The inbetween blog. No.1

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

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.

Time

Time is a strange thing. It goes slow and fast at once. The pace of the day can be slow, but the week is over before you know.
The life on a little island can feel as living in a time bubble. The days are pretty much the same. It doesn't matter if its tuesday or friday. At one point we decided to open up the diveshop a bit later on saturdays, just to think its weekend, kind of. Another way to know its saturday is that Woodys grocery store is closed.
Monday we know because the Rotisserie Chicken is closed. Tuesday, wednesday and thursdays are cruiseship days.Friday is party, sunday is funday, Saturday are inbetween days..
You know the month has changed when the bills begin to roll in.
People leave and years can go by before they return. But when they return its like they just left a few months ago and not years.
People ask, when was the last time you were back in Europe? You actually have to think hard to come up with the correct answer. It goes by this: 2010, weekend in El Salvador, 2009 did we go to Panama or was that in 2008, when did we then go to Nicaragua? Did we go to Colorado in 2007? It can't be that long ago we went to the wedding.
Some people say that time fly faster the older you get, but if you have a good time, time fly by fast too.
Economic down times go slow, but bills still arrive faster.
If you wait in line at the bank or just waiting for something, time goes slow. Even a rainy windy day goes slower than a beautiful sunny day.

Why do I think of time? Conal recently stated, that it was exactly a year ago he walked into the diveshop with his backback.

And its 12 years since we arrived on the island. Where did that time go? Lots of stories I should have written down but never did, because there is plenty of time to do so...there is always tomorrow.

For the Danes who reads this, remember Valdemar Atterdag: Der er atter en dag i morgen. There is always another day tomorrow.
And yes, there is always another day. And its mostly a beautiful one

But our annevesery is coming up.
We think its th 12 of may:-)

April and stories

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.

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

Seahorse

This is the cutest little video of a free swimming seahorse in the shallow water in Half Moon Bay.
It was filmed a couple of years ago by one of our divemasters in training. It was either Jeppe, Matthias or Yves.
I have not posted it earlier as I thought I had lost it on one of my by now many broken laptops.

But today was cleaning up day on the USB sticks, and there it was.

And since Amanda is actually finding seahorses, pipehorses and all sorts of things lately its a perfect time to share this video clip.

What 3 days of heavy rainfalls can do...

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.