Graham's Place, Honduras

Guanaja is an incredible destination for those looking for a cheap and easy "do-it-yourself" trip, and Graham's Place offers what think is the best value anywhere in the Caribbean. It is not fancy or full service, and in fact is "Caribbean  funky" and colorful in the island way. The home flats, however, mean that you can wade directly from Graham's and walk for several miles on hard-bottomed, shallow flats. These flats are home to great numbers of bonefish; large schools of 2-3 pound fish, and larger fish in the 6-8 pound range as well. You can also find permit on a regular basis, fish that average 5-12 pounds and show up like clockwork with the incoming tides each day.

We love the fact that you can literally grab an 8-wt, a single box of flies, and a spool of tippet and head out for hours on your own. If you have bonefished before and know what to look for, chances are good you'll do just fine wading these flats on your own. Small, light flies with weedguards are wat you want for these home flats, and generally you will want to fish 12-15 pound fluorocarbon leaders and tippet, and anything lighter has a hard time holding up to the chunks of coral and rocks scattered across the flats. This can be caled fairly technical flats fishing, mostly due to the coral and "rock minefields" scattered over most of the flats. This, however, also makes the flats great for stalking fish, as schools of bones and permit, as well as large singles and doubles, can often be found tailing and feeding in incredibly shallow, skinny water.

If you're headed down with a non-angler or the family, you can easily wade out for a couple of hours and then return to the island easily for swimming, snorkeling, beach play, or sea kayaking. There are very places that allow this easy and immediate access to flats that you can wade on your own. Factor that in with the low cost of the resort package, and this is the ideal do-it-yourself economy trip.

For those anglers that want to hire a guide (and we strongly recommend this for at least some of the days that you are there!) then we also have access to a couple of very professional, very competent guides on the island. We first fished with these guys back in 2003, and have been back several times since. They are great guides, know the Guanaja waters well, and are a pleasure to fish with. This guided option will absolutely help you catch more fish, and will expose you to the other areas of Guanaja that you cannot reach on your own by foot or via sea kayak. 

 
You will need to bring all of your own gear and equipment to Graham's, including rods and reels and some heavy-duty, quality wading boots. If you do opt to hire a local guide, then you will fish and access the more distant flats from a standard 23' panga.
 

The rooms at Graham's are very comfortable and spacious. All feature one or two large beds, air conditioning, ceiling fans, and private bathrooms and showers. While not overly-fancy, they are clean, comfortable, and colorful. Families and larger groups can chose to stay in one of the two-level "apartment-style" rooms. The larger one-level cabanas are ideal for couples or for two anglers sharing a room. Spacious and new, with wood accents throughout, each of these rooms features a front deck that drops immediately onto the beach and is only steps from the water.

The bar and restaurant area at Graham's is where you will enjoy all meals. You can order of the menufor everything, and mcuh of the fare is centered around fresh, local sea food. Meals are included in your package, and you can run a bar tab for the duration of your stay and pay when checking out at the end of the week. One of our favorite things about the restaurant and bar area is that you can sit in the shade and look down on the home flats, literally spotting cruising bonefish from the barstools. Keep your bonefish rod rigged and close at hand when drinking at Graham's!

Another neat aspect of Graham's is his "marina aquarium," a large penned in area home to dozens of seas turtles and a variety of fish, including nurse sharks, tarpon, grouper, barracuda, puffer-fish, and a school of what are easily 10-pound bonefish. Enjoy the sea life while sipping a cold Salva Vida beer, or grab a mask and jump right in the pen!

What's Included:

All lodging and accommodations on the island, domestic airfare from Roatan to Guanaja round trip water transfers between the Guanaja airport and the lodge, three meals per day, all drinks, unlimited snorkeling, free use of kayaks, and all applicable taxes. $927