This past year has been a challenging one worldwide. It was particularly difficult for the people living on the small island of Bonacca, Guanaja, where an October 2021 fire destroyed over 200 homes and businesses and damaged 120 more. More than 400 people, including many of the Cabanas on Clark’s Cay and Villa on Dunbar Rock staff, were displaced by the fire, suffering an enormous personal loss, losing their homes, clothing, and personal effects.
Guanaja is the most eastern of the three Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. It is a speck of land and cays whose inhabitants live by fishing the seas and who dream of new prosperity from tourists visiting its beautiful mountains, cays, and reefs.
Repeat Guests Denise and Peter
Somehow, despite the disastrous fire and slow regrowth of tourism due to COVID concerns, the good people of Guanaja barely skipped a beat as they began rebuilding their lives. However, families’ few financial resources were naturally spent on much-needed big-ticket items such as beds, refrigerators, and washing machines. So now more than ever, we needed to rely on our guests to help us restock items for the island children, especially school supplies. And the guests came through!
Packing up the supplies for donation
We also want to mention that up until December of 2021, the only transportation available to Guanaja was a 13-passenger plane with a total luggage allowance limit of 50lbs = 23kg. Our guests are primarily scuba divers, traveling with heavy scuba equipment and underwater photography equipment. Despite the fact many were already over the luggage limit, they still eked out whatever space they could to help out the cause.
In December, ferry service became available to the island. Travelers coming via ferry are allowed three checked bags with a maximum weight of 50 lbs. EACH. This is excellent news for our photographers, divers, and our Pack for Purpose campaigns. This makes it much easier for so many of our guests who wanted to donate but were unable to due to the luggage restrictions. We anticipate 2022 being a banner year in donations and thank our generous contributors in advance and the Pack for a Purpose organization for organizing this worthy initiative.
A successful delivery to the Basic Education Center Jose Cecilio del Valle in Savannah Bight, Guanaja