Diving (or trying to!) in the Bay Islands
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
44
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Roatan,
Honduras
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
On Monday morning, we caught a morning taxi to the ferry station with our friends Leo, Pablo (Paul), and Sara. The ferry between Roatan island and La Ceiba on the mainland is modern, new, and MASSIVE. It can easily hold a few hundred people comfortably, has large comfy seats indoors and outdoors, and a large screen movie inside. It takes about 1 hour 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on conditions. It was nice when we went, so the trip was fairly quick. I had not been feeling well the last few days, so slept the whole ride.
Arriving at the port in Roatan, we had an Ugly American experience. There are dozens of taxi drivers there to greet you and follow you around and harrass you wanting you to ride in their taxi. Each driver quoted each of us different rates, anywhere from 30 limps ($1.50 US) to $5.00 US per person. And they all wanted to cram all 5 of us into their tiny sedans. Leo spotted a large passenger van parked near the curb, so he approached it and asked if he was taking passengers. The driver agreed and offered a rate of 40 limpiras ($2 US) per person. Deal! As the 5 of us were loading our bags onto the van, a group of 5 angry taxi drivers approached us and tried to stop us. We told them it was okay, we were taking this van. The head honcho (manager) of the taxi driver mafia then gave us a hard time as well. I said ít was okay "Esta bien, esta bien." He snapped back at me angrily "You can talk English to me! I am an American citizen too!" Well excuse moi...
Barracuda
We are in Honduras right? The first language is Spanish, right? I apologized and told him I did not mean to offend and was not aware he was American... Touchy touchy! Frank said I should have told him we were Canadians (besides our companions are from Spain, Australia, and Holland anyways). The taxi mafia capo (the Ugly American) then gave our driver a hard time and asked for his license, etc. We lied and told the mafia capo that we pre-arranged the van ride through a dive shop, that he was there to take us to the dive shop. Oye, oye oye. They finally let us close the doors and drive away. Our driver later explained to us that the taxi drivers have an association they belong to that allows them to pick up passengers at the airport. He does not belong to the association because he usually does private pickups for hotels and resorts. He said the rules are that he can pick up people, but cannot offer rides. Well, technically he didnīt offer anyways - we asked him. Onward we go...LODGING
We stayed the first couple nights at a place called Chillieīs in West End Village. Frank and I got a private room (with shared bath - $18 US per night) , and Pablo/Leo/Sara got a triple private room next door to us. Frank and I ended up leaving after 2 nights, though, and splurging for a bigger better place. Chillies was in a great location on the beach, but was pretty run down. They only had cold water showers. And during the day, when the electricty was out (read more later about this) the toilets would not flush.
Beautiful beach and clear water
That makes for a rather disgusting bathroom by the end of the day... Nights 3 through 5, we stayed in a private room at Mariposa Lodge. Our first room was a private bedroom in a house ($25 US per night). There was a large communal kitchen in the middle, 3 locked bedrooms off to the sides, and 1 and a half bathrooms (with hot water!). Our housemates were a couple from Michegan (Leslie and Dino) and a nurse Laura who was just returning from a medical volunteer program in Nicaragua. They were all very nice and interesting and great company! For nights 6 through 9, we had to move to the main lodge because the house was reserved. We upgraded to a private apartment with full kitchen, private bath, TV, and DVD player (with movie library!) for $35 US per night.
HANGIN WITH FRIENDS
Most people come to Roatan to dive, dive, dive, and dive some more. That was our original intention, and we did get a couple dives in, but the biggest memory we left with was all of the great times we had spending with our friends on the island. Leo, Pablo, Sara, Aaron & the girls, Sanne and Emiel, Laura.
On our way to check into the Mariposa Lodge, we noticed a familiar face sitting outside at the hotel (Milkaīs Place) in front our our hotel. It was Aaron! Our friend the Alaska sportfishing guide who we met in Lanquin, Guatemala and travelled to Flores with. We were so happy to see him again! Since we last saw him in Guatemala, he and his travel buddies Mark and Andre continued back towards Guatemala City where Mark took a flight back to the US.
Blue Reef Fish
Andre and Aaron made their way to Roatan Island. Aaron then went to Utila (another Bay Island) for a few days to take a Rescue Diver course. When he returned to Roatan, Andre was on his way out. Andre had met a Belguim (?) girl named Anita and decided to finish his travels with her. Poor Aaron, right? Dissed by his dear friend. Wrong-o. When we found Aaron in Roatan, just a couple days after Andre left, Aaron had already met up with a group of 3 beautiful blond girls from Finland and was sharing a room with them at Milkaīs Place. Tough life, huh. We had a great time with Aaron and the Finnish girls the next few nights. Our bedroom at Mariposa was just a few yards from their apartment at Milkaīs, so we could just shout over to talk. We got together a few times for dinner, alternating cooking at their place and ours. One day as I was walking home from a dive, I ran into Sanne and Emiel from Holland. We originally met them a week earlier back in Rio Dulce on our last night. We had all stayed at the Casa Perico in Rio Dulce - and met on the last evening when I sat down and joined them for dinner. It was great to see them again in Roatan, and we really enjoyed their company. We had a great time at the beach, going to dinner, and meeting up for dessert another evening.
ACTIVITIES
When we first arrived in Roatan, I was not feeling so well so we took the first day off and relaxed while everyone else jumped into the water to dive. I had been feeling run down back in Rio Dulce - nothing in particular, just an overall lethargy and slight fever.
Caribbean Reef Squid
By the second day, I felt a bit better, so Frank and I started diving. We took a Diver Refresh course since it had been over a year since we last dove. Itīs a quick 30 minute crash course to remind you of skills you may have forgetten, like how to breathe. Then we went on our first dive to a site called The Grape Escape.The next morning, we planned on going diving with the same dive shop (Native Sons). Unfortunately, Frankīs regulator was not working correctly (leaking a lot of air on shore). This was the only regulator they had left, so the dive master offered to trade and use the faulty one. This was the 5th piece of major equipment that had failed on us from this dive shop, so our trust in their safety standards was waning. The day earlier, we both had leaky BCDīs and regulators. So we decided not to go diving, and instead spent the morning snorkelling from the shore. Which turned out to be amazing. There is a nice beach here in West End and fantastic snorkelling from the shore. We saw almost a dozen lobsters, rock crab, carribean reef squid, lots of different sized and colored fish, spider crab, coral formation on our snorkel outings.
That afternoon, we signed up to go diving with another dive shop, Pura Vida. Their equipment appeared to be relatively new and in good shape. That is, until we descended under water. My BCD had a big leak in it, again! So we aborted that dive and returned to shore. The owner of the shop, a European woman, was very nasty about it. She tested it to confirm that it was in fact leaking, then handed it to me and said "Wash it off and the rest of your equipment.
Caribbean Reef Squid 2
Give it to me when you are done". Yes, ma'am! We returned our gear, got a refund, and decided not to return to this shop because of her wonderful customer service.Bah humbug!
By the way - for those travelling to Roatan - most dives are $20 per dive. Some shops require a minimum purchase, some donīt . But overall, the rates are very very good. Classes are cheap as well.
STRANGE ILLNESSES
The next morning, Frank woke up feeling hot and sweaty, feverish. He was feeling run down and lethargic, similar to how I had felt the previous few days. After talking to our housemates, they recommended that he go get a Malaria test, just in case. So we took a trip to the medical clinic at Anothonyīs Key Resort. The clinic was really nice, very clean and well stocked - better than most I have seen in the US! They also had a recompression chamber, which was sadly in use by a commercial diver when we were there. The med tech told me that the commercial divers go on 10 to 12 dives a day, getting lobster and conch, and never decompress. The guy in the chamber was a repeat customer and was not able to walk because of the effects of DCS (decompression sickness). Very sad.
The doctor at AKR suspected that Frank may have Malaria, and ordered a full blood workup and urinalisis. Their onsite laboratory drew up the tests, then we left for a few hours. We returned a couple hours later for the results. The Malaria test was negative, but his red blood cells, platelettes, and hemoglobbin were down.
Caribbean Reef Squid 3
Concerned that it may be Malaria in the early stages, the doctor prescribed anti-Malaria treatment for Frank - massive doses of chloroquinine followed up by 2 weeks of primaquine. Frank continued to feel ill for a couple more days, but was on the road to recovery by Sunday.The next few days, we took it easy and made good use of the DVD player in our new apartment. We finally got to see Mission Impossible 3, and several other movies. That weekend, a massive rainstorm came in and didnīt leave for a couple days. Which gave us more exuses to stay in and be lazy!
By Sunday, I started diving again and went with our housemate Laura with another diveshop called Coconut Tree Divers. Their equipment was fine and dandy and I had no problems. Yeah! I went on two more dives before we left Roatan. One day, Frank and I walked to a beach called West Bay and spent the entire day snorkelling off the beach. The snorkelling was fantastic - we swam out to sights where the dive boats were.
After 9 great nights on Roatan, we finally decided to leave. It was a tough decision, though. Luckily, Mother Nature helped us out with that decision. Roatan has major electric problems. Every day, they intentionally shut off power for 6-9 hours. At unannounced times. Some days it may go off at 6am, some days they wait until 1pm to turn it off. And it comes back on whenever... While this was inconvenient, it was at least somewhat expected so you could sort of plan for it. Well, on our last day there, the power went out - but not on purpose. Supposedly a tree went down or something like that, so the power was out on the entire island. It was out for over 24 hours, and the word on the street was that it may come back on Wednesday. Well, when there is no power, there is also no water. We didīt mind the power so much, but when there is no water, there is no showering and no toilet to flush.
After 24 hours of no power, we decided it was time to leave. So we caught the ferry back to the mainland and made our way to Copan, the Mayan Ruins on the other side of northern Honduras.
More later!
Kay
Comments
I Love your attitude
I feel like a copycat, following your every move. I too am planning on studying in San Pedro, and diving at Roatan. However you did follow us to Santa Cruz where we stayed in the exact same unit you guys did:) Would you please put some more details down on dive shops and accomodations? I am leaning towards Coconut Tree shop for advanced open water course. Staying in their cheap dorm rooms part of the time, then... Thanks for spending so much time on photos and details. Tony- Seattle
Re: I Love your attitude
Hi Tony, Coconut Tree is a good dive shop. At $20 per dive (with no minimum) - they are a good deal. One of the owners is a super friendly British woman named Gay. Their equipment is pretty decent, and they have good safetly standards. We had problems with Native Sons and Pura Vida dive shops (bad equipment and unprofessional and unsafe). Coconut Tree has cheap accomodations for $5 per night if you dive with them. But very difficult to get because it is so cheap. Have a great time on your trip!
yes, yes and Ą YES !
Yes West End and West beach are very different. Give me west beach any time , Very laid back, enough spanish to make you understand that your not in Florida and enough English to make it easy if you no hables espaņol. Coconut tree is an excellent Dive Shop. I hadn't dove since 2001 so took a refress course there. When the instructer saw that I was very comfortable in the water and just needed some brushing up on the equipment we proceeded very raipdly to some practical stuff in the water. I learned more about boyancy control and breathing in that few minutes than I learned in my open water course in Belize( which I now realize was very good). A few hour later we went out for a 2 dive trip. I will alway consider this as 2 of the best dives I ever did , even if they weren't the most beautiful dives. Coconut tree are very fun to dive with AND the equipment is good. (Poor equipment can take a lot of fun) Rotan and La Ceiba are the 2 places in Honduras that I would return to in aminute ( and will) Grant .... Canada out of a ver beautifull dive!
yes, yes and Ą YES !
Yes West End and West beach are very different. Give me west beach any time , Very laid back, enough spanish to make you understand that your not in Florida and enough English to make it easy if you no hables espaņol. Coconut tree is an excellent Dive Shop. I hadn't dove since 2001 so took a refress course there. When the instructer saw that I was very comfortable in the water and just needed some brushing up on the equipment we proceeded very raipdly to some practical stuff in the water. I learned more about boyancy control and breathing in that few minutes than I learned in my open water course in Belize( which I now realize was very good). A few hour later we went out for a 2 dive trip. I will alway consider this as 2 of the best dives I ever did , even if they weren't the most beautiful dives. Coconut tree are very fun to dive with AND the equipment is good. (Poor equipment can take a lot of fun) Rotan and La Ceiba are the 2 places in Honduras that I would return to in a minute ( and will) Grant .... Canada out of a ver beautifull dive!