Oak Ridge mangrove water-taxi tour

Oak Ridge is a small village on Roatán's quieter eastern half, built around its harbour with painted wooden houses standing on stilts over the water. Step off the bus or out of a taxi and boatmen will offer you a water-taxi ride: a loop of the harbour, a run to the neighbouring settlements, and into the mangroves that line the coast east of the village.

The trip can be stretched into lunch. The Turtle Shack at Calabash Bight, reachable only by water, sends a boat from Oak Ridge and is a regular stop for mangrove tours, and the Hole in the Wall near Jonesville is another restaurant that only a water taxi reaches. Hourly buses run to Oak Ridge from Coxen Hole. Use repellent; mosquitoes are worst at dawn and dusk, and sand-flea bites near the shore can itch for days.