Jan 24, 2008
Where in the tropics can you avoid the peak-winter crowds? I have two suggestions
We are approaching February and March, the two most heavily-booked months in winter travel to Central America and Mexico. Most destinations in the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico will be jam-packed at costly rates -- except for two:
The Mexican State of Nayarit, an hour or so north of Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific Coast, is an up-and-coming beach area that is as yet unknown to most Americans. I wrote about it several months ago, and again commend it to you. Its peak-winter rates will be far below the levels charged elsewhere on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and its unspoiled towns and villages will be a delight to visit. San Blas, Guayabitos, and Nuevo Vallarta, are the towns to choose, and the most casual search will turn up major winter bargains.
And then there's the Honduras location for scuba-diving and snorkeling that's been overshadowed to date by the thriving Roatan, in the Bay Islands of that nation. The island of Utila is currently like Roatan used to be, and is frequently recommended by connoisseurs of scuba locations. Go to AboutUtila.com (www.aboututila.com), click on various houses and apartments for rent, and you'll be agreeably surprised by the bargains available to you in this smallest and least developed of the Bay Islands of Honduras.
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The Mexican State of Nayarit, an hour or so north of Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific Coast, is an up-and-coming beach area that is as yet unknown to most Americans. I wrote about it several months ago, and again commend it to you. Its peak-winter rates will be far below the levels charged elsewhere on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and its unspoiled towns and villages will be a delight to visit. San Blas, Guayabitos, and Nuevo Vallarta, are the towns to choose, and the most casual search will turn up major winter bargains.
And then there's the Honduras location for scuba-diving and snorkeling that's been overshadowed to date by the thriving Roatan, in the Bay Islands of that nation. The island of Utila is currently like Roatan used to be, and is frequently recommended by connoisseurs of scuba locations. Go to AboutUtila.com (www.aboututila.com), click on various houses and apartments for rent, and you'll be agreeably surprised by the bargains available to you in this smallest and least developed of the Bay Islands of Honduras.
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Aug 8, 2007
By popular demand: a cheaper scuba-diving week on Roatan Island, Honduras
Aghast that I could recommend paying $1,699 for a week-long air-and-dive-package to Roatan, one of the "Bay Islands" of Honduras, a number of users of this blog have asked whether Capricorn Leisure (the chief specialist to Honduras) has a cheaper alternative. I defend myself by pointing out that Capricorn's $1,699 package includes not simply airfare, seven nights at Anthony's Key Resort, airport-to-hotel transfers, three meals daily, and numerous extras, but also a complete week-long "dive package" (tanks, belt weights, boats twice daily, and all else), and is therefore cheap at the price. But Capricorn, when contacted by me, made the point that it does charge a cheaper $1,309 per person for all of the above features, but with accommodations at the beach-side Fantasy Island Resort in Roatan. Again, you receive all three meals and every element of equipment, transport, and dive accessories for a week spent under the sea (in twice-daily dives). Unlike Anthony's Key Resort, which consists of many individual bungalows much prized by scuba divers, Fantasy Island Resort is a one-building hotel, but one that apparently has a good reputation and many satisfied clients. Again, contact the 30-year-old Capricorn Leisure at tel. 800/426-6544, or www.capricorn.net.
Does anyone dispute that $1,309 for a complete, weeklong dive package, as well as accommodations, transfers, three meals daily and round-trip air from the States, is a deal-and-a-half for such a prized location?
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Does anyone dispute that $1,309 for a complete, weeklong dive package, as well as accommodations, transfers, three meals daily and round-trip air from the States, is a deal-and-a-half for such a prized location?
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Aug 3, 2007
If you're an avid scuba-diver, the place is Roatan and the tour packager is Capricorn
Probably the world's cheapest top-quality scuba diving is off the English-speaking Bay Islands of Honduras in Central America, and especially at the island of Roatan, to which Delta Airlines flies non-stop from Atlanta in both directions on Saturday (go from any other city or on any other carrier or day of the week and you've got to fly from the U.S. to San Pedro Sula in Honduras, and then spend most of the day waiting for a connection to Roatan). And the top, moderately priced scuba diving "hotel" is Anthony's Key Resort (tel. 800/227-3483; www.anthonyskey.com), whose one-week package includes all the equipment (air tanks, belt weights) and scuba boat rides you'll need. Anthony's is not really a hotel but a collection of cottages in which there are two grades of rooms: "standard" (without air-conditioning) and "superior" (with air conditioning). The foremost tour operator to Roatan is the 30-year-old Capricorn Leisure (tel. 800/426-6544; www.capricorn.net), and over the next several months from after Labor Day until mid-December, it will be offering a non-stop Saturday flight on Delta from Atlanta to Roatan, seven nights in a "standard" room, all three meals each day (and they're good, copious meals), a complete weeklong dive package, and numerous extras, including round-trip airport-to-hotel transfers, a dolphin encounter, ecology lecture, tropical picnic, horseback riding, kayaking and canoeing -- for $1,699. For departures after the first of the year and throughout the winter, figure $100 to $200 more; and figure exactly $200 more for an upgrade to a "superior" room with that unnecessary air conditioning.
So what are you waiting for? If you can scare up $1,699, you can toss aside all those dull business routines and go flinging yourself into an under-the-sea adventure.
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Labels: central america, diving, honduras
Jul 16, 2007
Honduras is hot (but not yet inundated with tourists)
Honduras (Tourism Board tel. 800/410-9608; www.letsgohonduras.com) is a newcomer to mass tourism and thus lacks the megaresorts that are beginning to sprout elsewhere in the region. And yet an increasing number of culturally sensitive, scuba-loving Americans are flocking to its ancient ruins of Copán ("Athens of the Mayan World") and inexpensive diving facilities on the offshore island of Roatan and other nearby meccas ("the Bay islands") of the underwater world. Roatan is undergoing special development and expanding its appeal beyond divers to honeymooners and sun-worshipers by throwing up mid-size condos and small boutique properties like Turquoise Bay (tel. 786/623-6121; www.turquoisebayresort.com), where doubles rent from $100. Near Copan, a new airport is about to make the stunning ruins and lovely colonial town more accessible, and sustainable-development plans for eco-sensitive resorts are underway for the Caribbean coast, with its fascinating Garifuna (Afro-Caribbean) communities. Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: central america, honduras
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
