Purpose: To help protect and promote a remote Caribbean island while immersing in its environment and culture. Fly Fish Guanaja Sustainable Development Student Program Description: The Guanaja Sustainable Development Program (GSDP) is the best of its kind. Created by industry leaders in fly-fishing and education, GSDP brings students from around the world together to study and participate in a paradise riddled with struggle. Natural disasters and a devastated economy have kept the island of Guanaja from blossoming into a sustainable tourist destination. Although Guanaja is a safe place with wonderful people, there are few jobs. Fly Fish Guanaja has been in operation for the last nine years and consequently provides the best jobs in the history of the island. Fly Fish Guanaja works with a Mangrove Restoration Project and students help regrow a mangrove forest that was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Students study and hunt the invasive lion fish that threaten the reef. Some of Guanaja s beaches are littered with trash and students spend a part of each day filling plastic bags full of trash and unloading at the land fill. Students engage in our literacy program at local schools by bringing, reading and donating children's books.
Hours of service work are matched with hours of adventure through fishing, snorkelling, diving, paddle boarding, kite surfing, repelling, and more. Students write in journals everyday and post entries into a blog that parents follow online. Experiences from the program fuel student writing in future academic projects with continued mentoring from course instructors. Guanaja is one of the Bay Islands of Honduras and is part of the second largest reef in the world. Guanaja has 15,000 residents in three different villages. Even though Guanaja hosts some of the best snorkelling, diving, fishing, kite-surfing, and sea-kayaking in the world, there are very few jobs. Fly Fish Guanaja started 9 years ago and consequently provides the best jobs on the island for up to thirty people at a time that feed hundreds more. Fly Fish Guanaja is fortunate to have Jones Key, a small private key off the coast of Guanaja surrounded by flats full of fish. The island sleeps 10 comfortably. Fly Fish Guanaja works with a local a non-profit Mangrove Restoration Project. Hurricane Mitch in 1998 destroyed many of Guanaja s mangrove forests. The symbiotic relationship between the mangroves and the reef make it paramount to helping this forest grow back. With students, volunteers, and fishing clients, Fly Fish Guanaja has planted over 300,000 mangrove shoots in the past 7 years and is already seeing regrowth. Mangrove forests of Guanaja are critical to the region s environmental health. They are the foundation of a food chain and habitat that support great numbers of fish and wildlife species. Our goal now is to hand plant 100 hectares (247 acres) with approximately 400,000 mangrove propagules. www.flyfishguanaja.com
Date Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 MORNING (6:00am-9:00am) Wake up it s time Intro to saltwater fly fishing: casting, knots, bugs and much more Walk and wade fishing without guides Walk and wade fishing without guides Sunrise Yoga and Paddlee boarding Sunrise fishing in boats with guides Sunrise fishing in boat with guides Course Schedule MID-DAY (10:00am-2:00pm) Arrive at Roatan Airport Fishing in Boats with guides: application of skills Mangrove Education and Planting Lion Fish education Trash education and clean up North East Bight School integration, sustenance living and education Writing Seminar: Final project, academic planning AFTERNOON (3:00pm-6:00pm) Arrive in Guanaja Writing Seminar: Fishing Stories: Reading and Writing the water Fly Fishing, trolling, spin casting in boats Fly Fishing, trolling, spin casting in boats Literacy Program: Reading books with local children Hunting and gathering meal at North East Bight with Edwin s Family Prepare and eat last meal with local staff EVENING (7:00pm-9:pm) Introduction to course, lodge and circle Graduation Ceremony: Ping Pong Tournament Day 8 Flight to Roatan Flight to USA
Student Quotes: From getting lost in the mountains to catching my first fish I have learned life lessons from every event on this trip. The most recent and perhaps most striking lesson learned was one that Steve stressed all trip but one that I did not fully understand till I caught my first fish today. All trip Steve told us that one of the main objectives of the trip was to guide and not be guided and to learn to become leaders instead of depending on others to tell you where to go. After I reeled in my first fish today and we released it into the water, I had an epiphany. William Deskins 2014 I think it is important at the end of the day to take a moment of inner silence take in all the beauty and experiences of this remote adventure we are having. I like to think of all the funny things said, cool things learned and good times had. That is why Guanaja and Fly Fish Guanaja is so special, why we need to appreciate its awesomeness while we re here and present. We need to keep helping restore the island of Guanaja so that other people can come here and appreciate and enjoy it just as much as we have been. Will Gentry 2014 After our evening debrief it was time for yet another delicious meal made by the local professional cooks. After just one day of this amazing experience we have tons of memories and will be able to share them forever. My brother and I s relationship is better than ever and we are closer than ever before and cant wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for us Jackson Kronenburg 2014 I created the student program with Steve a few years ago and am proud to be a student leader that spends over a months helping run these epic trips that are life-changers for all involved. I can t wait to watch it continue to grow and be an integral part in something so special that help so much. Noah Thompson 2014
The Lodge / Campus The best part about the Fly Fish Guanaja lodge is that is that is turns into a campus for the Student Program. The lodge is a dream location for clients, and a dreamier location for students. The walls of the classroom breakdown into the practical application of protecting a wild paradise, this is the heart of the Student Program. Our lodge is a private key in the middle of the best flats in Honduras. We take 10 students per week.
Course Instructors Steven Calaway Brown Steven owns and operates Fly Fish Guanaja. He has taught fishing, Spanish, English and beyond for all ages, for many years. The Guanaja Sustainable Development Program is the product of his career in fishing, education, service, and adventure. He graduated from Colorado College, then went on the earn a Master s degree at Colorado State University. Steven taught Reading And Writing the River through Fly Fishing, Boating, and Back-packing at Colorado College and brings this intellectual water course to the sea in Guanaja. Beckie Clarke Beckie owns and operates Fernie Fly Fishing, located in the heart of the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia. She is on the Winston Pro Advisory Team and inspires the fly-fishing community with her career and care. Her commitment to conservation and education is unmatched in the industry. Beckie teaches through guiding and programs she s developed for local universities. She attended the College of the Rockies specializing in: Adventure Tourism, Business Operations, and Wilderness Guiding Skills. She is a vibrant role model for women and students around the world and the Guanaja Sustainable Development Program is blessed to have her on board. Tee Clarkson Tee Clarkson was one of Steven s few mentors in the Fly Fishing/ Education world from the beginning. Tee was a celebrated guide on the Green River and Black Canyon of the Gunnison for many years. He moved back to Virginia and started Virginia Outside, a fly-fishing summer camp that teaches countless students to successfully engage in life though fishing. Tee worked as an English teacher for 13 years and is regularly published as a freelance writer in regional and national outdoor publications. He continues to lead the industry in fly-fishing education. Guanaja couldn t be luckier to have him on board. Tee brings his own students and helps teach ours.
Trip Cost and Detail $2,950 per student Dates: June. 4-11 June. 11-18 June. 18-25 June. 25 - July. 2 July. 2-9 July. 9-16 Included in the Trip is: 6 Days Sustainable Development Program Immersion 7 Nights accommodation at Fly Fish Guanaja All Meals & Soft Drinks Transfers to and from the lodge Not Included in the Trip is: Airfare to Roatan Round trip charter flight from Roatan to Guanaja ($200) Flies and tackle (Bring what you ve got, we have extra rods and we tie flies) Gratuities for the guides and kitchen staff ($250) Exit tax out of Honduras ($40) Guanaja Tourism Tax ($10) www.flyfishguanaja.com
Arrival United Sates Roatan Fly directly from Houston, Dallas, Miami, or Atlanta to the island Roatan. Arrive before 2:45 pm on Saturday. Airlines include, but are not limited to United, Delta, Taca. Once in Roatan - Once you clear customs Oliver, our airport ambassador, will find you. He will help you with everything from wrangling your bags, getting you set up at the airport to await your Guanaja flight, to helping you get your entrance tax paid. This is a $3 - $4 tax that must be paid upon your arrival at the Roatan airport. Roatan Guanaja Oliver helps check into the Lahnsa flight from Roatan to Guanaja. The Lahnsa desk is located near the airport exit. Lahnsa will already have your name and payment, you just need to present your passport and entry tax receipt, which Oliver helps you with. The flight takes 20 minutes on a commercial jet and leaves between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm to Guanaja. Guanaja Fly Fish Guanaja (Jones Key) Fly Fish Guanaja owner and staff will great you at the Guanaja airport with boats for the 20 minute ride to our lodge, then you ve arrived in academic paradise. Departure Guanaja Roatan Flight from Guanaja leaves at 8:30 am and arrives in Roatan by 10:00 am. Roatan United States Any flight from Roatan to the United States after 11:00 am. Be prepared to pay 40$ US exit tax. Emergency Fly Fish Guanaja developed a comprehensive risk management plan that includes detailed plans of all possible scenarios. The bottom line is that definitive medical care is a 20 minute plane flight away. Although our policies are based on prevention, we recommend trip insurance through Global Rescue, affordable insurance in the very remote chance of an emergency. Contact: steve@flyfishguanaja.com 970-708-0626 www.flyfishguanaja.com