Roatan, Honduras - Living the Dream!

Finding an Apartment

Since we were going to be staying for a while and following the break in at our hotel we decided to try and rent an apartment for the two months we planned to be in Roatan. After a couple of days of searching we found a perfect two bed-roomed apartment, relatively modern by Roatan standards and settled ourselves in. After being on the road for so long it felt fantastic to have a place of our own in which we could actually unpack our bags and cook for ourselves. So, excited by the thought of being able to make our own dinner for the first time in months, we hired a jeep and made a trip to the supermarket – what a novelty!

We stayed in the apartment for almost a month by ourselves, then rented out our spare room to one of the other divemaster trainees studying with Sam. Our new flatmate Michaela was great and we spent the nights drinking with the gang at the diveshop, watching terrible movies on Honduran cable TV or playing cards. It was just like being back at Uni!

Divemaster Training

The course itself was pretty hard work after months of doing nothing, and Sam spent most of the first 3 weeks studying and sitting exams. On the plus side, everyone studying at Reef Gliders gets unlimited free diving (space on the dive boat permitting), so we were able to get dives in most days.

Sam stormed through his rescue diver course, partnered with Michaela to respond to mock emergencies and rescue scenarios, including finding a “lost diver” (read as old pink fin) at sea. For the Divemaster course, he had to be able to perform all of the core diving skills to demonstration quality, plus do skills like exchanging equipment underwater, emergency buddy breathing, mapping, fitness and to brief and lead several dives himself. It all took about four weeks so Sam decided to also do the Assistant Instructor course, which took another week. He’s now just one step away from coming a full instructor (which he hopes to complete when we get to Australia).

The Diving

The diving in Roatan was amazing. The water is warm and amazingly blue, the diving easy and relaxed. Most days we saw a huge array of tropical fish as well as turtles, moray eels, nudibranks (thanks to divemaster Chris’s love for spotting the smallest things!), seahorses and tons more. My favourite site was called ‘Spooky Channel’ so named for the rather gloomy

channel that you have to swim through before you enter a huge undersea cavern, a very atmospheric dive and one that we did the morning after the earthquake where we saw huge pieces of coral that had broken off and fallen.

While we were in Roatan, we also began to spot Lionfish occasionally on dives; these are a non-native species which were accidentally released into the Carribean several years ago. Lionfish are beautiful, but very aggressive predators from the Red Sea that breed very quickly, making them a significant threat to native fish populations. While we were there, Roatan Marine Park began an awareness campaign and encouraged people to try and capture any that were spotted (slightly dubious as they are also very poisonous).

Learning Spanish and Working at the ‘Wet Spot’

While Sam was busy studying I found plenty to occupy my time. Soon after we arrived I got a part-time job working at the bar attached to the dive-shop. It was called ‘The Wet Spot’ and its slogan was ’where divers always come’….classy. My boss was a crazy lady called Michelle who told me on my first day ‘I’m a real bitch so watch out’...she lived up to her promise! I worked most afternoons and evenings from 3 to 8 for the meagre wage of approx. $9 a day which only just covered my bar tab at the end of the week. Although the money wasn’t good it was a great way to meet people and hang out with the guys from the diveshop. I probably spent more time playing cards and checking my emails than I actually did serving beers anyway!

I also signed up for a 2 week Spanish course in the mornings which helped to improve my Spanish a little although I am still woefully bad. The nights out drinking with guys from the diveshop didn’t help and my teacher always looked so disappointed when I showed up the next morning without having done my homework, “practica, practica,pracica” she would tell me every day….”practice, practice , practice”!

Friends

The best part about Roatan was making so many friends. We spent many a night drinking and chatting at the Wet Spot with Jen, Chris, Mac, Pip, Pete, Rich, Mel and others. Sunday night at Oasis Pool bar was the highlight of the week where ‘T’ DJs every week and after a few drinks everyone ends up in the pool.

For Mel’s birthday us girls went out on a fishing trip with Otto our boat captain. Needless to say not much fishing was done as we were easily distracted by wine and gossip.

Our stay in Roatan was a well needed rest from the road but it was also a chance to really get to know people and to experience new things (who thought I’d ever be a barmaid??). It gave us both a chance to really stop and relax before heading off on our travels again.

Military Coup

Whilst on Roatan we heard news from the mainland that the President of Honduras had been overthrown by the military and a temporary government installed. The President had been trying to change the constitution to enable him to stay in office for another term, a course of action that his opponents claimed was illegal. The eviction of the President was denounced by other countries including the US and it polarised Honduras. Many people welcomed the eviction of the president who they thought corrupt whilst others claimed his eviction was illegal and that he should be restored to power. On several occasions the president tried to re-enter the country but was prevented from doing so by the temporary government who blocked the runways to prevent his plane from landing.

The event sparked mass protests on the mainland some turning violent. It also evoked international interest. The president of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez, even threatened military action if the Honduran President was not restored. We often heard reports of his troops massing on the borders of Nicuragua and Honduras ready to intervene if necessary. On the island we watched the news with growing interest despite there being only a nominal impact. As events began to unfold cruise ships took the bay islands off of their itineraries and some flights were cancelled, it got noticeably quieter. A military curfew was also put in place forcing everything to close down and everyone to be off the streets by 9pm.

Although we didn’t experience the full impact of events from the mainland, we began to get a little nervous, especially when all flights out of Roatan were cancelled and the US government advised against travel to the country (the UK advice was more reasoned and although it counselled caution it did not advise against travel to Honduras). For the next few weeks we waited for news of things kicking off on the mainland but it never came. Political tensions still simmered but it seemed the worst had passed. We decided however to avoid the Honduran mainland and for the next leg of our journey we planned to fly directly from Roatan to Costa Rica. Unfortunately it meant also missing out on Nicuragua which we have heard is amazing, I guess that will just have to be another trip.