Volunteers · Cleanup Initiative
Plan Your Trip
La Ensenada, Honduras — February 15–22, 2027
Come clean a coastline, and take home a vacation. This page holds the whole trip: the flights, the hotels, the packages, the week, and the ground rules. Every volunteer books their own trip — and this page walks it step by step, with the desk handing you all the directions you need. Every road on this page ends at the same registration desk in La Ensenada.
1. Book Your Trip — Step by Step
You book your own flight, your own room, and your own ride, through the services listed on this page. Five steps, in order:
- Step 1 — Choose your week. The Gathering week, February 15–22, 2027 — or a later week on the Rolling Line. The volunteer registration holds both choices. A volunteer who cannot come in February takes a following week, never a closed door.
- Step 2 — Pick your flight from the board. The flight options stand in Section 2, with the checked fare on the verified lane and its check date printed beside it. Book with the airline. Fares move — the fare on the airline’s board at booking is the fare.
- Step 3 — Pick your hotel from the directory. The hotels directory stands beside this page: every hotel and resort from La Ensenada to Tela, with rooms, photos, published rates with their dates, and each property’s own contact. Book with the property. Confirm your rate with the hotel before you book.
- Step 4 — Arrange your ride. Ground transportation guidance stands in Section 6: the organization helps every registered volunteer with ground transportation for the trip — the airport run and movement inside the corridor. Send the desk your flight and lodging details, and check in at the registration desk in La Ensenada on arrival.
- Step 5 — Register your kilometer. Booking is not registration. Every volunteer completes the volunteer registration and chooses a kilometer block. Registration is the count.
Negotiated group rates are not yet available; book at the published rates below.
2. Flight Options
All flights land at San Pedro Sula (SAP), the gateway for the week. No nonstop serves this route. Every routing connects once.
The standard pattern: out Monday, February 15, 2027 — back Monday, February 22, 2027.
| Lane | Routing | Fare | Status |
|---|
| Milwaukee (MKE) to San Pedro Sula (SAP) | American Airlines via Miami | $723 Basic Economy / $843 Main Cabin, round trip | Checked October 23, 2026 — fares move; confirm before you book. |
| Milwaukee (MKE) to San Pedro Sula (SAP) | United Airlines via Houston | Check current fares | Fares are not published here — check current fares with the airline. |
| Milwaukee (MKE) to San Pedro Sula (SAP) | Delta Air Lines via Atlanta | Check current fares | Fares are not published here — check current fares with the airline. |
| Chicago (ORD) to San Pedro Sula (SAP) | One-stop routings serve this lane | Check current fares | No fare for the standard pattern is published here. Check the airline’s own board. |
The verified American pattern, Milwaukee via Miami (checked October 23, 2026): out 6:00 AM from Milwaukee, 3 hours 27 minutes in Miami, into San Pedro Sula at 3:23 PM — 9 hours 23 minutes total, no overnight layover. Back at 12:51 PM from San Pedro Sula, into Milwaukee at 11:55 PM — 11 hours 4 minutes total.
Fare notes, from the same October 23 check:
- Main Cabin costs about $120 more than Basic Economy on this lane and buys change flexibility. It is the right default for group travel booked months out.
- First checked bag runs $100 to $110 on Basic Economy fares and $100 on Main Cabin on this route.
- The cheapest listings on this route can carry overnight or near-24-hour layovers. Avoid listings with overnight or near-24-hour layovers.
- Book flexible or refundable fares where the price gap is small. Schedules booked months out are routinely retimed, so re-check flight times before travel.
3. The Hotels Directory
Rates as published October 23, 2026 where available; all other properties quote rates on inquiry.
In the communities — closest to the work: FaithVille — Triunfo de la Cruz (small hotel inside the community, pool on site, rate on inquiry). Casa Telamin — Triunfo de la Cruz (family beach house, sleeps up to 8, 4 bedrooms, full kitchen, 1-minute walk to the beach, rate on inquiry). Estudio Azul — La Ensenada (modern cabana, shared pool, backup generator power, rate on inquiry). Casa del Arte — near Triunfo de la Cruz (beachfront villa, private pool, 3 bedrooms, full kitchen, rate on inquiry).
In Tela: Hotel Bless (15 air-conditioned rooms, rooftop terrace, free parking, about $50 per night, published October 23, 2026). Hotel Playa Bonita (17 rooms, pool, restaurant, cooked-to-order breakfast included, about $75 to $80 per night, published October 23, 2026). Telamar Resort (large resort on Tela beach, pool, restaurant, bar, laundry, Wi-Fi, about $123 to $148 per night, published October 23, 2026).
The resort: La Ensenada Beach Resort — La Ensenada coast. The all-inclusive resort on the campaign’s home shore. Online travel agency rates for near-term dates ran about $253 to $358 per night (published October 24, 2026). The group rate section below governs this property.
Book your own room — open the Hotels Directory
4. Packages — Flight Plus Seven Nights, Booked by You
You book both pieces yourself — the flight with the airline, the room with the hotel. This table does the arithmetic so the whole trip stands in one honest number before you book anything. Each package pairs the verified American Main Cabin fare with seven nights at one property. Components carry their own dates, and the arithmetic is shown in full.
| Package | Flight component | Hotel component, 7 nights | Total |
|---|
| Budget — Hotel Bless, Tela | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | About $50 per night, published October 23, 2026 — 7 nights, $350 | About $1,193 |
| Mid — Hotel Playa Bonita, Tela | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | About $75 to $80 per night, published October 23, 2026 — 7 nights, $525 to $560 | About $1,368 to $1,403 |
| Comfort — Telamar Resort, Tela | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | About $123 to $148 per night, published October 23, 2026 — 7 nights, $861 to $1,036 | About $1,704 to $1,879 |
| Resort — La Ensenada Beach Resort | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | About $253 to $358 per night for near-term dates, published October 24, 2026 — 7 nights, $1,771 to $2,506 | About $2,614 to $3,349 |
| In-community — FaithVille, Triunfo de la Cruz | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | Rate on inquiry through the directory | Total on inquiry |
| In-community — Casa Telamin, Triunfo de la Cruz | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | Rate on inquiry through the directory | Total on inquiry |
| In-community — Estudio Azul, La Ensenada | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | Rate on inquiry through the directory | Total on inquiry |
| In-community — Casa del Arte, near Triunfo de la Cruz | American Main Cabin $843, checked October 23, 2026 | Rate on inquiry through the directory | Total on inquiry |
Every total on this page carries this label: Approximate — fares and rates move; the hotel confirms its rate and the airline confirms its fare.
One arithmetic note: with Basic Economy at $723, checked October 23, 2026, each priced total above drops by $120.
5. The Group Rate
Special group rates will be negotiated in person by the President in Honduras. His trip is November 13, 2026, and the rates are his to negotiate face to face — he cannot get the prices down until he is there. Until those rates land, this page shows published rates, and every volunteer books their own trip by the steps above. Negotiated rates will be announced when they are confirmed. No negotiated rate is promised on this page before it exists.
6. Arrival, Ground Transportation, and Ground Rules
Arrival at San Pedro Sula and the ground transfer
- Flights land at San Pedro Sula (SAP). La Ensenada is the campaign headquarters and the week’s base on the Tela Bay coast.
- You arrange your own transfer to La Ensenada; the organization helps every registered volunteer with the ground transportation — the airport run and movement inside the corridor. Send the desk your flight details ahead of travel, and check in at the registration desk in La Ensenada on arrival.
Ground transportation — the organization helps
Ground transportation help stands as a part of this trip. The organization helps every registered volunteer with the ground under the trip — guidance and arrangements through the services listed on this page: the run from the airport to your hotel or resort in the corridor, and movement inside the corridor through the week — between your lodging, the headquarters, and your segment’s weigh station. Send the desk your flight and lodging details, and the desk works your ground transportation with you. Nobody lands at San Pedro Sula and wonders how the week begins.
- Inside the corridor, the ground is close: Triunfo de la Cruz stands about 7 km from Tela by the CA-13 turnoff, and the two Garifuna towns share one continuous beach. Segment movement during the week runs through the segment captains and the headquarters desk.
The week, day by day
- Monday, February 15 — Arrivals and the Opening. Arrive at San Pedro Sula, transfer to La Ensenada, register, and stand for the briefing. Late afternoon: the Opening on the La Ensenada beachfront, the segment captains are named, and the count board goes up empty.
- Tuesday, February 16 — Tela Bay. The bay cleanup and the scientific segment: fixed transects, debris categorized and weighed, the method filmed end to end.
- Wednesday, February 17 — La Ensenada. The beach line in the morning and a town beautification pass through the day, the whole town working beside its guests.
- Thursday, February 18 — The Beach Line. The long corridor day toward Triunfo de la Cruz, worked in blocks by mixed teams. The running total is announced at dusk.
- Friday, February 19 — The Sanctuary Edge and Completion. Work at the edge of Punta Izopo runs only in coordination with the park authorities and under their direction. The afternoon closes every segment, and the dataset closes with it.
- Saturday, February 20 — The Great Counted Day and the Gathering. Morning: a finale sweep with every participant on the line, on a continuous course worked in one-kilometer blocks, five volunteers to a kilometer, with weigh stations along the line and every bag weighed as it runs. Midday: the final weigh-in in public and the announcement of the total. Then the Gathering: live music, food, and the community and its guests together.
- Sunday, February 21 and Monday, February 22 — Leisure days. Beach time, visiting, rest, and departures. Come clean a coast, and take home a vacation.
The program — work in the morning, a community in the evening
The week is built in two halves. The mornings carry the work. The evenings belong to the community.
- Live music in the evenings, all the way through the event. Every evening of the week closes with music on the beachfront — the celebration runs the whole week, not one night.
- The community presents its own heritage. The community leaders are brought in, and the Garifuna community presents its heritage — its music, its food, its way of life — as no visitor has seen it before. The community leads. We host. Visitors come to clean a coastline, and they are received by a people.
- Activities for the children, on the beaches, throughout the week. The children of the community are part of this week — games and activities on the beach run alongside the work, and the community’s children and the volunteers’ families share the shore.
- A vacation at the same time. This week is service and vacation in one trip: the work in the mornings, the sea and the community for the rest of the day. Visitors come to see how the Garifuna people live, and they go home carrying the place with them.
- The meaning of the week, stated plainly: Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics together — nations together — for one goal, a clean ocean.
The counted discipline
- Every volunteer completes the volunteer registration before the week. Registration is the count.
- Every participant receives a numbered credential at check-in. Segment captains reconcile credentials against the line count twice daily.
- A waiver and safety acknowledgment form is signed at registration.
- Every load is weighed at a weigh station and logged by segment, day, and hour. Daily totals publish as they are counted. The final total is announced in public on Saturday, February 20.
- The President selects the cleanup area and personally oversees the volunteers. His oversight runs from the command point at each segment’s weigh station, with segment captains carrying the line work.
On the ground — the promise and the standard
- Volunteers donate their time and cover their own travel. The organization handles the ground: registration, work assignment, safety, and water and shade on the line.
- The crew lead’s word governs the work site. Nobody works the river or the night beach alone. No volunteer enters the surf on debris duty.
- Minors work only with a guardian, and off the water line.
- The towns are hosts, not scenery. Volunteers are guests in Garifuna communities and conduct themselves as guests who came to serve.
- A volunteer’s sign-up is private correspondence. It is never published and never shared.
What to bring
Keep it short and plain. Bring clothing and sturdy footwear suited to outdoor work on sand, and personal sun protection for full days on an open shore. The organization provides work gloves, water, and shade on the line. A fuller welcome packet reaches every registered volunteer before travel.
Register as a Volunteer Book your own room
