How does he find them? Tiny seahorse

I spent 2 weeks here routinely, and I never spot critters that small.  I do home in pretty well on lionfish.

Travel was relatively easy, though masks.   Biggest issue I had was my layover in Houston.  Got in around 11pm, and all the restaurants were closed.   Left Phoenix at 6pm, and I'm glad I grabbed a sandwich in the airport. 2.5 hour flight, and time zone change.

I stayed overnight at the Houston Airport Marriot (11 hour layover) rather than sit around all night.   Used to be easier because there used to be a 4am Phx-Houston flight so you could make the 9:45am flight to Roatan.   Alternatively take the Miami route, with a 5-hour flight plus a 5-hour layover.  (I hate the Miami airport.)

As a side effect of an 11-hour layover, my bags were checked through to Roatan, so I didn't have my usual bag for the overnight.  I packed a toothbrush with the camera gear.

A lot of restaurants were shut down - even at 6pm on Friday in the Phoenix airport - so that's a real concern now as you travel.

Flying out of Houston was odd, and I'm not sure if due to covid-related issues, or construction, but there was no TSA checkpoint anymore in Terminal E (international one) and you had to walk to Term D to get in, then walk back.  I also saw signs in Term D telling United arrivals they had to pick up bags in Term C.

Security itself was a breeze this time.  I do have TSA Precheck, and in Phoenix I was through the checkpoint in less than 60 seconds.   In Houston (Term D) it was a couple of minutes.  The whole Houston TSA operation looked like the end product of a terminal redesign, with a lot of dedicated space in what seemed to be an intermediate floor.

Flying - masks, and empty seats on the plane.  Friday's plane Phx-Hou was about 1/4 full, with most of the passengers in the rear cheap seats.  I had an empty row in front of me and beside me.   Flying Hou to Roatan was not as empty but I still had an empty middle seat next to me.  I did pay extra to sit in Row 7 near the front, so I could get off quickly and get through Roatan security.

Because I was flying to Roatan, there were a couple of times I had to present my vaccination card.   Once before planing in Hou, again in the Roatan airport.  I got through immigration 20 minutes before my bags showed up.

Now that I'm back at the Reef House (my 9th time), things are mostly normal.  There is a somewhat-enforced 9pm curfew, but that's "Roatan midnight", so kind of meaningless out here in the boonies in Oak Ridge.

While I don't see much difference, things are not normal.  Schools are all doing remote learning, and here that means sending assignments and work via PDF to cell phones.  I can't imagine it's working very well.   And businesses are, and have been, struggling.

One last annoyance that you may see - when we planed in Houston, everyone needed to step in front of a camera & monitor and get face recognition, I'm pretty sure based on your passport scan.   For more people, including me, it worked.   But it also took 2-3 seconds, at best.   So everyone getting one that plan ended up with about a 3-second extra delay, more like 60 seconds when someone had a problem.  Combined with confusion about 'What am I doing?  Oh, you want me to pull the mask down for this" and the procedure. it definitely slowed boarding way down.   It was listed as 'experimental', but I have no idea who's idea it was (government or airline.)  It's the first place I've seen that.

Coming back into the US I'll have to have a $50 covid test done, which the resort here arranges for me.   Thankfully I'm not Canadian as they are required to take a $250 test.   The Reef House has not seen a single Canadian visitor since Covid hit.