You’ll head off-the-beaten-track to the east side of the island to the picturesque fishing villages of Punta Gorda and Oak Ridge. Punta Gorda is home to about 150 families of Garifuna people, the descendants of African slaves who arrived in Roatán from St. Vincent in 1797, after being exiled by the British following a quashed rebellion. Over on the southern coast, boarding a traditional cayuco, you’ll get an up-close view of Oak Ridge, known as the Venice of Roatán, as the village is only accessible by boat. Passing Oak Ridge’s brightly painted wooden houses on stilts, you’ll learn how this sleepy seaside village, once inhabited by pirates, is home to family-owned fishing companies that remain the second biggest industry on the island. Your guided cayuco journey will continue through majestic mangrove tunnels toward neighboring Jonesville before your cayuco docks at Hole in the Wall restaurant, a true local hangout and boater’s respite that brings out your inner pirate.
