Until this month, 62-year-old Wooster resident Jane Robbins had never been out of the country. After this, she says, she may never leave again.

It sounded like a dream vacation. Robbins and three friends would be flying to a fancy resort in Roatan, an island 40 miles off of Honduras, to go snorkeling.

But as they landed on March 14, fears over COVID-19 began to soar. One day after their arrival, the borders were closed. American Airlines canceled their flights home. They were trapped.

They also were frightened — and angry.

"Before we left we made the proper calls to the resort, the travel agent and the airlines," she said by email over the weekend. "Everyone said it was OK to come because Roatan did not have the virus (and still doesn’t) and if there was an emergency, we would have time to get back to the U.S."

They were scheduled to stay for two weeks but started trying to get home after just two days.

Robbins, administrative secretary to Judge Latecia Wiles in the Wayne County Probate and Juvenile Court, contacted everyone she could think of, including the judge, county commissioners, her state rep, her congressman, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras and the State Department. She even emailed the White House.

"No one seems to care," she wrote late Friday night. "We were told there are 1,000 Americans stranded on this island. There are 46 Americans in our resort alone.

"We want out. We see military patrolling the waters daily. It is scary. The only one helping us to get out is the staff at Anthony Keys resort.

"The island is now on lockdown. We are stranded and the USA is not helping us get back in. We had no notice or time to get back in."

As of late Monday, she was cautiously optimistic that she and her friends — Diane Jackson, Michele Kubilis and Sheri Martin, all of Wooster — would be able to escape on a private plane.

"We just heard of a charter flying an empty plane in tomorrow to take 100 people out at a hefty price to Miami," she said. "Then we have to find our way home from there. But we will take it."

She said the women will be charged $1,836 apiece if all the seats are sold.

"We did this on our own initiative with no help from the U.S. government," she said Monday. "Hopefully we will get out [Tuesday]. It changes minute by minute."

Asked whether she watched the televised news conferences in which federal officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said they were doing everything possible to return stranded Americans, she said yes. "They are all lies. No one is helping us."

Robbins said she had extensive contact with her congressman’s office, including a conference call, but was eventually told they have no authorization to arrange a flight.

"We were furious when we heard Trump sent in a plane to Honduras to get out the women’s tackle football team that is 40 miles away from this island," she said.

That happened on Friday, when the U.S. airlifted 55 members of the American Football Events squad that was in the country for a tournament.

Fortunately, Robbins has managed to maintain her sense of humor. When I asked if she would send me a photo of herself, she complied, and then sent a second email headed "But we feel like this" — which carried a photo of the cast of "Gilligan’s Island."

Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31.