Please read each of the sections below carefully. They provide important information about your Operation Wallacea expedition to the Bay Islands. Should you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact your nearest Operation Wallacea office.
The marine only Bay Islands expeditions start on a Wednesday at 0900hrs. If you are flying from the US you need to book your international flight to arrive into Juan Manuel Galvez International Airport (RTB) on Roatan Island on the Tuesday before your expedition starts. If you are flying from the UK you need to book your international flight to arrive into San Pedro Sula International Airport (SAP) on the mainland on the Tuesday before your expedition starts.
The marine only Bay Islands expeditions finish on a Tuesday at 0800hrs. If you are flying back to the US then you need to book your homeward international flight from Juan Manuel Galvez International Airport (RTB) on Roatan after 1700hrs on the Tuesday your expedition ends. If you are flying back to the UK then you need to book your homeward international flight from San Pedro Sula International Airport (SAP) after 1600hrs on the Tuesday your expedition ends.
When you arrive at your international airport you will be met by an Opwall representative and transferred to a hotel to stay overnight, you will then begin your expedition the next day (Wednesday). On the Tuesday at the end of your expedition you will get the ferry either to Roatan or to the mainland to then be transferred straight to the airport for your homeward flight or to the hotel before heading home the next day.
Please note internal travel is an additional cost to the Operation Wallacea expedition fee and your international flights, once your international flights have been arranged and uploaded to your portal we will be able to help organise your internal travel package based on exactly what you need.
As part of the internal travel package it is possible to arrange additional nights on Roatan or in San Pedro Sula before and after your expedition, and the relevant airport transfers. The cost of these extra nights will be added to your internal travel package quote.
Please ensure when booking your international flights that the cost of your ticket includes hold luggage.
School groups that have chosen a fully inclusive expedition package do not need to book international flights or internal travel. Operation Wallacea will be in contact with the group leader directly and will provide you with a fully inclusive quote for your international flights, internal travel and expedition costs.
Schools also have the option of having Opwall search for the best flight deal for the group and once the school group leader has approved the purchase, the tickets are then bought by Opwall at cost on behalf of the school. A flight booking fee per person is charged for this approach. Details of the flights for the group will be entered onto the portal by the Opwall staff booking the flights.
Alternatively, if the school has reliable travel partners then they can book the flights themselves and just pay Opwall for the expedition and internal travel costs. Under this scenario the group leader needs to enter the flight details through the Opwall portal and email a copy of the itinerary or E-ticket to flights@opwall.com.
Please be aware that your passport must have at least 6 months validity (period before expiry) at the time of your arrival into Roatan. Failure to have at least 6 months validity on your passport will ensure denial of entry into Honduras.
If you are a UK citizen you can visit Honduras without a visa. You’ll get a 30-day visit entry stamp in your passport when you arrive. You can apply at an immigration office to extend your stay by 90 days. For information on how to extend your stay, contact the National Institute of Migration.
If you are an EU, US or Canadian citizen you can be issued a visa to enter Honduras upon arrival, which will be valid for 90 days. Nationals of other countries should check with the Honduras Embassy to ensure they have the correct entry documents.
2-3 days before travelling to Honduras please ensure you complete the Pre-check information here: https://prechequeo.inm.gob.hn/Login
NB. Immigration office in San Pedro Sula is the name of the airport: Aeropuerto Ramón Villeda Morales
If you are not a citizen of the US and your flight includes a stop at a US airport, you will also need to apply for an ESTA – this includes if you are only transiting through the airport onto your next flight. You can apply for an ESTA here: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/
By joining an Operation Wallacea expedition you are contributing directly towards the study and protection of threatened biodiversity, bringing significant financial benefits to small local communities, and working towards protecting valuable carbon stocks from deforestation. We are extremely proud of the impact we and our volunteers have had over the past two decades, creating a significant benefit to the environment.
However, we want to do more. Specifically, we want to make Operation Wallacea completely carbon neutral. As an organisation we will now be offsetting our own emissions from staff travel (both road and air) and from running our offices. But we also want to encourage all our participants to offset, at the very least, the carbon emissions from their own international flights – and ideally more. To do this we will be supporting the Wallacea Reforestation Initiative in partnership with our sister charity the Wallacea Trust (UK Charity 1078362), and you can read more about this exciting project here that takes a new approach to tropical reforestation that benefits not only climate, but biodiversity and livelihoods too.
The first step in calculating your donation amount is to work out the total estimated amount of carbon your flights will emit into the atmosphere. To do this you need to take the exact flight routes you are booked on to for your summer expedition, and run these through the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) carbon calculator. This calculator can be found here.
This gives you the Total passengers’ CO2/journey (KG), which you will then need to convert into tonnes. 1 KG is equal to 0.001 ton, so you then need to divide your figure in KG by 1000. We usually assigned a value of $12 USD (or £10 GBP) per ton of carbon, therefore to work out this donation amount, you would need to multiply your ton value by either 12 or 10 depending on your currency.
For some of your flight legs, you may not be able to find your destination airport on the calculator, in this circumstance, we would recommend using the nearest airport (ie. for Croatia using Zagreb airport).
If you’re happy with an estimate rather than calculating the costs yourself, a £15 donation will cover the carbon produced by the flights in more than 95% of cases.
To donate, please visit the Wallacea Trust page and click ‘donate now’ at the top.
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