Roatan, Honduras

Last time I was in Roatan I stayed at "Sueno del Mar". It was great. For this trip I contacted them again. They set up everything and provide a ride to and from the airport. For a GREAT PRICE!

The room was very nice, with microwave, coffeemaker, and refrigerator. Food prices in Roatan is on par with the US, so it's nice to be able to eat in one's own room.

I arrived on Monday, took a shower, and by 2:30 was under water for the first time.

Honduras IS a third world country, so I took it as not unexpected when on Tuesday I came back from diving to find there was no water. I could shower at the dive shop, and only used bottled watter for drinking and brushing of teeth.

On Wednesday, there still was no watter. At 4am I put my batteries in the charger. After a few minutes the power went down.

Thursday...no water, no power.

Friday...no water, no power.

Saturday...power comes back, not the water.

Sunday...power and water BOTH! I take my second shower and get ready to leave.

One can live without plumbed watter. Power is nice at night for the fans, but I've survived worse. It was a great room and I'll go back there again next time (and there WILL be a next time...). Living with irregular utilities services is just a part of island life sometimes.

Once a day I'd take myself out to eat. Breakfast was yogurt purchased from the local store. Lunch was usually something from the microwave. Dinner was from the new noodle place (great place to eat!) or the Chicken Rotisserie. Often at the Rotisserie I'd get a full chicken and have lots of leftovers for the ol' microwave. It was a great week!

I don't know what it is about Roatan and photography. Last time I was here I dove with a guy who took photos for National Geographic and did professional underwater video. He taught me how to aproach fish and not scare them, as well as showing me a whole new world in the sand.

This time I was showen how to compensate for color issues underwater. That's a big problem. Water quickly absorbs the red band and not the blue. Our eyes adjust, the camera, not so. He showed me how to "white adjust" and the results were increadable. I was taking shots I thought impossible.

What is it about roatan and photography?

Here are some notes from my dives:

Dive 1 location:Herbie's Place depth:60' time:60min First dive was the usual "shakedown dive". It's a chance for the dive masters to see if you know anything. Not deep, not hard, closly observed. This was a new crew and a new boat. Nobody knew me, or my skills. It's a good thing for them to do. We were a well matched set of divers. Air consupmtion was pretty uniform and we had lots of skills. It was going to be a great week.

Dive 2 location:West End Wall depth:60' time:60min This was the first dive on a spot we would often return to. We were diving on a spot where there was supposed to be a Seahorse, and there was! On this dive I brought the camera. We also ran across a Rame, the first I've ever seen. We looked through the sand and found some Tube fish, related to Seahorses.

Dive 3 location:Aquarium depth:40' time:60min There's ALWAYS a site called "aquarium".

Dive 4 location:West End Wall depth:60' time:60min

Dive 5 location:El Aguila depth:105' time:55min El Aguila is a ship that sunk, and then was later broken up by Mitch. This is where my new skills on the camera began to pay off. I was taking shots that would have never worked before.

Dive 6 location:Blue Channel depth:85' time:60min There's a small fish in the Carribean called the "Arrow Benny". He hangs around with his tail cocked to one side ready to dart off for safety or food. They're small and hard to find. We found one.

Dive 7 location:Herbie's Place depth:60' time:60min Lobsters, lobsters, lobsters. They're a comon here as are crabs in the NW. And BIG!

Dive 8 location:West End Wall depth:124' time:60min This was to be our first "drift dive". A drift dive is when you get in the water and just let the current take you. Sort of like white water rafting under water. With a good plan, and a knowlege of the waters you know when you're going to be in strong current and where it should take you. Well executed they're a lot of fun. We dropped down expecting to find a current, there was none. A spectactular dive in any case. Most of the dive profiles we executed put us on a flat, shallow plateau at the end. Those are the places where the most fish life is. On this dive we came across our first turtle and our first ray.

Dive 9 location:Pablo's Place depth:85' time:60min This was a wall dive that turned into a drift dive. Such is life. One needs to be ready for what comes along. At the end we found a drum fish.

Dive 10 location:Half Moon Bay depth:60' time:60min This was our first dive largely on a sandy bottom, a unique ecosystem. Lots of worms and fish that live in holes in the sand. Also, lots of big fish, like groupers.

Dive 11 location:Sea Quest depth:55' time:60min Our night dive. Didn't take my camera. Never been able to get any pics at all at night. Perhaps I should have. This was the most spectacular night dive I've ever been on. We found three octopuses, the most interesting and unusual shade of blue-green I've ever seen. Also Basket Stars, a type of sea star that only comes out at night and is very active (by sea star standards). Lost of filigree and ornimation. Quite a site. Would have made a nice video. I wonder if it would have come out...

Dive 12 location:West End Wall depth:110' time:60min Spectacular corals and sponges, lots of crustations, our second turtle of the week.

Dive 13 location:Aquarium depth:99' time:60min Our first big eel.

Dive 14 location:West End Wall depth:65' time:54min It's always interesting to explore the canyons and valleys. One may even find a MONSTER sea slug!

Dive 15 location:Hole in the Wall depth:158' time:60min No camera because of depth. Don't want it to blow up under the pressure and it's only supposed to be used above 40 meters. Hole in the Wall is the most advanced dive I've done at Roatan. May be the most advanced recreational dive there. We get in the water (well, duh!) and go down to a sandy bottom, then follow a sandy valley, or shoot, down to it's drop off. The actual drop off is at 160' ("recreational diving" goes as deep as 130). At those depths getting "narked" is very common. Naturally, I had to go to the edge. I almost made it when I looked back. All the other divers were on their way back, and the simple act of looking back showed me that I was pretty narked at that time. When I turned my head back I couldn't think and was disorientated, so I turned back to catch up. In my condition I didn't want to be alone. Funny thing. When narked one should go up, just a few feet, 10 would be enough. I know that, but when narked I always get really low to the bottom (just inches) and follow it. More than anything else narcosis affects me visually. If I'm not really close to the bottom I can't see it and get lost. So I stay low. I knew I was going back up the slope, because that's where everybody else was going. Going up was what I needed. In just a few feet I was OK. When we got back into the shallows we explored the canyons and cuts created in the coral walls. Even though I had gone as deep as I had there was plenty of air in my tank when I got to the end of the dive. My master motioned me to go out on my own and explore, so I did. Not too far, I wanted to always be able to see his bubbles, and in that water I was limited to about 100', plenty. After a few minutes I couldn't see him, but discovered that he was following me. As a dive, not for the fish or life, but for the dive, this was a gas! Our master called it "rock climbing without all the work", and such it was!

Dive 16 location:Texas depth:95' time:60min On this dive we came across EVERYTHING! Eels, turtles, rays, big schools of fish, baracuda. At one point I looked up to find a pair of squid watching me. Squid are curious animals, whenever I see one it seems to be as interested in me as I am in it. No flashing colors this time, but quite an experience...

Dive 17 location:Sea Quest depth:65' time:56min Last dive. Have to say good-bye to the sea. Gotta fly out and can't dive 24 hours before my flight.

The flight back...

Everything is going great, it's been a fantastic week. My flight leaves at 5:15pm for Costa Rica and I have a ride to the airport at 2pm. My favorite noodle place is open at noon and I go there for my last bowl of their noodles. I'd never tried the peanut sauce so that was my plan, chicken, udon, and peanut sauce. Well, because of the holidays they only offered one thing, chicken, shrimp, Chinese noodles. I survive.

After taking a last, long walk through the city I move out of my room. Seven girls move in (where will they sleep?). My ride arrives on time and I get to the airport at 2:30pm. As I'm about to check in I get this idea that I want to take my memory cards out of my luggage and take them with me. I check in and am told I've missed my flight...how's that? Flight leaves at 5:15, it's 2:30 and I've MISSED MY FLIGHT?

As it turns out the 5:15 had been canceled and someone had called the school to leave a message. I never got it.

So what do I do? I was told that if I caught a flight to La Ceiba (there was one at 5pm) they could put me in a hotel for the night on a flight from there in the morning. Sounds doable. So, at 5pm I'm off to La Ceiba.

It's a short flight, 'bout 45 minutes. We land and go to pick up our luggage. Mine's not there (fortunately, as it works out), nor is about 75% of the flights. We all line up to fill out the paperwork for lost luggage. The luggage will be on the next flight, at 9:30pm, except mine. It will be here at 8:30 the next morning. The guy behind the counter told me that he could not rebook my flight...who had told me THAT? It was Semana Santa, and all the hotels had been booked for weeks. I asked if my traveler's insurance would help and he said he didn't know. He had no idea what traveler's insurance was, what it did, or how to use it. My only option was to wait until 9am and go to "the mall", where TACA has an office. Perhaps THEY could rebook me. There was an 8:30am, but that was out because TACA (in the mall) wasn't open until 9am, but there was a 2pm that I could be on if the TACA "in the mall" could get me on it. In any case I was stuck until then.

As the night wore on more and more people left the airport. By 11pm I was alone, except for security. I found a quite, dark corner and lay down. It's hard to sleep on metal benches. At midnight security found me. "Habla espanol?", I was asked.

"Si"

Well, as it turns out I couldn't stay in the airport. Security took me out to a soda and rearranged the benches so I could lay down. I was told that I'd be safe and that they'd be watching me. So I settled down on my new "bed". (Here is where it was really nice to NOT have my luggage.)

Situation: I'm outside, alone, covered in bugs, in one of the more dangerous countries of Central America. I have my passport and around $700 in cash on me. I'm happy to NOT have my luggage too. I didn't get much sleep. Kept quite alert, not quite in combat mode.

It was just me, this scrawny black cat, the biggest rat I've ever seen, and all those bugs.

People began to arrive at the airport around 4pm. At 4:30 I rearranged my benches and went in. After they had all checked in I thought that I'd try the new guy with my story. Did I really need to wait until 9am to go to town to find "the mall" to find TACA and then see if they could possibly help me? (Can it really be THAT hard?) Could he help me? What about my luggage?

I looked a mess, facial hair a week old, dirty, covered in bug bites. This I presented myself and told my story. The man said there was no problem. There was a flight leaving at 6pm that I could take. He made a phone call, played with the computer and printed out my ticket.

What about my luggage? Another man took a photocopy of my claim tickets and said he'd forward it on the San Jose.

That simple....

Somehow as I went through immigration I tripped some sort of alert. I had to talk to some official who went through all my paperwork and was released.

The flights back were amazing. I left La Ceiba at 6 and was in San Jose by 10. I literally walked from plane to plane, never sat in a waiting room. If I had had my luggage I doubt it could have kept up.

I got home, exhausted, brain dead and without any of my things. It was all I could do to figure out how to make some mac and cheese and download my photos (I kept the sticks, remember?).

After a good nights sleep I was even able to get up and teach a violin lesson.

Life goes on, and life is good.

Notes to self:

Stayed at: West End Hotel
Transport: TACA
otr: Check to see if room 2 is available next time.