Partido Time

A St. Helene couple dance political candidates for the National Party look on from their campaign posters ( photo credit Tom Leopold ), Bay Islands History, Bay Islands Politics, Bay Islands culture

When I first came to live on Roatan in the mid 80’s national politics was considered by Bay Islanders in much the same way a football game was , Blue ( National Party –Partido nacional ) versus Red ( Liberal Party – Partido Liberal ) ……….” So and So is a big blue ( or a big red […]

Churchill , Guinness , Helene and Geckos …….degrees of separation

Lord Moyne and Winston Churchill on MY Rosaura in 1934 ( 5 years before the start of World War II ) when Churchill was merely the MP for Epping and Guinness in the House of Lords. Roatan Bay Islands History

This article is not about  ‘Mike’ Mitchell-Hedges but he always seems to makes it to the beginning of any story about contemporary Anglo-Bay Islands history. Probably because this enigmatic adventurer brought excitement to any venture he was a part of. Nobody knew the real Mitchell-Hedges nor could anyone vouch for the veracity of his tales […]

Freediver History

Lobster diver with spear, M J Harper's Author's Blog, Bay Islands History, Roatan culture

The Bay Islands popularly ( mistakenly )are associated with Roatan , Utila and Guanaja ; I say mistakenly because the Wyke – Cruz treaty ( 1859 )refers to the “the Islands of Ruatan , Guanaca , Elena , Utile , Barbarete and Morat “. The remotest and indeed the most isolated of these is Elena […]

The Honduranization of the Bay Islands

Aerial image of part of the Bay Islands, Honduranization of the Bay Islands, M J Harper's Author's Blog, Roatan Culture, Roatan History, Roatan Politics

As Bay Islanders this past 22nd of April , we recently ‘observed’ ( since it would be inaccurate to say ‘celebrated’)the 162nd anniversary of Queen Victorias official ceding of the Colony of the Bay Islands to the Republic of Honduras. The word in Spanish that the Government uses for this anniversary is the devolucion which suggest that the Islands […]

Every picture a story

Candid picture of Roatan’s power control room, New Year's Eve 2012. Three Men at their desks working hard, one passing by. Roatan picture personal story by M J Harper

I stumbled across this poor quality photograph a few days ago which I took with my Blackberry    ( remember them ?) phone on New Years eve 2012. It was the control room , the nerve centre of power generation for the whole Island. There are three men sitting around the table. One ( white shirt […]