One of the Most Popular Dive Wrecks
off Roatan in a 200 foot Cargo Boat

El Águila ran aground near Utila, where it remained partially submerged for several years. Rocky Jones, an Utilian, salvaged the ship and towed it into the island’s harbor. A passing storm pushed the ship onto the reef, and Jones salvaged it again and sank it in the harbor so El Águila would not be vulnerable to future storms.

On nearby Roatan, dive industry professionals were searching for attractions for the island’s growing clientele of recreational scuba divers. In the late 1990s, the only dive wrecks accessible on the island’s north shore were two wooden-hulled vessels, which were quickly disintegrating. The AKR resort had been looking for a ship to convert into a wreck dive site, and El Águila proved to be the perfect opportunity.

About five weeks passed between the purchase of El Águila by AKR and the completion of a cleanup operation. Salvageable steel was removed from the boat, and many tons of now-hardened concrete were off loaded before the sinking operation.

Initially, all went as planned. “When we sank it, it started going down sideways but righted itself on the way down,” said Kevin Brewer, dive operations manager at Anthony’s Key Resort. El Águila sank to 110 feet in one piece.

This all changed in October 1998, when Hurricane Mitch battered the north shore of Roatan and strong currents broke the boat’s metal hull into three pieces, juxtaposed at 45-degree angles. “The wheelhouse fell over on its side, but the bow stayed upright,” said Brewer. With much of the salvageable metal removed, the hull was not able to withstand the unyielding currents created by the Category 5 hurricane.

For the diving community, this change was actually a service, making the wreck more attractive for divers. The three pieces created swim-through opportunities, and crannies became an ideal space for experienced divers ready to investigate the submerged wreck.

Today, El Águila rests at 105 to 110 feet in the middle of an eel garden. The boat’s dual-deck metal hull is now covered in sponges and coral, creating a thriving habitat for groupers, parrot fish, moray eels and snappers. El Águila has been a part of Roatan history for the past 28 years.

An Affordable Community that Runs Itself

In 2004, Santamaría was studying at the Pedagogical University in La Ceiba and already teaching on Roatan. While renting an apartment on the island, he asked himself if it would be possible to build an affordable home there. He contacted FUNDEVI, an NGO that focuses on assisting Honduran families without any homes, or land to build homes. The FUNDEVIS initial answer was that the land was too expensive; Santamaría persisted and obliged himself to find land, and coordinated all the construction for the future homes.

He persisted, and in 2006 the 10 acre development of 138 homes broke ground. Its residents decided to name the colonia after Elmer’s last name. “Santa María is a blessed place,” said Elmer Santamaría. “Thanks God and FUNDEVI we could have purchased the land [lots] for Lps. 50,000.” That was around $3,000 back then, and now those 10×12 meter lots with houses sell for Lps. 700,000 and more.

When the project broke ground, Dixon Cove was a place few people knew about. Santamaría seemed far away, not only as far as location on the main road, it was also two hundred meters up a dirt road in then typical island bush. “There was nothing around our homes, just forests,” remembers Santamaría. In those times there was no Mahogany Bay, no Galaxy Wave, and no Dixon Cove Municipal Building. These all came in the years following the establishment of the housing development.

Everyone paid off their homes. They are free.

The cay in constructing Santamaría was keeping costs to the minimum. The workers for the project came from Yoro, the house’s doors also came from Yoro, and cement came from La Ceiba. “We were buying sand from the mainland. We were buying from hardware store in Colón to save money,” remembers the construction phase Elmer Santamaría.

The home owners had 10 years to pay off their loans. “FUNDEVI gave us the keys to our homes and we started paying. Now everyone paid off their homes. They are free,” said Elmer.

As time went on and their families grew, many Santamaría residents took out additional loans to fund the expansion of their homes. Especially popular with the small lenders were lending institutions such as IMPREMA and Banco de los Trabajadores.

The homeowners created a patronato, and set a system at keeping their community safe and attractive. The community focused on sobriety and family values in order to assure safety. There are four pulpería stores at Santa María, and every one of them signed a pledge not to sell alcoholic beverages. “We don’t allow sell of alcoholic drinks here, we don’t permit billiard halls,” says Elmer.

As Elmer Santamaría is the founder of the community, everyone knows him here and says hello as he walks by. Elmer is currently the treasurer of the Santa María patronato and in the afternoons he works at José Santos Guardiola High School. He has a large farm near La Ceiba that produces rambutan fruit plantains, citrus, and cacao. He exports rambutan to USA via El Salvador.

According to Elmer Santamaría, 2,500 people now live in the Dixon Cove area. Directly to the north of Santa María there is Colonia Dulce María, and the future public hospital is a walk away to the west.

Santa María is home to an eclectic mixture of mainlanders.

Today, Santa María is home to an eclectic mixture of mainlanders who came to the island in the last 20 years. Prof. Miguel Angel Mathias, 76, who has lived across the street from the Colonia say it is a safe place. Prof Mathis lives next door to the Catholic Church and has the keys to the buildings. The Colonia has also two evangelical prayer halls and a Seventh Day Adventist Church.

The community has eight streets running east to west. Several of them are soon to be paved. Santa María has a football field, a children’s playground, and a two-story school building. The school is named after Graciela Ofelia Ramos and it houses a kindergarten, a grade school, and a high school. Some colonia projects are built with funds from water fees, as every house in the Colonia pays Lps. 250 for water access.

It is still very difficult to organize and construct a low income housing community on Roatan. Almost twenty years no other FUNDEVI project has been done on the island. Elmer believes it could be done, but it needs someone who will be the driving force behind the entire effort.

The Resort That Wasn’t, but Soon Could Be

One of the older examples of projects that showed great promise, was created by a well known and well-funded individual, that went nowhere, is “Big Bight Resort and Villas.” The 78 acre site, located right at the Roatan and José Santos Guardiola border has a two acre marina and about 1000 feet of beachfront.

In 1996 Ricardo Maduro, a future Honduran president, and a couple of his friends got involved in this project that was on a similar scale as Parrot Tree Plantation, that project was just breaking ground a couple kilometers south. From 1990 to 1994, Maduro was the president of Central Bank of Honduras. From his mothers side, Maduro comes from a banking family that founded Banco de Honduras, the entity that emitted Lempiras before the creation of Central Bank.

In many respects the Big Bight project was a first of its kind on Roatan. It was first to have an asphalt tennis court, and a first to have a marina on the north side of the island. The project even had its own first artificial beach named – Tahiti Beach. There was a model home built and J. Edwards Real Estate was named the broker for the development.
Lot prices were affordable and ranged in size from one-quarter acre to two acre lots. They were marketed at $35,000 and came with running water, underground electric and telephone cable connection. “It [the project] just kind of pooped out,” remembers Erick Anderson, American businessman who has been living in José Santos Guardiola since late 1960s. “The manager of the project spend more time at the Yacht Club bar than at the project.” A restaurant and club building that was open to visitors.

Big Bight project was a first of its kind.

Anderson says that the project had some fundamental flaws. “The lots were ill conceived. They never followed the contours of the land. That is not going to work,” said Anderson who was looking at the development taking shape in the late 90s. Still, that did not prevent buyers, and 11 lots were indeed sold.

The success or failure of Big Bight project depended on lot placement, prices and management. The late 1990s was a difficult time for the Maduro family. Ricardo Maduro’s son, Ricardo Ernesto was kidnapped and killed by Honduran gangs in April 1997. It was the murder of his son that inspired Maduro to run for presidential office despite the existing ban on candidates not born on Honduran soil.

While Maduro did become president of Honduras in 2002 his interest in the Big Bight project waned. Eventually the lender in the project Banco Financiera Comercial Hondureña, S.A. [FICOHSA] got the property back.

For a few years there were watchmen looking after the restaurant building and wooden, two story tall model home. In the early 2000s both the harbor restaurant and the one house were still standing. After a few years all the wood was carried away by the locals to construct homes in the nearby areas.

Some people used to play tennis at the tennis court on the site. Others would come to look around. “As a boy I would come here to hunt iguanas before [Hurricane] Mitch,” says Rigoberto Matute, an island resident who still visits the site. “It was all very beautiful.”

Today a family lives right next to the huge concrete gate leading from the island’s main road to the resort. Three cars are parked abandoned at the entrance of the resort. All underground cable has been stolen, but a network of concrete roads does still exist. The gate to the resort is particularly impressive; it is still the largest entry gate on Roatan.

11 lots were indeed sold.

The unfinished project does attract attention from time to time. In late 2010s, a prominent Guatemalan family was interested in purchasing the development and even prepared a master plan for the project. The idea was to sell lots and build a hotel and a marina. That did not take place and again FICOHSA took control of the site. Still, there might be a future in cards for this large, forgotten property as real estate agent, Henrik Jensen, took interest in it.

After it sunk in late 1958, Marjorie E. was one of Roatan’s biggest wrecks for decades, and a prominent landmark at the entrance of the Oak Ridge channel.

Oak Ridge Cay resident Miguel de la Cruz Pérez, now 100 years old, was a seaman on the ship the night it sank. He enlisted as a merchant seaman in 1956 and had worked for two years on Marjorie E. before her fateful voyage.

The ship was on her typical route between Galveston, Texas and Guayaquil, Ecuador where she had a contract to pick up bananas for shipment back to the US.

Captain George Cooper and several other crew members were from Roatan, so they planned to stop for a couple days in Oak Ridge. Victor Cooper, Daniel Stanley, Nieland Moore, Flowers, Landon Gaugh, Rex Gaugh, and Arnaldo Valladares were among the islanders in the crew. Captain Cooper was even bringing his wife and three children for a Christmas visit. Neither the boat owners nor the insurance company were informed about the ship’s stop on Roatan.

Majorie E was in dire straits.

Marjorie E. docked in Coxen Hole to clear immigration and paperwork with the port captain. After delays, the ship left Coxen Hole just as the sun was setting. She sailed full steam into the eastern wind and waved towards Oak Ridge.

There are still people who remember witnessing the accident from the shore. Mrs. Elana Cooper was seven years old when she watched the ship crash into the reef. “There was a heavy north eastern wind and rain,” said Mrs. Cooper. Several islander families were expecting to see their loved ones before Christmas, and excitement was in the air. “I remember seeing the light from the boat. Coming into harbor is very dangerous,” said Cooper. “Something appeared to go wrong and the ship hit the reef.”

As Marjorie E. made the turn to the Oak Ridge channel, the crew realized the rudder suffered a hydraulic failure. Majorie E was in dire straits. Capt. Cooper tried to steer the vessel using two of her propellers, but the maneuver was done in vain. The heavy eastern wind and current were pushing Marjorie E straight into the reef. “She’s going on shore! She’s going on shore!” Cooper remembers her mother and aunts screaming.

Captain Cooper ordered a secondary anchor to be lowered to Marjorie E.’s only rescue boat and hauled east into the waves. Her crew used a wrench to tighten the rope and tried to pull the ship off the reef. This task was Sisyphean as the ship was simply too heavy, and was being pushed hard by the wind and the waves.

Still, being practically empty, Marjorie E was light enough that she pushed right on top of the reef where sharp coral made a hole right in the engine room floor. As the water poured in, the generators seized and the ship went dark. Islander Rex Gaugh, Marjorie E’s first engineer, simply didn’t have any options.

Two rope ladders were lowered on the ship’s side and De La Cruz jumped overboard with his duffle bag full of clothes. He was waist deep in the water and could stand on the coral. None of the crew was hurt.

“They never paid a cent,” he said of the insurance company.

On that fateful night, Roatan gained both a large wreck and two new islanders: Mexican sailor Miguel de la Cruz and Candelario Ventura Palacios. Both would go on to meet their wives on the island.

Soon after Marjorie E’s sinking, rumors began to swirl that it was intentionally sunk by the boat’s owner in order to cash in on insurance money. The testimony of witnesses points towards an accident. De La Cruz recalls that the boat’s owners were very upset and that they never collected any insurance money. “They never paid a cent,” he said of the insurance company. The insurance company claimed that Roatan was an unscheduled stop, and therefore not covered by their policy.

The imposing ship didn’t block the Oak Ridge harbor entrance, but for decades it served as a large and auspicious marker for vessels passing through.

Islanders helped themselves to whatever they could find on the abandoned ship. “They drove her up and sold her for scrap,” remembers Mrs. Cooper, who has a couple white porcelain serving plates from the boat. Her uncle Harvey had a light from the ship that he turned into a lamp. Someone else ended up with the ship’s bell.

Truman Jones, an island seaman, assisted in retrieving Marjorie E.’s anchor in April 1967. It was cleaned up and used by The Hybur, the first metal boat owned by the Hyde family.

“We all grew up swimming and diving around her”

Time, salt, water, and wind has since eaten away at the ship’s metal carcass. Marjorie E. eventually broke into two pieces with only her bow remaining visible on the reef. Both Hurricane Francelia in 1969 and Hurricane Fifi in 1974 pounded the Marjorie E. into smaller pieces that then sunk into the coral and off the reef’s wall. “Every time we had a hurricane, it would break her up even more,” said Mrs. Cooper. “One of the hurricanes even moved her bow.” It took about 20 years for the ship to completely disappear below the water’s surface.

American expat Erick Anderson used to snorkel around the wreck in 1966. Back then, her stern had sunk below the surface and her bow remained above water, next to the reef wall. “We all grew up swimming and diving around her,” remembers Cooper. There was a “giant engine,” and the metal carcass that was known to house the biggest Moray eels.

The “Cuero y Salado” National Park with a View of Utila

The Cuero y Salado National Park is located 10 kilometers west of La Ceiba, along the coastline facing Utila and Roatan. Designated as a protected area in 1987, the Foundation of Cuero y Salado was established in 1989. The park spans 32,700 acres and features a diverse range of ecosystems, including forests, grasslands, mangroves, beaches, and sandbars. The Cuero River winds through the park before emptying into the Caribbean Sea, and it also branches off into multiple water channels that serve as habitats for manatees.

The measures taken by the Honduran government in 2020 and 2021 to protect its citizens from the COVID-19 virus have had some unintended consequences for the park. The lockdowns led to the closure of the Cuero y Salado tourist train, which now sits abandoned behind a fence in La Unión. Previously, this simple but reliable train would depart for the park entrance at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., and 11 a.m. daily.

“La Burra” remains the only way to reach the Cuero y Salado.

Visitor numbers to the park have dwindled significantly. There is no signage directing people to the park from the main highway near La Unión. Two communities are situated near the park, and residents use motorcycles or burros to bring in supplies from the nearby town of La Union. As of mid-2023, the only way to reach the Cuero y Salado station for locals is via a narrow path running parallel to the former train tracks, which is just wide enough for a motorcycle or bicycle.

For visitors, “La Burra” remains the only way to reach the Cuero y Salado station. As primitive as railway transport can get, “La Burra” consists of a wooden platform set on two train axles, which themselves rest on wooden planks. The vehicle is propelled by a person riding a motorcycle, who pushes it along with one foot.

The burras are privately owned. For Lps. 700, a local individual propels the burra the 7-8 kilometers using a 125 Genesis motorcycle. The metal narrow-gauge train tracks are worn, and their spacing varies. The vibration of metal on metal reverberates through the passengers’ backs as they travel.

As the burra approaches a small bridge, the motorcycle rider gives it an extra push, allowing it to coast across to the other side. The century-old narrow-gauge train track winds through cow pastures and fields for several kilometers before reaching the station, which serves as the tourist departure point for the park.

At the end of the train line lies the small village of Salado Barra, where residents are descendants of workers from the Standard Fruit Company. The community features old wooden houses built on stilts. There is a school, as well as the headquarters of the Cuero y Salado Park, which serves as the departure point for boat tours into the park.

Motorboats can be hired for two or four hours, accompanied by a guide knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the trees and forests surrounding the waters.

The park’s biggest attraction is the bashful manatees, which are also the most difficult to spot. These shy creatures are most often seen during early morning boat rides. “Last year, one manatee was found dead, likely from natural causes, as no cuts or impacts were found,” says the guide. “It took 20 men to pull it ashore. It was examined and then buried.”

The crocodiles are nearly as elusive as the manatees, but they are more numerous and can often be seen with their heads above the water’s surface, even at midday. The crocodiles lay their eggs on the sandy islands that separate the park from the sea.

Hundreds of crocodiles reside within the park’s boundaries, and their red eyes can be spotted just above the water’s surface during nighttime tours. The shy American Crocodile, which can grow up to 20 feet long, is sometimes seen basking in the sun on the sand. In 2023, the first-ever recorded attack on a human by a crocodile occurred in Cuero y Salado. A person was hunting a crocodile with a harpoon when the reptile acted in self-defense, slashing the man’s leg open. This unprecedented attack baffled many as crocodiles usually stick to a diet of fish and feed at night, avoiding humans unless provoked.

Giant white mangroves tower over the canals, reaching heights of up to 40 meters. Red mangroves are smaller and line the narrower branches of the canals. Coco lobo trees and coconut palms also manage to thrive along the water’s edge.

Large trees serve as vantage points for dozens of bird species attracted to the brackish water of Cuero y Salado. The loudest bird calls come from the omnivorous Montezuma Oropendolas, which can be heard and seen living in hanging woven nest colonies on large trees adjacent to the mangroves. These striking birds produce loud “cack” and “crrrk” calls.

Several families of Howler monkeys, consisting of 10 to 20 individuals each, spend their days foraging for fruit or simply resting. Their only natural predator is the jaguar, whose tracks have not been seen in the park for many years. White-faced monkeys can also be observed in the park.

Several families of Howler monkeys, consisting of 10 to 20 individuals each, spend their days foraging for fruit or simply resting. Their only natural predator is the jaguar, whose tracks have not been seen in the park for many years. White-faced monkeys can also be observed in the park.

Another community located in the park is Boca Cerrada, which is much more remote and situated on the banks of Thompson Lagoon on the west side of the park. Although Cuero y Salado has fallen somewhat into disrepair, the animals inhabiting the park don’t seem to mind.

A West Bay Wreck Attracts Divers from Far and Wide

Josie J is not only Roatan’s biggest underwater icon, every month she is generating thousands of dollars of revenue from tech divers who travel far and wide to experience this dive. “It is a huge attraction to the dive community. It is the very last dive of our course,” says Monty Graham, a TDI trimix instructor who has dived Josie J over 150 times.

Her story begins many decades ago. In the early 1980s, Mr. Álvarez “Dito” Johnson and his brother Arley Johnson bought Josie J for their West End based family business. Josie J was to carry cargo between the mainland and Roatan.

Josie J was a Bahamian ship built in the US and served as a supply boat for the oil rigs. At 75 feet long, 30 feet wide, and around 90 tones, she was sold for $69,000.

Josie J ran cargo between La Ceiba and French Harbour for 20 years. She carried general freight and was a family business supporting the entire Johnson family. “All of my boys learned how to captain right on her,” remembers Mr. Dito. He worked on board the boat for more than 15 years.

She got lost through carelessness. A boat never sinks by herself.

Josie J typically ran form Cortés to Roatan and La Ceiba to Roatan. The boat would bring general supplies and building materials to Oak Ridge, French Harbour, and Jonesville.

All of that ended on March 13, 2003. Coming out of La Ceiba harbour, “a piece of steel or something made a hole in the hull. They knew it happened right away,” said Mr. Dito.

The crew knew right away about the damage to the hull and leak, but the captain calculated the damage was small enough that they could make it to Roatan. Captaining Josie J was her owner Arly Johnson, co-owner of the boat with his brother Mr. Dito.

Josie J started leaning port side on its journey with building supplies back to Roatan. A much larger rescue vessel tied up to Josie J, and its crew tried to pump out the water that flooded her hull. Captain Karl wanted to run Josie J through the West Bay channel and ground it on the sandy shore to prevent her from sinking.

But there was just one huge problem – the pumping of the water out of the Josie J’s hull couldn’t keep up with water rushing in. “She was pulling the ‘mothership’ over,” says Monty.

When Josie J was listing around 30 degrees, the crew of six rescuers felt her starting to turn quickly. They let go of the bilge pump hose and sprinted across to the rescue ship.

A couple of minute later, Josie J was gone under the calm sea. “All was lost, just like that,” remembers Mr. Dito. “She got lost through carelessness. A boat never sinks by herself.”

With water filling her hull, Josie J quickly descended to the bottom. She settled at 215 feet upright, on a sand bar near Black Rock dive site, just in front of Meridian Hotel.

There were some disappointed people on the island that day who lost goods and supplies, but could have been worse. “Nobody got hurt, nobody drowned,” says Mr. Dito. “She paid for herself long before she sank.”

Twenty years later, there are algi, coral, and hundreds of lionfish hanging off her sides. “You almost have coral growing on the back where the propellers are,” says Monty Graham, TDI trimix instructor with Roatan Tec Center Coconut Tree Divers. Hammerheads and eagle rays can be seen around the wreck. It’s a nest for moray eels. Lionfish are also plastered all over the hull of Josie J.

Underwater and above ship wrecks produce revenue for the island.

Josie J rests on a sand plateau in between two walls. If it went off that second wall, it would have been gone and in too deep for even the most experienced tech divers to enjoy. It is not a dangerous site to dive, but only experienced and trained divers are allowed to dive it.

Josie J was carrying a menagerie of building supplies and groceries, and the blue bus Josie J was transporting landed right under her crushed hull. They are mostly scattered in and around the sunken vessel. There is rebar, PVC pipe, a staircase, bundles of Crisco oil, gyp rock, tires, soda pop cans, and groceries of all sorts.

In her murky wheel house lights, electronics and wires are exposed and dangling. “It’s just a hanging trap,” says Graham. “In my tech [dive] team, nobody is allowed in the wheel house.”

In order to dive past 200 feet, the divers use a mixture of Trimix, a blend of helium, oxygen and nitrogen. “Each dive we do on that wreck is well planned out,” says Graham.

Over the years, divers have moved a few things from around the wreck. “We tried to lift the anchor and see if we could retrieve it,” says Monty. The flips of the anchor are in the back of the bus, in the springs.” The “blue colored” bus is much more deteriorated. For years after the sinking, the bus’ engine would leak oil, pop by pop to the surface.

Underwater and above ship wrecks produce revenue for the island in general and for Roatan’s dive industry in particular. “It’s a nice feature for tech divers,” says Monty. Josie J’s wreck has become an income generator for the entire island. It has likely brought well over a hundred thousand dollars in revenue from divers looking to descend more than 200 feet.

Roatan’s Oldest and Biggest Private School Looks Back

Back then most parents thinking about a University for their children would end up sending them to boarding schools in La Ceiba, or San Pedro Sula. Three ladies founded the school: Mrs. Cheryl de Galindo, Mrs. Mireya Warren and Jane Austin.

Mrs. Cheryl de Galindo and Mrs. Warren had the initial idea for the school in 1983 and things moved quickly after that. ESBIR received all its necessary approvals in Tegucigalpa and the school open edits doors on February 1, 1983 in a space rented from the Mary Webster family. The small wooden building had previously served as a local bar. In ESBIR’s first year of existence 35 students received classes ranging from kindergarten to third grade.

As more island parents became aware of the school, the enrollment grew. Mrs. Galindo saw a need to expand the school to a location that was not rented but owned. A small property was purchased from Aldin Bennett near a baseball field just north of Coxen Hole.

As more island parents became aware of the school, the enrollment grew.

Architect Bill Brady, who moved to the island as a Peace Core volunteer from North Carolina designed the school free of charge. Mrs. Cheryl’s father, Henry Warren, helped in purchasing the baseball field property.

There were other helpers. A charity funded by now King Charles III, The Prince’s Trust brought in volunteers to build the school building. The charity brought in underemployed or struggling youth that then helped with the construction of the wooden school building.

Operation Raleigh, was another key organization present at the beginning.

Mrs. María del Carmen joined the school as a teacher and became ESBIR’s director a year later. “She has become the backbone of the school,” says Prof. María del Carmen and Mrs. Cheryl de Galindo.

Any school’s success can be measured by the achievements and lives led by its students. Some of ESBIR’s graduates are now doctors, lawyers, and private entrepreneurs. The First of ESBIR’s graduates are now in their fifties and have made some significant contributions to the island. Jenny Serrano took over and expanded her family’s hardware store to be the biggest on the island. Nicole Brady and Trudy Hilton became vice-Mayors of Roatan Municipality. Mario Kevin Rivera Armijo, one of the first to graduate from ESBIR in 1995, went on to finish a master’s degree in computer science, before going to a seminary and becoming a missionary Claretian Brother.

On March 17, 2023 ESBIR celebrated their 40 year anniversary with a tribute to the schools founder. Several speakers spoke about the history of the school and its contribution to the foundation of the island. “This school and Mrs. Cheryl are more important than I am,” said Mrs. Cheryl’s husband Mr. Julio Galindo, twice Roatan Mayor and owner of Anthony’s Key Resort.

In March 2023 ESBIR had 31 employees: 18 teachers, seven administrators and six support staff. The school grew to 360 attending students, before the COVID government imposed lockdowns in March 2020. The attendance fell but has since recovered to around 270 students.

The school’s extensive grounds sit on a 2.2 acre property in the northern part of Coxen Hole. The school has an auditorium, a large meeting room, science laboratories and 37 classrooms.

New Municipal Buildings Open All Over the Bay Islands

With local economies booming the Bay Islands Municipalities have been upgrading their infrastructure, especially their municipal buildings. With increased revenues in local and land taxes, business and building permits, the Municipal governments have money to spend. The 2019-2022 was a period of fixing up the municipal buildings and constructing new ones in the three western municipalities of the Bay Islands.

ROATAN MUNICIPAL PALACE

The ground breaking on the Municipal building took place in December 2019; the construction began in February 2020 and was concluded in October 2020. Basically, the Roatan Municipality was built during the central government imposed COVID lockdown of the island in 2020.

When private businesses were told to lock down because of “safety” measures against COVID the Municipality construction project was providing valuable income to island families struggling to survive economically. According to Ing. Castillo the 50 to 100 municipal construction workers working on the site supported 400 families. “We used our own people for construction and only subcontracted a few times,” says Ing. Castillo.

The new Municipal building is more than 10 times larger than the 5,200 Sf old one in Coxen Hole. The new building is two stories tall and has 75,000 sf. The structure has 25 offices, a space for a bank and a large meeting room.

The symmetrical building named “the Municipal Palace” is visible from the main road across a huge, 74 car parking lot. While the Muni building was badly needed and is built solid, its simplistic esthetic has brought some criticism. With an immense parking lot and three columns on its portico the municipal headquarters is perhaps more reminiscent of a Walmart than a municipal headquarters.

The municipal’s construction was supervised by CINSA, a Tegucigalpa based quality control company. The building was budgeted at Lps. 48 million or $2 million, but cost Lps. 67 million or $2.7 million in the end.

As the new Roatan Municipal building has opened for business, the old Municipal Building in Coxen Hole is being retrofitted to accommodate INFOP – National Institute of Professional Education [Instituto Nacional de Formación Profesional], a government educational school. “The Mayor’s [Jerry Hynds] idea was to move all the services from Coxen Hole and make it [the town] a tourist site,” said Ing. Castillo.

There is still more construction on the Municipal site in Dixon Cove. In June 2022 ground was broken on a 3,500 Sf annex building and additional parking area just south of the municipal building. The building will house offices that are still in downtown Coxen Hole – Municipal Police, Justice office. According to Ing. Castillo the idea is for the Municipal Offices to completely vacate Coxen Hole.

New Municipal building is more than 10 times larger than the 5,200 Sf old one.

The municipal building is part of the bigger upgrade of Roatan municipal infrastructure. The 10.4 kilometer main national road construction form First Bight to Coxen Hole was done also exclusively with local taxes. Only 500 meters was paved with funds of the Central Government. A situation where a national road is constructed, or constructed with Municipal funds is unprecedented in Honduras.

The new concrete Roatan road is expected to last for the next 25-30 years. Ing. Castillo feels that Honduran Central government hires companies that are not based in the Bay Islands and don’t care about the quality of work they leave behind. “This is why we tend to do the work ourselves,” said Ing. Castillo.

Another construction is about to begin on the two-acre Municipal Equipment warehouse and operations and maintenance center in Dixon Cove near the new Public Hospital site.

UTILA MUNICIPAL

On the west of the Bay Islands department 8,000 Utila residents received a 9,000 sf municipal building. The construction on the project began in 2019 under Mayor Troy Bodden. The Utila Municipal building is now a three story tall solid, concrete structure. The entire project cost the Utila taxpayers $450,000 (11 million Lps.) or $45 per Utilian.

The Municipal employees moved to this new location from a two story wooden building built in 1990s when Fulton Jackson was Utila’s Mayor. The old 1,600 sf building was located right next to the municipal dock and was too small to accommodate the growing Municipal staff. The old building will now accommodate offices of the judge, registry office and immigration.

On its front elevation the new municipal building has an array of solar panels. According to Ing. Kerry Samson, chief of the Utila Municipality’s infrastructure department, the solar panels have reduced its energy consumption costs by almost 80%. A significant reduction from Lps. 40,000- 50,000 a month to Lps. 10,000. “The municipal operates in the daytime, so we don’t need a battery bank,” said Ing. Samson, who has been working in his position for six years, first under National Party Mayor Troy Bodden and since January 2022, under Liberal Mayor Alexander Ebanks.

A central staircase of the building leads to the second story offices and third story space that can be used for exhibitions. The handsome white building was designed by Ing. Vicente Maradiaga.

The Utila Municipal Hall was built to withstand earthquakes and the building has a 12,000-gallon cistern. The building’s roof catches rainwater and when it’s cistern is full it supplies the Municipal water system consisting of four municipal wells and two wells leased by the municipality. The municipal pumps run 24 hours a day pumping 40 gallons a minute. The daily output of 230,000 gallons or 29 gallons per Utilian.

There are several other needed infrastructure projects that are taking place on Utila. The municipal garbage dump is an infrastructure project of concern. The municipal has plans to relocate the garbage dump to a site on Jericho hill in 2023. “When our dump is on fire it affects everyone,” said Ing. Samson. In 2022 Utila Municipality has begun undertaking a repaving of 507 meters of Mamey Road with hydraulic concrete.

Crossing the sea to get to class

By crossing from one side of the island to the other, those children risked falling in the sea and losing their books and, in a worst case scenario, their lives: and because of these risks, some parents were reluctant to send their children to school, choosing instead to keep them at home, and as a result, a generation of children of Pandy Town did not learn to properly read or write in Spanish, the Honduras official language.

“Though most the children of Pandy Town learn to swim at an early age, some of the parents were afraid of sending their children to school because they had to cross the sea in dories to get to the school house” says Virginia Hernandez, a local business woman whose parent sent her to la Ceiba to complete her primary studies.

In the mid to late 70s, there were plans to build a bridge between Pandy Town and Oak Ridge Cay that are separated by approximately 20 feet at its closest point and 40 to 50 at its longest, but the mostly white residents of the cay, who were considered well off, refused the building of the bridge that would have connected the two community, thus making it easier for the kids of Pandy Town to get to the school house.

There were plans to build a bridge between Pandy Town and Oak Ridge Cay.

“They were going to build a bridge, but the people on the cay didn’t want it” said Edith Dilbert, a former student of the Marco Aurelio School that was located on the Oak Ridge Cay.

In addition to traveling across the sea to get to school, the children of Pandy Town also had to face the issue of language barrier; English was spoken at home and Spanish at school and most of the teachers that taught at the school did not speak the language of the students, who were fumbling and failing their classes, but being sent to the next grade in spite of the fact that they were not prepared to move to the next level.

“I made it to the third grade and am still not sure how I got there” said Joonel Solórzano, “We would copy whatever was on the black board, but we did not understand it because we did not speak Spanish and our teacher did not speak our language.”

Building of the Marco Aurelio Soto School

In the early 80´s a more appropriate school building was to be constructed in Pandy Town, but because there we no land on which to build, the new school building was diverted to downtown Oak Ridge. The two-story building would have, in addition to offices, six different class room that would house each grade separately, instead of cramming everyone in the same room as it was done in the previous school.

“Because most of the children attending Marco Aurelio school was from our community, when they decided to build a bigger school, is was to be placed in Pandy Town, but no one wanted to give land to build the school”, said Mrs. Thelma Almendarez, a community activist and a former council member of the municipal corporation of Santos Guardiola, “And some of the elders argued that it was best to put the school on the other side so the black children could mix with the white”.

The bad news, however, was that this new and much needed school would be built in Down Town Oak Ridge, an area known to locals living in Pandy Town as (the other side). The children of Pandy Town would have to travel even further to get to the school house and some parents were even more reluctant to send their children to this new school, but there was no other option.

The new school named “Escuela Marco Aurelio Soto” built on the other side was to provide the children of Oak Ridge, mostly of Pandy Town, as most of the kids from down town oak Ridge attended a nearby private school) with a more appropriate learning environment; however this was a difficult task because, even though the national language in Honduras is Spanish, the primary language throughout the Bay Islands back then was English.

Children who were not sent to Spanish school (the educational system in Honduras provided a Spanish only curriculum was instead sent to English school at the home of local teacher who wanted to keep the English language alive.

One such teacher was Mrs. Rose Pouchie McKenzie for whom the school in Pandy Town would eventually be named. “Aunt Rose would even teach some of the children for free” said Elda Pouchie.

The teachers working at the Marco Aurelio School, who were assigned the task of educating the children of Oak Ridge, were brought from the mainland and they spoke no English. The students spoke little to no Spanish making teaching and learning a difficult task for both the teachers and the students, and again, some of the students were being sent to grades that they were not ready to attend.

Extensions of the Marco Aurelio Soto in Pandy Town

Throughout the 80`s, there were extensions of the Marco Aurelio school proving classes to the generation of citizen who were not able to attend the school house on Oak Ridge Cay for one reason or another, but the school age children of Pandy Town continued hustling their way to class in dories and speed boats to the school in Down Town Oak Ridge.

In the mid 80`s Mr. Brimley, a resident of Pandy Town fitted a large boat with a small engine and offered to transport the kids of Pandy Town to the school building on the other side, as Downtown Oak is referred to by the resident of Pandy Town. Mr. Brimley did this for a few years and did not get back support and eventually he stopped and for the children of one of the oldest communities in Santos Guardiola, and back then, the community with the largest number of children attending public school, back to hustling their way to school.

As if the Marco Aurelio Primary school was not far enough, once completing the 6th grade, the children of Pandy Town had to travel to Jonesville to attend middle school or Plan Básico, again, traveling in dories or speed boats; and even longer ride compare to the travel from Pandy Town to Down town Oak Ridge.

Almost 40 years after the Marco Aurelio School was built, in Downtown Oak Ridge, the children of Pandy Town were still facing educational disadvantages and waiting for a school to be built in their community, which would affect their learning and their opportunity for a better life.

In the early 2000, an extension of the Marco Aurelio Soto institution was once again installed in Pandy Town, offering first grade only in space rented private home. Later that same year 2nd and 3rd grade was added to the program and the school was translated to the Methodist church in Pandy Town.

“An extension of the Marco Aurelio was placed in Pandy Town and the municipal helped us by providing and paying for two school teachers” said Vicky Leticia Sanchez Pandy, the first director of the Rosabella McKenzie Bilingual School.

Fighting to Establish a School in P. Town

In 2002, a group of local women, including Mrs. Rosabella McKenzie, decided that it was time for the school in Pandy Town to become independent and severe it connection from the Marco Aurelio School, they form a commission, got organized, presented a request to the Department of Education in Coxen Hole, Roatan, thus their long journey of established and school in Pandy Town begun, but not without difficulties and opposition.

The opposition came from the direction of the Marco Aurelio School and the director of the Dionisio Herrera School in oak Ridge Bight; they feared that their matriculation number would drop. “The director of the Marco Aurelio School and the Dionisio was against Pandy Town getting a school. He was fearful of his matriculation dropping, since most of the student attending that public school was from Pandy Town” said Elda Martinez a local teacher and community activist.

The request for a school in Pandy Town sat in the school district office in Roatan for years, going from the top of the heap to the bottom and back again. “Each time it reached the bottom, I would take it back to the top”, said Leticia Pandy, and (EIB) Intercultural Bilingual Education Teacher.

One of the problems with getting the school built in Pandy Town was that each time after election, the district employees would be replaced, based on the winning party, and this bureaucracy prevented the request for a school in Pandy Town to be noticed.

In 2007, a new school district director, seeing the need, and having the assistance of Leticia Pandy, an Intercultural Bilingual teacher from Pandy Town, who was back then a secretary at the school district office, decided to look at the request.

The Rosabella McKenzie Bilingual public school was finally approved in 2008 and that same years in June, Vicky Leticia Sanchez Pandy, who had previously worked in the educational district office and was instrumental in getting the school approved, become the teacher and first director of the school, giving classes to all 6 grade-1-3 in the morning and 4-6 in the evening, but that was only part of the journey.

According to Vicky Leticia Sanchez Pandy “It was hard teaching all six grades, three in the morning and three in the evening, but I had support of at least two of the parent who was always there with me, bringing food and offering support”

The following year, the municipality office of Santos Guardiola provided the school with two teachers, the matriculation increased and the fight to get a building began.

Building a School in Pandy Town

Between 2009 and 2017, there were offers from public and private institutions to build a school for the children of Pandy Town, but for different reasons, including the lack of land on which to build along with some political issues, the school was never built.

Mrs. Charles Sutherland, from Canada, raised funds to build a school for the student of the Rosabella McKenzie, and for years he tried, along with some community activists to make this happen, but because of the lack of land on which to build, some political issues and other factors, the building was never constructed.

Besides Mr. Sutherland, there were other philanthropist, organizations and institutions that attempted to purchase properties and build a school in the community of Pandy Town, however, finding adequate property on which to build had always been a problem.

Ten years after the Rosabella McKenzie school, named for a local English teacher who was a proponent of education and one of the local women who fought so that the children of Pandy Town would have their own school was established, and approximately 8 years of being housed in an old building rented from the Methodist church, a building was to be constructed for the children of Pandy Town.

In the early months of 2018, School the world was contacted by a member of the community of Pandy Town about the need for a new school and they responded almost immediately. After meeting with the mayor of Santos Guardiola, who was responsible for part of the building, and the community, who had to also be part of this three-way partnership, it was agreed upon to that the building of the Rosabella McKenzie school building.

In June of 2018, after much struggle and obstacle, the first building of three class rooms was completed, in a combined effort between School the World, the municipality of Santos Guardiola and the community of Pandy Town providing the labor, the children of Pandy Town had its first school building.

A few months later, another nonprofit organization, specifically (CEPUDO), via the municipality approved another three classrooms building for the children of Pandy Town, again with the land being acquired in part by the mayor of Santos Guardiola and in part by the community, the second building was completed in August of the same year and in September, the children was in their new building.

The future of the children of Pandy Town

Thanks to School the World, mayor Carson Dilbert and the municipal corporation of Santos Guardiola, CEPUDO and members of the local patronato and of the community members and the former and present directors of the Rosabella McKenzie School, for the first time in history, Pandy Town, one of the oldest communities on the east side of Roatan, has its own school. The children of Pandy no longer have to travel outside their community to receive classes, the disadvantages are less, and their future looks a little brighter.

How the First Cruise Ship Came to Roatan

The Methodist Church damaged and weakened by Hurricane Francelia and Hurricane Fifi once stood nearby. The church’s congregation moved to a new worship building up the hill and a few hundred feet away.

The first cruise ships began coming to the island in 1980s. This pioneer was the 500 foot long Ocean Spirit, and by far the biggest ship to visit Roatan to that date. She ended up visiting the island on regular basis.

While Coxen Hole was a quaint sleepy town, in the 1980s the dive industry had already discovered Roatan. Ocean Quest International, the world’s largest diving operation at the time, was eying Guanaja and Roatan, both known for their pristine coral and tall dive walls. The company wanted Ocean Spirit, their live aboard flag ship, to make regular stops in the Bay Islands on a week-long dive cruise from Florida.

One of the people who helped in creating a welcome environment for international divers was Alejandro Monterroso. In the 1980s Alejandro lived on Roatan and had his own dive shop in Coxen Hole, next to Key View Hotel. It was called South Shore Divers. “This was the Waldorf Astoria of Roatan,” remembers the seaside hotel Alejandro.

Alejandro remembers that one day a man named Laurence August knocked on the door of his dive shop. August was an executive for Ocean Quest, an international company that operated Ocean Spirit and was looking to come to Roatan and Coxen Hole in particular.

On September 5, 1989, Ocean Spirit visited the island.

Mr. Allan Hyde was chosen to be the port agent for Ocean Spirit. An appropriate spot was chosen in Coxen Hole and a roughly 12” by 12” square cement bollard was poured that helped to secure a rope that tied the ship to land. This would prevent Ocean Spirit from spinning as she discharged her dive boats from her stern.

On September 5, 1989, Ocean Spirit, the biggest ship that has visited the island until then, came to anchor off Coxen Hole. At 20,000 tons Ocean Spirit was the easily the biggest dive ship in the world. The vessel was over 110 feet high and had ten deck levels.

The dive and excursion cruise ship accommodated 360 passengers, 198 crew and 32 diving staff. Ocean Spirit even had its own decompression chamber and carried 10 dive boats that could be launched with a special high speed overhead crane.

Roatan along with Guanaja were placed on a regular schedule for visits by Ocean Spirit based in Southern Florida. Every week the boat would leave New Orleans, head for stops in Guanaja, Roatan, then for Belize, and Cozumel before returning.

These were different times. Back then Honduras was a military dictatorship and as there was a CIA sponsored civil war going on in Nicaragua, nearby Roatan was a place to take a break from the action for American GI and CIA company men.

Eventually, in 1990s Honduras’ Empresa Nacional Portuaria built a cruise ship port near the site. In 2008 Royal Caribbean took over the management of the port from Empresa Nacional Portuaria. In 2018, ITM Group, a Mexican conglomerate that operates cruise ships all over eastern Caribbean: Costa Maya in Mexico, Taino Bay in Dominican, took over operation of Port of Roatan.

In 2020 a second birth was added so two cruise ships could disembark their passengers at the same time.
Sheltered from wind and currents, and with ample enough room to maneuver Coxen Hole became one of the safest terminals for cruise ships in the Caribbean. Many cruise ship boat captains consider Port of Roatan as one of the easiest to enter and leave ports in the Caribbean.