10 Apr--End of Winter Adventure 2012

Tues, 10 Apr .... The End .... Winter Adventure 2012 ... up and out and on the bus, with no issues .... this engine on this bus was rumbling and so loud i thought it was going to fall apart, i had to wear ear plugs .... i was happy to see that the driver wasn't speeding and passing on curves, etc., like most of the other bus drivers .... but i realized that this bus just couldn't go that fast. i was also happy that he was not a 'horn-honker', like the rest of the buses here .... then i saw him shaking his finger out the window at another bus that was going to pull out in front of us ... and i realized, our horn doesn't work either ... :( ....i can see where horns can be helpful .... we passed miles and miles of planted palm / coconut trees ..... all in perfect rows .... for some reason this seemed strange to me ... Honduras, without rules, or regulations, ... but with perfectly spaced tree farms .... we also saw a horse-drawn cart full of wood, slide over the side of a hill and almost tip over .... and then, the most distressing sight of all ... another horse that was pulling a cart ........ was laying dead in the road, ... it looked like it had been hit by a car :( ...i felt bad, but then thought that the poor horse was probably better off dead than leading the miserable life that i see most of these horses have, .. they just don't look like they are well taken care of ... at least not by 'our' standards :( ...but then nothing is, in this part of the world .... i always come home very appreciative of what we have ......... of what we take for granted ... the bus driver stopped for me at the airport entrance, ... it was drizzling .... that surprised me! ... i was just getting my jacket out of my bag when a taxi pulled up and took me the rest of the way to the airport. ...i was so early that the American Airlines counter wasn't open yet .... so i saw a nice comfy chair vacant next to a young guy ... i asked if the seat was taken, it was not ... we started talking .... this young guy had a black eye, stitches in his eye brow, neck, back of his head, and his entire left cheek had been sewn up, and still swollen ..... and i mean the entire cheek ... i didn't want to stare, but it was like a 4-point-star cut .... he wasn't shy in telling me, .... it happened in Roatan just a few weeks ago !!!!!!!!!! ...another small world story .... the week i got to Roatan, one night at The SunDowner, Ron was telling me about a fight the night before at the restaurant right in town .... there was a fight, the cops showed up, ... the cop fired a shot 'into the ground' supposedly to warn everyone that he was serious ... Ron's point in telling me this was ... if a fight breaks out, or trouble of any kind ... get out of there, because the cops get a bit aggressive; and stray bullets could be flying. .. i, of course, agreed that i wouldn't stick around to see what was going on if something like that happened somewhere that i was, .... and here is was sitting next to the victim! ...he said some local guys started beating up on his friend, the owner of the restaurant/bar, he tried to help, and they turned on him, broke a beer bottle, and started stabbing and cutting him with it .... he lost a lot of blood and ended up in the hosptial for the night. ....he was going home to Maryland to have it looked at because he thinks there is still some glass in those cuts. ... he seemed to take the whole thing in stride, he is a Veteran, said he's had worse, and has several Purple Hearts ....... he had been living in Roatan for a year. ...he says he plans to go back. WoW ! about 11am, the ticket counter opened up, so i said i was so sorry that happened to him, and thanked him for serving our country, (he appreciated that), and wished him well .... boarded my flight to Miami, ... had a couple of hours to get something to eat; then a late flight into Atlanta ... i thought i'd sleep, but amidst the vacuuming and music ... an airport terminal at night after hours is not a quiet place :( .... so, here i am finishing up my blog at 2am ... maybe i can get a few hours sleeping on the floor before my 6am flight tomorrow into Chicago, then home to Kzoo ... sunrise from the plane somewhere outside of Atlanta .... and another Winter Adventure has come to an end .... thank you all, for your support and encourgement while i've been gone ! ... i look forward to seeing all of you this summer !

9 Apr, Mon

Mon, 9 Apr ..... in the morning i figured out how i am going to get to the airport in San Pedro Sula tomorrow .... i'll take a taxi from my hotel to the Tela Express Bus, which goes from here to San Pedro Sula (1.5hr) ... i just have to tell the driver that i want to get off at the entrance to the Aeropuerto; then catch a taxi into the airport ... simple enough ... and cheap enough .... US$9 total .... i could take the 10am bus, but i'll take the 8am, to give myself ample time for 'surprises' :) so, now what do i do here for the rest of the day ? ... there are several Garifuna Villages around the shore .... supposedly i can take a local bus there and have a typical lunch .... but i walked around town and asked at several bus 'terminals' (dirt lots on corners) ... and everyone said i have to take a taxi .... which is expensive; and i've been to several Garifuna Villages and have had several MONTHS of 'typical' food .... so i'm not up for that .... there is also a Botanical Garden; but those tours require 5 people just like the trip to Punta Sal .... so i walked around town in the hot sun ... all the stores were open today ... i found one 'supermarket' .... and was surprised at the orange juice offerings ... Florida ?????? the rest of the 'markets' were unusual .... in that all the merchandise was stacked behind a counter ... you asked for whatever you wanted and they got it for you .... maybe this was to cut down on theft ? .... there were lots of little markets like this, and they all had the same set up ... or maybe it was just economy of space ? ... i don't know ... it was very quiet in town ... even the park was empty ... but still provided the much-needed shade ... there was no breeze at all ... there were still several people selling 'things' on the streets and beachside ..... i thought this was an unusual combination ..... toothpaste, cigarettes and matches ... and a type of melon that looked like a large unripe grapefruit on the outside ... but looked and tasted like a HoneyDew Melon ... came back to my room, took a nap, ... i just wasn't motivated to do much .... i think when it's time to go home, i start to think about all the things that will need to be done when i get there, and then, well, the 'adventure' has pretty much ended in my mind .... but i had to 'do' something ....so, i walked back down along the beach ... there is a river that flows into the sea here .... i was surprised to see these healthy Water Hyacinths .... that we pay $5 ea for here to put in our ponds .... and sat in the now-vacant 'thatched palapas' ... that were packed with people yesterday ... these are all along the full length of the beach ... i couldn't help but notice, .....their construction wasn't 'professional' ... but it worked ... i stopped at a restaurant and had a Pina Colad and Ceviche, ... determined in my effort to entertain myself .... then walked out on what i assume used to be the Tela Railroad pier used for loading and unloading bananas onto boats ... but in pretty bad shape now .... but serves as a place for kids to play ... and fish ... like i said ... the water reminded me of fun times with friends at Lake Michigan ... this picture could have been taken 45 years ago ... yikes! then back home for another beautiful sunset ... and dinner at my hotel again .... i generally don't like to 'eat where i sleep' ... but after asking around, several people suggested Maya Vista as one of the best restaurants here ... and that means i don't have to go anywhere (nor climb those steps again) ... i read that they are famous for their local Seafood Soup, ... so i gave it a try .... it was really good , and was a lot like the Bandu Soup that Seth fixed for us all in Utila .... minus the friends ... after dinner, i walked / climbed up to the rooftop to check out the stars, but there is too much light here .... it's much better on the islands :) ....and that's true for lots of other things too ... i guess i'm just an island girl :)

8 Apr--Easter and Tela Bound

Sun, 8 Apr ... Easter ... but without 'Peeps', Easter Baskets, and Easter Egg Hunts .... Tela Bound ... grabbed my bags and headed to the Dock at 6am, ... with my fingers crossed .... there were probably 100 people there ... waiting on stand-by .... the group with the 6am tickets were already on the dock .... it was touch and go for a long time, and i was losing hope of getting on ... but .... i was one of the fortunate ones ... :) ... on the Ferry is visited with 2 very nice young guys who had been celebrating Semana Santa and were on their way back home as well; one was from Costa Rica, the other from El Salvador (but living in Italy) ... i love meeting new people with interesting stories ! i'm on the last leg of my journey ... heading towards Michigan ..... with mixed emotions ... got off the Ferry, took a cab to the LaCeiba bus station ... there were about 10 people in line in front of me to get a ticket .... 40min later i got my ticket .... automation? here? ...but no problem, the bus to Tela didn't leave until 10am anyway ...... here is a map of Honduras, showing Tela ... on the coast ... Tela is a 'sleepy coastal town', boasting 20 miles of beaches, frequented by the locals on holiday .... especially Semana Santa ........ in the past there has been a lot of crime; but they have initiated 20 new tourist-friendly police; statistics show this has made a difference; however, i still won't get off the beaten path or go out after dark :) .... Tela was the home base for the Tela Railroad Company for many years, owners and producers of the famed Chiquita bananas. ..... i've read that there are developers who envision this area of sandy beaches as the next Cancun .... i wanted to get here to see it before they ruined it :) .... i also chose Tela because it is half way between LaCeiba (where the Ferry docks); and the airport in San Pedro Sula. i didn't want to spend the night in either of those cities before my flight ... so Tela seemed to be a good choice. the bus left LaCeiba on time, with a final destination of San Pedro Sula ... problem was .... when the bus stops, there is no announcement of where you are ... each time it stopped, i asked the guy in front of me 'Tela?' ...he shakes his head no .... luckily a black woman with yellow hairs that i had a conversation with in the ticket line, spoke up and told me this stop was Tela .... 2 seconds after the guy in front of me said 'no' :( ... i got off, got my bag, and caught a taxi to Maya Vista, and checked into my new home for the next 2 nights ... Maya Vista is in 'town' and sits a top the highest point ..... and it is has 5 floors, plus an observation deck on top, and a smaller deck on top of that .... that's the hotel towering above the trees in the background .. taken from the beach ... it's quite a view from up there .... mountains on one side .. and the sea on the other ... plus, it is in the trees, or above the trees, and is shady, cool, and quiet ..... it's an unusual structure .... with decks and patios on all floors ... overlooking the sea ... there were no elevators, that i saw ... and the stairs are built in a 'spiral fashion' ... so you get kinda dizzy .... being on the 5th floor would be quite a work out ... even 'reception' is on the 2nd floor .... i checked in .. it was quiet .... i had a nice little room on the 1st floor, for US$25 with hot water and TV (which i never turned on, no surprise there) ..... it was around noon; and my first mission was to get signed up for a tour to Punta Sal ... which is a National Park, and about an hour boat ride, out to a point, then into the bay where you can swim and snorkel; then go for a walk in the forest to see monkeys, etc. ........ ... and is why i decided to spend a day here, instead of just overnight .... i thought it would be a nice relaxing day before i started my travels. i went to Garifuna Tour Company who provides these tours, but they need a minimum of 5 persons ... and .... i'm only one, .... and there were no others .... so it did not look promising for a tour tomorrow :( ...... i was disappointed in that .... i walked around town ..... since it was Easter Sunday, most of the stores were closed .... they have a nice park, which provided much needed shade today ... i walked the beach for a while .... i had been 'warned' that this beach does not have pretty white sand and beautiful turquoise waters ... and that was true .... it was like looking at Lake Michigan ... but with a dirty sandy beach ... dirty ... as in, lots of dirt in the sand, like it made your feet dirty .... and it wasn't fluffy sand, it was all hard-packed ..... guess i'm a little spoiled :) ...but it is still a nice long beach for walking..... and the water was warm .... even though a lot of people had already left to return home, there was still a lot of activity everywhere .... especially on the beach and in the water ... when i returned to walk up to the hotel.... i realized the correlation of the name of the hotel to it's location ..... there are a lot of steps AT the hotel; .... but walking up the steps TO the hotel, is literally like walking up a Maya Temple .... the steps are tall, but not very wide .... it's a work out .... if you weren't in good shape, i think you'd have a taxi drive you up to the hotel whenever you went out ...... in the photo below ... it's up those steps ... you can just see the corner of the building at the top, ... it's up there !!!!!! back at the hotel and talked with a guy who lives here ... i asked if there were any reefs and about snorkeling here .... he said there really isn't any ... including that little cove at the National Park where i wanted to go .... so i guess it's not a huge loss that i can't get there tomorrow :( watched the sunset from one of the patios here ... notice those structures and barrel-like things in the water ???? ... i kept forgetting to ask what they are / were .... i had fresh fish for dinner at the hotel ... it was good ...

7 Apr--Day and Night Snorkel at Coral View

Sat, 7 Apr .... last day on the island .... my plan was to go snorkeling early in the morning ... but i didn't get up early, and .... whatever .... i got out to Coral View around 9:45am.... not too bad :) ..... and didn't get out of the water until 12:45 ... and that's a pretty long snorkel .... i'm happy :) i actually saw lots of cool things today ! .... yes .... here in Utila :) ...so maybe i shouldn't be so critical ! first this ParrotFish smiled at me ... actually, he is at a "cleaning station" ... you can see the small fish to the right .... that is one of many different 'cleaner fish' ... and many fish, come to a 'cleaning station' and those little fishes clean 'stuff' off of them ... they even open their mouths, so those little fishes can clean inside their mouth ... then my first surprise was TWO Ocean TriggerFish .... i love how his eye seems to be watching me ... warily .... then this little Smooth TrunkFish ..... it has a black mouth ... you can see the difference in these 2 fish, ..... this is a Spotted TrunkFish ... it has a white mouth .... these fish are shaped like a triangle ... with a flat bottom ... you can see it in this photo swimming away from me .... and i never noticed, it looks like it has a fin on the bottom .... but i guess that makes sense .... a SpotFin ButterFly Fish .... and, another Yellow TrumpetFish !!! .... then ... a BLUE TrumpetFish !!!!!! i saw one of these last year in Utila ... someone told me that they were blue when they were carrying babies ..... but this is pretty close up ... and i don't see any babies .... with further reading i found that they are in the SeaHorse family and, like a SeaHorse, the male gives birth to the babies ... i snorkeled for awhile, and came across a large sand patch, ... i was looking to see if i could possibly see some Garden Eels ... but instead saw this Southern Stingray .... and then a smaller one, ... following close behind ... they were both busy trying to find something to eat ... when they do this, they 'root around' in the sand, and really stir it up ... so if you are snorkeling and see a lot of sand being kicked up, ... chances are, a Stingray is in the area feeding ... then i moved onto a shallower reef, and saw these baby Queen AngelFish ... i saw my first one of these under the dock in Roatan ... and there are TWO of them ! ... they are so cute .... i spent almost 20min taking photos ... i took a total of 42 pictures, plus 3 videos ... and i had to dive down to take each one .... that's a lot of breath-holding .... that is why it's difficult for me to snorkel with anyone ... because i enjoy taking photos, long after most people are ready to move on .... not to mention if i was diving :( i put my photos on my computer to edit them ... i know several times lately i've fallen asleep while i was doing the editing ... i must have deleted over half of them not knowing it ... because when i looked at them later, i was so disappointed that i had so few photos of the little Queen AngelFishes ... i knew i had taken lots of them .... so i decided to look in the 'Trash' Folder ... ahha ... there they were ! after that project, i was ready to start back in ... then i saw this HoneyComb CowFish ... i haven't seen one of these this year .... i followed it around for 15min, taking 22 pictures .... it is called a CowFish because it has little 'horns' ... you can see them better in this photo .... they look a lot like the TrunkFish ... except for the 'horns' i like the way this photo turned out ..... there are so many layers ... the fish on the left in the background .... the group of yellow fish in the middle ... and the coral reef in the foreground ... then i noticed a Porcupine Fish and started following it ... it went into a cave and came out with a friend .... the friend went back inside ... watching .... ... and didn't come out again .... these were really large Porcupine Fish ... noticeably larger than the one i photographed in Roatan ... then i saw this 'family' of Christmas Tree Worms ... and i like the softness of them in this photo ... ok, that was a GREAT snorkel day for me ... when i got out of the water, i saw Jeff on the dock. we got to talking and he asked me if i had made my reservation for the Ferry back to LaCeiba ..... hummmm ... i didn't know they took reservations, ...never did before .... but because of Semana Santa, they are .... now i'm worried ... i need to be on that first 6am Ferry .... i quickly went home, threw my stuff in the room, grabbed money and my passport and headed for the Ferry Dock. he was right .... and they were booked for ALL the early ferries, and they have added several. .... i could only get a reservation for 3:30 ... :( ......which means i won't get to Tela until after dark ... she said i could show up at 6am and stand-by .... i'll do that .... and say my prayers that i get on .... back home ... and went to the Dive Center to find Greg ... he said he wanted to do dinner again tonight .... when i got there, he asked me if i wanted to do a Night Snorkel .... ? ...i love night snorkeling ... but i thought i needed to pack since i was leaving early in the morning and didn't really want to pack wet cloths, etc. .... but in the end i couldn't pass up this opportunity ! Chad and Kelly joined us and we headed back to Coral View around 6pm .... that was the easiest 'entry' into the water when it's dark out .... what fun it was !!!!!! i wish i could show you what we saw .... but none of my photography equipment could possibly capture what we saw ..... but it will remain forever etched in my mind .... it was some type of bio-luminescence ... which is natural sometimes underwater ... and if you turn your flashlight off, so it's totally dark, you can see the light of the bio-luminescence .... but this was the most beautiful and most unusual anyone had ever seen ... it was like a dark Cathedral, full of candles ... they were all around us as far as we could see ... but instead of the 'flicker' of the light going up ... the light was cascading down like it was dripping .... i'll have to do some research on this ... it was so incredible ... i was happy to just sit there in the dark and stare ... i even forgot about looking for octupus or eels ..... i did turn my flashlight on a couple of times and saw some orange eyes, of some kind of shrimp .... and then i spotted this strange fern-like 'growth' on a fan coral ... i remembered seeing something similar while on a night dive in Belize ... Darrel said it was a Basket StarFish ..... i looked it up when i got home ... sure enough ... that's what it is .... it can live for up to 35 years and weigh up to 11 pounds ...... strange ... it looks like it has legs that are holding on at the base .... it is an animal ... a StarFish .... it extends it's 'fron-looking' arms, ... and catches food, and then it folds up, .... like some have done in this photo .... then pulls it into it's body ..... so awesome !!!!!! ...i was having trouble getting photos, but my regular macro with a flash worked well .... what an exciting day and night of snorkeling ! ..... the underwater world is absolutely mind-blowing .... ...home, cleaned up and Greg and i walked to Skid Row for pizza .... had a nice visit with him ... then some other friends showed up, so i said i needed to go home and pack .... sad to say goodbye to another new friend :(