The greenflash at sunset

In the ten years we have been here on Roatan, we have never seen any. Some wanna be greenflash, yes if your imagination plays along. But am sure it exsist, as much there is gold at the end of the rainbow. And that I believe, because you can never get there to check it out.

Team Belgium

Team Belgium arrived after delays. Gerrit got his open water certification- congratulations. Stijn, Johan and Maarten got a few fundives while they were here. The girls tried snorkeling. Here they are just coming back.

West end this end september

An article from today at www.World4Honduras.com

Mitch Cummins and Judith Allred - Special to the Express-News



My dismay is over the position that the United States has taken regarding the transition of power here in Honduras. I’m not going to argue whether it was a coup or not. My first question to the world leaders is, where was your indignation when the then-President Zelaya violated the Honduran Constitution, the rulings of the Supreme Court, the Congress, the Attorney General and the National Prosecutor by proceeding with an illegal action referring to changing the prohibition of presidential reelection?

The Honduran Constitution provides for the three “separate but equal” branches of government as does the United States. Just as in the U.S., these three branches offer a system of checks and balances.

President Barack Obama has stated that the U.S. is talking to hostile governments, but said he would not speak with the Honduran interim government. Why didn’t he get the constitutional facts before announcing his condemnation of Zelaya’s removal? Knowing all the facts, how could the United States support the suspension of a long and valued ally from the Organization of American States, condemnation by the UN, and suspension of aid by the U.S.? Reinstating the Chavez-inspired Zelaya would legitimize his illegal actions.

Allegedly, Zelaya says now he would attempt the same thing, only using different methods. Do the world leaders not see a scenario of paid crowds creating chaos to back more lawless actions? What is stopping the U.S. from changing their present position, instead stating their policy is support for countries like Honduras who follow their democratic constitution?

In the months prior to his removal, Zelaya placed himself above the law. He proposed the removal of term limits, identified as treason in the Honduran Constitution which states that this cannot ever be amended. Though required, he failed to submit a budget for the year of 2009. He gave up maritime territory that damaged the Honduran economy, fishing being the country’s important and traditional industry. In this way he gave up probable petroleum rights. He threatened his own coup when Congress hesitated to appoint his preference of judges.

Where were the voices of democracy when Zelaya defied these branches of government? When Zelaya publicly said many times that he was ignoring their rulings and was going forward with his illegal referendum, where were questions from the OAS, UN, or individual countries? When Zelaya led a mob and broke into a military base to steal voting materials that had been legally confiscated by the Attorney General, where was the outrage?

Some ask what would we do if the U.S. military entered the White House, arrested the president and exiled him. I ask this question, what would we do if the United States President defied rulings of its Supreme Court. I have to believe that the American public would be as outraged as the Hondurans were by Zelaya’s actions.


Everyone I know breathed a sigh of relief when they realized on June 28 that Zelaya had been removed from office. The country is more relaxed than it was prior to June 28. Removing Mel Zelaya from office was constitutional and democratic, except for his exile. That, instead of imprisonment may have prevented violence and bloodshed. Now, as long as the interim government’s legitimate actions are not supported, it emboldens those bent on creating havoc, many who are paid and come from other countries.

I’ve lived in Honduras, on the island of Roatan full- time since 2002. I’ve been very involved in community issues, served on various commissions on the island and have met several ministerial level executives of the Honduran government during these years. Being in the communication business, in contact with thousands of Hondurans, I’m very informed.

Every one of the hundreds of foreigners living in Honduras that I’ve talked to has been appalled at the U.S. position. They also express extreme pride in the Honduran people. I’m confident that when the story is fully understood, the Honduran actions will be held up as an example of how a little and poor country can stand up to defend their democracy against powerful external forces. Honduras is definitely the new “Cradle of Democracy.”

The Bay Islands, in the Caribbean off the north coast of Honduras, is a beautiful, tranquil set of islands. We’ve had no disruption of services. The cruise ships are coming. The direct flights from the U.S. are still arriving as scheduled. The dive shops are still diving and the white sandy beaches are still beckoning. Come down and visit. Support the “Little Country That Could”.

Mitch Cummins is Roatan, Honduras’s computer and communications company owner.
Judith Allred, a San Antonio resident, lives part time on the island of Roatan and is director of the Roatan Daycare Center.

Low season rates

Lowseason rates at the Blenny house and cabin if diving or doing courses at Tyll's Dive.

New divemasters

Congratulations to Sarah (England), Monique (Holland) and Ryan (USA,) who all have completed their divemastertraining in the last few days.
Sarah had to go back home. Monique will be staying and get som guiding experience, Ryan went up to Marble Hills to work for a while. They all did a good job.

Poem for Tyll's Dive!

Was created an presented at the diveshop from "Stelvis", Nancy, Lisa and Clay in june 2007.Slowly the sun is fading it since it has been posted on the diveshopdoor since then. Please correct me if some of it is not spelled right. The paper is getting difficult to read...

"An Ode to hear"

Nice, nice, nice,
Divemaster cute, like Rachel Weisz
No sign of artic beluga,Dive Monday con tres tortugas
The Bungalow West End quite fine,
technically merlot wine.
Really nice spot
no sign of unruly tot
We even, have some deer
the locals hang out here
and 4 kinds of good beer
This is our fortunate oasis
the loveliest, friendly of places
We spend tranquil, lucky days
With broad smiles on our faces
And you folks here, our friends at Tylls
You give us joy, like happy pills.

Team Canada did not listen to the news, they arrived anyway and saw for them self- all is good on the island of Roatan

It has been a very nice week at Tyll's Dive, with team Canada. Fabio and Steve brought friends down for this trip. Staying at the Jenny Blenny house. They brought beefjerkey, and on special request from Kirk, Jim Morton Coffee.(Hope I got the name right)seems like a real big thing for Canadian coffeedrinkers:-)
As always when we all have a good time, the week is over. so of course we had to do the GROUPPHOTO. This time everyone is in. Except Marcos. He had to go home. The new bench held up quite well. But we figured, we need extra support for middlepart. Anyways here is Team Canada/Tem Tyll's: Steve, Kala, Mo, Dorte, Uwe, Fabio
Yusef, Nadine, Kirk, Umbalumba (Ryan), Noelle, Andres.

Juvenile Lionfish

This juvenile Lionfish was found today at Dixies Reef by Peter who works at Coconut tree. Its beautiful, but so is the Spotted Drumfish, which would be part of the grown Lionfish diet for sure.

Lionfish

The first Lionfish has been spotted in Mandys Eelgarden, West bay, Roatan. This is not good news. At this point we do not know what actions has been taken. But for 2 months ago the Marinepark newsletter send out an beeing alert notice if you spot Lionfish.
The Lionfish is an intruder of these waters and has very few predators. its a beautiful creature, but does not belong here and can, in the long run, be fatal for the diversity of our fishpopulation. if anyone has more spesific comments, please feel do share with us.

Groupfoto June 2009

In this photo:David, Marcos -boatcaptain,Nicole, Nick, Alison
Uwe -Tyll's Dive, Kirk-instructor, Muffin, Bryan,Jen, Gillian, Dorte-Tyll's Dive, Rino-divemaster
but where is Kala? she was supposed to have been on this photo?

Team Wisconsin back in town

Team Wisconsin was back in town from 31th May to 7th June. Nick began this yearly tradition. Alison took over the years Nick had to skip out on. The group seems always to add new members. Nicole did her open water class with Kala. The otheres finished of the advanced course with Kirk. In the meanwhile Rino took the rest diving. We all had a great time together and the week went too fast. In the same week David, Jen and Gillian were here for diving and the relaxing "apres" dive hour.
Hope to see you all next year same time same place.
Photos will be uploaded soon.

Fun Dives June 1 to June 6

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
1-Jun	Temptation Reef	18m	47	Sponge Garden	Rino
	Blue Channel	12.5m	55	Swim throughs	Rino
	Sea Quest	11m	54	Sandy patch	Rino
2-Jun	El Aguila	33m	43	Wreck	Rino
	SeaQuest	12m	45	Sandy patch	Kirk
3-Jun	Dixies Place	21m	41	Wall	Rino
	Turtle Quest	14m	58	Gregorian Garden	Rino
	LightHouse Reef	12m	43	Night	Kala
4-Jun	Gibson Bight	25m	57	Wall	Rino
	Deep SeaQuest	18m	56	Sandy Patch	Rino
	Butchers Bank	19m	53	Sandy Patch	Rino
5-Jun	Spooky Channel	30m	53	Canyon	Kirk
	Bears Den	16.5m	57	Cavern	Kirk
6-Jun	Fish Den	18m	56	Wall	Rino

Fun Dives May 25 to May 31

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
25-May	Dixie's Place	12m	47	Wall	Kirk
26-May	Lighthouse Reef	12m	45	Coral Garden	Kirk
	Bikini Bottom	12m	37	Coral Garden	Kala
	Moonlight reef	12m	40	Coral Garden	Kala
27-May	Octupus Acre	18m	47	Gregorian Garden	Kirk
	Blue Channel	15.8m	41	Swim Throughs	Kala
	Sea Quest	18m	47	Sandy patch	Kala
28-May	Dive Masters Choice	20m	47	Wall	Kala
	Turtle Crossing	12m	40	Sponge Garden	Kala
29-May	El Aguila	33m	41	Wreck	Kirk
	Blue Channel	13m	59	Swim Throughs	Kirk
	Moonlight Reef	18m	55	Coral Garden	Kala
30-May	Butchers Bank	18m	58	Sponge Garden	Kirk
	The Bite	16.5m	53	Coral Garden	Kirk
31-May	Punchers Paradise	13.5m	57	Gregorian Garden	Kirk
	Octopus Acre	18m	50	Gregorian Garden	Kirk

Fun Dives May 18 to May 24

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
18-May	Texas	18m	58	Drift	Kelsey
	The Bite	8m	61	Coral Garden	Kelsey
19-May	Butchers Bank	30m	40	Gregorian Garden	Kelsey
	Deep SeaQuest	14m	44	Sandy Patch	Kelsey
20-May	El Aguila	32m	40	Wreck	Kent
21-May	El Aguila	32m	31	Wreck	Kelsey
23-May	Mandy's Eel Garden	18m	47	Eel Garden	Robin
	The Bite	18m	50	Coral Garden	Kirk
24-May	Moonlight Reef	18m	50	Coral Garden	Kala

Who will be arriving soon?

In a few weeks Fabio and Steve from Canada will be visiting again. Bringing a bunch of friends down for diving and fun in the sun. There should be a few bags of beef jerkey arriving as well.

Blackspotted nudibranch

Rino was back in the water last and doing what he is best at. Finding little creatures. Last week we had a nice group of divers. One of them, David took this picture of the Blackspotted nudibranch, which Rino found. There will be more pics and stories coming up after Jen and Davids and Team Wisconsins visit in town.

Fun dives May 11 to May 17

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
11-May	Gibson Bight	20.2m	55	Wall	Kent
	Lighthouse Reef	18m	35	Coral Garden	Kirk
12-May	Dixie's Place	10m	48	Coral Garden	KirK
	Turtle Crossing	12m	40	Coral Garden	Kent
13-May	Hole in the Wall	37.1m	55	Caverns	Kirk
	Lighthouse Reef	12M	47	Coral Garden	Kent
	Moonlight Reef	19.8m	55	Coral Garden	KirK
14-May	Herbies Fantasy	25.7m	58	Sandy Patch	KirK
	Bikini Bottom	18m	47	Coral Garden	Kent
	Sea Quest	18m	51	Sandy Patch	Kent
15-May	Mandy's Eel Garden	28m	50	Eel Garden	Kent
	Deep SeaQuest	18m	48	Sand Patch	Kelsey
16-May	Moonlight	17m	40	Coral Garden	Kirk
17-May	Lighthouse Reef	15m	40	Coral Garden	Kirk
	Turtle Crossing	12m	47	Coral Garden	Kirk

Fun dives May 4 to May 9

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
4-May	Turtle Crossing	12m	40	Coral Garden	Kent
	Lighthouse Reef	12m	46	Coral Garden	Kent
5-May	Butchers Bank	27.1m	57	Gregorian Garden	Kirk
	Sea Quest	14.2m	56	Sand Patch	Willie
	Dixie's Place	16.9m	53	Wall	Willie
6-May	Lighthouse Reef	12m	47	Coral Garden	Kent
7-May	Grape Escape	23m	42	Wreck	Willie
	Bikini Bottom	20.3m	51	Coral Garden	Willie
8-May	Gibson Bight	18m	48	Wall	Kelsey
	Mandys Eel Garden	18m	52	Eel Garden	Kelsey
	Blue Channel	15m	46	Swim throughs	Kelsey
9-May	Hole in the Wall	36m	50	Caverns	Kelsey
	Butchers Bank	18m	57	Gregorian Garden	Kelsey

Kelsey is Canadian and certified her first Canadians tody. Congrats.

This is Kelsey with her students just got signed of. They are allowed to have a beer now.Kathryn and Bruce. They have already been travelling for a while. Kathryn came by one day and asked about the scubadiving. I think they are hooked. Good for them. It's different world down there.Hope Frederik is reading this post, and yes you not the only one thinking one beer for lunch is okay. Its not. But anyways congrats to Kathryn and Bruce, Mike and Christina. Unfortunately did not get a foto of them. But great people.

Marie Louis og Jacob

Her har vi saa Marie Louise og Jacob, som kom til roatan for at laere spansk, Og nu har de osse laert at dykke. Her er de med deres dykker instruktoer. Tillykke.

Turtlekid and the turtle

Brian Bielen is the Turtlekid. When he came here for the first time years ago to learn scubadiving, his biggest wish was to see a seaturtle. Year after year he comes back and is now the expert in spotting turtles. Photo is kindly given from Katja Hock.

Fun Dives April 27 - May 3

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
27-Apr	Mellisa's Reef	29m	51	Wall	Kelsey
	Half moon bay Wall	22m	52	Wall	Kelsey
	The Bite	16m	50	Coral Garden	Kirk/Kent
28-Apr	Gibson Bight	21m	54	Wall	Kirk
	Sea Quest	14m	43	Sandy patch	Kirk
	The Bite	19m	42	Coral Garden	Kirk
29-Apr	Hole in the Wall	38m	57	Caverns	Willie
	Turtle Crossing	18m	55	Sandy Patch	Willie
	Punchers Paradise	18m	45	Coral Garden
30-Apr	Black Rock	28m	46	Wall	Willie
	Turtle Crossing	16m	63	Coral Garden	Willie
	Deep Sea Quest	18m	49	Sandy Patch	Jolinne
1-May	El Aguila	30m	46	Wreck	Willie
	Blue Channel	21m	53	Drift	Willie
	Dixie's Place	18m	50	Wall	Kent
2-May	Hole in the Wall	37m	59	Cavern	Jolinne
	Butchers bank	13m	64	Sponge Garden	Jolinne
	Grape Escape	13m	47	Wreck	Jolinne
3-May	Fish Den	19.6m	49	Coral garden	Jolinne

Team Colorado

Sadly, Team Colorado had to leave, well they came back, because the ferry to the mainland was overbooked. Good luck tomorrow morning. Well Summer and Rich made it out of here whether they wanted or not. Was a nice week At Tyll's Dive. All great people, good weather and good vibes. Wanted the whole diving crew on this group foto. But the timing went wrong. So NOT in this photo is Janie and John, Jakob and Marie-Louise, Jolinne (instructor), Willie (divemaster), Marcos (Boatcaptain), Molly and Lowfat the shopmonsters (who knows where they were, Uwe and Dorte (had to take the photos :-). The Coloradians IN the photo are: Rich, Summer, Mari, Chris, Molly, Jeff and Alison. Instructors are Kent and Kirk.

Rosa from Holland

Rosa from Holland finished her advanced open water with Kirk last week. As a final top off her Roatan trip she went diving with the sharks at Cara a Cara. Rosa you need to come back for some more surface interval fun rummy games:-)

Fun Dives April 20 - 26

Date	Dive Site	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
20-Apr	Overheat Reef	26m	55	Wall	Rino
	Punchers Paradise	23m	57	Coral Garden	Rino
21-Apr	Blue Channel	13m	60	Swim Throughs	Kirk
22-Apr	Punchers Paradise	27m	59	Coral Garden	Kirk
23-Apr	Spooky Chanel	28m	52	Canyon	Kirk
	Bears Den	20m	56	Cavern	Kirk
	The Bite	14m	57	Coral Garden	Kirk
24-Apr	El Aguila	33m	43	Wreck	Kent
	West End Wall	20m	52	Wall	Kent
	Bikini Bottom	12m	57	Coral Garden	Kent
25-Apr	Hole in the Wall	38m	51	Caverns	Kelsey
	Butchers Bank	20m	58	Sponge garden	Kelsey
	Moonlight
26-Apr	Pillar Coral	26m	55	Wall	Kelsey
	Mandys Eel Garden	23m	50	Eel Garden	Kelsey

Rino found a Warty Seaslug

Here is the photo proof of the Warty Seaslug.
Location: In the waters of Roatan. Photo kindly provided by Dory Smith.

Fun Dives April 13 - April 18

Date Dive Site Depth Time Description D.M. 13-Apr Hole in the Wall 30m 48 Caverns Kirk Mandy's eel Garden 18m 48 Eel Garden Kirk 14-Apr Green Out house 30m 51 Coral Garden Willie Melissas Reef 20m 38 Wall Kent Octopus Acre 18m 38 Gregorian Garden Kent 15-Apr El Aguila 33m 48 Wreck Willie Lighthouse Reef 12m 35 Coral Garden Shallow Sea Quest 12m 45 Sand Patch Willie 16-Apr Butchers Bank 22m 52 Sponge Garden Willie Blue Channel 12m 55 Swim throughs Kirk 17-Apr Dixie's Place 33m 45 Wall Rino Punchers Paradise 15m 53 Coral Garden Rino 18-Apr El Aguila 33m 43 Wreck Kirk

Fun Dives April 6 - April 12

Date	Location	Depth	Time	Description	D.M.
6-Apr	West end Wall	33m	56	Wall	Rino
	Punchers Paradise	18m	55	Coral Garden	Rino
7-Apr	Hole in the Wall	33m	47	Caverns	Rino
	Lighthouse Reef	18m	63	Coral Garden	Rino
9-Apr	Hole in the Wall	30m	48	Caverns	Rino
	Moonlight	12m	52	Coral Garden
	Butchers Bank	19m	50	Sponge Garden	Rino
10-Apr	Dixies Place	18m	50	Wall	Kirk
	El Aquario	12m	47	Coral Garden	Willie
11-Apr	Fish Den	18m	45		Rino
	Sea Quest	18m	55	Sand Patch	Willie
12-Apr	Canyon Reef	24m	54	Swim Throughs	Willie
	Lighthouse Reef	12m	45	Coral Garden

Fun dives April 1 - April 5

1-Apr	Canyon reef	18m	48	Swim Throughs	Rino Kirk
	Blue Channel	16m	53	Swim Throughs	Rino Kirk
2-Apr	Spooky Channel	29m	42	Canyon	Rino Kirk
	Bears Den	18m	62	Cavern	Rino Kirk
	The Bite	12m	60	Coral Garden	Rino
3-Apr	Mandy's eel Garden	33m	47	Eel Garden	Rino
	Dive Masters Choice	12m	65	Wall	Rino
5-Apr	El Aguila	33m	43	Wreck	Kirk
	Deep Sea Quest	14m	51	Sand Patch	Rino

Spawning barrelsponges

How cool is that. Photo provided by Dory Smith, Who is a member of the Tyll's family:-)

one fine day in february

We just like this Photo, with the sky, the clouds, the colors and our precious boat.

Kent Ebanks first open water cert

Kent certified his first Padi Open Water diver today. Good job to both Kent(Roatan) and his student Dan (Canada). Kent did his IDC with Gary Miller (gopro@tgidiving.com).

Open Water certified today

Heather from Canada and Fredrik from Italy/Sweden/everywhere...just got certified this Easterfriday. Kirk was their instructor in is doing the paperwork for them in this moment. Come back and do some more diving. You were a splendid buddyteam.

Mating octopi

Rino took his divers to Hole in the Wall this morning. Unfortunately Calvin was not coming along with his camera, so we have no photo proof. But they saw octopi mating. This is a very rare sight.

Save money, use netbanking.

This might mostly apply to our European guests. And so far we had very positive feed back on this. You can save credit/debit card fees by simply transfer your fundiving/divingcourse bills to our account in Denmark. For the scandinavians the bankfee is vey low, but for other Europeans the bankfee has proved to still be lower than paying your bill on Paypal, paying with cards here or taking money out of the ATMs.

One of Shawns best open water students ever. Sofie like a fish in the water.

New boatengine arrived

Finally the new Yamaha 150 hp fourstroke engine arrived. A very exciting day for Tyll's Dive.