Actually, not quite true. We're sitting in Denver already, killing time on a layover. Houston was a quick over nighter, with a late arrival and an early departure. Houston doesn't have free WIFI at the airport like Denver does, so here we are. What is true is that we have left the heat behind and are facing the reality of snow, cold, and dry.
We spent yesterday quite lazily, to the point that we didn't even go for that morning snorkel, choosing instead to take a hike through West End, soaking up that last bit of heat and sunshine. All this after packing a months worth back into three bags.....always a challenge. Went back to the house, finished off the beer, except for a couple of frozen ones we found, lunch in town, and then a meeting with the property manager to get back the damage deposit. She called for a van to come and pick us up, and then we were gone. Not much of a line up at the airport, which would have meant a quick check in if only Continental had people working the counter.....eventually they got three people out and the line started moving. We got the rookie, and for some reason he took our documentation to the office. We might have been at the counter 20 minutes or more. Not sure what the issue was, but we ended up with bags checked right through to Saskatoon, and all three of our boarding passes. I was skeptical of the checked bags, since we had to pick them up last night for customs, but this morning the woman looked at our bags, said they were good to go. Onto the belt and we were done at the check in counter in less than a minute.
Breakfast in Denver and here we wait for another couple of hours, then its home. How quickly a month can go by............I think It's Over........but it was a good one!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Last full day........
Another awesome weather day, not sure we even saw a cloud or felt much more than a gentle breeze. You couldn't dream of better weather for our last week here.
Went down early this morning and signed up for the 9:00 dive. I saw that we were going to do Padlo's Place, which was one dive that I haven't done and which had been recommended by a local as one that I should do. I was a great drift dive, we got off just around the corner from West Bay and drifted back. It's a spot where the current from the north side meets the current from the south side. The coral and sponges were so big and plentiful. Lots of fish life. Nothing spectacular fish wise, but there were quite a few lionfish. One guy took a spear and bucket and brought in 21 of them. Officially I'm only certified to go to 60 feet; why I haven't done the few exercises that I need to get my advanced rating, I don't know.....too lazy I guess. Fortunately, the last two days it hasn't mattered to the dive shop. They know my capabilities and they were fine with it. Today I bottomed out at 108 feet and we still did a 48 minute dive. So much better with my air consumption this year. I've now done 36 dives with this dive shop in the last two years, so I should be getting comfortable. A couple of really nice pictures to put up from a dive a couple of days ago. Gille (not sure the spelling (Israelie dive master)) took these ones on one of our dives. Now I know I need a better camera......
After the dive we went to Anthonys for chicken. We had never eaten there before but we should have. Really good smoked chicken with rice and beans and a salsa for about $8. We caught the water taxi to west Bay and hooked up with Steve Hasz, a realtor. He took us up to the Turrets area and we looked at one house. It was nice but it paled in comparison with Shawndras place. Maybe that's a bit harse, it just didn't jump out at me like her place did. It was set a bit too deep in the trees, which really cut off the views and the breeze. I still like the area, just would like a different spot. Should we come here next winter, we will look into renting one of these places. Because they're not on the beach, and are a bit out of the tourist flow, the monthly rental rates are really good. Maybe I'm just a little gun shy of getting back into mortgage country this close to retirement, a daunting thought.
Steve drove us back to West End, we did a little shopping and headed home. My rum stop, Coconut Tree was closed with a yellow tape across the door, which said something in Spanish about revenue. Found out later that the tax police had been in town and had shut them down for not paying some booze tax. Went further down the street and saw that Sundowners bar wasn't open. That's odd; that place is always open. Aaron had heard the tax man was in town and just didn't open up. He has since gone shopping for a cash register for the bar and the place is hopping tonight.
Took our leftover booze to Coco Lobo (next door) this afternoon at Happy Hour time. Ron mixed Eileen a blender full of Monkey Lala, and as of 8:00 tonight, the lala part has kicked in. She's out for the night.
Went to Besos for our last supper. Franks ranchero chicken wings for appetizer, I had lobster, and Eileen had the chicken fettucini (spelling). Fantastic meal. The table of six that was next to us included a couple that we met on the water taxi yesterday. We recommended Besos to them and they too were raving about the meal.
Tomorrow; coffee, snorkel, pay my dive bill, pack, use up my wad of little lempiras somewhere, get our damage deposit back, taxi to the airport, and head to Houston. Is it warm in Saskatchewan yet???
Went down early this morning and signed up for the 9:00 dive. I saw that we were going to do Padlo's Place, which was one dive that I haven't done and which had been recommended by a local as one that I should do. I was a great drift dive, we got off just around the corner from West Bay and drifted back. It's a spot where the current from the north side meets the current from the south side. The coral and sponges were so big and plentiful. Lots of fish life. Nothing spectacular fish wise, but there were quite a few lionfish. One guy took a spear and bucket and brought in 21 of them. Officially I'm only certified to go to 60 feet; why I haven't done the few exercises that I need to get my advanced rating, I don't know.....too lazy I guess. Fortunately, the last two days it hasn't mattered to the dive shop. They know my capabilities and they were fine with it. Today I bottomed out at 108 feet and we still did a 48 minute dive. So much better with my air consumption this year. I've now done 36 dives with this dive shop in the last two years, so I should be getting comfortable. A couple of really nice pictures to put up from a dive a couple of days ago. Gille (not sure the spelling (Israelie dive master)) took these ones on one of our dives. Now I know I need a better camera......
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| A Pipehorse, sort of a cross between a pipefish and a seahorse (rare to find one) |
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| Green Moray, I didn't move in this close for a picture...(and he wasn't the big one we saw later) |
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| From today (my camera), cute little Smooth Trunkfish |
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| House we looked at today. |
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| View of West Bay from one of the decks |
Took our leftover booze to Coco Lobo (next door) this afternoon at Happy Hour time. Ron mixed Eileen a blender full of Monkey Lala, and as of 8:00 tonight, the lala part has kicked in. She's out for the night.
Went to Besos for our last supper. Franks ranchero chicken wings for appetizer, I had lobster, and Eileen had the chicken fettucini (spelling). Fantastic meal. The table of six that was next to us included a couple that we met on the water taxi yesterday. We recommended Besos to them and they too were raving about the meal.
Tomorrow; coffee, snorkel, pay my dive bill, pack, use up my wad of little lempiras somewhere, get our damage deposit back, taxi to the airport, and head to Houston. Is it warm in Saskatchewan yet???
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Countdown is getting pretty low.....
Another gorgeous day, absolutely no wind and the temperature was pretty decent. Don't think we hit 30.....
Went on the morning dive to Spooky Channel. I did this dive last year and really enjoyed it. It's a deeper dive that is something like diving the Grand Canyon. It's an ancient river channel that has cut through the reef wall. There is not a lot of sea life to see, but the topography is impressive. Some huge groupers and a couple more spotted drums.
Had burgers for lunch and then we water taxied over to West Bay to hook up with Shawndra. Glen and Mandy; if you take the goat path behind the spa, walk up the rather large hill, her house is right at the top. She didn't bring her car, so we took the goat path, with only a couple of stops for air. We got to the top, she showed us a few of the houses around her, and then we went into her place. Wow, were we impressed. A beautiful house. They're main deck has a view of the southern shore, right down to Mahogeny Bay where you could see the cruise ship sitting at anchor. We sat on the deck, had a beer, chatted with her guests (this is sweet, as a charity auction fund raiser she donated a weeks stay at her house in Roatan, the winning bidders were her guests). We finished the visit with a nice hike back to West Bay along the road. Had an ice crean with Shawndra at the "mall" and water taxied back to West End.
Picked up a few veggies, cracked a few crab legs, and turned on the BBQ. Had a nice home cooked meal, although I was wearing a bandage after fighting with one of the legs.....We think we'll do lobster next time. Not as sweet, but a whole lot less work. Finished the night with one of those black market movies (don't be thinking dirty, just one of those 3 for $10 DVD's that they sell on the street) on the deck.
Tomorrow; early dive, a snorkel, view a couple of houses, some rum purchases, dinner at Besos, packing, star gazing on the upper deck............say no more....
Went on the morning dive to Spooky Channel. I did this dive last year and really enjoyed it. It's a deeper dive that is something like diving the Grand Canyon. It's an ancient river channel that has cut through the reef wall. There is not a lot of sea life to see, but the topography is impressive. Some huge groupers and a couple more spotted drums.
Had burgers for lunch and then we water taxied over to West Bay to hook up with Shawndra. Glen and Mandy; if you take the goat path behind the spa, walk up the rather large hill, her house is right at the top. She didn't bring her car, so we took the goat path, with only a couple of stops for air. We got to the top, she showed us a few of the houses around her, and then we went into her place. Wow, were we impressed. A beautiful house. They're main deck has a view of the southern shore, right down to Mahogeny Bay where you could see the cruise ship sitting at anchor. We sat on the deck, had a beer, chatted with her guests (this is sweet, as a charity auction fund raiser she donated a weeks stay at her house in Roatan, the winning bidders were her guests). We finished the visit with a nice hike back to West Bay along the road. Had an ice crean with Shawndra at the "mall" and water taxied back to West End.
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| View from the heights; West Bay in the foreground, West End in the distance. |
Tomorrow; early dive, a snorkel, view a couple of houses, some rum purchases, dinner at Besos, packing, star gazing on the upper deck............say no more....
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
No wind!
The steady breeze that we've seen for the last week or so faded away this morning so we had a marvelous weather day with just a few clouds to help keep the temperature reasonable. Tonight is is completely calm which is a change because the last few nights have been quite windy, quite the opposite of a typical prairie summer evening weather pattern where the wind fades away after dark.
Checked the dive board this morning and saw that there was quite a crowd going out. They were heading to do a wreck dive, which is best done at about 100 feet, which is deeper than I'm allowed, so I opted out of that one and signed up for 11:00. Since it was such a nice calm morning, I attached the video camera to my monopod and heading down the street of West End to do a bit of a walking tour. There are so many times that we read about some place in West End and then we can't place the location in our fading memory banks. Maybe this will help. At one point, I was standing on the steps at Tongs Thai, doing a sweep of the street that I'd just walked down when this old codger that we call Tree House guy came into view. He saw me with the camera pointed roughly in his direction and he lit into me with a barrage. If I pointed that thing at him again his was going to run me off the island.....I ignored him and headed out to the pier for a bit. He was still there when I came back, cursing at me the whole time.
Drift dive from Divemasters Choice, which is the mooring right in front of the house. I'd done this dive already this year, but you see different things no matter where you dive. We were still on the boat gearing up when Tony, the boat captain, said "want to see something you've never seen before". He has a very dedicated dog called Coral, and there she was at the back of the boat. She'd seen us tie up at this mooring and had swam out to the boat. It's not a real long ways out, but she got there pretty quick. He dropped the ladder down and she climbed aboard. Nothing spectacular on the dive, but I did see a nice Tiger Grouper, which isn't the normal Grouper that we see, and I got a good shot of a juvenille spotted drum. Those are really pretty, delicate looking little fish.
Checked the dive board this morning and saw that there was quite a crowd going out. They were heading to do a wreck dive, which is best done at about 100 feet, which is deeper than I'm allowed, so I opted out of that one and signed up for 11:00. Since it was such a nice calm morning, I attached the video camera to my monopod and heading down the street of West End to do a bit of a walking tour. There are so many times that we read about some place in West End and then we can't place the location in our fading memory banks. Maybe this will help. At one point, I was standing on the steps at Tongs Thai, doing a sweep of the street that I'd just walked down when this old codger that we call Tree House guy came into view. He saw me with the camera pointed roughly in his direction and he lit into me with a barrage. If I pointed that thing at him again his was going to run me off the island.....I ignored him and headed out to the pier for a bit. He was still there when I came back, cursing at me the whole time.
Drift dive from Divemasters Choice, which is the mooring right in front of the house. I'd done this dive already this year, but you see different things no matter where you dive. We were still on the boat gearing up when Tony, the boat captain, said "want to see something you've never seen before". He has a very dedicated dog called Coral, and there she was at the back of the boat. She'd seen us tie up at this mooring and had swam out to the boat. It's not a real long ways out, but she got there pretty quick. He dropped the ladder down and she climbed aboard. Nothing spectacular on the dive, but I did see a nice Tiger Grouper, which isn't the normal Grouper that we see, and I got a good shot of a juvenille spotted drum. Those are really pretty, delicate looking little fish.
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| Juvenille Spotted Drumfish. The adults have spots on their lower tail. |
Late lunch at the Noodle Shack, afternoon nap, and then a late snorkel. No seahorse to be found......quite a few lobster getting ready for the evening hunt, and the usual octopus in his little hiding spot under the pier. Sitting on the deck watching the sun go down. Eileen heard a mechanical rumble and said that the dive shop was starting up the compressor to fill tanks. I said No, that's the resort generator. We flipped on a light switch, and sure enough, the power was out. Don't know what happened, but RECO (Roatan Electric Company) was down. That's the first power outage we've had in a long time. We had planned a home cooked meal, there was a bag of crab legs ready for the BBQ and assorted other sides on the menu......a challenge in the dark with no power. The crab went to the fridge and down the road we went, with no destination in mind. We decided to stop at Besos for a Caeser while we discussed options. While we were having our drinks we ordered an appetizer of their Franks Ranchero hot wings. Glen; if you ordered these when you were here (we think you might have), we don't remeber hearing your raves. Those might be the best tasting hot wings I have ever had. Daphne (owner) was reluctant to share her Ranchero receipe.......I need to experiment now......Finished with an order of summer rolls and a plate of Pad Thai at Tongs.
Tomorrow, probably the 9:00 dive and then we're heading to West Bay, where Shawndra is meeting us. We're going to get a tour of the Turtle Crossing area and see the house that they're finishing.
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| Late morning cruise ship heading for the dock. View from the kitchen/living room. |
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The Perfect Day
Golf at Black Pearl, afternoon snorkel with the seahorse, and another evening at Tranquil Seas.
The golfing was awesome. Eileen broke 100 and I didn't. Enough said about the scores. I had a couple of bad holes, like the one where I hit from five different bunkers.....Timmy the caddy sucked right up to Eileen and really helped her game. By the end, she was ready to import him and go shopping for a set of Calaway clubs. Conner, watch for deals.... She used clubs for shots that she's never tried before, like a three wood off the fairway. He would suggest a club, she would pick it up, and smoke it. She had a blast with him. A few cool things like pelicans sitting at the edge of the fairway and the incredible ocean views with the two colours of blue and the reef not far offshore. We had lunch up at the SKY restaurant which is on the top of a very high hill with a wonderful view of both sides of the island. Picture appended. The taxi driver that brought us to the course had never been here before; when he returned to pick us up he brought his wife and young child for pictures from the top of the hill.
Came back to the house, afternoon nookie, and then off for a snorkel to cool down. Hit the dock again and found Eileens seahorse. Chased him around the pilon a few times to try and get him in the sunlight for a good picture. I haven't looked at them yet but I don't think I got a really good one. Eileen says he is just too cute.
Taxied back to Tranquil Seas for tapas night again. It was quite a party atmosphere tonight. There were so many people there that we knew. Trish from Assiniboia was there with a group of about 12, including one somewhat inhibriated american woman who was the life of the party. A couple from Chicago that we knew, Darren from Ohio (From Trip Advisor, more on him in a minute), Bonnie from next door, another couple we met at Blue Parrot last week, and on and on.....Darren had a set of harmonicas with him so he joined in with TwoCanDo and did a fantastic job. He got so into the music and it added such a nice touch. They need to import him too. Dylaina, the dance floor was pretty packed tonight, sorry you weren't there.
Got home, sat on the upper deck for a rum and watched the incredible star display......and talked about buying.......We had a great day.
The golfing was awesome. Eileen broke 100 and I didn't. Enough said about the scores. I had a couple of bad holes, like the one where I hit from five different bunkers.....Timmy the caddy sucked right up to Eileen and really helped her game. By the end, she was ready to import him and go shopping for a set of Calaway clubs. Conner, watch for deals.... She used clubs for shots that she's never tried before, like a three wood off the fairway. He would suggest a club, she would pick it up, and smoke it. She had a blast with him. A few cool things like pelicans sitting at the edge of the fairway and the incredible ocean views with the two colours of blue and the reef not far offshore. We had lunch up at the SKY restaurant which is on the top of a very high hill with a wonderful view of both sides of the island. Picture appended. The taxi driver that brought us to the course had never been here before; when he returned to pick us up he brought his wife and young child for pictures from the top of the hill.
Came back to the house, afternoon nookie, and then off for a snorkel to cool down. Hit the dock again and found Eileens seahorse. Chased him around the pilon a few times to try and get him in the sunlight for a good picture. I haven't looked at them yet but I don't think I got a really good one. Eileen says he is just too cute.
Taxied back to Tranquil Seas for tapas night again. It was quite a party atmosphere tonight. There were so many people there that we knew. Trish from Assiniboia was there with a group of about 12, including one somewhat inhibriated american woman who was the life of the party. A couple from Chicago that we knew, Darren from Ohio (From Trip Advisor, more on him in a minute), Bonnie from next door, another couple we met at Blue Parrot last week, and on and on.....Darren had a set of harmonicas with him so he joined in with TwoCanDo and did a fantastic job. He got so into the music and it added such a nice touch. They need to import him too. Dylaina, the dance floor was pretty packed tonight, sorry you weren't there.
Got home, sat on the upper deck for a rum and watched the incredible star display......and talked about buying.......We had a great day.
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| View of the golf course from the SKY restaurant |
Monday, February 28, 2011
Mission Accomplished - Seahorse!!!!
Eileen can go home happy now. We found a seahorse under the dock, right beside the dive boat. I went out on the 9:00 dive and one of the girls said that she saw one there two days ago and that her boyfriend had seen it yesterday. After the 11:00 dive, we had some lunch, a couple of beer, and then we got our snorkel stuff. We got into the water and on the way over to the dock we found a neat little lizardfish in about two feet of water. He was sitting on the bottom with his mouth wide oen trying to look very menacing. There were a couple of others, that might be similar. These guys live in tunnels with a little ring of rocks around their entrance. Every once in awhile they'll poke their noses up to see what's going on. Not really sure what they are. We got over to the pier and were looking very intently for the seahorse. Found lots of lobsters, a couple of crabs, one spider like guy but I think he's got about ten legs, a lionfish, an octopus, and then finally I spotted the seahorse. I called Eileen over, but this little guy kept circling around the pilon, always staying on the same side that I was on. I backed off a bit and finally Eileen got to see him. She says she squealed but I didn't hear this one. Not like I heard Rino a couple of days ago when he found the Pipehorse. I'll attach a couple of the snorkel pictures. The seahorse wasn't very big and he wasn't overly colorful, but he was defintely a seahorse. We're feeling the pain of those who missed it.......especially when we see the blowing snow warnings and travel advisories that are out for S'toon today.
Just when we found the seahorse the dive boat came in. After it tied up, I stuck my head up and told them about the seahorse. One woman said she had her camera and was coming in. she grabbed her mask and camera and jumped in with us. She got over to the pilon and tried going down for a picture but she had her wetsuit on and could barely break the surface. This is the first time I've ever seen someone strip off a wetsuit while in the water......
Nothing really special on the dives today, one turtle, a porcupine fish, and a big honeycomb cowfish. Two very relaxing dives with a couple of nice groups. I hit dive 50 in my logbook with the first dive today.
Went to the palapa bar to drop off a book for Linda but she wasn't there. We spotted her walking down the street with her partner while we were having supper at the King Crab. Their seafood platter is pretty good. One small snapper, a couple of lobster tails, a few pieces of crab, and about fifteen shrimp all cooked on a charcoal BBQ for $30.
Tomorrow; golf booking for 9 am and then I think we'll go back to Tranquil Seas for tapas night again. I enjoyed the food there, and both of us like listening to the band called TwoCanDo. Two Canadians, one on drums and the singer on guitar. For a little while they had a bass player, so they were called TwoCanDo and the Polish guy. Only on Roatan.........love it here.
Just when we found the seahorse the dive boat came in. After it tied up, I stuck my head up and told them about the seahorse. One woman said she had her camera and was coming in. she grabbed her mask and camera and jumped in with us. She got over to the pilon and tried going down for a picture but she had her wetsuit on and could barely break the surface. This is the first time I've ever seen someone strip off a wetsuit while in the water......
Nothing really special on the dives today, one turtle, a porcupine fish, and a big honeycomb cowfish. Two very relaxing dives with a couple of nice groups. I hit dive 50 in my logbook with the first dive today.
Went to the palapa bar to drop off a book for Linda but she wasn't there. We spotted her walking down the street with her partner while we were having supper at the King Crab. Their seafood platter is pretty good. One small snapper, a couple of lobster tails, a few pieces of crab, and about fifteen shrimp all cooked on a charcoal BBQ for $30.
Tomorrow; golf booking for 9 am and then I think we'll go back to Tranquil Seas for tapas night again. I enjoyed the food there, and both of us like listening to the band called TwoCanDo. Two Canadians, one on drums and the singer on guitar. For a little while they had a bass player, so they were called TwoCanDo and the Polish guy. Only on Roatan.........love it here.
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| Lizardfish of some type with his mouth wide open |
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| No caption required......classic pose (I need a better camera...) |
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The Osmonds have left the Island.......
Had a choice this morning. I could have stayed and watched the tears in Glens eyes as he packed or I could go diving. I went diving and we had what was likely the best dive of the vacation at Blue Channel. One turtle, three Morays, including what must be Grandpappy moray, he was huge. The highlight of the dive for Rino (divemaster) was a Pipehorse, which looks a little like a seahorse but has a few sort of hairy protrusions on his body. Being only 2-3 inched long, he didn't look too spectacular, but you could hear Rino squealing like a school girl underwater. My pictures didn't turn out great but I'm hoping to get the ones from the other divemaster that I was with. She was carrying her camera today and looks like she might have gotten a couple of good close ups.
After saying good bye to Glen and Mandy, we had lunch at the beach BBQ, and then we went to Sundowners bar to catch a bus (van) out to the Black Pearl golf course where a charity tournament (Rotariy club) was happening. Walked the cartpath along a few of the holes, had a few beer at their clubhouse, met some of the expat locals, had my picture taken with the Port Royal girls (island version of the Budweiser girls), and ate a plateful of appetizers that they served up. Before we left, we made a booking for a nine oclock tee time on Tuesday. The course looked awesome, although there isn't much flat gound. On the way home we had the van drop us off at Tranquil Seas where there was supposed to be a gathering of Trip Advisor people. There ended up being seven of us, but we ended up talking mostly to Shaundra, who we had already met a couple of times. Turns out that she works at Thearaputic (how do you really spell that??) riding near Montreal, in a capacity almost identical to Eileen. She gave us a ride back to West End and invited us to come up to her house some day next week. They bought a partially completed house in a nice area to the east of West Bay and she's hoping to have it completed before she goes home in April. We've never been up there so it will be nice to see what that part of the island is like.
No plans for tomorrow, so that probably means a little diving, maybe some snorkelling, and some more good food......
After saying good bye to Glen and Mandy, we had lunch at the beach BBQ, and then we went to Sundowners bar to catch a bus (van) out to the Black Pearl golf course where a charity tournament (Rotariy club) was happening. Walked the cartpath along a few of the holes, had a few beer at their clubhouse, met some of the expat locals, had my picture taken with the Port Royal girls (island version of the Budweiser girls), and ate a plateful of appetizers that they served up. Before we left, we made a booking for a nine oclock tee time on Tuesday. The course looked awesome, although there isn't much flat gound. On the way home we had the van drop us off at Tranquil Seas where there was supposed to be a gathering of Trip Advisor people. There ended up being seven of us, but we ended up talking mostly to Shaundra, who we had already met a couple of times. Turns out that she works at Thearaputic (how do you really spell that??) riding near Montreal, in a capacity almost identical to Eileen. She gave us a ride back to West End and invited us to come up to her house some day next week. They bought a partially completed house in a nice area to the east of West Bay and she's hoping to have it completed before she goes home in April. We've never been up there so it will be nice to see what that part of the island is like.
No plans for tomorrow, so that probably means a little diving, maybe some snorkelling, and some more good food......
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| The 11th hole Island green at Black Pearl |
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| The Port Royal girls.....Eileen didn't get the legs in this shot..... |
West Bay
Did the usual 9:00 dive, nothing spectacular, but it was a pleasent dive with only three of us. One big barracuda followed us the whole way. He seemed to be especially interested in Annika, who didn't even see him until the dive was nearly finished. That was probably a good thing, because she didn't particularily like his attention.
Got back to the house, packed up the snorkel bag, and off we heaaded to the water taxi dock for the ride to West Bay. We'd saved this for Saturday, Glen and Mandys last day year, and a day without any cruise ships in town. What a difference between today and last Tuesday when there were three big ships in port. Just a few people strolling the beach. Lunch at the Thristy Turtle. I knew they did good smoked food, so I had the smoked chicken wrap. Very tasty. The Monkey Lalas were reported to be quite tasty too.
Walked down the beach beyond Infinity Bay and found a palm tree with a bit of shade. Did I mention that it was bloody hot here again today.....Eileen and I geared up for a snorkel, we weaved out way out through some narrow channels and made it to the outer wall. Good snorkel. Glen and Mandy headed in next. She's had a lot of trouble with her mask this year but today she was in the water for 30-45 minutes with no issues. A great way for her to finish.
Monkey Lala sampling at Fosters West Bay, water taxi back to Half Moon and it was soon time to head into town for dinner. Started with a hike to the far end of town to the Happy Hour bar for another, you guessed it, Monkey Lala. Then back to the Argentinian Grill for dinner. Good meals all around. Glen finished off with his final Roatan Monkey Lala. Eileens conclusion; the creamiest one of the day was at the Happy Hour bar, the best was at the Thirsty Turtle. General conclusion; it's pretty hard to find one on the island that isn't good.
Tomorrow; morning dive, get back in time to say Good byes to Glen and Mandy, then we're off to see the Black Pearl golf course.
Got back to the house, packed up the snorkel bag, and off we heaaded to the water taxi dock for the ride to West Bay. We'd saved this for Saturday, Glen and Mandys last day year, and a day without any cruise ships in town. What a difference between today and last Tuesday when there were three big ships in port. Just a few people strolling the beach. Lunch at the Thristy Turtle. I knew they did good smoked food, so I had the smoked chicken wrap. Very tasty. The Monkey Lalas were reported to be quite tasty too.
Walked down the beach beyond Infinity Bay and found a palm tree with a bit of shade. Did I mention that it was bloody hot here again today.....Eileen and I geared up for a snorkel, we weaved out way out through some narrow channels and made it to the outer wall. Good snorkel. Glen and Mandy headed in next. She's had a lot of trouble with her mask this year but today she was in the water for 30-45 minutes with no issues. A great way for her to finish.
Monkey Lala sampling at Fosters West Bay, water taxi back to Half Moon and it was soon time to head into town for dinner. Started with a hike to the far end of town to the Happy Hour bar for another, you guessed it, Monkey Lala. Then back to the Argentinian Grill for dinner. Good meals all around. Glen finished off with his final Roatan Monkey Lala. Eileens conclusion; the creamiest one of the day was at the Happy Hour bar, the best was at the Thirsty Turtle. General conclusion; it's pretty hard to find one on the island that isn't good.
Tomorrow; morning dive, get back in time to say Good byes to Glen and Mandy, then we're off to see the Black Pearl golf course.
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| View of our house from the dive boat. |
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| Keeping a pesky fly out of the Monkey Lala..... |
Friday, February 25, 2011
I saw how wickedly cold it was at home today but......
Damn it was friggin hot here today. By far the hottest day yet. It has cooled off nicely tonight with a good breeze.
Did both of the morning dives today while Glen and Mandy went to the Butterfly farm and Eileen did her morning hike. There were a few interesting critters. Right below the boat where we jumped in for the first dive was a nurse shark, tucked down in a narrow channel with his head under one side and his tail under the other side. He might have been about five feet long. We didn't disturb him for a better view. Quite a few big lionfish, but Chris had not brought along a spear. Saw a group of three banded coral shrimp living inside of a barrel sponge, they were quite large. I'll put up pictures of them and the shark, although neither turned out very well. The second dive we did bring along a couple of spears but this time there were no lionfish. Tony, the boat captain had a few lionfish fillets marinating and he cooked them up after the second dive so that we could have a taste. They were really good although it would take quite a few lionfish to make a good meal.
Spent the afternoon lazing on the deck trying to stay cool, without too much sucess and without too much beer consumption. We had a night snorkel booked at sunset. We got geared up in wetsuits, got our dive lights and in we went with Marvin the groundskeeper guiding us. First thing we saw were a few lobsters, actually quite a few. Over the course of the hour or so snorkel, we must have seen twenty of them and some were huge, probably in the order of three pound tails. And could they ever move fast when they were out in the open. Marvin would dive down and tease them. They would turn and quickly strike out at him. We only saw one octopus, who would cruise along the bottom and then wrap himself over a rock almost like a parachute would. Unfortunately by this time my camera battries died. I should have known better to leave the same batteries in there that I'd used on the morning dives.....A couple of moray eels, the first one was a small spotted moray just sticking his nose out of a hole. The second one was a big green one that seems to live right underneath the steps of the dock where we always enter the water. I'll have to look for him tomorrow. Glen and I enjoyed the snorkel, eileen not quite as much. She felt a bit disoriented in the dark and ended up with some mask issues. She was happy to be done it, although she's glad she did it once.
Very late dinner at Tongs Thai and off to bed. Tomorrow, I'll probably do the nine oclock dive and then we're going over to West Bay for lunch and a snorkel on Glen and Mandys last day here. They've been over there but we haven't snorkelled West Bay yet. There are no cruise ships tomorrow, so it will be quiet over there,
Did both of the morning dives today while Glen and Mandy went to the Butterfly farm and Eileen did her morning hike. There were a few interesting critters. Right below the boat where we jumped in for the first dive was a nurse shark, tucked down in a narrow channel with his head under one side and his tail under the other side. He might have been about five feet long. We didn't disturb him for a better view. Quite a few big lionfish, but Chris had not brought along a spear. Saw a group of three banded coral shrimp living inside of a barrel sponge, they were quite large. I'll put up pictures of them and the shark, although neither turned out very well. The second dive we did bring along a couple of spears but this time there were no lionfish. Tony, the boat captain had a few lionfish fillets marinating and he cooked them up after the second dive so that we could have a taste. They were really good although it would take quite a few lionfish to make a good meal.
Spent the afternoon lazing on the deck trying to stay cool, without too much sucess and without too much beer consumption. We had a night snorkel booked at sunset. We got geared up in wetsuits, got our dive lights and in we went with Marvin the groundskeeper guiding us. First thing we saw were a few lobsters, actually quite a few. Over the course of the hour or so snorkel, we must have seen twenty of them and some were huge, probably in the order of three pound tails. And could they ever move fast when they were out in the open. Marvin would dive down and tease them. They would turn and quickly strike out at him. We only saw one octopus, who would cruise along the bottom and then wrap himself over a rock almost like a parachute would. Unfortunately by this time my camera battries died. I should have known better to leave the same batteries in there that I'd used on the morning dives.....A couple of moray eels, the first one was a small spotted moray just sticking his nose out of a hole. The second one was a big green one that seems to live right underneath the steps of the dock where we always enter the water. I'll have to look for him tomorrow. Glen and I enjoyed the snorkel, eileen not quite as much. She felt a bit disoriented in the dark and ended up with some mask issues. She was happy to be done it, although she's glad she did it once.
Very late dinner at Tongs Thai and off to bed. Tomorrow, I'll probably do the nine oclock dive and then we're going over to West Bay for lunch and a snorkel on Glen and Mandys last day here. They've been over there but we haven't snorkelled West Bay yet. There are no cruise ships tomorrow, so it will be quiet over there,
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| Nurse shark, sleeping in a sand channel |
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| Banded coral shrimp |
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Settled for snorkelling
Got up this morning and went over to the dive shop fairly early to sign up. Eduardo was already there and told me that he was helping out another dive shop this morning because their boat was broken down, so there would likely be eight or more extra divers on board. One reason that I really like this dive shop is because they are pretty small and rarely do we have more than five or six divers in total. So I took my name off the list. Came back to the house and had a nice breakfast, then we decided to go for a snorkel in the bay. We were probably only out for ten minutes when we hit a swarm of jellyfish. These guys were fairly big, some maybe three to four inches, so they were fairly easy to spot and try to avoid. We turned around and headed back to shore.
Glen and Mandy went souvenior shopping, Eileen and I beached it, then came back to the house and made a pot of bean soup for lunch. After Glen and Mandy got back, we had a beer and decided to try another snorkel. This time to going was good and the visibilty was great. We cut across to the other side of the bay and headed out towards the ocean instead of the usual route following the bay. The coral was so much nicer and the populations and variety of fish we terrific. We went quite a long ways when I said to Eileen and Glen that we'd better turn around, because it's a long ways back. Not long after that I saw Glen pointing at something. He'd spotted a big octopus out cruising. It's quite common to see an octopus on a night dive or snorkel, but to see one in the daytime is rare. We followed this guy for at least five minutes. He would change forms from the typical spralled out, eight legged octopus, to a torpedo shaped swimmer as he changed location. As he passed over different terrain, his colours would change to match the surroundings. It was really neat to watch. It would have been even neater to video if I hadn't left my camera in the house........won't do that again.
A drink on the deck at Half Moon resort, their Monkey Lala might be in the top three. Back to the house, shower, beer, then off for dinner. Pit stop at Besos for Caesars ( a rare find in the Caribbean, but the owner is Canadian and she knows what her customers want). Tongs Thai for dinner, but it was closed so next choice was, so we went out on the dock to Eagle Rays. Great location, wonderful looking place, and the food was OK, but the service and the management need some work. After we went up the street to the Rotisserie Chicken for desert but it was packed again. Next choice was the Lily Pond B&B, which is right next door to the house we rented last winter. Nice atmosphere and good desert.
Nightcaps on the deck sampling the Columbian rum the Glen bought today. Good price but I'm going to stick to the Nicaraguan rum.
Signed up for the 9:00 dive and we've also signed up for the night snorkel, which goes out at 5:45 in the afternoon. Could see a lot of salt water tomorrow........
Glen and Mandy went souvenior shopping, Eileen and I beached it, then came back to the house and made a pot of bean soup for lunch. After Glen and Mandy got back, we had a beer and decided to try another snorkel. This time to going was good and the visibilty was great. We cut across to the other side of the bay and headed out towards the ocean instead of the usual route following the bay. The coral was so much nicer and the populations and variety of fish we terrific. We went quite a long ways when I said to Eileen and Glen that we'd better turn around, because it's a long ways back. Not long after that I saw Glen pointing at something. He'd spotted a big octopus out cruising. It's quite common to see an octopus on a night dive or snorkel, but to see one in the daytime is rare. We followed this guy for at least five minutes. He would change forms from the typical spralled out, eight legged octopus, to a torpedo shaped swimmer as he changed location. As he passed over different terrain, his colours would change to match the surroundings. It was really neat to watch. It would have been even neater to video if I hadn't left my camera in the house........won't do that again.
A drink on the deck at Half Moon resort, their Monkey Lala might be in the top three. Back to the house, shower, beer, then off for dinner. Pit stop at Besos for Caesars ( a rare find in the Caribbean, but the owner is Canadian and she knows what her customers want). Tongs Thai for dinner, but it was closed so next choice was, so we went out on the dock to Eagle Rays. Great location, wonderful looking place, and the food was OK, but the service and the management need some work. After we went up the street to the Rotisserie Chicken for desert but it was packed again. Next choice was the Lily Pond B&B, which is right next door to the house we rented last winter. Nice atmosphere and good desert.
Nightcaps on the deck sampling the Columbian rum the Glen bought today. Good price but I'm going to stick to the Nicaraguan rum.
Signed up for the 9:00 dive and we've also signed up for the night snorkel, which goes out at 5:45 in the afternoon. Could see a lot of salt water tomorrow........
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sandy Bay
The daily cycle is starting to get into a routine. Get up at 6:00, some coffee, walk 200 feet to the dive shop and sign up for the morning dive, some breakfast, go diving, eat, have a beer or two, short nap, eat, and go back to bed.
Did two dives this morning, a repeat dive at the Green Outhouse and then a shallower dive at Bikini Bottom. The second dive is probabbly my favourite one this year. Lots of good coral, plenty of fish, and the best visibilty yet. Hopefully with the good weather we're having, the visibility will continue to get even better. Saw a few turtles, a cowfish, a scrolled filefish, and one pair of fish that I've never seen before which I think are Whitespotted Filefish. Took a good video of a turtle and another of a pair of French Angelfish.
After lunch we taxied over to Sandy Bay where we hooked up with Genny again. We toured her house which is a neat little cabana (did I mention it was for sale??) and then went out on the dock for a snorkel and the sunset. The breeze was up, so the water was a bit cloudy. It was too far to go all the way out to the reef with the breeze, so we just snorkelled about for awhile. Saw some neat little shrimp on the posts of the dock and a couple of crabs. The wind was chilly so we headed back into shore a little before the sunset.
There is a restaurant called the Blue Parrot that is right on the highway in front of the Sundancer cabanas where Genny lives. We had another great meal there as well as a round of, you guessed it, Monkey Lalas. Report on these ones is that they were good, not as creamy as some, but pretty rich in the alcohol content.......
Took 30 seconds to hail a cab at the edge of the highway. Would have been quicker, but the first guy already had one passenger. I don't think this vehicle would pass too many safety inspections, but it got us home.
We just finished watching a little gecko stalking a moth that was twice his size, creeeping along the wall like a cat trying to slowly sneak up on something. He managed to get a bite out of a wing, but the moth escaped with his life. Now I'm seeing a second gecko out cruising. This guy must have gotten into a fight at some point in his life because he doesn't have a tail.
Tomorrow not a single plan. Maybe I'll try diving after breakfast and ........
Did two dives this morning, a repeat dive at the Green Outhouse and then a shallower dive at Bikini Bottom. The second dive is probabbly my favourite one this year. Lots of good coral, plenty of fish, and the best visibilty yet. Hopefully with the good weather we're having, the visibility will continue to get even better. Saw a few turtles, a cowfish, a scrolled filefish, and one pair of fish that I've never seen before which I think are Whitespotted Filefish. Took a good video of a turtle and another of a pair of French Angelfish.
After lunch we taxied over to Sandy Bay where we hooked up with Genny again. We toured her house which is a neat little cabana (did I mention it was for sale??) and then went out on the dock for a snorkel and the sunset. The breeze was up, so the water was a bit cloudy. It was too far to go all the way out to the reef with the breeze, so we just snorkelled about for awhile. Saw some neat little shrimp on the posts of the dock and a couple of crabs. The wind was chilly so we headed back into shore a little before the sunset.
There is a restaurant called the Blue Parrot that is right on the highway in front of the Sundancer cabanas where Genny lives. We had another great meal there as well as a round of, you guessed it, Monkey Lalas. Report on these ones is that they were good, not as creamy as some, but pretty rich in the alcohol content.......
Took 30 seconds to hail a cab at the edge of the highway. Would have been quicker, but the first guy already had one passenger. I don't think this vehicle would pass too many safety inspections, but it got us home.
We just finished watching a little gecko stalking a moth that was twice his size, creeeping along the wall like a cat trying to slowly sneak up on something. He managed to get a bite out of a wing, but the moth escaped with his life. Now I'm seeing a second gecko out cruising. This guy must have gotten into a fight at some point in his life because he doesn't have a tail.
Tomorrow not a single plan. Maybe I'll try diving after breakfast and ........
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| Turtle feeding, then he headed up to the surface, right past me. |
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| French Angelfish |
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| Whitespotted Filefish |
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Spa Day
Eileen and Mandy booked a three hour spa session at the Serenity Spa in West Bay for the afternoon. After they'd booked, I realized that this was one of the massive cruise ship days on Roatan, and hoardes of them go to West Bay for the day. Eileen walked down to West Bay while I did an early dive, and then Glen Mandy, and I water taxied down to meet her. We went to lunch at Celestes, which has a reputation for good balaetas (spelling?). They were good too. The girls then headed to the spa and Glen and I went back to the beach to kill three hours. Yes, it was crowded, but do you know how many bars there are on West Bay beach......We were also on a mission to find a rental house called Casa de Paradise, where a couple from Assiniboia were staying. I had been chatting with Trish on Trip Advisor, so we wanted to hook up. Couldn't find the place on the first pass, so we stopped at Bite on the Beach for a beer and Monkey Lala. On the return trip I spotted a Riders flag hanging from a balcony. I went up the stairs and hollered in from the deck, asking if Trish was here. The answer was Yes, and so we met. Gorgeous rental house, just set back far enough from the main beach to be away from the hustle and bustle of West Bay. Turns out she's involved with high school rodeo, has been to Ray and Noreens several times, and has probably bumped into Eileen when she helps out with the rodeos. Glen and I headed back up the beach, had a couple of beer at Infinity Bay, and started back to the meeting point. By this time the cruise shippers had headed back to their boats. What a difference. Glen got his picture of the day as we followed thong girl down the beach........Another stop at Fosters for a beer, where we could watch for the girls on their way to our meeting spot. We finally asked somebody for the time and found out we were half an hour late......but we still beat them there. Diverted them back to Fosters, where we wanted them to try the Monkey Lalas. These ones made the top three or four on the survey, plus they were two for one happy hour prices. Caught a water taxi back to Barefeet Bar, where they had a sunset Monkey Lala, then it was home for a shower. Pizza in West End, then home to an early bed.......
Tomorrow I'll probably do a dive or two, and then we're meeting Genny in Sandy Bay for some snorkelling and sunset drinks on her dock. With the weather the way it's been lately (perfect) it should be another great day.
Tomorrow I'll probably do a dive or two, and then we're meeting Genny in Sandy Bay for some snorkelling and sunset drinks on her dock. With the weather the way it's been lately (perfect) it should be another great day.
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| West Bay beach on a crowded cruise ship day |
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| The water colour here is amazing |
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| Sunset Monkey Lalas at Barefeet Bar |
Monday, February 21, 2011
The girls are gone......
We had to say good bye to Betty and Dylaina this morning. The cab came by at 8:00 to take them to the airport. What made it even worse was that it was the first totally cloudless day that we had seen in a week. and it stayed that way all day. The wind has picked up in the mid-evening but nobody is complaining too much.
I went out for the early dive, it was a nice drift dive from the mooring that is right in front of the house. There was a good current down there, so we just did a drift dive, with the boat picking us up maybe somewhere in the quarter to half mile distance down the shoreline. Not too many critters today, although there were a couple of nice turtles. I didn't go out on the second dive, but Glen went on the boat and did a snorkel. He just loved it. Said it was one of the best snorkels that he's ever had. I was so happy that he had a good one after yesterdays relative disaster with Eileen and Mandy on the boat.
We went for a mid-afternoon hike down to the Barefeet Bar for a Monkey Lala. Glen had gone down there by himself on Saturday but they were closed. We got there today and they were closed again. The fine print on their sign says closed Saturdays and Mondays.......we'll have to remeber that. So we turned back and stopped in at Fosters, which is one of the happening night spots that was under renos all the time we were here last year. It's a big building built out at the end of a pier. Beautiful spot, but their Monkey Lalas didn't cut the grade according to my panel of judges.
Home cooked supper of shrimp marinara pasta with salad and garlic toast. A good economy dinner to help bring the budget back into line. Not to mention helping to cut into the five pound box of shrimp that we still have in the freezer....what were we thinking......
I went out for the early dive, it was a nice drift dive from the mooring that is right in front of the house. There was a good current down there, so we just did a drift dive, with the boat picking us up maybe somewhere in the quarter to half mile distance down the shoreline. Not too many critters today, although there were a couple of nice turtles. I didn't go out on the second dive, but Glen went on the boat and did a snorkel. He just loved it. Said it was one of the best snorkels that he's ever had. I was so happy that he had a good one after yesterdays relative disaster with Eileen and Mandy on the boat.
We went for a mid-afternoon hike down to the Barefeet Bar for a Monkey Lala. Glen had gone down there by himself on Saturday but they were closed. We got there today and they were closed again. The fine print on their sign says closed Saturdays and Mondays.......we'll have to remeber that. So we turned back and stopped in at Fosters, which is one of the happening night spots that was under renos all the time we were here last year. It's a big building built out at the end of a pier. Beautiful spot, but their Monkey Lalas didn't cut the grade according to my panel of judges.
Home cooked supper of shrimp marinara pasta with salad and garlic toast. A good economy dinner to help bring the budget back into line. Not to mention helping to cut into the five pound box of shrimp that we still have in the freezer....what were we thinking......
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| Monkey Lala judging at Fosters |
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| View of West End from Fosters |
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Not quite what we`d planned
We woke up to sunny skies and calm water. I`d booked the early dive so after I`d ate some breakfast I went over to the dive shop to see where the first dive was going to be. They decided that the first dive would be to a mooring called Peters Place. I asked if it was a good snorkel stop and they said absolutely, one of the best. I went back to the house and got everyone moving. Onto the boat and away we went. So far, so good. Got to the dive site, I geared up with Lilian and the dive master and away we went. Had a great dive at about 55 feet, in an area where there where channels and canyons, lots of interesting formations and fish. Chris was carrying a lionfish spear but was having some trouble hitting the targets but we did get a few. Anyway, back to the grief. Glen and the girls jumped in for a snorkel, all was good, the snorkeling was really nice until they started getting bit by either sea lice or baby jellyfish. Back to the boat and out of the water. Meanwhile a little squall passes by. Big waves. Eileen and Mandy turn grey....We`re having a great dive and stay down 58 minutes......Eileen recovers for lunch, Mandy resurfaces by mid afternoon. I guess we`ll do West Bay another day.
Spent some down time at Half Moon resort this afternoon. They have beach chairs which are obviously for their guests, but because we are such frequent visitors and customers, there is no problem. Actually a total stranger would have no problem, but we`re not advertising that. Went for a snorkel and saw a really nice scorpionfish right under the dock.
Couple of drinks on the deck, saw the first period of a crappy hockey game at Sundowners, and an absolutely awesome dinner at Besos. Easily the classiest resaurant in West End. But it ends on a sad note.....the girls go home tomorrow. But all holidays must come to an end.....just glad ours has two more weeks added on....don`t mention that part to Dylaina.
Only one picture tonight and it`s not the greatest, but if you can zoom in, check out the teeth on this Moray eel. His head was sticking out of a hole and I could see the tail about five feet away coming out a hole at the other end of the coral clump. Should I try for a close up......
Spent some down time at Half Moon resort this afternoon. They have beach chairs which are obviously for their guests, but because we are such frequent visitors and customers, there is no problem. Actually a total stranger would have no problem, but we`re not advertising that. Went for a snorkel and saw a really nice scorpionfish right under the dock.
Couple of drinks on the deck, saw the first period of a crappy hockey game at Sundowners, and an absolutely awesome dinner at Besos. Easily the classiest resaurant in West End. But it ends on a sad note.....the girls go home tomorrow. But all holidays must come to an end.....just glad ours has two more weeks added on....don`t mention that part to Dylaina.
Only one picture tonight and it`s not the greatest, but if you can zoom in, check out the teeth on this Moray eel. His head was sticking out of a hole and I could see the tail about five feet away coming out a hole at the other end of the coral clump. Should I try for a close up......
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| Is he smiling at me |
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Laid back day
Not too much to report on today, everyone was sort of mellowing out after the Catamaran day yesterday. There is a lionfish hunting competition going on this weekend, and our dive shop is pretty excited. There are numerous prizes, and as of this evening, Atlantic Sea divers has captured the largest one. One of the dive shops speared 177 of them, so we're not in the running for most captured. Somehow our boat captain has been given the task of cleaning all the fish that come in. He's sitting out at the back of the dive shop tonight with a couple of coolers full of fish to clean. Poor guy is going to be there for hours. There is a big cookoff tomorrow night at the Blue Marlin restaurant, where all these fish are going to be served up. Should be fun....how am I going to get to Sundowners to watch the Heritage Classic.......
The owner of the dive shop has his wife flying home from the mainland tomorrow. She went over to her parents for the birth of their baby over three months ago. He hasn't seen his wife, his three year old, or Eduardo Jr. in these three months. Not sure we'll see much of Eduardo tomorrow.....
Have the 9:00 dive booked. I'm buddying up with Lilian, whose husband Wilf is engrossed with lionfish hunting. She's a good partner for me as our air consumption is usually almost identical. They're from somewhere around Brandon.
Off to bed. Forecast for the next six days is pure sun with temps around 30.....ahhhhhh better sunscreen my nose.....
The owner of the dive shop has his wife flying home from the mainland tomorrow. She went over to her parents for the birth of their baby over three months ago. He hasn't seen his wife, his three year old, or Eduardo Jr. in these three months. Not sure we'll see much of Eduardo tomorrow.....
Have the 9:00 dive booked. I'm buddying up with Lilian, whose husband Wilf is engrossed with lionfish hunting. She's a good partner for me as our air consumption is usually almost identical. They're from somewhere around Brandon.
Off to bed. Forecast for the next six days is pure sun with temps around 30.....ahhhhhh better sunscreen my nose.....
Catamaran Day
Woke up to a grey morning with a few blue patches. Our driver picked us up promptly at 8 am and off we headed to Oak Ridge. Hit a couple of heavy showers on the way, but just as we arrived the sun appeared. After a few introductions, the six of us were aboard and we were off. Nothing like a private catamaran day. The owners were quite happy with our group size, as they had just finished a 30 person tour the day before. Ed and Julie were wonderful hosts, with nothing but customer service on their minds. Not too far out of port we hit some good rain, where Ed got soaked at the controls. After about a hour or so, we pulled up to a mooring at a site they called Cow and Calf. We geared up and went for a snorkel. What a difference in the health of the coral life between here and where we are staying. this less visited end of the island is so pristine. I've never seen so many colors of coral, especially the dark red branch coral. Lots of different fishes as well. We lifted anchor and headed off to Port Royal harbour, where we anchored next to an old wreck. Again, lots of different fish hiding in the nooks of the rusted out wreck. Everyone got to see a couple of lionfish, one big starfish, a lizardfish, and many more. Back on the boat for another round of beer, Ed fired up the BBQ and cooked up some great chicken skewers. Dylaina and Glen went for a little swim off the bow of the boat while the crew was getting the dingys ready for a little cruise through the mangroves. Great fun. The girls enjoyed the day so much that they are talking about booking the boat for a full week next year, and just cruising some of the local islands.
We put up the sails and cruised back to Oak Ridge where our driver was waiting for us. On the way home he detoured off and showed us Pristine Bay where the new Black Pearl golf course is located. Eileen and I might still have to give that a try on our final week here after everyone else had departed.Supper at the Noodle Shack in West End, and then a very early night. Even though the sun was only out fully for a couple of hours, some of us have a pretty good glow from it. After two weeks here, I think I just might have burnt my nose and ears.......how typical is that.
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| Ed with the girls at the front of the boat |
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| Glen perched on the front bow with an early beer. |
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| Jumping in for a little swim. |
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Close Encounter
Another really nice day again today. I went out this morning and did the 9 and 11 oclock dives. The first one was a drift dive, where you get down to your depth and just let the current take you along the wall. I was taking a picture of a lionfish on the wall and just turned back around to see a sea turtle about three feet away from me on a collision course. I'm not sure what the turtle was planning if I hadn't looked up, but we came pretty close. I got ribbed about that one from the other divers because most of them were watching the turtle. Pictures of both the turtle and a lionfish are attached. Probably saw about ten lionfish on that dive. They are an invasive species that are not naturally found in the Caribbean. It is thought that some got released from home aquariums at some time, and that they have now gotten prolific in the entire Caribbean. They have venomous spines and do not have any natural predators here. All the dive masters carry spears and are trying to control the population but it is still growing fast. I saw one last year on 16 dives. This year you see them all the time. They are trying to get people to start eating them, as they're supposed to be pretty good, one you deal with the spines. The second dive wasn't as nice as the first one, although two of the guys split off and went lionfish hunting. They came back in with eight of them, one that was 13 1/2" long which might be a record size for Roatan.
Glen and Mandy took a water taxi down to West Bay for part of the afternoon and enjoyed that. All of us piled into a water taxi tonight and went back there to Bite on the Beach for dinner. I guess they are still the Monkey Lala champions as all the testers agreed that these ones were the best. The water taxi driver stategically returned us to the floating bar on the way home. Glen thought that place was quite the set up.
Early to bed tonight. Taxi is coming for us at 8 in the morning to take us to our Catamaran. They emailed today and said that the forecast is good and the captain says we should be able to head to Pigeon Cays, which is a small group of uninhabitated islands at the other end of Roatan. If the weather isn't perfect, we'll divert to some more sheltered destination. The snorkelling is supposed to be terrific.
Glen and Mandy took a water taxi down to West Bay for part of the afternoon and enjoyed that. All of us piled into a water taxi tonight and went back there to Bite on the Beach for dinner. I guess they are still the Monkey Lala champions as all the testers agreed that these ones were the best. The water taxi driver stategically returned us to the floating bar on the way home. Glen thought that place was quite the set up.
Early to bed tonight. Taxi is coming for us at 8 in the morning to take us to our Catamaran. They emailed today and said that the forecast is good and the captain says we should be able to head to Pigeon Cays, which is a small group of uninhabitated islands at the other end of Roatan. If the weather isn't perfect, we'll divert to some more sheltered destination. The snorkelling is supposed to be terrific.
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| Lionfish |
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| Close call with a turtle |
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monkey Lala update
There's a stiff competition going for the best monkey lala in Roatan. Many samples have already been submitted, but at this point there seems to be a close race between the Tranquil Seas and the Barefeet Bar. The one that was least favoured was at Blue Bahia, which was deemed to have too much of an almond kick. Yet to enter the competition was last years winner at Bite on the Beach. It's up for nomination tomorrow.
Gorgeous weather today. Glen and I drove up to French Harbour for a final beer run, picked up our car rental owner, stopped at the bake shop for four loaves of fresh bread, got the last jug of water that we'll have wheels for transport, and then turned the car back over to Joseph. Gonna miss that freedom. Went for lunch at the Noodle Shack, that was a big hit. Monkey lalas at Barefeet (since we were at the far end of town already), then back to our end. Even got to walk over the filled in hole in the street, although it is a work in progress. I suspect that it's passable for cars tonight though. The girls went for their West Bay walk this morning and couldn't believe the change in the beach. So much of the erosion has already been naturally filled in with sand from the waves.
Went for a snorkel in the bay after lunch. It was still a bit silty from the rains, biggest highlight was an octopus that was sort of stuffed down into a little nook with his head sticking out. Didn't quite get the true view of an octopus, but it's the first time that any of us have seen one. They're quite common on night dives, but it's unusual to see them in the daytime.
A big feed of shrimp on the deck tonight together with some sauted veges and some rice and beans. For desert, Glen served up some cherry pasties that he bought in the bake shop. Actually he bought those yesterday. He wouldn't go into the bakery today, because each time he's gone in there he spends about $10 on pastries. Everyone is quite full tonight.
Got a nine oclock dive booked for tomorrow, and apart from the plan to do Bite on the Beach for supper, it should be a pretty laid back day. Forecast is decent. Everyone is looking forward to the Friday catamaran at the east end of the island and praying for perfect weather.
Gorgeous weather today. Glen and I drove up to French Harbour for a final beer run, picked up our car rental owner, stopped at the bake shop for four loaves of fresh bread, got the last jug of water that we'll have wheels for transport, and then turned the car back over to Joseph. Gonna miss that freedom. Went for lunch at the Noodle Shack, that was a big hit. Monkey lalas at Barefeet (since we were at the far end of town already), then back to our end. Even got to walk over the filled in hole in the street, although it is a work in progress. I suspect that it's passable for cars tonight though. The girls went for their West Bay walk this morning and couldn't believe the change in the beach. So much of the erosion has already been naturally filled in with sand from the waves.
Went for a snorkel in the bay after lunch. It was still a bit silty from the rains, biggest highlight was an octopus that was sort of stuffed down into a little nook with his head sticking out. Didn't quite get the true view of an octopus, but it's the first time that any of us have seen one. They're quite common on night dives, but it's unusual to see them in the daytime.
A big feed of shrimp on the deck tonight together with some sauted veges and some rice and beans. For desert, Glen served up some cherry pasties that he bought in the bake shop. Actually he bought those yesterday. He wouldn't go into the bakery today, because each time he's gone in there he spends about $10 on pastries. Everyone is quite full tonight.
Got a nine oclock dive booked for tomorrow, and apart from the plan to do Bite on the Beach for supper, it should be a pretty laid back day. Forecast is decent. Everyone is looking forward to the Friday catamaran at the east end of the island and praying for perfect weather.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Sun Came Out!
It poured and poured rain all night but let up in the morning. Not much doing in the moring as the runoff has silted everything up. From the upper deck you can see a red cloud in the ocean from all the sediment that is hanging in the water. We headed off for our morning walk and had a few surprises, most seriously was a huge washout on main street West End. A couple of pictures are attached. You will notice the SUV that is sitting at the bottom of the washout with the roof at about street level. someone has said that therre has been 19 inches of rain here in the last few days..........
A little suntanning this afternoon, a quick trip to the bakery to order a few loaves of bread for tomorrow (our last day with the car), we had the bread today for breakfast and lunch, it was great.
Supper tonight was tapas night at Tranquil Seas in Sandy Bay. I've never done a tapas supper and that was different. I really enjoyed that. All the orders are sort of appetizer size, so the six of us ordered twelve different dishes. Our favourite was the warm duck salad with walnuts and apple. The clams weren't far behind in the ratings (Eileen says that the bacon wrapped asparagus was too). To top it off, the band that we know was playing in the restaurant, playing lots of Cat Stevens type music. We know the drummer and tonight clued in that the singer is the owner of the Coco Lobo resort, which is next door to us.
Looking forward to a good weather day today.
A little suntanning this afternoon, a quick trip to the bakery to order a few loaves of bread for tomorrow (our last day with the car), we had the bread today for breakfast and lunch, it was great.
Supper tonight was tapas night at Tranquil Seas in Sandy Bay. I've never done a tapas supper and that was different. I really enjoyed that. All the orders are sort of appetizer size, so the six of us ordered twelve different dishes. Our favourite was the warm duck salad with walnuts and apple. The clams weren't far behind in the ratings (Eileen says that the bacon wrapped asparagus was too). To top it off, the band that we know was playing in the restaurant, playing lots of Cat Stevens type music. We know the drummer and tonight clued in that the singer is the owner of the Coco Lobo resort, which is next door to us.
Looking forward to a good weather day today.
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| View looking down the street |
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| View from the beach |
Monday, February 14, 2011
Go Away Rain
The plan for the day was for us and the Osmonds to go up to French Harbour; Eileen was going to the fabric store to see if there was some unique material for quilting, and then we'd hit the big supermarket to stock up. However, Betty had a bad night with some of her bug bite reactions and since she was out of a certain medication, our first trip was to the medical clinic in Sandy Bay. That went pretty good, Betty got in to see the doctor pretty quick but there was only one pharmacist on so the drugs took some time. The biggest surprise after all of that was the total bill; $3.00!! Doctor consultation and four bottles of pills.....
Back home, picked up Osmonds and off we went. Stopped at the bakery to pick up the bread we ordered. Haven't tried it yet, but it sure looks good. Judging by the pastries that we Glen bought that we ate on the road, it's going to be good. Fabric store was a bust, groceries were picked up, and a stop at the bulk beer depot to stock up. Lunch at the Blue Bahia in Sandy Bay (great burgers).
Got home and unpacked. Everyone is getting cabin fever from the rain so Eileen, Glen, and I went for a walk (we'd already passed the girls when we drove home, they we're on a walk and Mandy wanted a nap). This walk was Glens first trip down West End, and about every couple of hundred metres we'd run into somebody we knew, so we'd have to stop for a chat. This place is so small townish, one of the main reasons we love it here so much. On the way back, we ran into another couple we knew who asked us if that was our red car at the blue house. We said Yes. They said they went by and the horn was blaring non-stop. Oh Oh. Wonder how Mandys nap is going.....Mandy couldn't get it stopped but Betty and Dylaina got home about 15 minutes after it started, got a wrench from the security guy (who was holding his hands over his ears in his little house) and then got the battery disconnected. We called the rental, he came, found the fuse for the horn and pulled it out. There must be a short in the wiring from all the rain or something.
We had a couple of drinks on the deck, the rain stopped, it brightened up, and off we went for Valentines supper at Besos. About half way there the skies opened up again. We should have left five minutes sooner. Those little travel umbrellas,,,,,,pack one for eveyone, don't expect to share......Mandy had rain down one crack, Dylaina another, Glen went to the bathroom and wrang his shirt out. Great restaurant, the meals were super. They even had Clamato juice for Ceasars. It rained hard through most of the meal, so Glen and I took an umbrella each, and headed home. There were rivers in the streets but we made it fairly easily. I jumped into the hornless car and went for the ladies. Good Valentines move there....although I'm not sure that I would have passed any breathelizers. However, maximum speed on the way there and back would rarely exceed 10 kpm.
We've been in touch with our Catamaran people and they are going to reschedule our trip to Friday. We were supposed to go tomorrow but as you can tell, it's not the best Cat day in the forecast. These guys are so accomadating. The forecast for Friday is really good, so here's hoping.
Back home, picked up Osmonds and off we went. Stopped at the bakery to pick up the bread we ordered. Haven't tried it yet, but it sure looks good. Judging by the pastries that we Glen bought that we ate on the road, it's going to be good. Fabric store was a bust, groceries were picked up, and a stop at the bulk beer depot to stock up. Lunch at the Blue Bahia in Sandy Bay (great burgers).
Got home and unpacked. Everyone is getting cabin fever from the rain so Eileen, Glen, and I went for a walk (we'd already passed the girls when we drove home, they we're on a walk and Mandy wanted a nap). This walk was Glens first trip down West End, and about every couple of hundred metres we'd run into somebody we knew, so we'd have to stop for a chat. This place is so small townish, one of the main reasons we love it here so much. On the way back, we ran into another couple we knew who asked us if that was our red car at the blue house. We said Yes. They said they went by and the horn was blaring non-stop. Oh Oh. Wonder how Mandys nap is going.....Mandy couldn't get it stopped but Betty and Dylaina got home about 15 minutes after it started, got a wrench from the security guy (who was holding his hands over his ears in his little house) and then got the battery disconnected. We called the rental, he came, found the fuse for the horn and pulled it out. There must be a short in the wiring from all the rain or something.
We had a couple of drinks on the deck, the rain stopped, it brightened up, and off we went for Valentines supper at Besos. About half way there the skies opened up again. We should have left five minutes sooner. Those little travel umbrellas,,,,,,pack one for eveyone, don't expect to share......Mandy had rain down one crack, Dylaina another, Glen went to the bathroom and wrang his shirt out. Great restaurant, the meals were super. They even had Clamato juice for Ceasars. It rained hard through most of the meal, so Glen and I took an umbrella each, and headed home. There were rivers in the streets but we made it fairly easily. I jumped into the hornless car and went for the ladies. Good Valentines move there....although I'm not sure that I would have passed any breathelizers. However, maximum speed on the way there and back would rarely exceed 10 kpm.
We've been in touch with our Catamaran people and they are going to reschedule our trip to Friday. We were supposed to go tomorrow but as you can tell, it's not the best Cat day in the forecast. These guys are so accomadating. The forecast for Friday is really good, so here's hoping.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Osmonds are here!
A very soggy and windy day in Roatan, but are those big waves ever cool to watch crashing in on the shore in front of the house. Need a few lens cleanings today to get the salt spray off the glasses.
Started the day off with a drive through Coxen Hole, which I have only been through in a taxi a couple of times in the middle of the day. I figured a Sunday morning with stiff winds and a good rain would be a good time to try and naviagate that skinny little main street. Wasn't so bad, and we even spotted the fish market that we want to hit, of course this was Sunday morning. Continued on and went to Plaza Mar, which is a grocery store that we haven't been in before. Not quite as good as French Harbour, but much closer. The girls made a nice pot of black bean soup for lunch, then it was off to the airport. when you exit the customs area at the airport, there are always a ton of people holding up signs for various resorts, etc, so Eileen and Betty made up a sign for me saying "Glen & Mandy". I was waiting therre for them with my cardboard sign held high....they got a good laugh.
A stop at the grocery store for them and off to the house. The last time we vacationed with them was in Tobago, and it is so similar here, windy roads with many hills and such lush foliage. We got to the house and they loved it, despite the rain and the crashing surf. Mandy said it will be so nice to sleep with the swishing of the waves but we corrected here on her terminology. A great meal at the Argentinian Grill, a game of sticks on the deck (that I came in last), and then an early night (9:30 now and I'm all alone....)
Tomorrow we plan a trip to French Harbour to the fabric store (I can be firm here based on luggage space), a stop at the supermarket to stock up, and then a visit to the bulk beer store (lots of trunk space tomorrow). We've only got the car for a couple more days, so our freedom is about to be curtailed a bit. It's been $40 a day for the car, but it has sure been nice to just get up and go somewhere on a whim.
Till tomorrow.......should have taken a picture of the crashing surf but I didn't.....
Started the day off with a drive through Coxen Hole, which I have only been through in a taxi a couple of times in the middle of the day. I figured a Sunday morning with stiff winds and a good rain would be a good time to try and naviagate that skinny little main street. Wasn't so bad, and we even spotted the fish market that we want to hit, of course this was Sunday morning. Continued on and went to Plaza Mar, which is a grocery store that we haven't been in before. Not quite as good as French Harbour, but much closer. The girls made a nice pot of black bean soup for lunch, then it was off to the airport. when you exit the customs area at the airport, there are always a ton of people holding up signs for various resorts, etc, so Eileen and Betty made up a sign for me saying "Glen & Mandy". I was waiting therre for them with my cardboard sign held high....they got a good laugh.
A stop at the grocery store for them and off to the house. The last time we vacationed with them was in Tobago, and it is so similar here, windy roads with many hills and such lush foliage. We got to the house and they loved it, despite the rain and the crashing surf. Mandy said it will be so nice to sleep with the swishing of the waves but we corrected here on her terminology. A great meal at the Argentinian Grill, a game of sticks on the deck (that I came in last), and then an early night (9:30 now and I'm all alone....)
Tomorrow we plan a trip to French Harbour to the fabric store (I can be firm here based on luggage space), a stop at the supermarket to stock up, and then a visit to the bulk beer store (lots of trunk space tomorrow). We've only got the car for a couple more days, so our freedom is about to be curtailed a bit. It's been $40 a day for the car, but it has sure been nice to just get up and go somewhere on a whim.
Till tomorrow.......should have taken a picture of the crashing surf but I didn't.....
Slow day
A bit of a weather change yesterday. Heavy rain for an hour or so around 10 am, but otherwsie sunny, By late afternoon the winds came up, blowing in from the northeat, straight onto our shoreline. Quite a change from the still air out on our deck. The winds continued through the night, and today our windows are covered with salt mist. It won't be the greatest introduction to Roatan for the Osmonds.
I was down for the day with a stomach bug. The girls had a good day though, they did their morning walk up to West Bay and then got in some suntanning. I was feeling a little better in the afternoon so we slid next door for happy hour and met the owners of CocoLobo, who I had been chatting with on Trip Advisor for the last few months. Genny was there again and was still laughing at the girls for the entertainment they provided at supper the night before. They tested the Monkey Lalas and decided the the CocoLobo version is a pretty good one. The girls headed into town for dinner while I detoured back to the house and went to bed. They went to the Rotiserre Chicken place where they each had a beer, a quarter chicken and deserts for $22. Best deal so far for supper. I had a good nights sleep and feel much better this morning.
I was down for the day with a stomach bug. The girls had a good day though, they did their morning walk up to West Bay and then got in some suntanning. I was feeling a little better in the afternoon so we slid next door for happy hour and met the owners of CocoLobo, who I had been chatting with on Trip Advisor for the last few months. Genny was there again and was still laughing at the girls for the entertainment they provided at supper the night before. They tested the Monkey Lalas and decided the the CocoLobo version is a pretty good one. The girls headed into town for dinner while I detoured back to the house and went to bed. They went to the Rotiserre Chicken place where they each had a beer, a quarter chicken and deserts for $22. Best deal so far for supper. I had a good nights sleep and feel much better this morning.
Friday, February 11, 2011
That was an adventure...
It all started out innocently enough. Betty and I went out for the morning dive while Eileen and Dylaina went for the West Bat beach hike. Dylainas ear is still giving her too much grief to try another dive. Betty and I dove in, waited in the water for the rest of the group and then down we went. I got to the bottom and could see Betty with some problems equalizing her ears too. We watched Betty go down, then Betty go up, down and up , down and back to the boat. OK, so Betty is gonna miss this dive. It was a nice dive, although it was a short one. I used to be the air hog that caused everyone else to go up early but this time there must have really been a heavy breather. I had just dropped below half a tank when she signalled for our three minute safety stop. We usually get in 50-55 minutes but today was only 42.
Had lunch and then Eileen and I hopped into the car. Headed to the Sandy Bay bakery. No bread but we put in an order for their next bake day. Took a road trip down to West Bay, now there's a fun stretch of highway to drive. It even has a yellow line down the middle to show you where you are. I'm not sure that even Tobago was that hilly and windy. At least we're driving on the right hand side here.
Now for the sunset booze cruise. It was a wonderful relaxing pace on the floating bar up the coast to West Bay, then crossing over the reef into deep water for the return trip. By this time the three of them are up in the captains VIP deck trying to drive the boat. There is a step ladder to get up there....we disembark without incident and a $70ish bar bill....Now a couple of days ago I was the designated driver on our east end car trip with these three. I think I described them as half pinned that day...at least they were a captive group in the car. Now I've got them more than half pinned on the main drag in West End. It was hilarious. The first stop was for supper, oops that place is full but who did we meet, but the same couple thaqt we've run into every night for dinner (we met them last year). They just shook their heads. Second choice was closed, so we turned around and headed to a pizza place. Walked in and I heard a voice calling Brian....It was Genny again. Have I mentioned how I love the small town atmosphere here....Anyway, the three drunks and I had pizzas with Genny and Shawnda (who I knew from Trip Advisor). It's now 9:30 and everyone is in bed.....an ohh did I mention that we booked a 6:30 am deep sea fishing trip for tomorrow morning before we got off the sunset cruise.....
Maybe I should be getting to bed too.
Had lunch and then Eileen and I hopped into the car. Headed to the Sandy Bay bakery. No bread but we put in an order for their next bake day. Took a road trip down to West Bay, now there's a fun stretch of highway to drive. It even has a yellow line down the middle to show you where you are. I'm not sure that even Tobago was that hilly and windy. At least we're driving on the right hand side here.
Now for the sunset booze cruise. It was a wonderful relaxing pace on the floating bar up the coast to West Bay, then crossing over the reef into deep water for the return trip. By this time the three of them are up in the captains VIP deck trying to drive the boat. There is a step ladder to get up there....we disembark without incident and a $70ish bar bill....Now a couple of days ago I was the designated driver on our east end car trip with these three. I think I described them as half pinned that day...at least they were a captive group in the car. Now I've got them more than half pinned on the main drag in West End. It was hilarious. The first stop was for supper, oops that place is full but who did we meet, but the same couple thaqt we've run into every night for dinner (we met them last year). They just shook their heads. Second choice was closed, so we turned around and headed to a pizza place. Walked in and I heard a voice calling Brian....It was Genny again. Have I mentioned how I love the small town atmosphere here....Anyway, the three drunks and I had pizzas with Genny and Shawnda (who I knew from Trip Advisor). It's now 9:30 and everyone is in bed.....an ohh did I mention that we booked a 6:30 am deep sea fishing trip for tomorrow morning before we got off the sunset cruise.....
Maybe I should be getting to bed too.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
First dive picture
Another perfect weather day in Roatan. Sunny, hot and a light breeze. Eileen and I started the day off with a nice long walk down to West Bay and back which took almost two hours. Parts of me are looking a little red tonight, but that's not too unusual. The girls did a refresher dive course and then took off on a dive, which surprised me. We had booked the afternoon dive but since they were already geared up, off they went. Eileen and I were just getting ready to make lunch when we saw them waving at us from the boat as it cruised past the house. So we cooked all the shrimp that we'd thawed out anyway (we did take some more out of the freezer for them to cook when they got back). I went out on the afternoon dive and really enjoyed it. It was a shallower dive through some very interesting coral with lots of sand channels. Saw a big eagle ray swimming past us, although he was probably about 50 feet below us. The picture below is of a moray eel, which was in the 4-5 foot long range. That might be the biggest one I've ever seen. They can look quite vicious so I wasn't going in for a close up.
Went back to the Thia restaurant which is where Eileen and I went the first night. Ordered too much food again, which combined with a good margarita, has put Eileen in bed again before 9:30. Oh well, we're on holidays. Stopped in at the floating bar and picked up tickets for tomorrow nights sunset booze cruise. They untie the bar from the dock and cruise up to West Bay from 4-7 pm. Should be a lot of fun. They told us to bring our snorkel gear and the fishing rods..... (9:00 am dive booked for the three of us, although Dylainas ears may cut that back to two of us.
Went back to the Thia restaurant which is where Eileen and I went the first night. Ordered too much food again, which combined with a good margarita, has put Eileen in bed again before 9:30. Oh well, we're on holidays. Stopped in at the floating bar and picked up tickets for tomorrow nights sunset booze cruise. They untie the bar from the dock and cruise up to West Bay from 4-7 pm. Should be a lot of fun. They told us to bring our snorkel gear and the fishing rods..... (9:00 am dive booked for the three of us, although Dylainas ears may cut that back to two of us.
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| Moray eel, not the cutest creature |
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Missed a day......
I lost my internet connection for a day. I had thought that the internet was down but when the dive shop owner told me that he had been on, I knew it was me. For whatever reason I had gotten unsubscribed, but after a couple of calls by Eduardo, we were back in business.
We went on a road trip yesterday up to the far eastern end of the island. For such a small place, travel times are significant. It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, and twenty of those were for the last few kilometres of gravel (rock and dirt). It was a good day to get out of town, therre were 10,500 cruise shippers on the island yesterday and we only saw two of them. Camp Bay was a very deserted two mile long strip of beach that could have so much potential if it was cleaned up. The reef is about a half mile from shore so we didn't get any snorkelling in. Had a nice lunch in a rustic little restaurant out over the water. We then went part way back along that nice road to a classy resort where the ladies had another good stiff drink and then we were heading back to the west end. Brian driving three half pinned ladies through the middle of Roatan..........Stopped in French Harbour at the shrimp processing plant and picked up ten pounds of shrimp. BBQ'd a batch of them last night and they were delicious. A few blocks further down the road we stopped at the bulk beer depot and picked up a couple of crates of beer for about $1 per bottle. It will be an even better deal next time when we return the empties and the crates. One last stop was at a restaurant called Tranquil Seas. We had planned on dinner there for their Tuesday tapas night but when we drove in the owner said that they'd been away for awhile and that they were cleaning the place up this week before they re-opened. We asked to look around and found that we'd discovered quite a little gem of a place. Gorgeous, lush gardens with all kinds of little nooks. She took our email address and said that she'd let us know when they were back up and running.
Although we are normally pretty early risers, we were awoken this morning to the sound of a motor ouside the house. Eileen and I looked out our window to see a police motorcycle. I thought that our security guy went right out to meet them but Dylaina says that they walked right up onto the deck before our security guy caught up to them. We're not sure what they were doing here (probably looking for those two girls with the immigration problems....) Anyway, they were sent on their way. The two guys that watch out for us don't speak English, so I'm going to have to bring in an interpreter to find out what was going on. Maybe they heard Glen was coming and wanted to get a look at the layout before they had to take him down....
Today I went out on a morning dive while the ladies walked up to the butterfly farm. Betty was suffering a bit from some bug bites and wasn't quite up for a dive. Nothing spectacular on the dicve. We've booked ourselves onto the afternoon dive tomorrow, so the girls are finally going to get wet. Went to a restaurant called Blue Bahia in Sandy Bay tonight. These guys joke about their portion sizes and I can see why. Eileen and I shared an entree and still couldn't finish it. The owner is big on smoking meat, so the menu was pretty incredible. I think we're going to try and get back there for a lunch some day.
We went on a road trip yesterday up to the far eastern end of the island. For such a small place, travel times are significant. It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, and twenty of those were for the last few kilometres of gravel (rock and dirt). It was a good day to get out of town, therre were 10,500 cruise shippers on the island yesterday and we only saw two of them. Camp Bay was a very deserted two mile long strip of beach that could have so much potential if it was cleaned up. The reef is about a half mile from shore so we didn't get any snorkelling in. Had a nice lunch in a rustic little restaurant out over the water. We then went part way back along that nice road to a classy resort where the ladies had another good stiff drink and then we were heading back to the west end. Brian driving three half pinned ladies through the middle of Roatan..........Stopped in French Harbour at the shrimp processing plant and picked up ten pounds of shrimp. BBQ'd a batch of them last night and they were delicious. A few blocks further down the road we stopped at the bulk beer depot and picked up a couple of crates of beer for about $1 per bottle. It will be an even better deal next time when we return the empties and the crates. One last stop was at a restaurant called Tranquil Seas. We had planned on dinner there for their Tuesday tapas night but when we drove in the owner said that they'd been away for awhile and that they were cleaning the place up this week before they re-opened. We asked to look around and found that we'd discovered quite a little gem of a place. Gorgeous, lush gardens with all kinds of little nooks. She took our email address and said that she'd let us know when they were back up and running.
Although we are normally pretty early risers, we were awoken this morning to the sound of a motor ouside the house. Eileen and I looked out our window to see a police motorcycle. I thought that our security guy went right out to meet them but Dylaina says that they walked right up onto the deck before our security guy caught up to them. We're not sure what they were doing here (probably looking for those two girls with the immigration problems....) Anyway, they were sent on their way. The two guys that watch out for us don't speak English, so I'm going to have to bring in an interpreter to find out what was going on. Maybe they heard Glen was coming and wanted to get a look at the layout before they had to take him down....
Today I went out on a morning dive while the ladies walked up to the butterfly farm. Betty was suffering a bit from some bug bites and wasn't quite up for a dive. Nothing spectacular on the dicve. We've booked ourselves onto the afternoon dive tomorrow, so the girls are finally going to get wet. Went to a restaurant called Blue Bahia in Sandy Bay tonight. These guys joke about their portion sizes and I can see why. Eileen and I shared an entree and still couldn't finish it. The owner is big on smoking meat, so the menu was pretty incredible. I think we're going to try and get back there for a lunch some day.
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| The Sirena restaurant in Camp Bay |
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| Deserted beach at Camp Bay |
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| I told myself I would only blog one sunset, but this was last night from the deck. |
Monday, February 7, 2011
The girls are here!
Betty and Dylaina arrived today, albeit late. They got on the plane in Toronto and then sunwing determined that the plane was overweight so they said that they would have to remove some luggage, but that they wouldn't take any dive bags off, given that they were heading to a dive destination. Then they said that they would just get some fuel removed to lighten the load. It was determined that it would take two hours for the truck to get to them to suck off some fuel, so they decided it would be faster to just disembark and let the plane taxi around the airport for half an hour or so, so off the passngers went. The plane went for a little tour and they finally re-boarded and got on their way. Fortunately for us, we were seeing all of these delays on flight tracker, so we weren't waiting at the Roatan airport for them to arrive. Next adventure; we get to the airport and soon see the two of them make it to the customs counter. I thought it was taking a long time to process them, and could see Dylaina doing a lot of talking and gestering. Then the customs officer left her desk and got a supervisor. Next we see the two of them getting escorted to the back room.......oh oh....Our new friend Genny was there to pick up some people and I asked her what it meant when someone was sent to the back offices in Customs, She shook her head, never heard of that happening before.....It turns out that customs had not removed some documents from their passport when they left last year, so officially they had spent the last year in Roatan. Dylaina claimed ignorance.......Eventually they were cleared and all is well.
Snorkelled this morning, nothing spectacular. Went to the highly rated Lobster Pot for dinner. Good food and wicked strong Marguritas, but my god they were slow. It's 10:50 now and we've only been home for half an hour. But it was another perfect weather day and tomorrow is supposed to be similar although a few degrees cooler (~28) With a poor long range forecast, I think we're going to take a road trip to the far east end of the island tomorrow. Should be another great day.
Snorkelled this morning, nothing spectacular. Went to the highly rated Lobster Pot for dinner. Good food and wicked strong Marguritas, but my god they were slow. It's 10:50 now and we've only been home for half an hour. But it was another perfect weather day and tomorrow is supposed to be similar although a few degrees cooler (~28) With a poor long range forecast, I think we're going to take a road trip to the far east end of the island tomorrow. Should be another great day.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day one in paradise
Our first full day on the island. Just as nice as I remembered. Was an early awakening, not out of necessity but habit. Sat on the deck with coffee and enjoyed a peaceful morning watching the island wake up. Brian went for his first dive - saw three turtles. Took a water taxi down to West Bay and had a few drinks with Genny and met many of her friends at a pre-Superbowl party that her husband was playing drums at. She is the daughter of someone Brian works up north and through some communication via internet, - blogs etc. she wanted to meet up with us. She hasn't seen her father for 25 years and because of us coming down here and Brian talking about it at work with her dad, he is actually coming down in April for a visit. Kind of special. Most bars busy tonight with superbowl parties. Went to the Lighthouse for supper and met our favourite bartender from last year. Love the small town feel of this place.
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| Genny and Eileen at the pre-Superbowl party. |
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Sunset from the upper deck |
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