautifully tiled floor of our home-away-from-home for the week. If you’ve been following our travels, you may have noticed that Chris and I usually tend to favor staying in a private home rather than a resort or hotel. Living Waters ended up being our favorite villa to-date!

On top of being spoiled with such a fantastic house in a stunning location, it never rained once during our entire stay. As many times as we’ve endured some pretty bad weather situations while traveling, I’m truly grateful for these trips where it all goes off without a hitch.

(I hope I’m not jinxing ourselves for next time.)

When we weren’t in the pool listening to our beach mix playlist and enjoying a cold drink from the comfort of a pineapple-shaped float (how is that for an idyllic relaxation combo?!), we made use of the kayaks to paddle ourselves around the crystal clear waters behind the house. Kayaking here was one of my favorite activities of the week!

Chris also did some snorkeling near the house. We originally intended to take the kayak all the way out to the reef (you can see it in the distance in the picture below, where the water breaks into a small bit of white) and do some snorkeling there, but the lure of lounging by the pool overtook our desire to do anything strenuous. I’m sure you can understand. And besides, mid-week we were treated to a boat ride right up to the reef on another island for some really great snorkeling – more on that in an upcoming post!

If I haven’t fully convinced you to take a trip to Camp Bay yet, take a look at Camp Bay Beach.

Did you book your plane tickets yet?!

If a private villa isn’t your cup of tea, Camp Bay Lodge is situated a few lots down from where we stayed. The rooms look comfortable and charming, and the Lodge offers kite surfing lessons! We ran out of time to try it, but after watching the surfers behind the house all week, we decided we want to go back and give it a go (but we’ll definitely be staying at Living Waters again). Camp Bay is also home to Dive Pangea, owned by one of the nicest women you’ll ever meet, Chrissie. If you’re into scuba diving, I implore you to get yourself out to the east end and dive with her! She is a wealth of knowledge about the island and the reef.

Unspoiled beach, tranquil accommodations, and adventure in the form of water sports – what else do you need? Food? The east end of Roatan has that, too.

We did a big grocery store trip in at Eldon’s in French Harbour before arriving to the house so that we could eat several meals there, but we went out to eat several times, too. A few steps down the beach sits La Sirena, where you can drink the best rum punch on the island while watching the sun set.

After a short drive along the main road one evening, we found ourselves at The Crow’s Nest in Coxen Hole for delicious margaritas inspired by local flavors including island plum and mango. Anywhere I can feel like I’m in a jungle treehouse enjoying good food and drinks is fine by me!

And in sticking to our tradition of finding food with a Mexican flare while traveling (seriously, we end up eating Mexican food pretty much anywhere we go), we hit up Temporary Cal’s Cantina for some fish tacos. Cal’s is located mid-island and it took us over a half-hour to get there, but we’re always willing to drive a distance for chips and salsa.

We ended our week with a spectacular King Crab feast at a French Harbor restaurant, but more on that in a future post. And all of that is to say we didn’t go hungry by situating ourselves in Camp Bay. We never felt isolated (at least not in a bad way; we did feel blissfully far from the crowds), or like we couldn’t get out and explore.

Need more ideas for what to do around Camp Bay? Before you think we just sat around in these hammocks all week, up next is a post about our adventures on neighboring Bay Islands!

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April 29, 2018
Moving Pictures: The Maldives

When Chris and I visited The Maldives last year, I didn’t intend to put together a little video of our trip and therefore I didn’t film much, and I certainly didn’t put a lot of effort into the clips I did take. But this past weekend I was reminiscing about the trip and looking through photos, and I realized I had a few decent shots that I could string together in a very short montage. So without further ado, here it is!

March 26, 2018
Resort Life at Komandoo

And now for some unintentional rhyming, welcome to part two of my Komandoo review! For my thoughts on the resort’s accommodations, reef, and on the island itself, please see the previous post. In this post I’ll cover Komandoo’s service, recreation, and food.

Spoiler alert: I loved this place. I miss everything about it.

Service

As I mentioned in my previous post, we were instantly wowed with the service from the moment we stepped off the plane. Our luggage was whisked away to our room (I’m so grateful for not having to drag our bags through the sand), we were handed a a cold towel, a fresh coconut, and a scoop of homemade coconut ice cream, and then Stefanie gave us a helpful overview of the island while walking us to our villa.

Speaking of the villa, our room attendant, Ibrahim, made sure we always had everything we needed throughout the week. He quietly swooped in and out when we left to go to the restaurant or to snorkel, and we loved returning to our temporary home to find everything completely spotless along with fresh towels expertly crafted into animal shapes. We enjoyed the little sweet treats he left for us at the end of each day, and we especially savored the white chocolate-covered strawberries on Valentine’s Day.

Every time we ate at Falhu, the main restaurant, Shimaal and Ali waited on us with grace and care. No request was too big or too small, and we didn’t want for anything day in and day out. Things seemed to run seamlessly at the restaurant and in all areas, for that matter. We felt taken care of by the entire team at Komandoo – they seem to truly love their jobs. Everyone we encountered beamed with smiles and gave us the warmest greetings, and we felt they genuinely wanted us to have a wonderful time at the resort.

Recreation

I’m generally not a do-nothing kind of traveler even when it is vacation, and Komandoo’s recreation and relaxation offerings provide the perfect place for someone who likes to stay busy. But it’s a fun and/or relaxing kind of busy, of course.

An extensive menu of treatments and services at the Duniye Spa is an excellent place to start, but I didn’t end up getting to use the spa! I kept thinking I would go, but before I knew it our time on the island was up and I hadn’t booked a single treatment. Even the laziest of days passed so quickly, so my advice is to take advantage of everything your heart desires. I’ll be sure to promptly sign up for a service or two on our next visit.

On the more active side of things, Komandoo provides plenty of outlets for sporty and adventurous types. With a fully outfitted dive center right on the island, guests have a wide range of scuba diving opportunities for both beginners and experienced divers. They also offer snorkeling trips and rental equipment. Chris and I opted to bring our own fins, masks, and snorkels since we planned to do as much snorkeling as possible, but it looked like the dive center and shop had a great selection of gear.

The one thing I definitely set out to do on this trip was a snorkeling excursion to see manta rays. We stopped by the ProDivers dive center to sign up, but we were told by one of the dive center members that the unfortunately manta rays had not been out and about the past couple of weeks and that he didn’t want to disappoint us, which I appreciated. So we’ll just have that on our list for next time. We have been on quite a few boating trips to snorkel, and we were really looking forward to being able to snorkel right off the shore. That’s exactly what we did almost every day and we loved it.

In addition to scuba diving and snorkeling and fishing trips, several water sports are on offer including kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and wind surfing. I love kayaking and would have enjoyed trying SUP and/or wind surfing, but we had an unusually crazy windy week on the island and I didn’t want to wind up on another island or even lost at sea, so we didn’t attempt any of these. My list of reasons to return to Komandoo is quite long at this point, so I guess we’ll just have to go back!

As it turns out, I truly needed a good bit of unscheduled downtime, so it was perfectly fine that we didn’t do any water sports (other than snorkeling) or the manta ray excursion. Chris did beat me at a leisurely game of giant chess though. And tucked into various areas all over the island we also found other ways to stay active if we wanted to – table tennis, a dart board, a fitness center, and a volleyball/badminton court.

Last but not least, Komandoo offers boat trips for deep sea fishing, visiting local islands, or to watch the sunset. I hear the sunset cruise frequently includes dolphin sightings and we signed up for that one, but we missed it. Someone, I won’t mention names, fell asleep that afternoon. Instead, we happily watched a beautiful sunset with cocktails from the Thundi bar, which ended up being one of our daily rituals.

Food & Drinks

Let me first preface things by saying Chris and I are not necessarily foodies, but we do love to eat and drink and we did a lot of it at the resort. Komandoo has two restaurants and two bars, one of which also serves food. We might not be qualified to comment on the spa or the water sports activities, but we certainly ate and drank enough to have opinions about the food and drinks!

A note on Komandoo’s all-inclusive packages. We opted for the full board plan which includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Falhu restaurant, and drinks like tea, coffee, and also juice at breakfast. I went back and forth on whether or not to upgrade to one of the all-inclusive package with alcoholic drinks. All guests in the booking are required to be on the same package, and while I do love my cocktails, I wasn’t sure I’d drink enough to hold up my end of the price difference. And yep, in the end the full board plan worked out well for us and it wouldn’t have been worth upgrading, even with our daily use of the mini-bar and happy hours.

The Thundi bar was conveniently located steps from the water villas, so we frequented this spot and enjoyed tropical drinks to go with gorgeous sunsets.

The Kandu Bar, situated by the pool and reception, offered a larger selection of drinks including a fabulous version of my island favorite, a banana piña colada, along with a food menu. We ordered lunch here a couple of times (not included in the full board or all-inclusive packages) when we were craving burgers/sandwiches or fish and chips and we absolutely loved the food. Everything came to us fresh, hot, and wonderfully prepared.

We ate at the main restaurant, Falhu, for all of our other meals outside of those two lunches and one lunch at sister resort Hurawalhi. We had several breakfasts from Falhu via room service in our villa, and were pleasantly surprised to find a reasonable fee for doing so ($7 per person). We didn’t end up trying the Aqua fine dining restaurant at Komandoo since we opted to go to Hurawalhi’s 5.8 Undersea Restaurant instead (separate post coming soon) and it felt a little weird to pay for full board meals and miss too many of them.

I read so many reviews ahead of our trip that raved about the food at Komandoo. Falhu serves all meals buffet style, so I assumed the reviews meant the food was good…for a buffet. We’ve been on a couple of cruises and tons of weddings, and I expected typical buffet food.

This wasn’t typical buffet food. Not to mention Falhu’s wonderful atmosphere: soft sand floors, open-air with a cute thatched roof, and stunning views from the deck.

Each meal we were presented with an inspired array of international dishes: Maldivian, Italian, Indian, and one night we were even treated to a beach barbecue. I failed to get more photos of Falhu’s buffet like the meat-carving station and the made-to-order pasta station because I was just too busy filling my plate with deliciousness each time. I can be kind of a picky eater, but I always found plenty of things to enjoy. And of course, it was fun to try ~~two~~ ~~three~~ four different mini desserts guilt-free.

Now that we are back home, I am sorely missing our daily life at Komandoo! I think the only thing I would change about our visit is to stay longer next time.

Up next: our culinary adventure at 5.8 Undersea Restaurant.

March 20, 2017