Tyll's scuba diving Roatan

2012

2012-01-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

2012.
What this year will bring us we can only wait and see.

Will the electric company RECO keep charging high fuel adjustment surcharges all year around?
Will the West End road project ever get finished? And if so, will residents and visitors think of it as a big improvement or a total fiasco? ,

Will The Tax People come back in even bigger force and audit businesses twice a day instead of every second day for a month?
Will any of us ever fully recover from 2009's Zelaya fiasco?
Will the world go crazy because of the Mayan Calenders ending?( Maybe a calender ending might just mean its time to get a new calender.)
Too many speculations for the first month of a New Year.
Some things seem never to change though, like the prices for diving and courses, and the availability of baleadas, rice, beans and chicken. At least we have this to hold on to so we can have some stability
in our daily life.

Looking very much forward to see a lot of you again this year for diving, hanging out, a game of Scrabble, Cribbage or Rummy 500, home cooked meals, catching up and sharing stories, fantastic diving in a small group. Not just watching fins and bubbles.
A recent diver at Tyll's Dive mentioned that we are not a big fancy shop, but a small shop with a big heart and where a small group experience is what you get, not just promised. Like that, because thats what we are really.
This is why Tyll's Dive can never be a big busy shop. We need to have time for our people,
make sure everyone has a good experience and a good time on Roatan, and thats why we love what we do. And hope we will be able to continue on with this .

Hope we can add more to the Tyll's family over the year!

Back to superstitions and such, would like to close this blog entry with a quote from Groucho Marx:
"A black cat crossing the street signifies an animal going somewhere.
Sometimes thats all it is."

Muddy December to remember

2011-12-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

I know I have neglected the blog for a while. But there has not been much to report apart from contractors and the mayor making progress for West End this fall.The progress is digging random holes and putting in pipes . Its a perfect thing to start a project like that in the rainy season. But I am not an ingeneer. Just a spectator.

People have been troopers to get from A to B. Rubber boots are really fancy things to have these days.
For the diving. Its been turtles turtles turtles. I wish the turtlekid would have been here with his turtle tapper. Geaorgina and Pete might have been turtle whisperers as well.
Team New Jersey rocks. Dory, Tracy and Beth. What a fantastic team. The rubber boot diva diving team!!!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND ALL BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR!!!!
Yours team Tyll's :-)

The June blog that turned into the August blog

2011-08-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

The June blog that turned into the August blog.

The biggest event in June was probably Peeter. Peeter is a rescued kitten from West Bay. The litter lost their mother when they were 3 weeks old and a watchman brought them to Celeste at West Bay Lodge who lovingly brought them up. We were ready for a new family member and got in contact with Penelope from Roatan Renegade Rescue who told us to go see Celeste.

Peeter

So a few days later we scheduled a dive to Mandys Eelgarden so the dive boat could drop of Amanda and me to go and meet Peeter. There was no doubt at all about the kitten. Peeter kind of looked up "Hi my name is Peeter, how are you?"
After wards Amanda and I walked around in West Bay and felt like being on a different island and being tourists. The watch and sunglasses guys didn't first recognize us, we being out of our natural environment of West End.
You may wonder why Amanda was not taking out the dive that day. She is also having a new family member, although not a furry four legged one, but a little boy. She is glowing and happy to be a real mom some day soon.

Helen

We love Clay and Lisa, they always come back and bring good vipes to this place. Even though Lisa had to study so much this time, we found time to have lots of laughs together. Samuel said, Lisa is always smiling and happy. Samuel got that absolutely right.

We have been studying too: Watussas interacting with Peeter or vice versa. Very interesting. Am not sure if Peeter relates himself more to a Watussa than to a cat.
Also observed we have suicide sugar ants at the house. They climb the water bowl, and then drown. Does that make any sense?
Ever heard of Mini bees?
Mini bees are another thing. They live in a little plastic fitting outside the dive shop. Actually next to the meters. They are tiny, apparently friendly and don't sting. I guess its because you don't see them, and they are just there minding their own business.
Water tap wasps are another curiosity. They like to hang out underneath the water taps. Maybe they are just thirsty???

So who is filling in for Amanda. Melanie did before she went to the Caymans. Mo is still filling in when needed.
We recruited Helen. English science teacher and now Scuba instructor. Dive teacher is more fun than being a dry teacher. Her class room is in the sea, decoration is the coral reef and marine life.
Unfortunately or maybe it is fortunately that Ed, Uwe and Kristian do not always follow Helens advice in building bombs out of draino, alufoil and plastic bottles... The yard, the dive shop, The Wet Spot and the Blue Marlin are still intact.

Oh, The Wet Spot is now next door, great breakfast and lunch, and they are actually consistent with opening hours. Not like the Sharkcave. What a nice change that is, and we dont have to complain about the music volume every day.

What happens on Thursdays? Karaokee night at the Blue Channel. Mo always fills
us in on how horrible the singers can be and want to sing over and over again. One Thursday Hartley decided he can sing Bob Marleys "One Love". And he did. The two words he could remember were "One love" so the song was like this: One Love, One Loove, One love, one Love. one looove etc. Yes he could have read the teleprompter, but he didn't.
Details, details...

Helen just finished a rescue course with Martin who actually has DMP (dive master potential). It went very well. Instead of calling out Pizza pizza they called out Peeter peeter (course code for help help, to not attract a scene in our little community). Austin, thank you for helping out.

One last thing, keep supporting the Roatan Marinepark, read their newsletters and help where you can.

In between Blog 2

2011-07-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Old crew. Aasa, Lanai, Dorte, Uwe and Jenny

Instructor and backgammon player Tanguy and his student

Slippery Dick about to head out. In the water Matt and Jenny

Alva and her kitchen

Not happy with my draft for the June-July entry so decided for the this. Enjoy.
I think it was mid 2002 that we took over Tyll's Dive. Tyll kindly told us we can use his equipment , boat and compressor to start up with. So here we are with the apparently unsinkable boat called Con Permiso, a bunch of equipment that had seen better days, a squirrel that would pee on you when you passed by its cage to go to the toilet, a parrot called Hamburgeso, a dog named Pastelito and last Tyll's and Alvas adopted son, Christian. (The kid from hell, to be honest).
We had entered the Fiascos in Paradise:-)
We orderd a few sets of new equipment, hired Dexter to build a boat that could travel further than Blue Channel. We had a partner at this point, Jas. He sold out later though. It was all challenging times. Even order food at Alvas restaurant was a thing in itself. You order your food, go diving, and it might be ready when you get back. But hi, thats how it was.
The building of the boat took longer than anticipated, so in the meanwhile we got a skiff from Don Hickmann and used the tinfoil boat from Doc Radowski. Just imagine the picture.

The equipment arrived and finally Dexter brought the boat as he got tired of the checking ups on the progress. Colour was grasshopper green...Not the agreed colour, but guess was what he had available.
Uwe and Jas were horrified. I found it was pretty in a special way. Uniquie, only boat in West End with that colour. Well they won and it got repainted and named Slippery Dick after a wrasse.

Many evenings there would be people playing guitar and singing. The Burrito Brothers would chip in with their repetoire like Ground Hog Day, Monica Monica and Running with the Buffaloes (all composed by Tyll)

Those were unforgettable days.

The inbetween blog. No.1

2011-07-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

How Uwe and Dorte ended up on Roatan.

The idea of moving or at least revisit Central America got planted in our heads in the end of the 1980'ties.
Had visited friends in Guatemala and El Salvador and just fell in love.
Almost 10 years passed before we came back. First we had to live out the dream of having a house on the country side in Denmark with garden, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks and a pig.

Every sunday we would study the newspaper travel section and dream of places far far away.
Then one sunday, a danish journalist had this brilliant article about the Bay Islands and in particular Roatan, it just sounded to be the place you have to visit. We were still not divers at that time. But the article we kept and made it a goal that one time we would go there.
In the meanwhile Uwe got certified as a CMAS diver at the local diveclub in Loekken, Denmark. Do I have to mention cold water diving? I Dorte) was not as hardcore and chose to get Padi certified on Crete im Greece. Anyhow I managed to join Uwe and his drysuit buddies for around 10 cold water dives on the west coast of Denmark. Then finally we had saved up for a month vacation to ROATAN in Octuber 1998.
It took a bit longer to save up, because everytime we were close, the car broke down and had to be fixed.... We were getting suspicious that our mecanic had an fix alert build in that was connected to our Roatan trip savings account...

Anyways. We finally arrive . Of course the taxi driver tells us that Dolphin Hotel is the only place that has room available this late of the day, which turned out to be a lie. By the way they still do that to people arriving late in the day.

We go for a little stroll to find a bite to eat. First impression of West End was THATS IT?. Thats gonna be 4 long weeks. It seemed so small.

Next day we got a nicer place to stay at Geophies Hide away and met dutch Ron. We are still big friends. Shared a lot of rum and stories and still do by the way when we get a chance to visit.
We went diving every day. Everything was beautiful an pristine. Huge groupers the size of me, my dive buddies.
Then remember it was fall 1998. Hurricane season. Well of course Hurricane Mitch passed by to say hello. Was interesting days. No power -no water- no internet. Well internet was not very common those days anyway.
So the news about the storm was sparesly. Rudys family decided we should empty the concrete watercistern and use it as a shelter. All right so we did. We were all prepared. But Mitch just kept harassing neighboring island, Guanaja. But that was still very close. The power of nature surely flexed its muscles and toyed with us for days.

You might think, thats it, never coming back. No, seeing people helping each other in the community effort at getting things back on track and collect to them that lost stuff was the most amazing thing. Unfutunately we had to leave a week early because of family issues back home.
Thanked everyone for a great time, and told Ron, Hi dutch boy, we will be back and be your neighbour again.

Went back to Denmark sold the rest of our belongings (the car we sold to the mecanic, well he knew what he/we had replaced all parts possible). So we packed our bags once again in January 1999.
Arrive in Miami for Superbowl. Great! No room under a $100 to be found. Welcome to Miami!!!
Airport luggagecarts works though, you just have to move around when the vacumcleaner woman approaches you.

We arrive, and people here all the same, maybe a few new faces. And Ron, the dutch boy had not left. Happy days to see a good friend.

So now we here. No plans at all. We dive and gain experience of the reef and the islandlife, how things work.
Uwe does his divemaster and later instructor. Get involved in maintain and troubleshoot aircompressors, boat engines and scuba equipment.
I learn go diving without Uwe being my dive buddy. Clyde assures he will look after me. And he did.
I get to be the diveshop girl (not quite a manager yet), but observe what to do and not to do if it was my shop.

At some point down the road we decide to leave the island to explore other places.
4 months later we are back! And it was great to come back home. We missed it so much. We got our old jobs back too. Just like that.

And then we got friends with Tyll.
And a whole new chapter and challenges began with taking over Tyll's Dive.

To be continued.

Canadian May

2011-06-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Canadian May

this month was the Canadian month,
Dan and Kate returned for more diving. Manuel and Melanie came here for the first time. The first day they were thinking- thats it? I do remember that same feeling many years ago, but then you begin to relax and get sucked in so to say.
As we thought we would have nothing to, Jenny had a group of 6-7 canadians who wanted to dive do courses, Sharkdive, relax. Overwelming, until the perfect schedule was worked out, and everyone was happy. Like that when people have the patience for us to work out the logistics and come back to finetune them together
The most impressive students are Emma and Jeremy, good work, they read the book of Padi in one day...Loved seeing Emmas face after each dive. Soo excited. Each dive was almost the best one ever.

What else happens in May? Oh yes, the mango season....Guess by now everyone are mangoed out.
Mangos everywhere, You need to wear a helmet to pass through the yard, when you go through or to clean away the stinky bad ones. They keep falling. Mangos might be health risk number two after falling coocnuts.
When its slow, we play cards and scrabble, noticing spell errors on restaurant menues and signs. A couple of weeks ago, Restaurant 360 had Slow cocked pork, Well the Sharkcave Pizza never botherd to changed their signs, Warnig this is Sharks territory! Rumours has that The Sharkcave is out of business anyway. (If there are any spell errors in this blog, its because I do not always have the Scrabble dictionary and cheat list with my...)
With time on my hands, thought its time for a:

BALEADA survey

Chapi Catrachas across the street. Very convinient. Prices went up though. As usual the beef filings might be warm , might be cold. Chicken fillings guaranteed with bone splitters, egg fillings when you see they just got new eggs, avocados filling is the safest one and really good. Depending which woman is makinkg the tortilla. Some are soggy some are on the crispier side. Beans are usually good.
Another Catrachas down the road made microwaved baleadas. Forget about them, they closed down. Cindys stewed meat baleadas are a hit. Personally I like Anthonys Baleadas more. Next to Jimmys.
Have tried 2 places in Coxen Hole, the place across from Molineros, tortillas a bit chewy, but okay. Carlitas in calle 8 was really good. 1 Baleada and a coca cola 30 lempiras, who can beat that?
The Baleada expert. Maybe?

http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2006/10/honduran-fast-food.html

June stories to follow in a few weeks.

April and stories

2011-04-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

April

April began with the almost yearly visit from Team Wisconsin, who have been coming down over the years to get certified and dive a lot. As always we had a really fun week which ended with what has become a tradition of their last night on the island: Pizza, rum and beer on the deck.
Semana Santa came and went. It was not too bad as long you stay away from West Bay Beach.

Officially the low season begins in may according to hotel pricing. Its pretty low already now.
Anyways what to do then?
Clean out old file cabinets from Tyll. Student files back from the mid nineties. Went through them and in the bin they went. Then the interesting part came. Felt like history. Receipts from a meeting at French Harbour yacht club 7 of September 1993: 5 beers and a water for lps 58,50 including tax.
An old copy from Lonely Planet pages about Roatan.

Dangers and Annoyances:
In the water keep an eye out for spiny sea urchins on the coral reefs. Be sure to wear adequate foot cowering- not-thongs-if you walk on the reefs as coral cuts and can easily become infected in the tropics.
NOW THAT has hopefully been changed in Lonely Planet.

Roatan, population: 10565
today 2011 its more likely 80000!!!

Places to eat:
HB Warrens in Coxen Hole. It says: The cafeteria at HB Warrens supermarket is the most enjoyable place to eat, mostly because its air conditioned.

West End: West End Village is probably the most beautiful part of the island, It's only a small village, but it is exceptionally lovely, on a turquise bay laced with coconut palms.

Places to stay:
Cheapest alternative is to pitch a tent on
West Bay Beach. This beach is probably the beautiful part of the island. Its over 3 km long and most of it undeveloped with nobody on it, but a forest of coconut trees just of the beach to provide shade.

Jimmys, Roberts Hill and other places have rooms from $2,75.There are more expensive places with own cabins like Fosters for $25.

Places to eat:
Various places offers fresh fish dinner for around $2.75

The few dive shops in West End offers
courses for $200 (Monterosa in Sanday Bay $300)
1 fundive $25
10 dive package $200

This was all 15 or so years ago,

And where are we now? I will leave this open.

One more gem I found to post on the April update. I found an:

Important information list. It begins:
1)Please read the "Diver Safety Plan". Sign on the same wall with numerous diplomas. Then inform us if you want to sign.
2) If you want to go deeper than 100 feet on any dive, please go down the road to another dive shop...some of them love deep diving . (See Bugseys cement cross on 150 ft or so).
3) On a guided tour please try to stay at the depth of the divemaster. Its much easier to plan our dive profiles this way.
(I am skipping some of them)
6) The Republic of Honduras has no insurance laws. You are on your own. (That's one reason diving is so cheap here),
7) Nothing we have is for sale unless you want to buy the whole dive shop, or if you lose or break
something.
8) The most dangerous thing you may encounter during your dive here are motor boats. Here they drive boats just like taxis.

Hope you enjoyed the April blog entry with a smile.

2011-03-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

cu

March went so fast...we must have had a good time then?

Yes, we sure had a good time. The air and the water is slowly heating up. This last week of march is hot-humid and no breeze or rain. I know people smile and shake their heads by this. But we DO feel its getting from warm to warmer and then to hot and sticky.
Kimberly is back, she never skips a year coming down to Roatan. Scott joined her this year and did his open water and just loves it here.
Recently Kimberly put together her famous all yearly dinnerparty. And as usual we all had eaten too much but had a great sunday on the patio.

Jacquie is back too for a visit. Remember her? Our divemaster in training 2009 into 2010 and best storyteller ever. Okay, Tyll is the best story teller ever, but Jacquie is right behind him I think.

I wish one of them would have been to the West End community meetings about the facelift of West End.
How they would have been able to recount the meetings and the outcome. I am actually not sure what the out come is and I don't think anyone really knows at this point. And I went to 2 of the meetings to hear it out and been following discussionsboards on the yahoo groups and facebook. And already there is a lot of confusion about who want what done and who is paying for it all in the end.

So its either nothing is happening or we one day will wake up to lots of machinery going down the road to begin tearing everything up to give West End a "facelift".

But other than that, its been a great month with fantastic people coming down for a week or two or just for the day on a cruisship.

To all who visited Roatan and us, hope to see you again someday for more diving and fun.

Team Tyll's

What 3 days of heavy rainfalls can do...

2011-02-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

Today is a beautiful sunny day, like most days here are. But 2 weeks ago the picture looked different.
3 days of constantly downpour. Not just showers, more like someone emptying gigantic barrels of water.
Even the locals would shake their heads and would muse "I have never seen anything like this".

The diving had to be cancelled, the sea turned into a brown soup as far you could see out beyond the reef.
Within days things were back to normal.
The sea cleared, the road got fixed, the red car is driving again, the t-shirt shop did not collapse, Nova is back in business with an extended beach.
People whose boats sank got them rescued. Houses and businesses have dried up without having had too much damage to talk about.

As soon the rain stopped, West End came back to live as a bear after been hibernating.

Will let the pics talk for themselves.

January 2011 Happy New Year

2011-01-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

January 2011

The new year started up a bit hectic. Amanda in England, Mo got busy having students all the time,and we having to call in freelance divemasters and on top of that train a new boatcaptain, who by the way is doing a great job and working hard, but has a lot to learn is still understandable.
Samuel seems a good kid, but so was Marcos in many ways, but he had his flaws and decided to quit his job. We are on good terms and still care about Carmen and Marquito.
The pic above is of the very nice danish family that brought us danish yummi stuff.

Amanda is back working now. Such a relief. Things are all of a sudden back to normal.
Yves, our divemaster from 2008 came back on vacation. What a surprise, and how good to have him and Katja around for the little while they will be on the island before continuing their travels.

Dory and Tracy returned with their husbandsGary and Ken. Gary we know for long and Ken finished his open water course. Then next surprise, Gayle and Peter turns up. Its been a fantastic start of the new year with so many of our loyal and by now good friends coming back and friends of friends arriving too.

Jenny comes in to hang out on the boat and snorkel and to be our eyes and gives feed back. So wonderful to have her around here and there again.

Donkey the kitten have had to stay home most days lately. She is still so playful, that we are afraid she will get in the way.

Well 2011 started up busy, hopefully it will stay on with comftable busy and fantastic people in a steady flow. But it is certainly good to see West End alive again after a long long time.

Uncertain opportunities and decisions are laying ahead of us, whether they will get real, we will have to be patient and wait and see.

We wish everybody a Happy New Year and good health and whatever good things you can wish for.

December to remember

2010-12-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

West End is still pretty slow. Nice for the people who likes to dive in small groups and get spoiled.
We have a new addition to the diveshop, Donkey. Donkey is a kitten somebody stragetically left at Sundowners, and ended up at ours to replace the emptiness of the still missing Molly and Lowfat.

She will never be a Lowfat, keeper of the weightbelts and she will never be Molly the dogfighter. She will be Donkey and will develope her own values for being a diveshop cat. She is cute and adorable, but are not all kittens like that?

West End is putting on its coat of Christmas and seems to wake up again as the businesses that were closed down are open again. Fairylights every where in all colours, fake Christmastrees, one is hanging upside down at the Blue Marlin. Something different.

Something never changes: The road gets grated and then it begins to rain...

For the last week Amanda and her divers had turtle sighntings on every dive, also they saw eels and a blackspotted nudibranch.

We had some of our "old" divers back. Overwhelming to have so many of them back at the same time. It was a wonderful week with a lot of catching up and vino sin queso party at the shop once again thanks to Sandra (James Bond diver, queen of fun and fighting fires when she is not travelling).
Lovely to see Marie Josee and meet Ray, and of all so strange to see Dory here without Gary the captain.
But those two we will see soon.

Things can be tight and difficult at times, but having all these people out there and popping in when you need them most is the most beautiful thing in our life.
I will use Sandras good bye words:
We love us, which means we are all there and means all of us. We love us!

Thank you all for diving with Tyll's Dive and becoming our friends.

Happy holidays and all the best wishes and good health for us all for 2011.

News and offers for November till Christmas

2010-11-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

Island tours and airport pick up.

You can now pre arrange your airport pick up and Island tours through Tyll's Dive
or directly contact Hannoh Ebanks:

hannohtoursroatan@hotmail.com
or
ebankstours@yahoo.com

November and december promotions if you are diving or doing courses at Tyll's:
Airport pickup to West End or vice versa for $15 (2 persons). If more persons please inquire and get your fair price

Hannoh speaks english and spanish and is very reliable and is also a very good friend of Tyll himself.

Hannoh has been doing island tours for Victor Bodden (Bodden Tours) for years, but would like to offer his services to other guests visiting Roatan besides cruiseship passengers.
2 persons: $ 75
3 persons: $ 85
4 or more : $ 25 per person

This is a fantastic deal, you can't beat that!!!

From now till Xmas its happy hour at Blenny House and Cabins.$30 per night for cabins (+ $5 A/C). (sleeps 2-3)

$100 per night for House (+ 10 A/C). (sleeps 6-8)
Great for groups of divers. Full kitchens and HOT showers!
www.bayislandsconnection.com
+(504) 990 055 789

Bays Islands Connection | vacation rentals, cabins, sailing, scuba diving | Roatan, Bay Islands, Hon

www.bayislandsconnection.com

Happy thoughts in gray october days

2010-10-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

Dive princesses and dive princes

What makes you a dive princess/prince?

1) you arrive on Roatan and think you will give it a try
2) you give it a try and kind of love it
3)You dive more and actually love it
4) whats that fish whats that little fellow poking out of the coral
5) now you really want to know what you are seeing and why they do what
6) sorry, you are hooked now
7) you don't wanna leave right now so you miss the ferry
8) bad weather, lets stay another day
9) I cant find my wallet
10) the Galaxy ferry at 7 am is too early anyway
11) Lets have a baleada since we missed the 2 pm ferry
12) We can have a dive since we are not going on the morning ferry
13) Group picture, we are really leaving. Okay. (Don't leave)
14) They left.....
15) But we know they left as diveprincesses, nothing less.
16) They went to explore the world, but know where they come from.
17) One fine day they will return.
18) I think 2 particular princesses know this story very well.
19) Is it then why we love what we do?
20) Left for your comment
21) Did not forget the diveprincess who brought the crocs and did the walks
22) We are all dive princesses or dive princes but there is only one queen and she might very well arrive in a few weeks
23) There is the Turtlekid
24) There is the seahorse finder
25) There is the paprazzi photograher
26) There is the finder of seaslugs
27) There is the seaspider girl
28) There is the little boy who one week is facinated by sharks next week by eagle rays (dive prince potential)
29) There is a diveshop family back at the shop who will make coffee and enjoy listenening to all the above findings
30)There is just enough stuff out there for everyone to enjoy. Keep blowing bubbles:-)
It's a beautiful day.

Where did Matthew go?

2010-09-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

This is the story. Matthew was the first announced storm to come by Roatan this season (lets just forget about the actually really first one (TS Alex), because that one was too early in the season). We all follow the weather on different weather pages on the internet, since we are a dive community we have to be aware that the boats are secured and bilgepumps are working properly. Well by friday early afternoon it already was clear that Tropical Storm Matthew would make landfall on the coast of Nicaragua and venture inland to mainland Honduras, Which means the islands would go clear with a bit wind and rainfall.
Anyways, everyone goes by continuing on with daily life. Some looking forward for friday night out in town untill the authorities arrive with following announcement: Because of incoming storm, there will be a curfew from latest 10 pm, make sure to stock up on food and water as no vehicles will be allowed out untill saturday 6 pm.
Here are following emergency numbers and so on. Since when does RECO (electric company) answer their phones after hours? Anyways, this was around 5 pm, and Matthew was already zooming across the mainland and we still had peace and quiet.
Uwe did ask the authority person: will I get arrested for checking on our boat during the night? They assured that he would be fine. Uwe did not get arrested for the record.
We have been living here since 1999, and have been through quite a few northerns, tropical depressions, storms and getting the outerwinds from hurricanes and had never had a curfew put on us for that reason.

In a storm with wind and rain, it might be the safest time ever to forget to lock your door and go out walking the street or beach in the middle of the night. The potential looters and robbers will be cuddling up home where it is safe.

Well we guess the Islands had to follow the emergency regulations they have on the mainland. After all, they got all the rain and mudslides in the end.

Saturday everything was back to normal.

Now this week we have rain and it has been windy, but its not a TS , (its just miserable changing NNW/NW/SW), so we can run around in the night if we want to.

PS. Think Matthew went to Belize...

Christmas came early this year

2010-08-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

After years of talking about getting a roof extension to give us some shade from the strong afternoon sun, it all turned very fast into action and reality. Big thanks to friends who helped us make this happen. Its AWESAME as Conal, divemaster, would have expressed it. A bit under 2 days and it was done. Amanda, instructor, supplied us with pics.
A lot of people were overseeing the work and the progress. Here Phil and Ken watching from above.
And here is the support team watching from across the road.

The pic'sare kind of in the wrong order, but at least I could finally upload them.
The roof is so nice. Come join us in the shade:-)

Marquito and Carmen are finally back home on Roatan

2010-07-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Marcos (our boatcaptain) and his fiancee Carmen are telling me once again to thank everybody who helped them getting through the months of uncertainty for their little boy, Marquito. Are the doctors going to remove the kidney or not? Is the new treatment they decided to try out gonna work? And on top of all these worries, Carmen herself had to have kidneystones removed.
Thanks again for all donations and great tip money to Marcos which went to help to pay the hospital bills.
Well, Carmen and Marquito are back on Roatan. Marcos is happy. They came for a visit today at the diveshop. (I know the photo got a bit too much sun}. As I understand, Marquito will still be on medication for a long time still. If no complications occur, they will first have to go back for a check up next year. So fingers crossed. He is a sweet little boy, who has been in and out of hospital many times over the last many months.

Mariposa Lodge

2010-07-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Great deals at Mariposa Lodge and Mariposa Pequena this month for walk- ins.

Min. 3 nights at the Mariposa Lodge for $35 a night (1-2 people), 3rd person +$10
Luxuary accomodation, hot water showers, TV with DVD (no cable, but they have a big selections of cd's), fully equipped kitchen, bottled water supplied, safe box in room, daily housekeeping.

Mariposa Pequena for $20 a night (1-2 people), 3rd person +$10
Shared bathrooms with hot water, shared spacious well equipped kitchen, ceiling fans, bottled water supplied, personal lockers, daily housekeeping.

Enjoy canadaen Sue and Mikes hospitality.

And its only 2 minutes away from Tyll's Dive!!!

New face at Tyll's Dive

2010-05-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Let us introduce Amanda and welcome her to Tyll's Dive.
Amanda is taking over from Kala who is going back to Canada mid June. We don't need to change on the board that we speak Canadian, since Amanda is also from Canada.

Luckily Clay and Lisa arrived from Arizona on thursday, after not having been here for about two years, and wanted finally do their advanced course. Here they are going over homework, and what they saw on the dive.

Feeling comftable busy is a good feeling

2010-05-21T18:38:00.001-07:00

There is nothing better than have some nice people wandering in and out of the shop. Enjoying their dive experience with Mo and Rino.
After Semana Santa was over it got kind a quiet. But still had some great divers coming through from the cruiseship. People who do not like "cattle-diving".
Then Ernesto contacts us. Me and some friends are coming down for a few days. Always thinks he is from Nicaragua, bu everytime he has to correct me, no Guatemala, I lived in Nicaragua. But we remember always right that he likes the german football team from the last World Cup.
Ernesto is a diveenthusiast, and got a treat going out this afternoon one on one with Rino. And they spotted an octopus feeding on a conch. They told they wanted just to stay put and watch this. So rare to see.
And now we wait for them all to come back from the nightdive. Hope they saw "Strings of pearls".

What a nice letter

2010-04-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Til:

"Uwe-Dorte Bockwoldt"

Hello again Dorte!

We just returned from our trip Sunday night, so I am just beginning to get caught back up with reality ; )

We VERY MUCH enjoyed our scuba diving experience with you and Monique.

Everything went very smoothly--Tony was wonderful--and it was VERY reassuring to know that you had those details handled for us ahead of time.

I was very glad not to have to deal with the scammers at the port and have to haggle on transportation to and from your place and be assured return to the ship on time. Not knowing the local customs, and being a single mother, I was very leary and YOU made it all work out just perfectly!

Tony was a true gentleman and very attentive.

That being said, it was our scuba experience with you all that was BY FAR the highlight of our trip! We can't wait to come back and are thinking of maybe staying out there on the West End by you somewhere for a week next year and really take the time to enjoy that gorgeous little piece of paradise!

Be sure to Thank Monique for holding my hand throughout the entire dive experience--I was clearly the most difficult diver and she was a true GEM! Love HER!

When things settle down here a bit I will send the photos you requested and would be happy to write a review for you on Trip Advisor or do anything else I can to help you and your wonderful business thrive!

Thanks again for everything!

Fondly,

Linda Zubek and family

Largo, Florida

April

2010-04-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

It's mid april already. Time seems just to fly by. The dmt's (Jacquie, Conal and Mike) have finished and flown out of the nest. Left is Kala and Chase to take out the divers, but not for long.
They want some new adventures before they too have to go back home.
This is the hard thing living and working in a place like this. The changeover of people.
You get to know so many great people, but one day they have to go back home.

At least we have found a new instructor, Amanda. This is fantastic because she knows most of the divesites here and been on the island for a while already. And she is a very sweet person, and we are sure we will have a good team again.
I have to mention that Mo and Rino still will be helping out. And of course Marcos is here and still the best boatcaptain. So there will still be familiar faces around at the shop.

Cruiseship season is slowing down. Less ships coming in now untill fall. Last week we had a couple a taxidriver brought in. They loved the diving and are planning to come back later this year for a week. Well now they for sure have to, because in the hurry after the dives to get back to the ship in time, they forgot their regulators...
At least they got our flyer so they can contact us. So far they haven't. The cruiseships charge up to $1 pr minute for internet use.

Updates on Marquito.
Today when Marcos was getting the boat ready for the night a phonecall came from Carmen, who is still in Tegucigalpa with Marquito. Last we talked to her she was hopeful, things looked better. But the message today was Marquitos condition had taken a turn to the worse again.
I saw Marcos out at the boat, hiding his face. I think he was crying or most likely trying not to.

Updates on Lowfat and Molly.
None.

Weather updates.
It wanted to turn ugly today, but the sun won the battle, and the 2 canadians could still do 2 dives today. The sea was a bit bumpy, but now this late afternoon its calm, its sunny and warm.

Life is good.

Chasing the sunsets

2010-03-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

Kristin Haynes has over the last months been a busybee here in West End.
She has made a painting of nearly every diveshop, bar and restaurant by now.
Postcards have been printed and the profit from the sales goes to the SolFoundation:
www.solroatan.org
You can see more if you visit www.kristinhaynes.blogspot.com

Marquito

2010-03-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

The letter from Carmen

Marquito

Marcos is back from Tegucigalpa. Carmen and Marquito have to stay over there.
They have not done the operation yet. The doctors decided to try another treatment after they had to postpone the operation twice.
If that does not work either they have to operate, but they have some hopes it might.
The donated money has been deposited at the hospital and Marcos brought over a copy of the receipt.
It goes towards the treatment, laboratory tests. Carmen and Marcos have been assured they will not have to come up with the whole amount again if there has be a surgery in the next month or two. Guess you can call they got a package deal.

Carmen , sweet Carmen, also send over a letter to thank everyone who has been and still is helping them economically.
She also wrote a little note to explain Marquitos medical condition, but it contains medical terms which we need help with to translate and explain.

People Carmen and Marcos want to thank (and we at Tyll's too) so far:
Ed and Mo, who got generous tip on the 8th of march at the Blue Marlin, because they told it would go to the little boy.
Claus and Fran, who were visiting the island.
Jacquie (also muchos gracias for helping make this happen), Conal, Chase, Michael, Capt. Alex, Ruthie, Jenny Myton, Jenny Blenny, Kathryn (RG), Gay (CCT), Nina, Erna, Wolfgang Gehring , Marty and David Sperow, Diane.

Besides that Marcos tip money and pay for looking after Moody Blues for Noelle, went into the pot as well.

There is a saying, just not sure its quite like this, but you will understand the meaning.
Many small creeks makes a big river.

When help is needed.

2010-03-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is something new to us, to ask people for money. But its not for ourselves at least.

We are trying to collect money for Carmen (worked for Justus at the Purple Turtle) and Marcos (our boatcaptain for years now.) Their 8 months old son is having surgery on thursday. Most likely he is gonna have one kidney removed. The treatments so far has not helped and the kidney is very bad. Carmen has been in Tegucigalpa for over a month now. They only have the income from Marcos now. We and Justus have lend them money for the unsuccesful treatments.
The baby is in hospital Maternidad Infantil in Tegucigalpa and before the surgery its common practice to make a deposit. In this case it's lempiras 11.000.

Its all on a very short notice, so we have not had much time to arrange anything.
Jacquie, divemaster in training, has been very helpful with coming up with ideas, where I would have gotten stucked.

But people here have been great at chipping in. Many small amounts sums up in the end and we are positive to be able to deposit the amount at Banco Atlantida by wednesday.

This is the beautie in a small community, people do look after each other in times of need.

Thank you all.

Missing cats

2010-01-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

So these are the news.
Molly, the dogfighther and Lowfat the Padi professional have been missing for over two weeks now. Where are they, where are their furry bodies?
Understand diveshopcats have their jobs assigned to them, and they are missed. Our rhythm every morning has been thrown off. Molly and Lowfat have been, well they have characters as the cats they are. And now they are gone, abducted by aliens who wants to study diveshopcats...or they got killed. Who knows. Nothing left but their 8 kg bag of catfood. Dissapeared from the surface of the crust of this island.

2010, this is gonna be a great year.

2010-01-03T14:37:00.001-08:00

It has been months since there has been any activity on this blog. There really hasn't been much to post. But now Christmas is over and everyone in West End (diveshops, restaurants and bars) had a busy week. Everyone is feeling things really will be better again on the island.

Cruiseship business is picking up. Not all cruisers want to stay in a big group, and thats where the small diveshops in West End come in. Who wants to dive in a group with 14-15 other divers. The marinelife will scatter away when they see all the bubbles and flaring arms and legs.

As to the weather, it has mostly been fine, but when we have a northern coming in we quick change from bikinis, boardshorts to warm clothes to keep warm and dry.
And we can warm up and hang out with Ed at the Blue Marlin across the shop.

2010 can only be a much better year. Already with the diveshop staff and dmts the vipe is great.
Yes cheers to good happy year.

The greenflash at sunset

2009-10-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

An article from today at www.World4Honduras.com

2009-08-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

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

New divemasters

2009-08-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-17T18:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-06-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-18T14:29:00.002-07:00

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

2009-04-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-17T20:52:00.002-07:00

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

one fine day in february

2009-04-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

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

Kent Ebanks first open water cert

2009-04-13T18:37:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

New boatengine arrived

2009-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

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