Kilotonnes of Seaweed become a Curse to Many, a Resource to a Few

You can look at the Sargassum overabundance as a curse, and you can also look at it as a blessing. In February, when millions of cubic meters of Sargassum washed onto beaches and mangroves along the Roatan shoreline, many islanders took action. Others did nothing at all. After two months, the results are in.
The winter of 2026 broke records, creating a Sargassum bloom never before seen at this scale in the western Caribbean. The 2025 Sargassum biomass was estimated at 37 million tons, but this year will surely smash the record once the tally is in.

The extraordinarily large bloom is attributed to wind-driven upwelling in the Atlantic, which brought extra nutrients to the Sargassum belt.
On Roatan, two species of Sargassum have wreaked havoc: Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans have been washing up. Sargassum is a type of brown macroalgae, or seaweed, that grows in the Atlantic and is pushed eastward by wind onto the shores of islands and continents. Things get out of hand when Sargassum quantities become 50 or 100 times greater than in a typical year.

The Sargassum Impact

Sargassum disrupts ecosystems, creates a foul odor and traps tiny fish. The seaweed depletes oxygen in the surrounding water. As it breaks down and decomposes, Sargassum produces hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, resulting in a low pH level. This further harms the aquatic environment and the animals that live there. The result is the creation of dead zones under and around floating, decomposing Sargassum.

In other words, Sargassum degrades water quality and makes the marine environment inhospitable. The number of species and the density of marine life drop. Once Sargassum leaves the island’s coast, the true scale of those negative effects can be assessed. When Sargassum envelops mangrove areas, it also stifles local fish species that use mangroves as nurseries.

Another negative effect is the microplastics that are brought in by the Sargassum. The pieces of Sargassum float hundreds of meters from beaches, and swimming or snorkeling can be a less pleasant experience.

There are a few benefits of this seaweed for critters that feed on it. Sargassum provides a rich environment for organisms such as bacteria and fungi, which grow on decomposing plant matter, breaking it down and turning it into nutrients. Some fish, including juvenile triggerfish and filefish, feed on the invertebrates that live with the Sargassum. Tiny amphipods and isopods graze on the decaying Sargassum, and those, in turn, become food for crabs and fish.

There are examples of such events in the recent past. In 2018, Mexico’s Caribbean coast was so inundated with Sargassum that it caused a die-off of dozens of animal species. This year, Sargassum has overwhelmed Roatan’s beaches, and the island’s marine life has been hit hard.

While Roatan is about 42 kilometers long, its meandering shoreline stretches well over 160 kilometers. Tens of millions of cubic meters of Sargassum have washed ashore on Roatan.

WEST BAY UNDER SARGASSUM SIEGE

On Feb. 9 and 10, the situation got out of control. As rainy weather kept most West Bay tourists from going to the beach, Roatan’s premier beach shore was packed with Sargassum. West Bay, the jewel of Roatan tourism, has been affected as never before. The 1,000-meter-long beach was surrounded by a belt of Sargassum that was 100 meters wide and half a meter thick.

Local authorities became preoccupied with solving the immediate problem of Sargassum affecting the beach experience for thousands of tourists visiting the jewel of Roatan. They felt they needed to act quickly, and that solution was to truck the Sargassum to dumping sites across the western side of the island and bury the rest under the white beach sand with heavy machinery and plenty of manpower.

Sargassum has been racked by hand by dozens of municipal workers, wheel barrowed onto trucks and dumped by the side of West Bay Road and at the municipal dump. Paya Magazine calculates that more than 300,000 cubic meters of Sargassum were removed from West Bay Beach in the winter of 2026.

While covering tons of Sargassum directly beneath two meters of white West Bay sand seemed to solve the aesthetic problem in a matter of days, as with many quick decisions, the unintended consequences might take several months or years to be realized. “Burying the Sargassum on a white sandy beach like West Bay can result in changing the color of the sand over time,” said Darrell Humphries, HOA manager at Palmetto Bay since 2016. “If you start placing Sargassum there, you can end up with darker, browner-colored sand eventually.”

According to Humphries, turtle grass and spaghetti grass, with their high calcium content, eventually turn into sand, but Sargassum turns into a solid, darker material. “Sargassum is a darker type of product once it is broken down,” Humphries says. “It’s empirical, a lot of observational stuff we have learned over time.”

Another potential unintended consequence of burying Sargassum under a relatively narrow and steep West Bay Beach is the potential to speed up beach erosion. While burying Sargassum along West Bay Beach has given beach users a wider and taller beach, that effect could be only temporary.

Sargassum blocks sunlight reaching both coral and sea grass.

The higher beach will erode more quickly from currents and storms in the coming months, and perhaps a year or two. The waterlogged, spongy Sargassum will eventually be compressed into a minuscule layer of brown solids. When the currents finish their equalizing work and the Sargassum compression process ends, West Bay Beach might be narrower and lower. The beautiful beach might be less wide after Sargassum floated into West Bay in February 2026.

BEYOND WEST BAY

While the attention of Roatan Municipality authorities focused resources and manpower on tourist areas such as West Bay and West End, the rest of the island was left to fend for itself. The communities of Punta Gorda and Brick Bay were particularly affected by the tons of decomposing, foul-smelling seaweed.

Some places have had it worse than others. In the Brick Bay community, the Sargassum has been accumulating and decomposing for more than six weeks. Several hundred people live in this densely populated south side seaside village.

As older seaweed decomposes, new waves of Sargassum wash ashore, replacing it. The stench of rotting Sargassum is similar to that of a failed septic system. While no one has become ill, constant exposure to the stench of decomposing Sargassum has been stressful and miserable. “People are getting accustomed. In their homes, the smell seems less strong,” said Ricardo Hernández, a longtime Brick Bay resident.

The Honduran Navy has considered bringing in a floating barrier to prevent more Sargassum from floating into Brick Bay. The most likely outcome is that the problem will solve itself naturally. Nature will take away what nature has created. “We are waiting for a northern that would move the Sargassum out to sea,” says Hernández, whose Brick Bay home is 15 meters from the sea.

SARGASSUM AS A RESOURCE

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, goes the proverbial phrase. The ideal situation would be to treat Sargassum as a periodic resource: a fertilizer, a building material for roads and landfills, and even an element for creating building blocks.

In Mexico, local entrepreneurs have found a way to turn Sargassum into a construction material. They gather Sargassum from beaches, and then wash it with fresh water to remove the salt. Next, the Sargassum is dried and shredded, and a cement mixture is added. The rectangular Sargassum building blocks are then dried in the sun. The resulting Sargassum-cement blocks are strong, fire-resistant, thermally massive and inexpensive.

On Roatan, some islanders have been using Sargassum as fertilizer for well over a decade. They pick up the seaweed from the beaches, rinse it with fresh water, and then spread it around the base of their fruit trees. “We let it dry out and put it all over the plants,” said Richard Anderson, a hotel owner from West End. “It’s like Popeye when you give him spinach.” Anderson rinses the Sargassum and then dries it out before using it all over his property.

There are also islanders who use Sargassum as a construction material and landfill material. Over the years, the Palmetto Bay maintenance staff has become expert at quickly gathering Sargassum from the beach and using it for improvements in community areas.

Islanders have been using Sargassum as a fertilizer.

Palmetto Bay maintenance staff has been using washed-out Sargassum, turtle grass and spaghetti grass to construct a walking trail and road system in its low-lying Bird Sanctuary community area. This project began in 2014, so the Palmetto Bay HOA staff has gained extensive experience handling Sargassum and using it in careful, strategic ways.

Palmetto Bay maintenance staff have been using Sargassum as a natural, free fertilizer for some of their plants. “It’s a great fertilizer; it’s great for mixing in with regular soil,” says Darell Humphries, manager at Palmetto Bay.

The steps in producing this free plant stimulant are minimal. Workers gather the Sargassum with a tractor, place it on a trailer, and dump it in an area where rain rinses it down. Then the Palmetto Bay staff places the broken-down Sargassum at the base of plants and trees. “Peppers and other vegetables do very well with Sargassum,” says Humphries.

The maintenance tractor operators try to avoid picking up Sargassum that has rolled around in the water and become entangled with a lot of sand. They try to keep picking up Sargassum and keeping the entangled sand to a minimum, somewhere around 5% to 10%.

Businesses Assist Home Owners in Managing Their Dreams

The Airbnb database shows around 200 rental properties on Roatan, but the majority of island homeowners who want to rent out their properties rely on intermediaries. These are medium- and small-sized, island-based home management companies that usually trace their beginnings to the early 2000s, in the early days of the internet and before online credit card processing. While some homeowners try to rent out their Roatan homes independently, doing so remotely and profitably with just one property is not easy.

The oldest property management company —Roatan Property Management (RPM)— belongs to Stella and Fran Marazzito. Stella and Fran launched their property management business in 2001 after a realtor mentioned the need for such a service at Hole in the Wall, a then-popular East End restaurant. The couple started with just a few homes in Gibson Bight. “Through word of mouth, the business grew from there,” says Fran.

After 24 years, the Sandy Bay-based RPM has a staff of seven full-time employees and manages 52 properties. “With more people buying second homes in the last few years, the property rental sector will likely continue to grow,” says Fran.

Home management companies trace their beginnings to the early 2000s.

Roatan is part of a worldwide phenomenon in which property rentals for tourists have grown at a higher rate than hotel rooms. A growing segment of travelers prefers renting a property that is bigger than a hotel room, offers a kitchen and provides a level of autonomy that a hotel stay typically cannot. “They have ‘live-like-a-local’ type of freedom,” said Mike Carter of Roatan Life Vacation Rentals (RLVR).

RLVR traces its roots to 2006, when Steve Hasz, Mike Carter, Gene DeMarco and Mark Harvey bought Roatan Life Real Estate from Phil Weir, a Realtor and longtime island resident.

Already in 2006 Carter felt that the island needed a property management rental company that offered the convenience of accepting credit cards. “It was a pain to rent homes. It was the early days, and you had to wire the money to rent the house,” Carter said. “We brought in a lot of technology and different types of banking and credit card options.”

There was an obvious niche in a growing market, and RLVR took off. “We started with zero and got one property at a time — Coral Vista and Half Moon Bay in West End, Turrets and West Bay, and the West Bay Mall condos,” Carter said.

In 2026, RLVR will celebrate 20 years of operating out of its base in Lawson Rock. The company is currently owned by Mike Carter and Steve Hasz, another longtime island resident and real estate broker. RLVR employs 27 people and manages about 100 properties. The company has the largest pool of homes and condominiums under management on the island.

About 70 of these 100 properties are available for rent year-round. Some are owned by individuals; others are part of homeowners associations. Some properties are managed for owners who don’t want to rent them out but appreciate the convenience of having them maintained and ready when they decide to visit.

Potential profitability of a rental house depends on its location and amenities.

The company focuses its rentals on the west side of the island, from CocoView in the east to West Bay in the west. RLVR properties are available for booking via the company’s website, but to stay competitive and accessible to potential clients, nearly all the properties are also listed on other hosting platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo and Expedia.

According to Carter, the potential profitability of a rental house depends on its location and amenities. “If you don’t owe anything on the house —mortgage or loan— typically they break even or do a little bit better,” Carter said. “You have to be as good as, or better than, your neighbors at a similar price. If it’s not in a desirable location, it doesn’t compete well.”

The early starters in the island’s property rental sector continue to grow and evolve. According to Carter, all of the Roatan house management companies help each other. Most of them focus on different parts of the island, so the competitive spirit is centered on promoting Roatan as a destination, not on fighting over potential clients.

Another company with a long track record is Island House Vacation Rentals in West Bay. The company traces its origin to an Italian couple who lived on Roatan and rented houses out of Las Cúpulas in West Bay.

In 2005, Ruth Elmore bought it with a partner. “We were both working in the diving industry in West End and looking for something a little more sustainable,” says Ruth, who renamed the business Island House. Roatan in the mid-2000s was a much quieter place than it is today. “When we started, it was in a small studio office underneath one of our vacation rentals in West Bay Village,” says Elmore, who started with just four properties in West Bay Village and three in Turtle Crossing.

In 2007, Brad Volk joined Ruth as a partner, and Island House Vacation Rentals (IHVR) was born. Today, IHVR manages 45 properties, has a staff of six, and contracts 25 part-time housekeepers, gardeners and repair workers.

Home rental prices have been climbing at 3% to 5% a year, slightly ahead of inflation. Part of the expense —and a challenge— of owning a Roatan property is the upkeep. Owners have to deal with termites, bee infestations, hurricane warnings and relentless, corrosive salt. It’s definitely not for everyone and is more expensive than most people expect.

The high electricity costs make renting a house on Roatan pricey compared to its regional competitors. While Mexico or the Dominican Republic might still have cheaper rental properties than Roatan, the island offers better value than Belize or the Cayman Islands.

The Second Generation of Roatan’s Fire Dancers

Since 2017, Villeda trained in fire performance and sandcastle artistry under Paul Abel, a Canadian fire artist who pioneered the craft on the island in the early 2000s. “[Paul] was really creative, and that’s what I liked about him,” Villeda said. He collaborated with Abel until 2021, when he purchased the fire show business from him as Abel relocated to the Cayman Islands. While Abel’s venture was known as Island Fire, Villeda’s enterprise now goes by the name Roatan Fire.

Villeda has been performing fire shows for friends since 2010. His permanent shows are at Boat Bar, Mayan Princess, Infinity Bay, Paradise Hotel and Bananarama. In addition to fire shows, Villeda does work as sign maker, tour guide, and sandcastle artist on the island.

Evelyn and Ronis first practice their performances without fire in the backyard of their Mud Hole home. After dry runs, they practice with fire, fueled by premium gasoline. Sometimes the Roatan Fire duo becomes a trio when the couple’s 21-year-old nephew, Junior Villeda, joins the show.

The artistic choices come with some risks. Flames, fueled by premium gasoline, fly several feet before landing on the sand near the dancers. The fire performers use sun cream as a modest precaution against burns. While the couple says they’ve never had accidents involving spectators, they have suffered a few minor burns over the years. “We apply ice to cool the area and use sulfadiazine cream on the burns,” says Evelyn, showing a round mark on her leg where a fire poi had burned her. “The show goes on. I smile as if nothing happened.”

You can follow Roatan Fire on Social Media:
Roatan Fire (Facebook)
@RoatanFire (Instagram)
Roatan Fire Tours (Youtube)
roatanfiretours.com (Website)

The artistic choices come with some risks.

Roatan Hosts a Sixth Edition of the Largest Bicycle-Tourist Event in Honduras

Some riders carried portable stereo equipment and played music to motivate themselves during the hard climbs of the race. The roughly one kilometer beach trail between Crawfish Rock and Palmetto Bay offered some of the biggest technical challenges of the ride.

While the recreational riders went off pavement the bicycle racers stayed on pavement and rode across Jackson Road before arriving in West Bay after 62 kilometers. The first elite racer was Héctor Menendez who came in with a time of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 9 seconds. Haydee Muñoz, a Roatan native took first place in women’s Master’s category. Her time (1:31:34) completing the 81 kilometer loop was better than the elite winner, Myra Calero who came in with a time of 1:44:52. Muñoz had won the event in 2021. “The PTP is the hardest race so far and I’ve done Tela and Comayagua and nothing compares to [PTP Roatan race],” said Muñoz.

Point 2 Point, organized by Carlos Johnson and Jaime Cabus, is one of several sporting events that bring in tourists to Roatan during the low tourist season of September and October. The Roatan Fishing Tournament, Bay Islands International Half Marathon, Acropola Endurance Run, and Point 2 Point, all bring in visitors to the island. Five hundred participants from 12 countries took place in this year’s Point 2 Point event, 35 participants more than in 2021.

Tough Times among Uncertainty, Fear and Government Restrictions

Roatan’s tourism services and hotel sectors have been hit the hardest by the March shut down. While many hotels have fired most of their employees and shut down completely some have dug in and focused on renovations and expansion. Anthony’s Key Resort is building a new seafront restaurant for their future cruise ship guests and Meridian hotel in West Bay has focused on finishing construction of condominiums.

Edward and Laura Moulder, Meridian’s owners, take the lockdown as a time to do improvements, maintenance and construction. The Meridian is a hotel and condominium development that started in 2007. Meridian has dug into their rainy-day fund, but most of Roatan’s hotels don’t have that luxury. “I am shocked how few businesses have had reserves set up,” said Laura Moulder. “We are continuing to pay employees. We feel the island is going to get worse off if we don’t pay. (…) Important to maintain the impression that Roatan is safe and organized.”

Laura Moulder believes that the key for Roatan’s recovery lies in local businesses working together at presenting the island businesses join together and market Roatan as a safe place just like Cayman Islands or Belize have been doing. She feels that recovery from the shutdown will be different than after the 2008-2009 financial crisis and Micheletti political coup that caused the island economy to retract for over two years. “The turnaround should come quite quickly,” she says. “People have been putting their lives on hold. We will see a lot of urban money leaving.  A lot of urbanites will make that move.”

That is as long as these “urban refugees” have funds to do so. With over 40 million Americans who filed for unemployment over the US shut down policy, fewer and fewer have the money to invest or travel.

There is a noticeable capital flight as Americans are ready to sell their homes in urban areas and look for safety in rural areas and the Caribbean. Turks and Caicos are benefiting from a luxury home boom as North Americans look for safe place to live, seek refuge or telecommute. This Caribbean country has cut duty and planning fees and waiving duties on construction materials. If it plays its cards right Roatan could also be in line to benefit.

Before the economic turnaround many businesses will go broke. Businesses that didn’t have a rainy-day fund aren’t doing that well. Casa Marmol, a stone finish store, closed its store at the Megaplaza Mall alongside several other businesses there.

RAS Express, an air shipping company that has been doing business since 2001 has called it quits. Gil Garcia, RAS Express’ owner, had to let go of six of his eight employees in Coxen Hole. With the airport being closed he can’t provide shipping services his business is based on. “I blame both municipalities. For the longest time Roatan was clear [of COVID-19]. They should have helped people that were stuck on the mainland instead they just came here illegally,” says Garcia. “I gave up on central government a long time ago.”

Garcia is one of the few people not afraid to criticize the almost five month long, chaotic and indiscriminate government policy of locking down healthy people and business. The isolation, fear and confusion has produced a chilling effect on the island. Many are fearful to criticize the local government officials, central government, or police.

Other than shipping dozens of COVID-19 positive police officers to the island the central government has been doing little to help Roatan handle the shutdown crisis. For one, the title registry office has been open only for two days in May, and that’s it. There is no way to proceed if someone wanted to buy or sell a property.

The next financial crisis on Roatan might come from the looming foreclosures on thousands of loans on properties and vehicles.

Some businesses are getting creative in trying to pay their staff dependent on tourists. West End’s Sundowners Bar has eight local staff and its owners resorted to doing a raffle to pay some of the staff’s $4,000 monthly salaries.  “The island has been shut down for almost four months. No cruise ships, no flights, no tourists. (…) our local staff is hurting,” wrote on social media Aaron Etches about his iconic Roatan bar.

Some businesses are actually thriving. Island Shipping, cargo shipping between Roatan and the mainland, has taken over freight business that before the shutdown was handled by the Galaxy Wave ferry.

While Galaxy Wave had practically no business since mid-March but it has managed to update much of its on-land facilities and two of its ferries. “We took time to do the general maintenance. We painted the engine room, seats, we redid lifeboats, (…) we redid the sales counter,” said Jesus Reyes, Galaxy Wave manager, adding that the operations are aimed to return in mid-August. “We are quite ready to start operating. We are just waiting what the airlines and airport want to do.”

Some businesses have managed to opened new locations, or even expand their operations. Serrano Industrial hardware store opened a long planed second location in Coxen Hole. CARNIAGRO, an agricultural supplies store, moved to a new, bigger location in French Harbour. “Now we are selling many seeds and plant products,” said Greg Norman, owner of CARNIAGRO.

While hardware stores and agricultural supplies stores are not as dependent on tourism and keep the island economy afloat, they are struggling as well. “We are doing half the sales we did in January,” said Oscar Oseguera, Madeyso’s General Sales Manager who moved to Roatan form La Ceiba several weeks ago to help run the two Madeyso stores on Roatan.

The next financial crisis on Roatan might come from the looming foreclosures on thousands of loans on properties and vehicles. While Honduras Central government have imposed a moratorium on banks not to require payments from debtors for three months that expired in mid-June. On July 1 many struggled to renegotiate terms with their Honduran lending institutions.

Banco Atlántida, Honduras’ biggest lender, owns a big stake in Roatan’s defaulted properties. “[Banco] Atlántida is not very forgiving under normal circumstances,” said Laura Moulder. For over 20 years Banco Atlántida has amassed hundreds of acres of Roatan land and properties and it is likely to take over more properties in the months to come.

Santa Helena – Roatan’s Little Sister is Booming.

The newly constructed Saint Helene dock is set on the south side of the island in an area known as The Point, a short walk to town and a stone’s throw from the town itself. The Bodden family donated the strip of land where the dock meets land. The dock was built by funds coming from PMAIB (Proyecto Manejo Ambiental de Las Islas de la Bahia) at a cost of Lps. 6.4 million or $261,000 and comes just in time for the island to open to development and tourism.

Santa Helena is booming, real estate prices have doubled and tripled, there is now water and a brand-new dock. “It’s been the best year in history of Saint Helene,” said Bay Islands’ Governor Gino Silvestri. “Electricity, water wells, schools and now transport.”

Sadly, according to several islanders, most of the land shave been sold to outsiders. “It’s a bit like West Bay, the best pieces of land are owned by foreigners.” says Mathew Harper, a businessman, who has been living and coming to Santa Helena since 1980s. Proving that land ownership of Santa Helena is especially difficult. “You talk to five different people and you hear five different opinions about who owns what” says Harper.

Santa Helena would have had a dock much sooner, were it not for a failure of the original winner of the construction bid. Initially in 2017 a Tegucigalpa based company won with the lowest bid for the dock construction but was unprepared and unexperienced in this type of a project. Honduran law requires that the lowest bid be accepted, regardless of the experience or qualifications of the bidder. “They put maybe six posts,” says John Tellford Bodden, a seaman from Santa Helena. It took legal action, and over a year delay, for PMAIB funds to be recovered from the Tegucigalpa Company.

‘It’s been the best year in history of Saint Helene.’

A new bid was placed and Island Concrete, a Roatan based Construction Company with vast construction experience, won it. Within several months the 110-foot-long dock was completed. The 20-foot-wide, 45 square meters concrete dock is supported by 45 pilings and big enough for boats the size of Tropical Wave. “I feel proud. It’s going to change the island for good,” said Edward Eike, owner of Island Concrete.

Saint Helena, unspoiled and undeveloped island is home to around 1,000 people and 250 homes. It is a 40-minute ride from Dixon Cove on Tropical Wave. Safeway Maritime donated the trip to Saint Helene bringing in government officials, press and many curious. Captain John McNab, owner of Safeway Maritime, piloted the Tropical Wave east from Dixon Cove, along Roatan’s southern coast all the way to Saint Helene. The docking procedure took skill and the 147 foot Tropical Wave became the biggest boat to ever dock on Saint Helene.

The changes to Santa Helena are coming from other sources as well. Rotary club financed construction of the three, badly needed wells on the island with $156,000. “Before, Islanders would either drink rainwater or brackish water. Helene has a high-water table.” explains Brian Blackwell, 63, an American residing on Saint Helene. According to Blackwell a five-gallon jug of water that costs Lps. 35 on Roatan is sold for Lps. 60. “Groceries [here] are the double the price of that at Eldon’s. Its old Caribbean style living. Unlike Belize it has not been corrupted,” said Blackwell.

According to Mike Wittry, Roatan’s Rotary past president, the next project for the community of Santa Helena is the construction of a 30,000 Gallon cistern that could provide water to most island homes. The life on Roatan’s sister island is changing drastically.

From a College Class to Colorful Caribbean Homes.

Arguably, French Harbour has remained one of the hidden jewels of Roatan and while the town is not a tourist destination yet, a pair of young entrepreneurs, inspired by a University course, want to change that. “We want color to become an important facet in everyday life in French Harbour,” says Ronald Pozzi, who has been coming to the island for 32 years.

Ronald and Aksinia Pozzi, are the project’s originators. The couple decided it’s too complicated to set up a NGO organization in Honduras, and focused on the goals they want to achieve. Ronald was in private banking and in fashion photography and Aksina is an entrepreneur from Russia. The Boston based couple hopes to create a tourist experience that is off the beaten path. “We wanted to create a community driven tourist experience,” says Ronald. “The Caribbean islands are all the same. You have nice beaches, nice water and what really makes the island different and unique from one another are the people, the culture.”

“French Harbour, you just avoid it going on the main ‘Carretera,”’ says Ronald Pozzi. Ronald says he didn’t want to compete to traditional tourist attractions on the island like West End or West Bay. “We want to see something unique: a city of color,” says Ronald.

Appreciation of beauty can change the world.

“Once it’s all cleaned up and looks beautiful a tourist will want to take a picture with it,” says Ronald, he wants to create French Harbour into an Instagram destination. The project combines old ideas of making things beautiful and new ideas of social media. “Appreciation of beauty can change the world,” says Ronald.

Pineapples, bananas, flowers cover the exterior walls of the first two French Harbour painted houses. In three-and-half-days two houses were painted by a group of 12 volunteers and 12 paid workers. “Juanita and Melva were very, very open and gave us permission to do something crazy: paint their houses eclectic colors,” said Ronald Pozzi about the first two houses.

Ronald feels it is important to ask people not only for their permission, but for their vision. “We are painting it based on the colors these people love.”

Rachel White, 28, was one of the painting volunteers who hoped her own French Harbour house would be eventually painted. “Pink and white. I love soccer, so maybe with soccer balls,” she said. “This is my neighborhood. It’s nice to be a volunteer.”

Ronald got the idea for the project from his collage course professor, Doris Sommer, Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard University. “She kept saying: ‘if you want to be a cultural agent, if you want to be an agent of change, especially in emerging communities you have to create projects from the ground up,’” said Ronald. He wanted to do something that was practical, manageable and low maintenance.

The main sponsor of the beatification project is The Buccaneer, a culture center and tourist destination at the French Harbour waterfront owned by Lizette Pozzi and Constantino Pozzi, Ronald’s parents.

In March 2020 the couple plans to return to Roatan to paint as many homes as they can. “Six to eight houses are already lined up. If we have five houses painted, we can have an impact on French Harbour,” said Ronald. “It’s ideally a project that never ends as we will be painting houses on top of houses, until all of French Harbour is painted.”

Eastern Wind

Roatan is a perfect place to practice wind sports: sailing, windsurfing and kiteboarding and Paya Bay is now a small Mecca for kiteboarders. After a July 23 session at the Kiteboard Roatan launched in 2013: Dave Stanko, Ryan Stanko, Grandma, Selina Solorzano, Vikkie Collins, Randal Hernandez, Nessa Pandy, Brian Stanko, guests. (Photo by Chris Berg)

Boxing Pros

Roatanians are natural boxers, but while there is plenty of talent, until recently there were few ways of tapping into it. The shining stars of Roatan boxing made their debut at West Bay’s Paradise Beach Villas events center on July 7 against Alexis Arguello boxing school and Rufo Telles Boxing school from Masaya, Nicaragua. After the main event: Phillip Schneider, Toni Grayson, Danny Ewing, Jaden Ewing, Clement Heath, guest, Carlos Santos, Orlen Forbes.

More than Mango Creek

Some out the islands best kept treasures are on the east side… weay east. On June 19 a group of Texans headed to Port Royal to explore the Mango Creek Lodge and environs. After a delicious Mexican themed lunch, walking a suspended bridge and playing in the freshwater creek the gang headed out back west. Ready to board the Mango Creek Express: Jenny Khan, Sara Khan, Dr. Fareed Khan, Oswaldo Khan, Asad Khan, Tanya Khan, Dr. Rubina Khan, Janie McVicker, Geri Ortiz, Tita Medina, Ellen Johnson, Autie McVicker, Jimbo, Manny Quiroz.