Day Twelve - Heading Home

Well the final day has come, and it is here way too soon. I’m not ready to leave this place, but I suppose the end of vacations always come too soon. I woke up early today to finish packing, headed down to the dive shop to say goodbye to everyone and grab breakfast. Said my goodbyes, had breakfast and headed back to the room to wrap everything up. God everything packed and ready to go, and found a cab to pick me up at 10:30am. Headed to the airport, and began the process of travelling home. The airport in Roatan is ridiculous. I went through immigration and security – where they completely pat just about everybody down. After getting through there and waiting it was finally time to get ready to board. Before boarding, they called about 6-7 people on the loudspeaker to go to the gate – turns out they were being brought into a private room to be searched yet again – not sure exactly what kind of search happened in those rooms, but the people didn’t look too pleased upon returning. After that, they setup another search checkpoint – everybodys carry on bags were now being completely searched through as we went through the boarding gate. Ridiculous. Oh well, got onto the plane and discovered that I had the entire row of seats to myself – that was awesome. In fact, both flights I was sitting in a row by myself, so that made the travelling okay. I finally made it to my door at home at about 1:50am – long day.

It has been such an amazing time in Roatan. I can not wait to return to this marvelous little place. By far out of everywhere I have been, I felt the most connected to Roatan. The people here are amazing, it is safe, it doesn’t feel extremely touristy (like every single all-inclusive resort), oh and the food here? AWESOME. I am really going to miss all the seafood and how cheap everything was. I can’t believe I was able to eat so many different things and experience so much while I was down here. I have learned so much while I was down here, about life, people, attitude and basically everything. A shout out to all the people I met while I was down here: Sara, Melissa, Brittaney, Jamie, Kevin, Lance, Edmund, Giles, Annika, Allan, Mel, Ruth, Uva, Dorte, Paul, Ken, Joe, Wendy, Amanda, Sam, John, Bettany, Hendrik, Artley and everybody else!

See you next year!

Day Eleven

Woke up nice and early for my last day of diving. Decided that I was only going to do one dive today, and then call it a vacation. There are rules on how much time you need before diving and then flying, so I decided to play it safe since I was a little bit worried about my ears and their equalization. Headed down to the dive shop to hang out and figure out what to do for my last dive. We decided to go to the Blue Channel, which starts off as a nice shallow dive, and then goes to some swim throughs and finishes off with a swim along the reef wall, depending on your air consumption. The dive today we went to a max depth of 65ft for 55mins. Some of the noteable mentions were a Bridled Burfish, Hawksbill Turtle, Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Porcupine fish, Saucereye Porgy, baby Banded Coral Shrimp, 8ft Green Moray Eel, and a tiny baby Lionfish that was actually transparent it was so small. The dives with swim throughs tended to make me nervous, as you have to swim through tiny caves, and I am always worried about touching the coral – however on these swim throughs it is almost impossible to not graze the rocks. I was proud that I lasted 55 minutes; my air consumption definitely started improving by the end of the trip.

I did a total of 10 dives while I was down here, each one different and unique in its own way. My favourite dive I think was today's, we got a little bit of everything all mixed into one dive, and we were the only 2 people at the site. It’s been awesome diving with a smaller shop since it is so personable, and you’re not herded around in groups diving in a big long line. It was a sad moment getting onto the boat after the last dive, knowing that I wouldn’t be diving again for quite some time. I can tell you that I am nowhere near finished with diving, and hope to dive all around the world. It feels very natural for me under the water – in fact I feel more comfortable down there, than I do on land. It is just so peaceful and intriguing. The underwater world has so much to offer, so many new things to see and discover.

After we got back in from the dive, we hung out at the dive shop for a while and chatted as usual, filled out my log book and then got my final lunch of the trip from Buena Vida next door. Got a nice Chicken Teriyaki on Rice meal. It was huge, struggled to eat it all. Luckily I always saved the last few bites to feed to the shop cats – they really appreciate it. I got my equipment together, and headed back to my hotel. I got a few things organized around my room, and then headed down to the beach to get a beer and do some relaxing for my last day. It was a beautiful day, drug a chair into the water and layed there with my neighbors for a while before deciding that I had better go to some tourist shopping before I left.

They had all the typical tourist stuff, shot glasses, mugs, jewellery and all the crap. The stuff that caught my eye was the Lencan Pottery which is a traditional Honduran pottery, and the Mahogany woodworking from the mainland. I couldn't find any woodwork that I really liked – almost bought a nice set of coasters, but decided against it. I managed to pick up two pieces of Lenca Pottery, one small one for myself, and one for my mom. Just a little something to remind me of my first solo vacation. Headed back to the room, tried to get a little more organizing and packing done, and then took a nap in my hammock. It is so easy to fall asleep in those hammocks, maybe I should put one on my porch and take summer naps there.

Woke up, got showered, finished most of my packing and then headed down to Sundowners to see what my final night would bring me. When I got there, there was a nice yelling match between a tiny Italian woman and some dorky looking tourist guy. It was kind of funny at first, but got fairly annoying and then quickly got booted out of the bar. I grabbed a beer and saw my friends Kevin and Lance across the bar and went to join them. Chatted with them and Kevin introduced me to some more people he had met at the bar. Watched the final sundown, which was beautiful as usual and then ran into my dive instructor Mel. Mel, Kevin, Lance and myself had a few beers there and then headed down the road to get some roadside taco’s. They were delicious as usual – I don’t know how those guys make such delicious food on the side of the road. 

After the taco’s Lance went home to bed, and the rest of us headed to the Blue Marlin for a few more beers. Stuck around there for a while, it was pretty low key. Not much goes on in West End on a Tuesday night. Kevin eventually went home, and me and Mel continued drinking Salva Vida’s and chatted for quite some time. We walked across the street to the Buena Vida and had a couple more beers and chatted it up with the owner and some people who were sitting there. They seemed to be quite interested in me and my story of why I was there, etc etc – so that was fun to talk about. Mel also works at the Buena Vida twice a week, so we hung out with the owner till close time. After that, Mel grabbed a cab home and I walked back down the street to my hotel... a nice low key last evening. I had been drinking too much lately anyway. 

Day Ten

Woke up today around 8am – had a tough time wanting to get out of bed... scrambled around for a little while and finally made my way to the dive shop. I was supposed to dive first thing in the morning but when I got there I changed it to 11am. I wanted to say goodbye to the girls before they left. I headed over in a water taxi to West Bay, got lucky and as soon as I walked up there were 2 other people waiting to go. I got to West Bay, and went to Fosters restaurant and got a coffee. Logged on to their WIFI after a difficult time trying to get their password right. I messaged Sara and finally got them to come out of their room. They thought I was at Fosters in West End, not West Bay – Luckily I saw them as they walked out of their room and caught up to them. 

They wanted to go to West End for some Banana Pancakes before they left – which is completely understandable – Delicious. We tried a few different restaurants  got separated at one point and then luckily I ran into them and we found a place that was open. Went to Rudy’s, got our pancakes, even saw some macaw’s in their cages down at the far end where Rudy’s was. During breakfast I was scrambling to finish my “deep dive – knowledge review”. I went on the shipwreck dive today which counts towards my next certification and I had to get it done. I finally got it done just before the pancakes arrived. I woke up with a little bit of an issue with my stomach – Roatan had finally caught up to me, eating all this crazy food and living their lifestyle. I took a pill my doctor gave me and hoped it would make me feel better. 

On my way back to the dive shop from breakfast, I almost threw up a little – I think it was because I ate too fast since I needed to be at the dive shop for 11am. I started feeling better as I went through my knowledge review with my instructor.  

We headed out for the reef at around 11:30am. When we got there, we discovered that we were the only there. This is appearantly quite rare, so me and Mel got the entire wreck to ourselves, which was pretty cool. This dive we went down to a max of 105ft/31m for a time of 31min. The deeper you go, the more air you consume. Saw some cool stuff, a Spanish Lobster, a Spotted Trunkfish, a Smooth Trunkfish, Yellowtail and Black Groupers, Dog Snappers and a Bearded FIreworm. Mel had never seen a Spanish Lobster before, and I was the one who found it – so I felt pretty good about that. After the dive, my stomach was feeling much better. To be honest, I thought I was going to puke during the dive – and that doesn’t happen very often, but I’ve heard its not the funnest thing you can do. Me and Mel did my dive log book, and then headed out to find some lunch. 

We went to the C-Level Restaraunt. I got the Steak Fajita’s and she got a Bacon Cheeseburger – she was craving a burger. Chatted for a while about diving and other random things. After that we parted ways, I was tired and went back to my room to take a nap. Didnt wake up till around 530pm. I got showered up quickly and ready for the night.

 I headed down to Sundowners for a beer and to watch the sundown. It was very hazy today, they were burning Sugar Cane feilds on the mainland and the smoke has blown over and made it fairly grey looking on Roatan. Still hot has Hell. Hung out at Sundowners for a beer, tried to get the TV working but couldn’t figure it out. So I walked down to the Buena Vida for a beer and to get some dinner. Got the Tostadas special, for about 6 bucks. I was a massive taco salad, with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatos, etc etc – very delicious and cheap. I continued drinking beers there, and my friend Kevin and Lance walked by and I called them in. Had a few beers with them and then they headed back home because they may have had a few too many the night before.

 I stuck around for a bit, moved to the bar to listen to the first part of music trivia. Didnt take long before I got sucked in to staying for music trivia and met a bunch of new friends. Sarah, Amanda, Allan, Ruth and I all played, with a couple of part time players as well. It was fun – took a couple more hours and a few more beers, But after being there for probably 4-5 hours, my tab was only 20 bucks with a tip. WOW. Wish Canada was that cheap. I chatted with my new friends for a while before heading back to my room. I have my last dive tomorrow morning at 9am, I am going to miss it. It is seriously difficult to think that I am leaving this island on Wednesday. 

If you immerse yourself in the culture here, it starts to feel like home. I have made so many new friends, learned so much about life, and also learned about what I miss at home and what is important to me. I can’t wait to see my friends and family – but I also wish I didn’t have to leave everybody here. What an amazing island – for those of you who are looking to get out of your shell and do some real travelling – not an all-inclusive – I cant recommend this island enough, and I would be more than willing to be your tour guide here! I hope everybody is driving safe up in Alberta, and I also hope all that horrible snow has melted by the time I get home. Have a good night. 

Day Nine

Slept in today – Finally. Woke up around 930 and rolled around a bit until finally getting out of bed at 10ish. I’ve been getting up so early to do things this vacation that I have just started to wear myself out. After getting up, telling the maid that I wasn’t ready for her to clean the room quite yet – I headed down to the Buena Vida, right beside the dive shop. Ordered up the Sunday special – Banana Pancakes and coffee (seriously, these are the most amazing pancakes you will ever eat in your life. I think I said that last Sunday, but I am not exaggerating.) Hung out there for a while, watched the end of the Soccer Game – World Cup semi-finals I think? I dunno, was just fun to watch the game with some local expats. After that, I went down to the dive shop, talked to them for a bit and showed them all the snow we got at home last night and today. They were quite unimpressed. In fact, I made the guy shiver just talking about it.

I then headed out from the dive shop, to go down to one of the local gift shop markets to look for some touristy crap. On my way there, I saw the girls and Kevin coming in from their fishing/mangrove trip and walked down the dock to greet them. Lucky to find them right on the dock! I would have been hanging out alone all day if I didn’t find them (which isn’t a bad thing, I actually quite like hanging out by myself on this island). Talked to them for a bit, and they told me about the Tuna and Barracuda they caught – their barracuda was bigger than the ones me and Jamie caught. They invited me to their boat captains house for dinner that night, we were going to BBQ up the barracuda.

Me and the girls headed to West Bay to hang out on the beach for the day. Myself and Sara walked the whole beach to the end, and then came back and planted ourselves on some beach chairs for a while – I got a big fishbowl margarita, and we chilled there. She went for a massage and Melissa and Brittaney came over to meet me. I went snorkelling just in the shallows of the beach with Britt for a little while, didn’t see anything, it is just a sand bar – picked up a beer can and a chip bag off the bottom though – sad that people litter in places like this, when there is garbage bins all over the place. I can proudly say that I didn’t litter at all, in fact I was picking up garbage when I found it on the streets/ocean. I wanted to go paddleboarding today, but it was too late by the time we were ready, so I took a quick nap on the girl’s hammock while Sara got ready and Britt/Mel were snorkelling. I woke up at 330 and got down to the beach to take a watertaxi back to West End to get ready.

Got showered up and did some writing on the computer, then went down to the Coconut Tree Dive Shop to meet the girls. Had a few beers at their dive shop, and then Arley(I think) showed up to take us to his house. He put us in a cab, and he wisked away on his scooter. We drove from West End to Sandy Bay – which is just North East of West End to Arley’s house. We pulled in, there was myself, Sara, Brittaney, Mellisa, Kevin and Lance (Kevin’s friend who just got in today). We started drinking the beers from the Colorado brewery that Lance brought in (Kevin owns a brewery called Dry Dock Brewing in Colorado). I hadn’t tasted a good IPA since i left home, and it was fantastic. In fact, they want me to come down there the last week of September/early October to go to something called the Great American Brewing Festival, which is apparantely amazing, over 2000 different beers from craft breweries down there. We fired up the grill (you literally just start a fire in a steel basket, and get it nice and hot.)  and put the barracuda on there. Barracuda was awesome, he grilled it up with some spices, and some lemon juice. We also had a spinach salad and some rice. Barracuda can be a poisonous fish depending on what they have eaten. There is a way to tell if they are poisonous or not, that the locals have been using for hundreds of years, not only in Honduras, but all around the world. Catch a Barracuda, scale and gut it, and then throw a small peice of meat near an ant hill – if the ants will eat the fish, then it is safe for humans. If the ants wont eat it – then it is poisonous and can put a human out for several weeks with a violent illness.

After dinner we chilled out, listened to a random selection of music including classic rock, some rap, and some Bob Marley – The girls were having a fun time dancing to Bob Marley. Everybody was having an amazing time. The food was good, the beer was good, and the company was amazing. Its not often you get the chance to go to a locals house for dinner and have such a good time the way we did tonight. We headed home around 1030-11. The girls are leaving tomorrow, but I think ill be able to have breakfast with them. If not, it was kind of an abrupt goodbye, and hopefully ill see them again someday! Tomorrow I am supposed to do a deep dive to a shipwreck – should be interesting. 

Day Eight

Woke up pretty hung over today. It was a late night last night, closed down the bars at about 2:30 – I went to the dive shop this morning, hung out at the restaraunt next door for a bit – waited for Jamie to come by and say his final goodbye’s. He is on the afternoon flight back to Houston and then home near Winnipeg. Will miss having a partner in crime every day. 

After hanging out at the shop for a bit and chatting with Jamie and the other regulars – I headed home to shower and then went over to West Bay to meet up with Sara and Brittaney. Didn’t see them right away, so I went on a little walk down to the far end of West Bay, and then came back. I still didn’t see them – figured they had left me hanging and were late (not that women are ever late.....). I grabbed a beer at a beach bar and got the wifi password to try and connect with the girls. Turns out they were waiting for me at a restaurant the whole time. Went and sat at the beach bar swings with them and ordered some breakfast. Had a huge breakfast with an omelette, hash browns and toast. After that, Brittaney had to go to her dive, so Britt, Sara and I headed into West End on a water taxi. Brittaney headed to her dive shop, me and Sara were going to chill on the beach all day and do a little bit of snorkelling. 

Went down to my hotel, got everything organized, and then headed out to the beach in front. We snorkelled under the dock where the submarine “parks”. Saw some more Lobster, Crabs, a Huge Eel (Sara was too freaked out to look at it :P) some large Sea Urchins, and some type of Sea Caterpiller – will have to get the fish book out and try to identify it. We headed back in after snorkelling the dock, and chilled on the beach chairs for a while. It was nice to finally do some relaxing... stayed there with Sara and hung out in the water and on the chairs for a while. We decided to grab her stuff out of my room and head down towards the dive shop to meet up with Brittaney and Melissa. We figured out they were on the late dive boat, and we still had over an hour until their return So we went out for another snorkel along the reef shore of Half Moon Bay. It was good, saw a cool Sea Slug and lots of fish and coral. Sara hurt her back and was unable to do any diving on her trip here – So it was nice to be able to take her out and show her some of the reef. After snorkelling we went to the Buena Vida and had a beer and unwinded after being in the ocean. 

Then we headed out for dinner with me and all the girls. Went to the Lily.... Pothouse? I don’t think that is the right name, but either way – dinner was delicious. The four of us split two Fisherman’s Special Plates. They had the catch of the day – SeaBass – Shrimp, lobster and veggies and rice. It was a fantastic dinner. Very delicious seafood tonight – can’t seem to get enough of it. After finishing dinner we went down to Sundowners and discovered the beach bonfire that was going on. 

We got some drinks and went and sat in the beach chairs near the fire – Didn’t need to get to close as it was already extremely hot. There are two golden retrievers that are owned by the owners of Sundowners and they were hanging out with us. They were actually guarding us from other dogs for a while – it was kind of funny to watch. After a few beers down at the bonfire we decided to head over to the TV, just to catch a few minutes of the Battle of Alberta – had no idea it was on tonight. Luckily the flames were winning (and went on to win the game, I believe). I’ve been trying to keep up on my sports a little bit, like hockey and the Masters, but its difficult with this spotty WIFI. After watching some quick hockey – we headed down to the taco stand we found yesterday, and everybody had an order of the beef taco’s – they are AMAZING. Grilled right in front of you, made to order. After that, got the girls a cab, and headed back home – The girls are headed fishing and touring tomorrow, I’m going to sleep in I think - havent gotten much sleep since I've been here

Day Seven

Great day today. Woke up at quarter to eight, headed down to the dive shop. Was fee

Vast reef in Roatan. So amazing, pictures and words do not do it justice. 

ling pretty good this morning, even though we were out drinking last night. Got a coffee, the cat took a good jump across tables and dumped half of it. I declared friends off with the cat (name is Friday). Went out on our first dive. The ocean was extremely rough today, we were drift diving, which means you just go with the current. We started at the far west end of the island, where the water starts to get even rougher – we ended up wayyyy past the island – nowhere near out boat. I was a little converned that we would be sitting there for a while waiting. Board found us pretty quickly and we were picked up within 5 minutes of surfacing. This morning we dove at “Texas” for 18m again for 41 minutes. Some of the noteable sightings were a Honeycomb Cowfish, a large Lionfish, a Smooth Trunkfish, a Scrawled Filefish, lots of ocean triggerfish, and a Nasssau Grouper followed us for 15-20 minutes while we dived. The second dive at around 11am was at Half Moon Bay Wall at 18m for 45 minutes. We saw 2 Hawksbill Turtules, a Scrawled Filefish, some Coral Banded Shrimp, Caribbean Spiney lobster, Squat Anenome Shrimp and a Trumpetfish.

We finished diving just after 12pm today. Had one of the locals bring us some fish and chips that he had just made in his apartment, England style. They were fantastic – and he told us a very long story about the dish as well. I was quite tired after the second dive – in fact was feeling a little sick while we were on the boat since the ocean was so rough today. Were bouncing around in 8-10 foot swells on the ocean. This afternoon was my friend Jamie’s last dive as he leaves tomorrow – good guy, will miss him. I left the dive shop shortly after eating my fish and chips. Went back to the room and got showered and changed, then headed down to sundowners beach bar to buy a beer and hang out on the beach loungers. Did some people watching for a bit, and then headed back to my room where i took a nice nap on my hammock until just after 5pm. I then headed to sundowners again, met up with Jamie and Kevin, had a beer and a rum – Me and Jamie then headed down to a restaurant called Eagle Ray’s – a restaurant build on a dock right on the bay, just past Half Moon Bay. Had a Seafood Salad sandwich, unfortunately was the most disappointing meal ive had so far – but I bought dinner for us since it was Jamie’s last night.

After dinner we walked down the main road back to sundowners, with a couple of stops at bars on the way. We were looking for our girlfriends we met yesterday. We made it to Sundowners, and sat there and watched the leafs game. Shortly after arriving, I got a video call from my brother and Andrew – I couldn’t believe it actually worked – Unfortunately it was too dark for them to see anything, but we had a quick chat – mostly about beer – and then said goodbye. After that, the girls showed up (not to mention, they were an hour late :D). We went to some bar closeby and watched a Japanese/African drum band play some tunes. We then headed down to a street taco vendor, got some taco’s and then went to the Blue Marlin. Drank, danced and sang at the Blue Marlin for a while, and then continued on to some dance bar further down - according to my wrist band it is called “Vaon” but I don’t think that is fully correct. Danced there for a while and continued drinking. It was so freaking hot in that place – we had 6 people in our group and 5 of us were so sweaty we had to get outside. After that, we ate some Baleada’s and then I got the girls a cab and send them back to West Bay where they are staying. Not diving tomorrow, going to hang out with the girls I think, and take it easy. May drink tomorrow night, I’m not sure – Jamie leaves tomorrow at noon – so Ill be by myself again. At least the girls will be around to keep me company. Talk to you tomorrow. 

Day Six

Another hot day on the island, in fact some were saying that it was the hottest day Honduras has had so far this year. Not sure exactly what the temp was, but it was probably around 33-34 degrees – plus the humidity.

Half Moon Bay first thing in the morning - Very calm today

Dove twice today, first one was at Canyon Reef. We went out at 9am and dove 18m for 43 minutes. Saw a bunch of Arrow Crabs, some Cleaner Shrimp, a Lettuce Seaslug, a neat looking Spotted Drum, another Hawksbill turtle, a big school of Sargeant Majors, a Yellowheaded Jawfish and some Spanish Mackerel – among hundreds of other common species.  Second dive was around 11:30am, went out to a place called Butchers Bank. Dove 18m for only 35 minutes this time. My backup regulator was having some problems that we didn’t notice, and it caused my tank to run out very quick – Had to go up early. Saw some more crabs, shrimp, as well as two large Southern Stingrays, a Sailfin Blenny and an albino Sharktail Eel.

This Nassau Grouper followed us for 15-20 minutes on our dive,  swam right below me the whole time

After diving we were going to cook up the fish that we caught yesterday. We had a nice piece of Barracuda, which Jamie my dive buddy made into ceviche – and we threw the tuna onto the charcoal barbeque with some peppers tomatoes and onions. It was all delicious, especially the ceviche. By the time we had finished cooking and whatnot, it was past 5pm and time to shower up and head to Sundowners for the end of happy hour. There were some girls heading down from Calg/Edmonton that were supposed to meet up with us tonight – we managed to run into them while watching the Ottawa/Philly hockey game on TV at Sundowners.

Sundowners beach bar, drinking a Monkey Lala mid day

We introduced ourselves and chatted for a bit – Nice girls! We then headed down to the Beuna Vida bar/restaurant that is attached to our dive shop. Had some more beers, rums, Monkey Lala’s, shots and even some deep fried cheese there. After that we headed across the street to the Blue Marlin, for karaoke night. It was packed in there, lots of people singing, drinking, dancing and having a good time. The girls (Brittanay, Melissa and Sarah) were quite the Karaoke artists, I think they got up there 3 times. Tried to convince me to get up there.... I must not have been drunk enough. The night ended off somewhere around midnight (I think... no clocks here). Went back to the room, fried up a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and set my alarm to get up bright and early for some more diving.

Day Five

Woke up at 5am this morning. We went out fishing with a guy named Henrik, he owns a fishing boat here on the island – its a very small fishing boat, in fact it is made out of mahogany, and has been around for almost 100 years. Went out, caught some small tuna and used it as live bait. We then proceeded to catch two large barracuda, about 20 pounds for both of them. What a fight, my arm has never been so tired from fighting a fish. After we had caught the two barracuda (there was only me and Jaime on the boat with the captain) we didn’t catch much else, a small tuna which we used as live bait but didn’t catch anything with – we headed in. We kept the last Tuna, and the two Barracuda. Captain Henrik gave us a good fillet of the Tuna and a good filet of the Barricuda to cook ourselves. We were planning on cooking it today, but we never ended up doing so. The day turns pretty tiring when you wake up at 5am. 

I went snorkelling in the afternoon, and managed to see tons of lobsters, some crabs, lots of fish and the SEAHORSE. A very rare thing to see, but i managed to run right into it without even really looking. After that I went back to the room, then to sundowners for a beer to see if the girls from Calgary had made it. Didn’t see them, so i left after a beer and went to my room and had a nap on the hammock. That was the second nap on the hammock today. The first one was after my neighbors left the island, and I had gotten new neighbors. The new neightbors woke me up when they came up the stairs.  A nice older couple from Illinois. I gave them some advice on the hotel and island and then they went on their way for dinner. 

I then took a quick shower and headed back to Sundowners to see if anyone was there. I saw Jamie my dive buddy, and we hung out on the beach with a couple of local white girls for a little while. We then went up to the bar and saw our buddy Kevin who had payed for most of of tab a couple nights before – turns out it was his birthday today. We bought him a couple drinks, and then went down to all you can eat fish taco night – I had 9 Taco’s (good lord).  

Then we went across the street for some live music, meanwhile we continued drinking and was fairly intoxicated at the time, but I wouldn’t tell our server that (she is also my dive instructor). Watched some live music, and then I lost Kevin and Jamie. A local guy came up to me – he originally was trying to sell me some “stuff” – I told him It wasn’t going to happen and then proceeded to question him about his life and his business of selling this stuff – As a business banker I tend to be very interested in how people make their money and what their business is all about. As he told me about it – He continued to try to sell something to me, and i continued to tell him it wasn’t going to happen. He was about half my size, and I was in a bar with many many Canadians, so I wasn’t too concerned about safety. He was actually a nice guy, told me about his life quite a bit. Honesty is the best policy – I didn’t lead him on, I told him exactly what i was thinking, that I wasn’t going to buy anything from him – and we had a good conversation after. 

I then started walking home to bed. It was a long day, and I probably didn’t write very well about it – but what can you do, I’m on vacation and I’ve had a few Salva Vida’s (local beer). Plan on going on a dive at 9am and 11am tomorrow – am supposed to meet up with some people from Calgary who just got in after that. Good night!!!

Day Four

Well, I have had an interesting day so far. Woke up a little later than usual, I finally made it out of my room by just after 8am. Walked down to the dive shop... same walk I have every morning... Got there at the same time as most people, grabbed some coffee and wondered what to eat for breakfast. There is a lady that walks down the strip every morning and sells baked goods like bagels, muffins, scones and breakfast wrap type things. I wanted to get the breakfast wrap but somebody else got the last one. The lady felt bad so she gave me one of the scones for free – I tried to pay her but she wouldn’t let me, she is very nice – will be purchasing from her again for sure. We finished up our breakfast, got the dive equipment ready and headed out to the boat.

Shot of Half Moon Bay, right out front of my hotel - Sun was in a bad position, but water was calm. You can see the sailboat in the middle - There is a rope swing off the large beam that we were swinging off of the other night.

Today was the first day I used the GoPro camera while diving. For those of you who don’t know how to dive – it is actually harder than it looks, there are many things that are going through your head and many things you need to be aware of while diving. The biggest one is your buoyancy – this is controlled by an inflatable jacket, called your BCD – as well as your breathing. Taking a deep breath of air can cause you to rise, and then fall when you breathe out. So while filming with the GoPro, I would sometimes rise up quite a bit, and have to descend and re-equalize my ears and whatnot. The footage I shot wasn’t that great today – pretty shaky, but I now know that I have to be extremely smooth while filming – hopefully Ill get some better footage in the next few dives.

Main street, right past the traffic circle on the way to the dive shop. Not the busiest of afternoons, but still a lot of people walking around. 

This morning we went to “Mandy’s Eel Garden” – It has that name because on the sand patch at the bottom of the reef – there are hundreds of long skinny eels that live in the sand, when you swim overtop of them they will all quickly jet back into their holes. Kind of funny to watch. Today we went down to 18m (60ft) and lasted for 42 minutes before running out of air. This is as deep as my certification will allow me to go. We saw an Eagle Ray, it was a fair distance below us – these are rare to see and it was huge – very cool to watch it gracefully glide along the sand bank. We also saw the Garden Eels, a Porcupine Fish (1.5ft long) some Smooth Trunkfish, a Porkfish and a Large Black Grouper. I got some video of a Barracuda as well. We came back in and chilled for a little bit, and then went back out an hour later for the second dive of the day (final dive of my certification). This time we went to “Sunquest Deep” and dove to 18m for 43 minutes. Some of the noteables were Banded Coral Shrimp, Sailfin Blenny, baby Lionfish, Pederson Cleaner Shrimp, Yellowline Arrow Crab, Neck Crab, Nassau Grouper and a cool Blue Parrotfish that followed us around for a few minutes. Another good day of diving. I then got back to the diveshop, studied (for about 5 mins) and then I told her I wanted to write the final. Once I started writing, I realized that I didn’t know many of the questions.... was actually quite worried I wouldn’t pass. That would have been embarrassing. I passed, got 42/50 – not great, but a pass nonetheless. I am now officially a PADI Certified Open Water Diver, that certifies me to dive to 60 feet with a buddy, anywhere in the world. I’m going to start working on my Advanced Open Water Diver, which gives you more depth, can’t remember the exact amount right now.

After leaving the dive shop I came back home and chilled for 30 mins or so, and did some writing and cleaning up. Ended up going out for a walk with the camera and trying to get some pictures – unfortunately the sun was in a horrible position for taking pictures, so I didn’t get many. I will have to go out in the morning, the morning is the best time of day on this island anyways.

View of Half Moon Bay - from the far side - My hotel would be to the left of the white building, on the other side of the road. Beautiful day - It has been minimum 32 degrees here most of the week. 

Headed back towards my hotel and went to Sundowners. Met my dive buddy Jamie there, and also saw my neighbors and met a new guy called “Sunny” there. I think he is from LA, seemed like a nice guy however pretty cocky and I’m sure he had a lot of money. Chatted with Jamie for a while about random things like hockey, women, drinking and travelling, and also ordered a snack. Had a basket of plantains, which are like banana’s and I believe they were deep fried. Tasted just like French fries – very good, although Jamie wasn’t a fan.

View of the sunset from Sundowners

Beautiful shot of the sunset. It is HUGE and bright red - this is literally steps off the bar on the beach. (Zoomed in, but this is how big it looks in reality.)

We ended up going out for dinner with a couple from our dive shop who were leaving the Island tomorrow for good. Had a nice dinner, we had Lionfish Cakes, and deep fried shrimp for an appy, and then I had 2 Jumbo seafood skewers for dinner with rice, plantains and veggies. I love the food here, there is something about eating local food that just makes me excited. Especially when it is seafood. I came back to my room, around 9:30pm after saying our goodbyes to our friends Giles and Anika from the dive shop. I have to go fishing at 5:30am. I’m very excited for the fishing, not so excited to hear my alarm at 5am. Good Night. 

A quick teaser of my dive photo's. Ill have some better ones in the next couple of days. This is the sun at about 50ft down.

Day Three

 Day Three

       What an interesting day. I work up early again, around 7:30 (It is hard to sleep in here, especially if you’ve went to be early the night before, the sun come up verrrrry early). I got ready to go out after slapping my phone a couple times to snooze. I wanted to make sure I got a video of what the “main street” of West End looks like. So I put on the regular case to the GoPro camera (this is and HD video camera, for those of you who have no idea what a GoPro is), and I toured my room quickly, and then walked from my room to the beach, and then down to my dive shop, and then continued on for a bit. The bay is so beautiful in the mornings, I literally can not believe what I am seeing.

      I shut off the GoPro and headed back to the dive shop, which I had previously dropped my backpack off at while walking down the road (you’ll see it if you watch the video). I then proceeded to talk to one of the divers that was at the shop already, before the shop had opened. I wanted to get breakfast and he was eating the local food called “Baleada’s” – I wanted to try it. I went across the street to a cafe type restaurant, and told the lady I needed breakfast. She didn’t speak English well. I ended up getting some sort of deep fried ham and cheese type breakfast. I would compare it to aham and cheese pizza pocket – only deep fried. It was delicious, but not what I actually wanted. Whatever, it cost like 2.50 or something.

     

      I have to confess, the real reason I have been getting up early and heading to the dive shop (other than the amazing mornings, and the fact that I cant sleep in) is that I haven’t studied my dive book at night like I’ve told my divemaster I was going to. Luckily I finished the entire book this morning, and finished all the quizzes. Now I only have my final exam left. 

      Today I went out diving at 11:30 for my first real “reef” dive. Oh my GOD – for those of you have haven’t ever dived before, and for those of you who have dived – This place is so ridiculously crazy. The most amazing reef you can imagine. There are so many species of fish and coral and every other type of sealife, it would take me literally years to explain it to you. We keep a “dive log” of every dive you do, and dive number 1, was called “Turtle Crossing”. We dove 40 feet (12m) and lasted for 48 minutes. That seems like a lot, but trust me, it goes by QUICK when your down there. Some of the key points I wrote down in my dive log are as follows: 1. Saw two turtles, one very large, and a smaller – possible baby turtle. 2. A HUGE Barricuda – the DiveMaster said it was the biggest she has seen while diving. 3. Squirrelfish – this may be fairly common, I’m not sure, but it was certainly an interesting fish. 4. A Queen Triggerfish – This was a beautiful fish – very nice to watch. We also saw a Rough Box Crab and a Mutton Snapper (Very Tastey). The first dive went awesome, I don’t want to brag – but I feel like a natural diver, everybody who was with me told me so. It is one of the most exhilarating experiences somebody can have – especially if they love to snorkel. I cant even explain the feeling of going down 40 feet for almost an hour, and breathing and just watching the sea life. Us land dwellers have no idea what our oceans are really about, and that is a sad sad thing. 

      We chilled at the dive shop, ate lunch – A guy drove by in a pickup truck selling shrimp fettucini, shrimp curry subs, and chicken curry subs. He only had chicken curry subs left, so I bought one for 100 Lemp – which is $5. Very good, and a LOT of food. 

      We went on my second dive, to the “Lighthouse Reef”. Both dives had amazing conditions, clear and calm – not much current (Yes, this affects a dive IMMENSELY). On this dive some of the noteable sightings were – Caribbean Spiny lobster (HUGE, literally a foot long, and tentacles were 1.5-2 feet across). Banded Coral Shrimp – Pretty cool, I used to have one in my own fish tank. A small jellyfish type creature, not 100% sure on the name. I GOT STUNG. Didn’t see it coming, and then OUCH. Right on the top of my hand. Luckily it didn’t hurt that bad, hard to explain – but I could feel it for a few hours after. We saw another turtle, a Hawksbill, a Secretary Blenny, a Spinyhead Blenny, a Peacock Flounder, a Slender Filfish (Juvenile) and a Yellowfin Grouper. We saw hundreds of other fish, but these were the more notable ones. Once again this dive was at 12m for 51 minutes.

     

      We got back to the shop, cleaned up and then made dinner plans. I went home, showered and then headed down to the restaraunt we were going to. I didn’t know where it was, I actually didn’t even know the name of it – Anika from the dive shop told me it was 100 meters past the shop, so I took her word for it. Mistake. I walked down there about 4-10 minutes early..... kept walking..... couldn’t see it. I figured ahhhh, ill just sit on the side of the road and get some “fresh air” – Ill see them sooner or later. Luckily when i turned around and started walking back towards my hotel – I saw them walking towards me. We got dinner, rotisserie chicken – It was $6 or 120 Lemp, for ¼ Chicken, Rice and Pasta Salad – It was good, cheap and QUICK. One of the best chicken meals i’ve had out in a long time. 

    

      Walked back down the main drag after a beer and our meal – and a very interesting conversation. The people that are at my dive shop have literally travelled the globe, and have so many experiences to chat about. I have learned a lot from them, just listening.

      Me and one of the fellows from my shop went down to the Sundowners and caught the tail end of happy hour. Had a beer, watched the Third period of the Leafs game, where I met a guy named Kevin – he owns his own brewery in Denver Colorado and was here by himself as well. We had a drink with him, finished the game up, and then walked down to the bar that is attached to my dive shop. They were playing music trivia (hair bands) and it was a good time. I only knew a few songs like Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne. But we had fun. 

      Our new friend went home, but I went across the street to a bar called the Blue Marlin with my dive buddy. We had a beer and met a guy (whom I think my buddy had already knew) and He is going to take us ocean fishing on Wednesday at 5:30am. I cant wait – He says we will catch Tuna in the morning, and then Barracuda and Oahu for the rest of the time. Real nice guy, I ended up walking home with him after talking to him about fishing for around an hour. (Rocky Mountain fishing, ocean fishing, fly fishing, etc.). Now I have finally made it home, I have made a few new friends today, and continue to have an even better time, every minute that I am down here. Once again, the more people I talk to, the more people don’t leave this place............

Day Two

Day Two

Slept well, woke up multiple times from 6 until 8:50, when my alarm was set for. Had a shower and headed down to the dive shop. There is a restaurant attached so I had some breakfast since the owners told me there weren't open until 10am on Sundays. Ate Banana Pancakes, they were FANTASTIC, best pancakes I've consumed hands down. After about 5 coffee’s and some more fresh air, The dive shop opened and I headed down there to see what I would be doing all day. 

I did some dive theory, and then took a break for lunch. I had fish taco’s, they were deep fried and had some sort of spicy sauce on them. They were fantastic, best fish taco’s I've had hands down. And I've had them many times in mexico and the Dominican. After that, we suited up with our dive gear. Good lord – it is HEAVY. We walked down to Half Moon Bay, and went in for my confined water dives, the first of 3-4. Well I was the only student, and according to my teach, I did awesome. So we finished ALL of the material in one dive. Some interesting stuff was covered. The ones that worried me most was taking my mask off and swimming for 20 years, and breathing through a “busted regulator”. I passed them both on the first try – thank god. We went back to the dive shop, unloaded, hung out for a bit and then I was off to the hotel to get freshened up. 

Got to the hotel, my neighbor was on the deck so I chatted with him. They are almost done their trip, and he wanted to go to the sailboat in Half Moon Bay that has a rope swing attached. It is an abandoned sailboat that you have to swim to, and it is not a quick swim – takes about 10-15 minutes to get there. I chilled for a bit, and then grabbed the GoPro camera, and headed to the beach in front of the hotel. We swam out there – it surprised me how far it was – Thank god i have been swimming a little bit in the last month. It was fun, there was a bunch of islanders on it, they were swinging three at a time from a really high platform they had built. I got a video of me, and then we swam back in to get ready for the night. 

Showered up and then walked down the main road, stopped at a place called “Monkey Bay” Ordered some delicious Ceviche and a beer. I met some Americans from Phoenix there, they were nice – one of them was doing his 100th dive today, and he had only been diving since 2009 – I have a feeling I may get addicted to this.

Shrimp & Conch Ceviche - Add a little hot sauce and a Salva Vida Beer - Delicious

 After that I headed down to the Sundowners beach bar again for the end of happy hour. Happy hour is 5-7 here, and beers are half price (30 Lempira, which is $1.50) Ordered 2 beer, right at 7pm. Sat beside a local islander, didn't get his name. He claimed he had married a Canadian who was from Alberta, although he said she lived on the west coast – I don’t think he knew his geography that well. Chatted with him for a while about random stuff – he wanted me to come with him to another  bar down the road, for some live island music and a good time. I didn't like the sounds of it, even though he seemed like a legit person – so I finished my beers and told him I was tired and was going back to the hotel. 

Now here I am, sitting on the deck chatting to friends on Facebook and writing about my trip so far. I cant believe this island, I have never experienced something so different in my entire life. I've travelled to Mexico twice, and the Dominican three times since 2009 – I also went on a cruise when I was younger. This place beats all of them, immensely. I’ve spoken to many people here so far, tourists, islanders, and people who now call this island home. It sounds like a lot of people move here after visiting. I'm not kidding, I would say literally 50% of people I’ve talked to so far, have moved here after visiting here. Well that is it for tonight, I’m going to finish my last Salva Vida of the day, and head to bed. I have to get up early to study my dive book since I didn’t do any of it tonight. Maybe ill get some more banana pancakes.... maybe ill cook some eggs and bacon in my room – haven’t decided yet. All I know is that I’m going to bed tonight with a new perspective on travelling, and people in general. I can’t believe i’ve been so lucky so far in this trip. I'm sure Ill have more to report tomorrow. 

Day One

Day One

Woke up this morning at 3:50am, I had set 3 different alarm clocks and woke up on the last one. May have had too many beers last night. Although i normally set 3 alarms and don’t even realize I've turned 2 of them off until I finally wake up. Cab company was late, I called them and they told me somebody was on the way. Finally somebody showed up to the house. It was a difficult place to find, wasn't on GPS, so that is understandable.

Almost at Roatan - Half way between mainland Mexico and Roatan

I got to the airport, the line-up to check in was HUGE. Finally I got through, they didn't weigh my bag, which i was somewhat worried about. Went through customs without a problem, and then through security. Security was concerned about a long metal object I had in my backpack, which turned out to be my mono-pod for the GoPro. Probably should have mentioned it before trying to get through security. I'm surprised they let me keep it to be honest. 

Finally boarded my flight after an enjoyable burger king egg sandwich  and disgusting airport coffee. Said hi to the older lady and her husband sitting next to me. Found out they were headed for South Carolina for a golf trip. Very nice people. As we sat there, the captain finally told us we would have to be de-iced and it would take an extra few minutes. 30 minutes after our scheduled flight time we got pushed back for this de-icing. Took them another 15 minutes to complete. So off to a great start, flight was super late and now im worried I wont make my flight from Houston to Roatan. I only have 1.5hrs between flights. Luckily, captain came on the radio and told us we would be arriving at the normal time.... not sure if we had a good tailwind or if he likes to fly a plane the way Andrew Beaton drives..... super fast. Arrived in Houston and got to my gate with lots of time to spare. Time for a beer. Went to the Sky Tower Bar and down a quick Goose Neck IPA and a plate of Jumbo Shrimp. A couple hours later, I've landed. A tad bit worried about my luggage, I haven’t made many flights that aren't direct. Luckily it was about the tenth one through one the belt. Customs in Roatan are pretty slack. Fill out a couple cards on the plane, then give them to some girl standing there, and put your bag through an x=ray machine. They don’t say a word to you. 

Out front of my hotel - Palm tree's, calm bay, and dive shops as far as the eye can see

I found my cab driver, which I had previously arranged, directly through the airport doors after customs. We went to his car, and loaded up. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. By the time he drove me to the grocery store, I could smell myself – It was so hot and humid. Went into the store, bought some simple food items and that was it. I decided i  better load up the deodorant for the car drive to save that poor young soul that was driving me. We went on a mini-tour of the island. It is amazing, I've been all over the Caribbean and never seen anything like it. We arrived at the hotel, made my way back to my room – up a set of stairs to a balcony, said hi to the people sitting on their deck which are now my new neighbours  Went inside, it is a nice room – for all of you all-inclusive people out there, you wouldn't call it nice. This part of the island is NOT an all-inclusive feel – it is something completely different and unique which i have never discovered in my travels, until now. I have a twin bed, a single bed, a kitchen, and small bathroom with a shower and hot water – Oh and a patio set and hammock on the deck, nice for drinking a beer or having some fresh air. Settled in a little bit, talked to my neighbours (young lawyers from Canada – probably around my age, ill find out later).

Half Moon Bay at Sunset - Took a break from Hockey Night in Canada to snap a picture. Picture does NOT do this sunset any justice. The sun was huge and bright red. 

 I then decided I’d go for a walk and see if I could find my dive shop. Walked down the main street, along with many other people out walking, eventually looked up and saw my dive shop. Went up, filled out some paperwork, and already had a plan for the next day. After that I went home, drank a beer, chilled with the neighbours and headed over to Sundowners beach bar for the Toronto HNIC game. Was great, met the owners and a few other people – my neighbours both joined me a little later (leafs fans.......). Chilled there for the game, had some Chicken Fingers (yes I know – how daring.) It was the first night there and late, I didn't want to get too crazy. I went home and attempted to study some diving theory – didn't work well and I ended up asleep before 9pm.

Picked up some Plantain and... Casava Chips for a snack - The locals grew up on these type of chips