Over time, the scarcity has become less visible and the quality of island life has evolved. In 1970s and 80s, the quality of Roatan life had foundations in good food, intact nature, little stress, and a close-knit, high-trust society where everyone knew and could count on each other.
In the 1990s and 2000s, the quality evolved still and became more about clean air, clean water, and a nice reef. Starting in the 2010s and 20s, the economy and island population has exploded. There are hundreds of well-stocked stores, strangers, and foreign languages all around. All in all, however, life on the island is still fun, healthy, and exciting. There are several things that contribute to a quality of life on Roatan, and I list them below:
The Basics
Good, year-round climate is the reason why many foreigners come to move to or retire on Roatan. They escape the cold, wet winters of Maine, Minnesota, and Manitoba.
Roatan is blessed with good, clean air, far away from polluted urban centers. Island residents should feel blessed, as there are billions of people living in places filled with dirty, obscure, and toxic air. Except for a few weeks of Central American June grass burning season, the island’s air is clean.
The island’s water comes from a subterranean aquifer that while diminishing, still provides us with quality H2O. The drinking water companies like Sun Water and Ramirez pump the water and purify it through reverse osmosis filters. To the benefit of us all, they do not add fluoride or chlorine.
Culinary Delights
Honduras is also a serious quality food exporter, and this good food is quite affordable on Roatan. The supermarket shelves are filled with great Honduran, shade-grown coffee of various kinds – Honduran beans, seafood, and meats. Eldon’s Supermarket is the best-stocked supermarket in Honduras, if not Central America.
Over the last 20 years, the island exploded with quality and diverse restaurants. For example, in 2003, Atlantic Chinese restaurant in Los Fuertes was the only place on the island to serve oriental cuisine. When Atlantic closed its doors, there was nothing for several years. Now, there are three Chinese restaurants, four to five places that serve sushi, a Thai restaurant, and even an Indian restaurant.
Education
Private primary education on the island began in the 19th century with Royal Readers textbooks being taught to children in private homes. Private secondary education started with ESBIR in 1983, and continued with Roatan Alternative School in Sandy Bay in 2003. Now there are seven private schools: ESBIR, several Christian schools, and a Montessori. There are even two universities, and one of them, UTH, is finishing a campus in French Cay.
Island is still fun, healthy and exciting.
Fast Internet
In 2003, many customers still used telephone dial up for their internet needs. The island connectivity – along with the rest of the planet – has come a long way since then. There are now several companies competing for internet customers, and a fiber optic internet cable connected the island to the mainland and beyond in 2020. Internet speeds, reliability, and costs are now matching what is available in the USA or Canada.
Government Offices
In 1980, there were just a few government agencies on Roatan: customs officer, a port captain, and a police chief. Even in 2000s, if you needed something, you had to go to Tegucigalpa, or at least to La Ceiba to have it done. There is the immigration office and a tax office. In the 2020s, Roatan is booming, and a central government helping you to hand over your money.
Small Community, For Now
Life in cities or big towns can be hectic, stressful, and unsafe. The Greeks said life in a city of over 100,000 becomes unlivable and filled with crime.
Island life keeps one more connected to people that you see over and over again. People are friendly here. Your neighbors are ready to help in an emergency, and those emergencies do keep coming. Life in a big city, on the other hand, gives you a certain level of anonymity and insulation from people you don’t want to see. In a big enough city, you can cut someone off on the road, show him the finger, and expect to never to see them again. These type of actions have consequences on Roatan, so you see them rarely.
If you offend someone on the island, you are likely to see them the next day at a store, or stuck in traffic in Coxen Hole. You cannot count on anonymity on an island that is only 54 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide. Actions have consequences here, and that is a chief reason that Roatanians behave nicely to each other still.
Nature Above and Below Water
Today, the island is still green and relatively undeveloped. Out of 20,000 acres of Roatan’s surface, about 75% is still undeveloped forest or grassland. That number, however, was 90% just 25 years ago, and it is no doubt the island’s urban centers and gated communities that are growing in leaps and bounds.
As a warning to those who care, there are examples of many other Caribbean islands which were once just as beautiful as Roatan. These islands have overdeveloped, their resources were exploited, their trees were cut down, and their landscape became a jungle of concrete. Roatan is not that way yet, and hopefully never will.
Energy of Ideas
Roatan attracts energetic, entrepreneurial people with ideas. Some individuals arrive with novel ideas like charter cities and Bitcoin. Others come here with classical ideas that have been around for millennia, but need to be periodically rediscovered. Those people are about hard work, healthy food, dependability, and appreciation for small, tight communities that support one another.
Roatan has plenty of the free stuff.
Healthcare
Foreign expats retired on Roatan in their 60s, and as their health gets worse, a few years or decades later and in their 70 and 80s, they move back to the USA. They are typically in need of specialized health care and ease of care. These days they are on their way out, and a few people are even talking of an assisted living home being built on the island.
There are now small and large private health clinics all over the island that make life for the elderly much easier. There are dozens of medical specialists living on the island, and their services cost a fraction of what they would in USA or Canada.
Ease of Travel
Maritime travel to and from the island has gotten easier, quicker, and more affordable. You can head off the island on a fast catamaran five times a day. A weekend gateway to Utila or Guanaja is super easy to arrange. Dream Ferries has done a run connecting Roatan with Puerto Cortés via Utila.
That ease of travel wasn’t always the case. Back in the 1970s and 80s, the only way to travel to Roatan was via a dory, or a rickety airplane from La Ceiba. Things have changed greatly, and the island is not only accessible, it is also a hub for hopping to nearby Utila and Guanaja. There are regular flights to El Salvador, Belize, Cayman Islands, and Guatemala. Once a second airport terminal opens, that should get better still.
That is the great advantage of living 20 minutes from an international airport, which Roatan has. The island is separated by two flights from thousands of places around the globe. Islanders are just one flight away from Miami, Dallas, or Houston, and after a change of terminals, you could be on your way to Timbuktu.
Music Scene
Roatan has been alive with the sounds of music since the Garifuna arrived here in 1797. Today, there are a couple dozen bands and musicians that play and perform all around the island. The island musical scale ranges from Garifuna dancers to Country and Western music, with Bobbie Rieman, Muddy, The Happy Boys, and Londoners, to name a few.
Value
In the end, it all comes down to the bang for the buck. In 2025, things on Roatan are still affordable, and land and many homes can be purchased for a reasonable price. While you might have to fork over a hefty $9 million for a three bedroom villa in Saint Barts, you can own a mansion for 5% of that, or $400,000, on Roatan’s east end.
As many of us tend to forget: the best things in life are free, and Roatan has plenty of the free stuff. So let us
appreciate and enjoy the things we have.
