In 2026, around 11 million Hondurans live in the country, and another 900,000 live abroad, primarily in the U.S. and Spain. About 154,000 Catrachos are born each year, and while the Honduran median age has fallen drastically, it still stands at 25. Both Honduras and Roatan have a youthful, energetic population.

Several demographic models project that by 2050, Honduras will have around 17 million people. That population increase, especially in an aging developed world, will give Honduras significantly more clout and geopolitical influence.

With 2.4 children per Catracha, Honduras stands in stark contrast to the collapsing native populations of Europe, the U.S., Japan and South Korea. South Korea now has a birth rate of 0.8 children per woman. The average in Spain is now 1.1 children, and U.S.-born women have an average of 1.7 children. These numbers are well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.

Also the divergence in birth rates dynamics is staggering. An average age of a first time mother in Spain is 32, while in Honduras it is 20. Western World birth rate implosion phenomena created an opportunity for Honduras and Roatan. At the same time the island grew, developed and has become an attractive place to live.

The definition of a “native” Roatan islander has evolved.

Roatan has relied on migrants and immigrants for economic growth and to maintain the skill sets necessary to do so. The proximity to mainland Honduras, with its 11 million people, created coast-to-island migration from departments of Atlántida, Colón and Yoro. The higher-skilled management positions on the island are filled by natives of Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. That is where the majority of the island’s service-sector managers, doctors and lawyers hail from.

While historically islanders have been looking for job opportunities in the U.S. or at sea since the early 20th century. Many have left the island and settled in the U.S. or worked for banana companies on the mainland. That has changed. Roatan will likely continue demographic trends that have appeared here over the past 25 years and have strengthened in the past five.

Given wage disparities and job opportunities, mainland Hondurans have been moving to Roatan in significant numbers since the 1990s. The boom in the construction sector, tourism and service industries, security companies employing thousands of workers, and even seafood processing plants has attracted mainlanders to Roatan with the prospect of a better economic future.

What Roatan’s population will look like in 2050 is starting to emerge. The growth will continue, or more likely, it will oscillate, much as it has over the past 25 years. Roatan had three periods of stagnation this century: the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, the 2009 Honduran presidential coup and its aftermath, and the 2020-21 COVID-19 lockdowns. It also suffered under some incompetent, corrupt mayors in both Roatan municipalities who made many poor policy decisions and practically brought the island economy to a standstill.

I estimate that around 115,000 people live permanently on Roatan for six months or longer. This estimate is based on observations of RECO peak power demand, overall business trends and population shifts. The estimate is not scientific, but it is meant to be an educated guess. Since the government does not conduct such surveys, and its once-a-decade censuses are tragically inaccurate, I did my best to provide a rough estimate.

The island population will likely continue to grow by around 2.5%, or 2,870 people a year, or eight people a day. That would put Roatan’s population at 190,000 by 2050, assuming growth barely one percentage point above Honduras’ national average of 1.5%. If that percentage rises to a realistic 3%, we are looking at 210,000 people living on Roatan, Santa Helena and Barbareta. By that time, the currently uninhabited island of Morat might even have a few residents.

The ethnic demographic trends will likely continue as they have over the past years. The number and percentage of mestizo mainlanders will continue to grow, and they probably account for about 50,000 to 60,000, or half of the island’s current population.

The Garifuna population, now about 4,000, will grow slightly but lose its percentage share of the island’s total population. The Black, English-speaking islander population, currently about 30,000, will likely continue growing slowly. The White native islander population, now about 3,000, will likely maintain its numbers.

Roatan had three periods of stagnation this century.

The populations moving to Roatan in the greatest numbers are from the Honduran mainland. While Hondurans from all 17 mainland departments live here, some departments and populations are heavily over represented. The population of about 7,000 Miskito Indians living on Roatan, also known as Waikna, will likely double. That is due to two factors: Miskito birth rates of about three to four children per woman, which exceed those of other ethnic groups, and continued migration from Gracias a Dios Department to the island.

The Miskito live in Honduras’ most economically challenged and undeveloped department. They are also hardworking, skillful workers. They work in security, service and construction. They do not expect high living standards, as they come from very basic circumstances on the Miskito Coast. They also help one another and readily offer a place to stay to cousins who come to Roatan looking for work. In fact, the Miskito language on Roatan surpassed the prevalence of the Garifuna language several years ago and is now the third-most widely spoken language on the island.

The foreign population residing on Roatan will likely grow due to migration from the U.S., Canada and, increasingly, Europe. These island residents of European descent currently number around 6,000, but that figure will likely double. Their numbers are growing by a couple hundred each year. As life in many parts of Europe and North America becomes increasingly uncomfortable, and life on Roatan more comfortable, that migration trend should accelerate.

The “retirement” and “adventure” immigrants come here in their 60s. The vast majority of them don’t have children on the island and return to their country of origin in their late 70s and 80s. While many will likely eventually return to their country of origin, Roatan will increasingly offer hospice and home hospital care for those who decide to live out their old age here.

The definition of a “native” Roatan islander has evolved for centuries. From about 1,000 AD to around 1650, native islanders were the Paya Indians. Today, most people living on Roatan do not even know who Paya were.

Then, for about 50 years, from 1797 through the 1840s, the “native” islanders were the Garifuna. From the 1840s to the 1990s, Roatan’s “natives” were island-born White, Black and Garifuna residents. In the 1990s, mestizo migration from the Honduran mainland took off, and by around 2015, “native” islanders had become a minority. One thing that never changes on Roatan is that the island constantly evolves.

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws,” wrote Plato, a Greek philosopher, 2,400 years ago. In 2025, Roatan municipality installed 400 CCTV cameras in an effort to identify the so-called “bad people.” These cameras are likely to become part of a much larger surveillance infrastructure. At the cost of losing personal privacy and spending millions of dollars in taxes, the island is on its way to building a 21st-century panopticon prison.

I guarantee there will be numerous unintended negative consequences of installing extensive CCTV cameras on the island. Here is a short list of possibilities: an increase in our taxes, a loss of our privacy, a shift from self-reliance to reliance on government assistance, the future selling of CCTV and other data to bad actors, the creation of a false sense of security, and the unleashing of a never-ending need for more surveillance.

Here is one more reason: Once a serious crime is committed by the Honduran national police —and sadly, that does happen— and it is recorded on a CCTV system, the municipality will be placed under pressure from the police and likely become a party to the cover-up.

The high-trust society that Roatan once was has gradually been replaced by technology and a false sense of trust in government institutions. Put simply, the island’s social capital is being replaced by technocracy. Once that capital is lost, it is extremely difficult to regain.

Security has two aspects: true security and the perception of security. While claiming to provide safety for citizens, security systems often serve to maintain state control and enforce conformity among the population. The carrot is not the goal, but an excuse to impose a surveillance system for the benefit of those in control. While we might argue about who those controllers are, we can all agree—the controllers are not us.

Systems often serve to maintain state control.

In other words Roatanians might be suffering from a case of collective illusion. They may be going along with the idea of creating a “smart city” that could erode the precious freedoms they may not realize can be taken away. The unfortunate truth is that by surrendering your privacy in hopes of gaining security, you could end up with neither freedom nor security. Freedom comes with risk. If you want 100% security, you would need to check yourself into a maximum-security prison with 24/7 camera surveillance—and you’d better hope your cellmate isn’t Jeffrey Epstein.

So let’s not make the mistake other already have. There are places all over the world that have already become surveillance zones ridden with nightmares. They are not in any way safer—in reality, they are unsafe for citizens. The state monitors those spaces and decides which actions it wants to prosecute. Not wearing masks in public, possibly praying near an abortion clinic, jaywalking —you name it— are all offenses that have recently been punished in Great Britain.

Great Britain has arrested tens-of-thousands of individuals for posting memes and criticizing government policies. Every day, around 30 people in Britain are arrested, tried and sent to jail for media posts deemed “offensive,” not even “hateful,” as well as for silent prayers near abortion clinics. The number of people arrested for simply making statements has grown to 12,000 a year.

This persecution of its own population is only possible thanks to media monitoring by thousands of state agencies and 6 million CCTV cameras—21 million surveillance cameras in total—monitoring 70 million British residents. Many of those cameras have one-way or two-way audio capability.

Freedom for individuals in China is even more restricted. China’s Skynet control system—a combination of the social credit system and a state-operated CCTV facial recognition network — has created an open-air prison. The 1.3 billion Chinese citizens and 70 million British citizens can no longer make that claim without the risk of being visited by police or having their lives affected. Let what took place in those so-called smart cities serve as a warning.

Roatan should be and can remain free from government aspirations to constantly surveil us and treat us as poetical criminals. The irony is that this island has a long history of people who chose to come here choosing freedom over security. Whether it was Roatan-based pirates or Puritan colony settlers, they came here in search of freedom, not security.

Also the Garifuna were brought here because they fought to keep their freedom in two Carib Wars they fought against the British on Saint Vincent. Settlers from the Cayman Islands who came here in the 1830s and 1840s were also seeking freedom and new opportunities. While security is a very important part of life on Roatan, freedom has always been more important.

Living next to the sea and living from its bounty, islanders have been accustomed to assume risk as a part of their lives. Many Roatanians died doing what they loved and supporting the families they loved. Living on a remote island in the path of hurricanes came with an understood risk — fishing on commercial boats, moving cargo, toiling in the bush.

Let’s not make the mistake others already have.

When I moved here in the early 2000s, the island was simple and still homogeneous. The vast majority of people were born on the island and knew one another, at least casually. The innocence that Roatan once had —maybe just 20 years ago— is gone.

Gone are the days when islanders were related by two degrees of separation: If you didn’t know someone, you knew someone who did. That connection brought a sense of security, trust and comfort. Today, the island is based on three degrees of separation and is a much less comforting place.

The island’s CCTV program is a large, complex and expensive and Roatan has an unfortunate history of poor government decisions. To mention just three of these white elephants: the abandoned Coxen Hole desalination plant; the José Santos Guardiola garbage dump, inaugurated by President Mel Zelaya in 2009 and still not operational; and the Roatan public hospital building, which was constructed for $3 million and will require $52 million to finish.

While those expensive failures don’t mean the municipality should stop trying, they should encourage skepticism toward new ideas. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” the saying goes.

There are alternatives to CCTV government run surveillance. There are already plenty of private security camera systems that are used efficiently when needed. The other sad truth is that our computers, smartphones, and even smart devices like internet-connected cameras, refrigerators, and smart electric meters are already tools of surveillance used against us. These are employed by security agencies in the US, Israel and other bad actors. Let’s not allow the government to take control of our lives more than it has already.

There was one example of Hondurans protesting Israeli crimes against Palestinians during the Gaza war after the Hamas attack and Israeli stand down operation of October 7. On October 23, 2023, dozens of Honduran Palestinians demonstrated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Tegucigalpa. Since then, the long-established and influential Arab Palestinian community has been mostly silent about the plight of their Palestinian relatives amid Israel’s escalating atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank.

There is certainly a disconnect as the 300,000 members of Honduras’ Christian Palestinian community are the third and fourth generations to be born outside of Palestine. Their ancestors began arriving in Honduras from Palestine in the 1890s, and today their connection to and knowledge of Palestine and Israel is mostly superficial.

Most Honduran Palestinians don’t know the full scale or nature of the barbarism inflicted on their compatriots who stayed behind and continue to face Israeli oppression, violence, discrimination and now genocide. A Honduran Palestinian businessman told me that many in his community are afraid of being accused of anti-Semitism and facing potential consequences. Simply acknowledging that a systematic genocide may be occurring in Gaza is viewed by some as anti-Semitic.

It is hard not to notice. Since October 2023, Israeli military actions have resulted in the deaths of many Christian civilians in Gaza who have nothing to do with Hamas. In October 2023 Israeli military bombed a Christian orthodox church and murdered 18 Christians. In December, 2023 Israeli snipers executed two Palestinian women on Gaza Holy Family Catholic church property. In July 2025 Israeli soldiers fired a tank shell at a cross of the same church killing three, and wounding a catholic priest. While this all fell on death ears in Honduras, it does seem that the Israelis don’t like Christians very much.

One person who spoke with concern about the plight of Palestinians was president Xiomara Castro. In November 2023, the Honduran government recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations due to escalating massacres of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. President Castro described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide during a U.N. speech in September 2024.

Still, words have not turned into actions. Honduras is nowhere near recognizing Palestine as an independent state or moving its embassy from Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv. In fact, Honduras remains firmly in the pro-Zionist camp as it continues to support Israel’s military by purchasing 15 Black Mamba military vehicles.

Pro-Zionist sentiment is strong in Honduras. Israeli flags are flown throughout the country. Hondurans increasingly wear the Star of David around their necks, and taxi drivers display the Israeli emblem on their vehicles.

Honduran roots of Zionism and judeophilia run deep, well over a century. The country now counts three of its presidents to be Jewish: Juan Lindo, Ricardo Maduro and Juan Orlando Hernández.

In fact, you could argue that there was a fourth Jewish president of Honduras who ruled the country from 1911 well into the 1950s. Samuel Zemurray, the Banana King, was responsible for the 1911 Honduran presidential coup that secured land and concessions for his United Fruit banana company. American mercenaries hired by Zemurray deposed President Miguel Dávila and made Honduras his “banana republic.” Zemurray installed his puppet, Manuel Bonilla, as president and received 20,000 acres of land in return.

After President Bonilla’s death in 1913, Zemurray continued to be a virtual puppet master of several other Honduran presidents. In 1947, the World Zionist Organization tasked Zemurray with delivering Honduras’ U.N. vote in support of the creation of the state of Israel. Reportedly, in a personal phone call, Zemurray tried to bribe then-Honduran President Tiburcio Carías Andino. Because of pressure from the Honduran Palestinian community, Honduras abstained from voting for Israel.

Since then and with plenty of CIA help, Christian Zionism has made many inroads in Honduras. CIA fronts such as World Vision, USAID and Protestant Church World Service for many decades worked to undermine the cohesiveness of Honduras society. Since 1950s CIA, what could be considered an Israeli captured agency, promoted establishing and expansion of Protestant churches in Latin America. The excuse given was that Protestants were more anti communist and a good alternative to Liberation Theology movement preached in many Catholic parishes.

Israel’s investment in JOH obviously paid off.

The percentage of Catholics in the country fell from 97% in the 1960s to 47% today. Protestant denominations undermined the Catholic cohesion of Honduran society. Religiously divided Honduras is much easier to manipulate, with one denomination pitted against another.

Sixty years later, those Catholic-to-Protestant converts have not only become Zionists, they are actually converting to Judaism. According to El Heraldo, 37 families converted to Judaism and, in 2022, established Honduras’ first synagogue.

The San Pedro Sula Mishkan Shlomo synagogue members advertise their plans to judaise and convert thousands of Hondurans. The plan is for the expanded synagogue to be a six story tall, shaped like a Star of David building, and be able to accommodate 456 people. This would make it the biggest synagogue in Latin America.

Ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández was key in expansion of judeophilia and Zionism in Honduras. Just in terms of economy, according School of the Americas, between 2013 and 2019 Honduras purchased $342 million in military and surveillance equipment from Israel. Basically Honduras has been supporting Israel to the tune of around $5 million a month for that period.

Ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández was key in expansion of judeophilia and Zionism in Honduras. Just in terms of economy, according School of the Americas, between 2013 and 2019 Honduras purchased $342 million in military and surveillance equipment from Israel. Basically Honduras has been supporting Israel to the tune of around $5 million a month for that period.

Road to conversion of Juan Orlando Hernández begun in early 1990s when he completed a one year Mashav leaders course in Israel. Israel’s investment in JOH obviously paid off as he learned Hebrew, moved Honduras’ embassy to Jerusalem in 2021 converted to Judaism with his entire family in 2021. The last one right before going to a US jail for 45 years convicted of decade’s long drug and arms smuggling operation.

Honduras is likely getting set up for a rough ride. Israel funded military dictatorships where even CIA would not venture. Israel trained and supplied arms to many bad actors that destabilized the region: genocidal regime in Guatemala in 1980s, Colombian drug smuggling death squads, Los Zetas drug lord Heriberto Lazcano. “Israel has given its soldiers practical training in the art of oppression and in methods of collective punishment.

Some of those officers choose to make use of their knowledge in the service of dictators,” said Israeli general Mattityahu Peled.

Honduras will likely become an increasingly polarized and violent society.

There is also a growing Israeli pressure on the Honduran public by co-opting its anti Gaza genocide sentiment into nebulous movements. The normally restrained Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs complained that Israeli Ambassador Nadav Goren meddled in internal Honduran affairs by meeting with Protestant church leaders preparing for the August 16 March for Peace and Democracy. “We express to the Honduran people our deep discomfort at their participation in said public event. The involvement of a diplomat not only ignores his limitations,” stated the Honduran ministry.

There are plenty of other players seeping discord. Until its recent defunding by the Trump administration, San Pedro Sula was also home to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). The worldwide HIAS organization does not assist Palestinians, Arabs or Christians in moving to Israel, but used U.S. tax dollars to help move undocumented migrants through Honduras to the United States.

For decades, certain interest groups have promoted racial resentment —particularly among Black communities— while fostering a sense of guilt among white, European and Christian populations. In Honduras, this strategy is reflected in the 23-year-old movement known as the Fraternal Organization of Honduran Blacks (OFRANEH), which has received funding from organizations such as American Jewish World Service and the Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros. These groups have been involved in fermenting revolutions, protests and underhanded political activism around the world.

Just as with organizations such as Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA — which was recently designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization — OFRANEH fosters division, racial tension, grievances and expectations of compensation in the historically well-integrated Garifuna community.

Honduras, in the second quarter of the 21st century, will likely become an increasingly polarized and violent society. Powerful interest groups are working hard to implement this, and Roatan is increasingly a party to those tensions. In September 2025, OFRANEH conducted demonstrations in Cayos Cochinos, and in March 2025, there were protests in Diamond Rock. Tensions on Roatan are just starting to heat up.

One of these endeavors was the Bay Islands University that was founded in 2003. There was enough enthusiasm to get the institution off the ground — there were willing American and Honduran professors, students, and money backers. The space was rented from the Seventh Day Adventist School in French Harbor.

For-profit universities came to the island in the late 2000s. UNAH-Curla tried its remote learning classes. The for-profit UTH has also filled a gap and has even opened a campus in French Cay in 2025.

In many ways, the for-profit universities serve as a catch-up for the ineffective government middle school educational structure. The semi-literate and under educated 18- to 19-year-olds see a university diploma as a way to get a job in the island’s tourist industry or a business.

Things should and could be much better. Nearby Cayman Islands, with a population of 90,000, has three universities, both state and private. They even offer master’s degrees. Bay Islands have a similar area as Cayman Islands, and the Honduran department’s population surpasses 130,000 people. Now is the time to act. The cost of opening a higher learning institution are much lower in the Bay Islands, but will rise as time goes on.

Future University of Roatan can focus on marine biology.

There is one particular and little-known example of a great Honduran private university that could serve as an example. Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School was founded in the Yeguare Valley east of Tegucigalpa in 1941. It serves 1,250 students with a focus on agriculture education, and while it is small, it is recognized by some as the best university in Honduras.

Similar to how Zamorano University has been one of the most renowned agriculture universities in Latin America, the future University of Roatan can focus on marine biology. With its proximity to the sea and reef, Roatan is a perfect place to establish a university with such specialization.

There are only a few schools specializing in marine science in Latin America, without the natural assets of Roatan. There is the Oceanography Department at the University of São Paulo, and the Marine Science Department at Universidad del Valle, in Cali, Colombia. Neither of them have the proximity to the sea, reef, or marine life that Roatan does.

In some respects, back in the early 1980s, Roatan found itself at analogous crossroads. Island families were getting tired of sending their children to the mainland to receive quality education. That required separation from families, extra expenses, and the loss of family contact. In 1983, Mrs. Cheryl de Galindo, Mrs. Mireya Warren, and Jane Austin had the initial idea for a Roatan private school. The classes started with 35 students; 40 years later, ESBIR has around 300 students, 37 classrooms, and sits on an ample 2.2-acre property in the northern part of Coxen Hole.

Someone thinking about an addition to the private grade school and high school education on Roatan is Dr. Raymon Schmidt, who had been superintendent at San Pedro’s Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (EIS) for three years. Establishing a similar school from scratch is not cheap, and according to Schmidt, it means a $15 million to $20 million investment. It also would require investors willing to back this institution financially for years to come.

Today, two big urban centers in Honduras take pride in having the best schools. Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (EIS), founded in 1953, has 1,800 students and is considered the best school in Honduras. The other large, well-known school is the American School of Tegucigalpa, established in 1946 by American-based companies based in the Honduran capital. “Those are the king and the queen [of schools] in Honduras,” says Schmidt.

Closer to Roatan and attended by some islanders in the 1970s is La Ceiba’s Mazapán School. It was established in 1928 by Standard Fruit Company on a sprawling five-acre campus and offers education to 300 students.

Schmidt believes that the benefits of such a school would benefit the island indirectly. There would be a boost in the intellect of newcomers to the island. There would be more families interested to come here from mainland Honduras just for the extra opportunities given to their children. There are other benefits: the prestige, the attractiveness of living, working and a better base for human capital. “[School] is the catalyst; that is the spark that will bring business to the island,” said Schmidt. “Even if the school doesn’t generate money, it will do so indirectly with all the other businesses it is going to attract.”

Schmidt wants to start with around 200 students, and a master plan is to have 1,200 pupils with grounds that have sports facilities and gymnasiums to match. Every week they have academic competitions. “We would actually teach core academics,” said Schmidt.

Knowledge, values and good habits are at a premium.

In many ways, academics and values are the essence of the issue, since formal education is not what it used to be. Modern education focuses on preparing students to be obedient and competent future workers who don’t question things.

The educational system in the U.S., Europe, and other countries have been weaponized against parents with traditional and Christian beliefs. The corrupting brainwashing made amazing strides in the U.S. educational system, catching many educators off guard. This in turn created a fertile ground for woke ideology of Cultural Marxism that has infiltrated schools even on Roatan. “Ten years ago, it wasn’t like this,” admits Schmidt.

Unfortunately, most parents, good educators, and well-meaning school administrators do not understand the origin of this war for the minds of the young. Often they are not even familiar with the techniques and methods used to undermine the authority of parents, traditions, and Christian values of their children.

The students are told that there is no objective, no absolute truth, and that moral values are all relative depending on place and context. Christian, Western morals and values have been either removed from schools or they have become an unrecognizable meshing of different, often contradictory and opposing religious views.

Let us hope that Roatan will be able to withstand the gradual advances of Cultural Marxism. There are still old islanders, well into their 80s and 90s, who recall receiving short, albeit classical education in one-room classrooms on the island. That education aimed at developing the whole individual by teaching and promoting virtue and aspiration of wisdom. The ultimate goal was for a pupil to properly know and glorify God.

The original, Christian educational goal of developing individuals have been replaced by making cookie-cutter, compliant students able to follow orders and fulfill tasks needed to get a job.

We now live in times where not education, but knowledge, values and good habits are at a premium. Using AI for teaching children or university students is problematic. In fact, much of this technology is enslaving and dehumanizing our children in classrooms and in our homes. The answer to the addictive presence of phones, apps and social media is not technical, but spiritual. It is paramount to recognize the need for both the divine and human element in education.

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.

Roatan is not Honduras, and if someone really wants to see this Central American country, they need to leave the comfort of the English-speaking island and venture to the mainland. There you can appreciate the full beauty of Honduras, and the entrepreneurship of its people that are the engine of the country’s economy.

Honduras is filled with bountiful natural beauty. Its northern part is framed by 400 miles of stunning coastline, with virgin forests of the mountains touching the often uninhabited white sand beaches.

The country’s northern coast has been blessed with three agricultural valleys that are its breadbasket. The biggest valley is the Sula Valley, then comes Bajo Aguán Valley, with 100,000 acres in size, and then Ulúa Valley near the Guatemalan border. The main agriculture driver is the cultivation of African Palm oil from farms belonging to Honduran Dinant Corporation, founded by Miguel Facussé Barjum.

Hondurans are still firmly rooted in land, as 40 percent of the 11 million citizens live in rural areas. There are also between 1-2 million living abroad. By most projections, Honduras is projected to have 15 million inhabitants by 2050. This will be a huge jump for a country that counted only 1.5 million people in 1950 a 1,000 percent increase in a century.

Honduras is important not only for its growing population and central geostrategic location in Central America and the Western Caribbean but also for its emergence as an economic power. The country is like a little tiger quietly rising to rival its neighbor Guatemala, surpassing the struggling Nicaragua, and outpacing the smaller economies of Costa Rica and Belize, as well as Bitcoin-booming El Salvador.

The country has a thriving, organically growing economy in several economy sectors: retail, manufacturing, forestry, and agriculture. The retail sector of the country is doing well and serves as a barometer for overall economic growth. There are indoor malls popping up not only in big cities, but medium size cities. There are malls in Siguatepeque, Catacamas, Juticalpa, El Progreso, Tocoa – many towns with barely 40,000 people.

Life in cities and towns around Honduras is becoming easier and more fun to live in. Tocoa is about the same as Catacamas with 63,000 people and both cities are home to Division I football teams and corresponding stadiums that fill to the brim every two weeks. Tocoa’s Real Sociedad has been Division I since 2012.

Newly paved roads connect Honduras’ two million-plus inhabitant cities, as well as numerous other cities of 100,000-200,000 people like La Ceiba, El Progreso, Comayagua and Choluteca. You can spot trucks moving pine and hardwood from Olancho to Tegucigalpa, cement from San Pedro Sula to Puerto Cortés, and coffee from Santa Bárbara to San Pedro Sula.

Traveling on the new roads that cross the country is a civilized experience. There are smart rest areas for travelers on Honduras’ main roads. There are tasty restaurants next to coffee shops, gas stations, and pharmacies.

As a signal of economic growth, new shopping malls are springing up all over Honduras, even in medium sized cities. Mega Mall, City Mall, Megaplaza, and Metro Mall at the biggest mall developers, but there are others as well. There are dozens of private mall companies constructing retail spaces all over.

Every mall has a children’s playground next to the food court. Every large highway stop with a couple of restaurants also has a children’s playground. The entrepreneurial Honduras that didn’t leave their country, tempted by the American nightmare of working construction and McJobs without the ability to visit their families, are the engine that drives the country.

Honduras has several home grown supermarket chains, like the Tegucigalpa based and 50 year old La Colonia, with 69 stores, Colonial, Juniors, Supermercados Extra, and Del Corral. Filling the shelves of these Honduran-owned supermarkets are several national lactose companies making cheese and milk products: Sula, Leyde, Zamorano, and Lácteos Boquerón. All of these companies grew in geographically different parts of the country, and became nationally distributed as supply chains and clients’ desire for bigger selection grew.

In another impressive feat, Honduran meat companies are feeding practically all of the country. The country has reputable and growing companies such as Pro Carne, del Corral, Delicia and Pollo Norteño. Honduras, outside of Bay Islands, has no need to go to US for hormone and steroids-filled meats. While the European Union banned this type of unhealthy meat in 1989, the US has focused on Latin America, where no such bans are in place, as a dumping ground.

Honduras grows while the government is either on holiday.

Pizza Hut and Burger King have had a foothold in Honduras since the 1990s, but in the last 10 years the multinational giant’s dominance was replaced by a regional start up. The fast food internationals got replaced by Guatemala-based Pollolandia Express, with hundreds of stands in town and villages across Honduras.

Honduras has a dynamic banking sector, with most of the banks being in domestic hands. There it is the oldest Banco Atlántida, dating back to 1913; Banco del País, with 75 branches and growing fast; Banco del Occidente, with 170 branches; FICOHSA and BANHCAFE.

There have been a few efforts by foreigners to take advantage of Honduras’ resources and economic marketplace. In San Pedro Sula, the Chinese are displacing Americans. The building that used to be a San Pedro Sula KeyMart is now hosting a Chinese trinkets goliath – Great Wall of China. Most Honduran family businesses are not willing to sell easily to Americans, and now Chinese bidders are appearing on the horizon.

Hondurans are not relying on foreigners to determine their economic future. The country has its fair share of innovation, entrepreneurship, a reasonably priced labor force, and the resources needed for the country to boom. All that is taking place despite the corruption and misguidance of the Honduran central government.

Honduras is also exceptional in Central America for being an air transportation hub, now with five international airports. Palmerola airport was added to that mix in 2021 and now not only is the airport thriving, but the nearby historical Comayagua is booming.

There are also, of course places that time forgot. Trujillo and La Lima are quaint, picturesque towns with great history that are now sitting on the sidelines as nearby municipalities boom. In both population and economy, Trujillo has been eclipsed by its valley neighbor Tocoa. La Lima’s energy has been sucked up by nearby San Pedro Sula. La Lima was given a blow of double hurricanes in 2021 that destroyed its Canal Maya and displaced tens of thousands of its residents. The so-far neglected role of rebuilding and improving the Maya Canal rests in the hands of the central government.

All in all, Honduras grows while the government is either on holiday or strike. The country grows economically not because of its governmental policies and cartel corrupting its presidents, but in spite of these things. It’s a bit like Florida in the 1980s: growing thanks to the energy of young Floridians, as well as cocaine smuggled from South America.

I spoke with old heads in Trujillo, taxi drivers in La Ceiba, shop keepers in Olancho, and doctors in Tegucigalpa. Apparently, that basic question was far from the minds of Hondurans. Some felt it was curious no one ever asked them that before, or taught them in school.

The concept of a country’s founder is universally accepted. Just about all Americans will agree that George Washington was their country’s founder. Mexicans will say it was Hernán Cortés – like him or not, he had that honor. Nicaraguans will say it was Francisco de Córdoba. Both Guatemalans and Salvadorians will point to Pedro de Alvarado as the founding figure of their nation. But Honduras, when asked about their country’s founder, find themselves perplexed. After traveling across Honduras, we have concluded that the basic concept of “father of a nation” is foreign to most of Hondurans.

There was an attempt to point to Honduras’ founder. Some of those interviewed by us would say this man is Christopher Columbus. That could not be, however. The fact is that Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras in 1502, but left without leaving settlement behind or much of a mark.

Others said the founder is chief Lempira, the leader of the Lenca people who fought Francisco de Montejo in 1530s. Yet Lempira, if not a fictional figure, is a symbol of indigenous resistance to Spanish colonization who fought for tribal self determination, and who resisted today’s Honduras being organized into any type of larger entity. He was definitely not a founder, but more like someone would resist founding of any entity resembling the state of Honduras.

Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras in 1502, but left without leaving settlers behind or much of a mark.

Some people said the founder of Honduras was Hernán Cortés. Cortés even has a Honduran department named after him, a fact which supports that claim. Yet, Cortés sailed to Honduras in 1525-6 for a brief stay and only after several other Spanish captains preceded him more than a year earlier.

Some Hondurans suggested that Francisco Morazán is Honduras’ founding father. Yet José Francisco Morazán Quesada was more of a visionary thinker and political martyr. Morazán was a liberal politician, general, and a freemason who served as the president of the Federal Republic of Central America after he was head of state of Honduras. He was also head of state of El Salvador and Costa Rica. Morazán is much more a symbol of Central American unity other than Honduran nationhood.

I’ve also had someone tell me that Honduras didn’t really have a founder. Well, that would make Honduras a nation born without a father, an idea not only sad, but impossible. A nation that doesn’t have a father, or grows up without knowing who the father was, is at a great disadvantage. It is like not knowing where you came from, not knowing your roots or ancestors.

Studying Honduran history in some detail, one finds out quickly that there is a man who can place a rightful claim on being Honduras’ founder. A brave, handsome, and adventurous man born in 1487 in Andalucía, whose body has been buried in an unknown place somewhere around Naco, Cortés. His name was Cristóbal de Olid.

One historical fact has been confirmed by several credible historical sources: 500 years ago, on May 3, 1524 Cristóbal de Olid landed on modern day Tela, and with settlers and religious figures, he founded a town he named Triunfo de la Cruz, or Triumph of the Cross. Cristóbal de Olid claimed the land for Hernán Cortés and later for himself.

Olid came with 400 Spanish and launched what was to be a Christianization and spreading of Western Civilization that bore fruits in churches, cities, and universities. While forgotten, and called a traitor by Cortés, de Olid should be called the father of Honduras.

1524 was a pivotal year in Honduran history. There were in fact three conquistadors roaming the country’s northern coast, bringing in settlers and planting flags. In March 1524, Gil González Dávila landed near Puerto Cortés and founded a town he named Natividad de Nuestra Señora. A few months later, Cortés sent Francisco de las Casas with more men and ships to quell Olid’s ambitions.

In a three way confrontation, it was de las Casas and Dávila who gained the upper hand and had Olid tried for treason in the town of Naco. Olid was found guilty and beheaded. His head was displayed on a wooden spike in the town’s main plaza. While the execution of 36-year-old Olid was later condemned by a Mexican court, none of his executioners suffered punishment.

Olid should be called the father of Honduras.

Having a father of a nation accused of treason is nothing new. One only has to look at Nicaragua and Panama to prove that. Nicaragua celebrates executed Francisco Hernández de Córdoba as a founder of their nation.

Also, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the founder of Panama, was tried and executed by his countrymen and his remains are still missing. Olid, Córdoba and Balboa were executed as traitors and their headless bodies were missing for centuries.

Only Nicaraguans were able to locate the body of the country’s founder. In the year 2000, Córdoba’s headless skeleton was discovered in a crypt of a church in León Viejo. Panamanians are still looking for Balboa’s grave and Hondurans didn’t seem to care much where Olid was buried. The Catrachos are even less interested in acknowledging Olid’s parental rights to their country.

Hondurans stand in sharp contrast to Panamanians and Nicaraguans as far as their pursuit of recognizing their Spanish ancestors. One diversion is how the three countries call their currencies. Nicaraguans replaced their peso in 1913 with, Córdoba notes, acknowledging the contribution of the Spanish Conquistador in bringing in Christianity and civilization to their country. Gaining independence from Colombia in 1904, Panama replaced their Colombian Peso with Balboas.

Honduras did the exact opposite, and in 1931 it replaced their peso note with the Lempira note. The currency named after a cacique figure who opposed the Spanish conquistadores.

Naming currency after a Spanish fighting cacique is unique in Central America, and in fact Latin America in general. It’s a bit like if the US would rename their dollar to Geronimo, acknowledging the Apache chieftain resistance to American western conquest.

Spanish speaking nations either called their money after Spanish like Columbus in Costa Rica, Córdoba in Nicaragua, or Balboa in Panama. Several countries like Mexico and Argentina left their currency name peso like the original Spanish currency. Guatemalans went for something neutral and named their currency after a national bird.

So here is an idea. While El Salvador is stealing everyone’s thunder in Central America, there is something Honduras at least can do and reclaim its rightful father all in one sweep. What about creating a new Honduran currency, tying it to Bitcoin and laming it Olid?

Honduras has become a minor participant in the world drama of an orchestrated invasion and migration that originates in South America and terminates at the border of the US.

“This unprecedented surge in illegal immigration isn’t an accident. It is the result of deliberate policy choices by the Biden administration,” said Tucker Carlson. Carlson is wrong. That deliberate policy only escalated during Biden administration. The interests that decide and control the US’s political spectrum have been implementing the replacement of US patronage with Chinese presence and, in some cases, dominance.

For over a century, the US would stress how vital Central America was to its security and that it holds a responsibility of defending the region. Just as the USA kicked out Britain from the Bay Islands in 1859, it is now inviting China to take a dominant role in the region, just like the communist country has in Africa over the last couple decades.

Panama, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have signed a memorandum of understanding about China’s Belt and Road initiative. Honduras, with Central America’s only deep water port facility, will also sign the document soon. In 2013, Nicaragua granted a 50 year concession to finance and manage the 173 mile transoceanic canal to a Chinese company with CPC ties. Once the canal is operational, the concession could be extended for another 50 years.

Honduras is not without significance to the US. About 70% of all cocaine destined for the US makes its way across Honduras’ waterways, or over ground. The country is important enough that the US stations 1,500 of its troops at Soto Cano military base. There are also dozens of agents from the CIA and other US agencies a operating throughout Honduras.

Conventional warfare is not the only way of creating mass migrations that reshape societies, change their value systems, and damage their economy. There is the economic degradation in Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua, but it is now increasingly China that is creating the most migrants.

Just as the USA kicked out Britain from the Bay Islands in 1859, it is now inviting China.

There are many reasons why the Chinese are leaving China and some going to the US illegally. One such reason is that China is getting rid of those that are not willing to partake in its open prison society controlled by camera, phone, social credit score surveillance and a control system named “skynet.”

The Chinese migrants interviewed along their way to the US tell stories of religious persecution, constant Chinese government surveillance, and imprisonment. They are describing a country that has become an open air prison.

A combination of draconian Covid lockdowns and China’s communist leader Xi Jinping’s increasingly repressive rule has pushed hundreds of thousands to flee China. They term it “runology”, or runxue in Chinese. Chinese Communist government has gotten two for one applying its zero Covid tolerance policy. On the one hand they have created a more obedient population, and on the other they created and strengthen bastions of Chinese presence abroad.

Another likely reason why China benefits from this migration to the US is the destabilization of the US. The flooding of the US with migrants, criminals, and intelligence agents has its precedents.

An example of a similar communist migrant flood effort was during the Mariel boatlift. In 1980, Cuba got rid of 125,000 people who were unwilling to live in the open prison that it created. As an added bonus – and a Trojan horse – the Cuban communist regime transferred 20 thousand hardened criminals to the US.

Since China implemented its one-child policy in 1979, the country has ended up with 35 million extra men. In 2020, there were a reported 111 boys born for every 100 girls. These Chinese men are both expandable and useful. While Cuba is a country of a mere 11 million people, communist China has 1.4 billion people. Instead of 125,000 Cubans, in a decade or so, the US could end up with 35 million Chinese.

The Chinese are organized and motivated. There are Chinese map apps guiding them from Ecuador to Colombia, then by boat around the Darien gap to Panama, then across Honduras to San Salvador and across Guatemala and Mexico to Tijuana, a city with a population of 15,000 Chinese. That is where the Chinese migrants usually cross into the US.

How does Honduras fit into all this? In all practically, Honduras has been bought by China. On March 25, 2023, Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and signed on to the One China policy. Just two weeks prior to the switch, Honduran president Xiomara Castro has tried to squeeze out of Taiwan $2.5 billion to build a hospital, a dam, and write off of Honduras’ other debts.

“The government has managed to create an image of China as a savior,” said Helui Castillo, who is in charge of commercial policy at the Honduran Private Enterprise Council (COHEP), the country’s main business and trade organization.

This has been going on with the tacit acceptance of Honduran governments of not only Xiomara Castro, but Juan Orlando Hernández. Castro has recognized China and part of the deal, logically, is to turn a blind eye on the hundreds of thousands of Chinese illegals crossing Honduras on their way to the US.

According to Honduras’ National Institute of Migration in 2023, 545,000 “irregular” migrants were allowed into Honduras, on their way to United States. President Xiomara Castro is a bird of a feather like Trump or Biden. Like her predecessors, she has packed her government with relatives and ideological cronies. Her son and her husband, Mel Zelaya — a former president ousted in a 2009 coup supported by some of her current political opponents — are her chief presidential advisers. Her nephew is defense minister. Her daughter, a member of Congress, has figured prominently in the nascent relationship with China.

In all practically, Honduras has been bought by China.

Central America has gotten little visible payoff for the diplomatic switches, with the exception of Panama, where China now operates ports on both ends of the Panama Canal. While Honduras is a minor participant along the way, Panama is a much bigger participant.

A bridge is being built across the river Chucunaque river at the Panamanian town of Yaviza, the site of a new bridge construction that will make it easier to make the journey. At the beginning of civilization in Panama there is Bajo Chiquito that in 2023 was receiving 800-1000 migrants every day. When the Darien Gap ceases to exist and connects Panama and Colombia via road, the trickle of migrants will very likely become a flood.

Absent from the Darien are any reporters from mainstream news organizations. It might seem odd that a photojournalist in search of a Pulitzer Prize would not make it down to the Darien to cover this story, unless a decision was made to blackball it by the publishers of news organizations. There are no US Congressmen making their way to the Darien to investigate either.

Also, fascinatingly, there is no presence of US agencies such as CIA, DEA, or the military whatsoever in Panama’s Darien. Only 20 years ago, Panama was considered the US’s back yard and an important outpost. What can only be concluded is that there is an enormous migration leading to a planned event and that migration involves collusion in international players, to the silence of controlled media.

The drama that takes place on Roatan each day deserves a movie of its own. Every day there are road and boating accidents, landslides, and fishing drama. If not that, the island could certainly serve as a backdrop for well known and beloved Hollywood classics.
According to Frank Martin, a Hollywood producer who has made Roatan his home, the island has plenty to offer as far as far as movie reshoot locations go. Roatan is picturesque and unforgettable, albeit still a little known place. It certainly has plenty of unusual, stunning, and full-of-character locations. Here are my top eight picks for movie ideas.

1. The Shining – Brick Bay Hotel.

2. The Island of Dr. Moreau – Morat Island.

The Island of Morat lies just east of Santa Helena and is the only uninhibited island in the Bay Islands archipelago. It is also full of crocodiles – and, as some islanders swear – duppies, or lost island spirits. It is certainly worthy of a movie setting, if not the subject of a movie itself.
The one movie that could be filmed here is a remake of the science fiction horror film The Island of Dr. Moreau. The 1996 movie featured some of the best actors of the time in Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. Yet in the end, the movie became famous not for its quality, but for its legendary production hell, perhaps the most troubled and difficult in Hollywood history. Morat islands, with its duppies, crocodiles, and Honduran legal challenges, could definitely prove a worthy match for the remake of this movie.

3. The Blue Lagoon – Marbella Beach.

This 1980 coming-of-age Brook Shields classic was filmed on an island near Fiji. While The Return to the Blue Lagoon was a dud, The Blue Lagoon III could surely be a hit. It could star actress Kiernan Shipka and take place on Marbella Beach, which is as unspoiled as it ever was. The development of this property has stalled for over a decade and remains one of the island’s last true gems. This north-shore beach is one of the prettiest spots on the entire island, period. The film crew and actors could stay at the soon-to-be-built Margaritaville Resort, just a few hundred meters from Marbella.

Legal challenges, could definitely prove a worthy match.

4. Captain Ron – Fantasy Island.

Roatan’s West End already has a famous Captain Ron, one of its long-time iconic resident. So the remake of the 1991 comedy about a Chicago family traveling to the fictional island of Pomme de Terre to claim a 60 foot yacht would be that much easier to make. The remake could be filmed on Roatan’s Fantasy Island, where many yachts come to spend the autumn months. Fantasy Island sports a great bar not unlike the one featured in the original movie.

5. Lost city of the Mayas – Neverstain Bight.

While a feature film has not yet been made about the abandoned city of “Ciudad Blanca,” it is certainly on some Hollywood producer’s lists. Filming the movie somewhere in Mosquito Coast is a possibility, but why travel that far? The legendary settlement is said to be located somewhere in the Mosquito Coast, but it was once inhabited by Paya Indians when Roatan was a Paya territory. If a Hollywood producer ever undertakes a movie about Honduras’ legendary Ciudad Blanca, they might as well film it on Roatan.
Neverstain Bight would be a great filming location, as it boasts an abandoned resort with a multitude of unfinished, concrete structures that are overgrown with trees and bush. The entire site resembles an abandoned city. This unrealized fantasy began in 2006 when a young Honduran developer broke ground on a project of two-story condos and 40 hillside homes. Westin Hotel was the intended manager of the site, but like most failed developments on Roatan, it is now owned by Banco Atlántida.
Paya called their lost “Ciudad Blanca” Kahã Kamasa, and American aviator Charles Lindbergh once spotted it while flying over eastern Honduras in the 1920s. It was given the name “white city” because the buildings and walls that surround it are white. This would fit the look already achieved by concrete cinderblocks that were used to build the city’s outer walls.

6. The Ghost Writer – Barbareta.

The Ghost Writer is a movie about an eccentric millionaire politician who gets caught up in a political scandal (like practically every millionaire does, apparently). The Ghost Writer takes place on a secluded private property in Martha’s Vineyard, but since director Roman Polanski has an ongoing legal case in the US, the movie was shot in Germany. Barbareta is unlikely to resemble Martha’s Vineyard, but it comes with its own billionaire who’s not a stranger to political debacles.

It boasts an abandoned resort with a multitude of unfinished, concrete structures.

7. Cast Away II – Swan Islands.

If the Honduran government doesn’t get its way and the prison on the Swan Islands isn’t built, the little archipelago could serve as a great location for a survival movie. The one that instantly comes to mind is Cast Away, the Robert Zemeckis film about a FedEx executive who crash lands on a Pacific island and spends four years living like a modern Robinson Crusoe. Big Swan Island, the larger of the two Swan Islands, would make a great site for a remake of this classic. As I write this, about a half-dozen Honduran soldiers are surviving on very little on the Swan Islands. Just so happens to be that the Swan Islands fall under the Roatan Municipality jurisdiction.

8. Mutiny on the Bounty – Crawfish Rock.

The Ghost Writer is a movie about an eccentric millionaire politician who gets caught up in a political scandal (like practically every millionaire does, apparently). The Ghost Writer takes place on a secluded private property in Martha’s Vineyard, but since director Roman Polanski has an ongoing legal case in the US, the movie was shot in Germany. Barbareta is unlikely to resemble Martha’s Vineyard, but it comes with its own billionaire who’s not a stranger to political debacles.