2 Apr--Fun w/Crazy Friends

Mon, 2 Apr ... crazy day ... we all got up and just sat around for awhile .... then decided to get some breakfast here at Rudy's .... while eating, Justine and Fran decided they were leaving this afternoon and going to Nicaragua ....... oh boy ... that leaves Enric and i in the 4 person cabin at US$60/night; .... which means we have to move back up the hill to the dorm with Christina. that's ok .... we all knew that this could happen when one of us decided to leave .... but ... we just moved all our 'stuff' down here ... well, especially me, since i'm the one with the most 'stuff' .... so i packed up all my 'stuff' again, .... and hauled it UP the hill this time, .... back to our old cabin, but to the 3-bed room ... it was a short-term one night luxury that we had in that nice cabin .... it's just been getting hotter and hotter each day ... and today was so no exception .... so after we moved everything, we decided the only place to be today was IN the water, and we should go snorkeling. it's now after 12noon, ..... Justine and Fran need to leave around 1pm to catch the 2pm Ferry to the mainland .. and i'm wondering how they are going to go snorkeling and still make their Ferry .... we weren't 50 yds from home when they started saying ... "well, we could stay just 'one more night' .... but neither of them wanted to make that decision ... so in the middle of the road, began the debate ... to leave, or to go, ... to snorkel, or not ........ it was way too funny !!!!!!!!! what shall we do ? let's flip a coin ... but who will 'call' the coin ? not me, says Fran ... .....Cristina says, ok ... i'll do it ... it went on and on and was quite comical. it was obvious no one wanted them to leave ... and in the end ... they ran back to Michele, to tell her that they changed their minds, (again), ..... and we wanted to move BACK into our cabin again .... and Phil Collins' song "One More Night" became our 'theme song' ...... so, TODAY is Justine and Fran's last day .... positively .... unless they decide to stay just 'one more night' :) Enric had errands to run, so the rest of us walked down to Half Moon Bay to the beach in front of the Sundowner to snorkel ... we noticed that things are starting to change here in preparation for Semana Santa .... new little 'make-shift' bars and 'restaurants' have appeared all along the street .... existing bars have new 'fronts' on them with new signs and lights ... there are snorkel and kayak and beach chair rental places ... amazing !!!!!!! we had a fun snorkel, ... taking pictures of each other ... saw this French AngelFish i chased this Spanish HogFish around for a long time .... someday i'll get a good photo of this pretty blue and gold fish ... then i wanted to take them under the Submarine dock to see all the cool stuff there .... i knew that Fran really liked to take his time to look at tiny things underwater .... i knew he'd like it there .... i showed them all the things that i had seen before .... like this Arrow Crab, with the blue pinchers ... Fran spotted this tiny Orange Spotted FileFish ... hiding in this hole ... you can just see it's eye, and spiky dorsal fin on the top ... ... the girls went into shore, but Fran and i stayed and investigated more .... and ... i saw this .... i asked Fran ... in his Spanish i figured out he said it was a Nudibranch .... WoW .... i've never seen one before ... they are so tiny ... about 1" long .. and look like 'stuff' ... i had to look this one up in the book ... it was a Lettuce Sea Slug, .... 'slug' doesn't have a good connotation for me ... so i prefer Nudibranch .... it does look like lettuce back to the room, Enric was home ..... we got cleaned up and walked back down to the Sundowner for ... sunset ... on the way we took these .. that's me, Cristina, and Justine .... i still find it interesting that i saw such spectacular sunsets last year when i was here, at the same time .... and this year, they were just nice sunsets ...... our last group photo with Pina Coladas Enric fixed dinner for us, veggies, rice ... and some ham for us meat eaters : )

1 Apr--Another Great Dive and New Digs

Sun, 1 Apr this morning there still was some discussion as to who was going to stay, and for how long, and who was going where ..... i had told Greg i would do another 11am dive with him this morning .... i wasn't sure what was going on, but i did know that we needed to be out of that dorm room today, ... so i went to clarify the room situation with Michele one more time .... she assured me there was no problem ... she was more than accommodating for us! ...then i quickly dragged my bags down the hill, threw them in the cabin, grabbed my dive gear, ... and headed to Native Sons to do the dive .... i dove awhile, and then noticed that Heather was showing the sign for Eel ... and tiny ... i looked and looked and couldn't see anything ... finally i saw a little tiny open mouth .... way too small for a photo .... i asked her how she see's all this stuff ... she said the eel was swimming around, then went in a hole in the coral ..... then .. another turtle .... yeahhhhhhh, i love seeing turtles .... he was in front of me and then turned ... i thought this one was going to run right into me ... he got really close to me .... passing right in front of Greg then swam away .... or should i say 'flew' away after about a hour, the Dive Master signaled that we would swim around this area for about 5 min .... so, i'm trying to find something ..... when Heather, .... again ..... gets my attention pointing .... i saw it immediately this time because it had been swimming and was just settling in .... it was another ScorpionFish ... (if you can enlarge these photos, it will be helpful) they are so good at disguising themselves, ..... i can't even tell that it's a fish ... he is horizontal in this picture ... facing to the right ... you can see it's eyes ... it's no wonder people never see them ... this one is facing down ... his pectoral fins are outstretched ... after the dive i went back to our new cabin and got a bit organized. ...it's nice and roomy and airy, especially compared to 6 beds squeezed in a tiny room ... Enric was there .... he wanted to go to West Bay to ask about working at one of the Dive Shops there .... i said i'd go with him ... in the Water Taxi on the way there .... he started laughing and pointing at something in the water .... it was my ... "S L O W" sign, ...... that we zoomed by so fast that i couldn't even get a picture of it .... ok, so no one is paying attention to my sign !!!!!!!!!!!!! ... i'll have to tell them at the Marine Park :( we were in time for Happy Hour at the Thirsty Turtle, so we had a Monkey LaLa .... a local drink concoction that tastes a lot like a chocolate banana milk shake .... with a kick ... the sun was setting as we rode back in the Water Taxi ... then took some shots on the dock when we got back ...... by the time we returned, the girls were fixing dinner in our new cabin ....we now have internet IN our room, so while they were doing that, Mom and Dad Skyped me .... and they all piled on the bed in front of my computer to say hi to them .... :) what a great group !

31 Mar--Great Dive Roatan

31 Mar, Sat i'm supposed to leave for Utila at 1pm today .... but, i've pretty much decided i didn't want to go back now .... but there are some logistical problems to be worked out with the dorm room .... Cristina has to leave on Wed and i want to stay on for a few more days, ... Justine isn't sure how long she wants to stay ... it's kind of a joke on this island ... people say they are leaving, then decide to stay 'for one more night' ...... and Justine has been saying that for over a week now :) ... Enric is due back today and said he wanted to stay for a few more days too .... but everyone knows that 'plans can change' .... so .... it's hard to make a decision until he gets back ..... but, here's the problem .... our 6-bed dorm (home) was already booked for Semana Santa before we got here ... and we won't all fit into the 3-bed room next door .... soooooooooo .... i asked the owner, Michelle, if she might have a cabin that we could rent instead ... she said she'd check on it .... i decided to finally do a dive on Roatan with Greg at Native Sons .... Ron and Patricia have been diving with them for years ... so it will be nice to know people on the dive. when Greg and i got to the Dive Shop, we found out that Heather, our friend from Utila was here on Roatan on vacation with her parents from Northern California. she was totally surprised to see Greg and i standing there !!! ...reunions are so much fun !!! we had a GREAT dive ..... we got in the water at one Dive Site, and there was a current ..... and we just slowly moved with the current and ended up diving through the next 3 Dive Sites down the coast. .... we dove for over an hour !!!!!!!! .... taking a few 'people' shots along the way ... Greg and Heather ... and we saw lots of marine life ....... 2 turtles swimming by ... both too far for any good photos ... these 2 Spot Fin ButterflyFish i can't resist these Vase Sponges ... love the color ... and another first for me .... i saw this fish and could hardly believe my eyes, that it was so colorful. .... orange, and yellow/green, and blue, and spots ... all together .... i recognized it as a FileFish ... but not one that i have ever seen before ..... it's an Orange FileFish ..... ok ... they got that name right ... i could not believe that rectangle of color, it didn't blend it ... just looked like a saddle .... and the spots .... and the frilly dorsal fins what a funny face they have ... which is typical for FileFish .... very pointy .... a little while later ... Heather comes up to me and gives me the hand signal for 'turtle' and points ..... i look, .... i don't see anything ... she does it again ... i look again .... and FINALLY ..... duhhhhhhh .... there it was ... that is a SharkSucker that is swimming under the turtle ... 15min later, she's tugging on me again, 'turtle' ... pointing .... i'm really glad the people i'm diving with are more observant than i am !!!!!!! ....this poor turtle had a SharkSucker on him .... and he was trying to get rid of it ... reaching back with his front flipper ... but it just wasn't long enough ... :( i wanted to just reach down there and grab that thing .... poor turtle !!!!!!! i'm told they don't 'do' anything to the animals they 'suck on to' .... they know that when the animal eats, there will be other fish and 'left-overs' for it to eat as well ... but they really are annoying .... Greg offered to take my camera and take a photo of me with the turtle ... the turtle is at the bottom of the photo in the coral ... this is the part i don't like about diving ... i would have stayed and watched this turtle for a 1/2hr .... but the group had already left, ... so, sadly i left him behind .... he looks like he is saying ... 'hey ... help me' ... 3min later ... ANOTHER turtle ..... that's 5 in one dive !!!!!!!!!!!!! after our dive,.... Greg, Heather, and her parents agreed to grab something quick to eat and meet at the Water Taxi at 2:30 to go to West Bay for some snorkeling ... when i got home Justine and Cristina were there, and they said they'd try to find us at the beach too .... spent another hour plus in the water snorkeling West Bay .... and saw another HogFish ... i am really liking these fish ... Heather and her dad had gone into shore, so it was Greg and i in the water .... i saw this Sharp Tail Eel down in between the rocks .... with his head in a hole .... just about the time it sprung like a rubber-band, and got a fish ... i watched him eat it .... cool ... i called Greg over and it continued to 'hunt', .... oblivious to our continued dives down to watch him ...... i love it when 'nature' lets you get up close and personal with them .... i was just inches from his head for this picture ... using my Macro lens again :) ...not sure what those 'things' are that stick out of it's mouth .... finally we decided it was time to go in .... when Greg spotted this very large Rainbow ParrotFish in rather shallow water among the coral ... then even closer to shore, we saw these Reef Squid .. this one is swimming different from the others i've seen ... looks like it was having a 'bad hair day' ..... that was a lot of time to spend in the water in one day .... i LOVED it !!!!!!!!!!! :) when we got to shore, Cristina and Justine found us and we all went to the Thirsty Turtle for Happy Hour .... after several drinks, we noticed that they had a 2 for 1 dinner special ... Garlic Shrimp, with 2 sides, for US$10 .... that meant for US$5 each we all could have a complete meal ... we decided that was reason enough to stay in West Bay for dinner, and figure out how to get home later, since the Water Taxi stops running after dark ..... by the time we finished, the band started playing some good music, so we stayed a little longer. Greg found a 'collectivo taxi' to take us back to West End, .... when we got back home ..... we had to stop for dessert at the Chicken place next door ... but they were out of Key Lime Pie and Coconut Cream Pie .... we substituted, Brownie Sundae, Strawberry Tiramisu, and Carrot Cake :) back in our room, Enric had returned, with his friend, Fran ..... yes, they both decided they wanted to stay for a few days ..... so ... now our group was 5 people, .... Michele said there was a 4 person cabin we could have for US$15 each, ....we could move in starting tomorrow .... and Cristina would stay in her 3-bed dorm up the hill. we had a plan .... GREAT Day !