Wayward Rambling

Today we only did two dives in the morning. We did a boat dive and a drop dive. That’s it, because you can’t dive for 18 hours before flying. Our boat dive this morning was at Mineagerhea’s Reef. Once again Linda took photos so that I could focus on my breathing. We saw a large puffer fish and schools of many blue fish. I did pretty well with my air consumption. I actually managed to be the second last person on the boat. Second only to Linda of course.

Our boat has a two divers sitting across from us. They are a bit older, I’m not sure if they’re married, but they’ve certainly known each other many years. They were giving me tips yesterday between dives. Today when I came back onto the boat, the guy asked if I wanted to see something really wild. He swapped out his regulator with the rental I had. The regulator is over ten years old but it is a high end model. I took a video breathing on it. I am curious to see what it sounds like.

I burned up a bit more air on the drop dive. We dropped at Newman’s Wall. Linda said I was swimming pretty fast. We saw the turtle with remoras attached to it as soon as we dropped in. It was shallow on top of the reef. Once we got to the wreck, we saw a large stingray partially buried in the sand behind the stern. Some others reported back to us that they did see the squid to the right coming in, but we missed them. I also saw a white shrimp crawling in the sea grass on my way in. I pointed it out to Linda. He ran and hid in his hole, so I think she didn’t get a picture of it.

After our dives we paid our bill in the office. We settled up with Mickey for the camera rental after Lunch. At Dockside divers, Linda wanted some postcards of dive sites. Andy purchased a rash guard with the dive shop’s name on it, and we paid for our gear rental. We left a tip for the resort staff. We tipped the boat crew and dive masters separately in person. We also went out to a Roatan Island Brewing Co, a local brew pub. We enjoyed a flight of beers and had a tour. They offered three non-alcoholic options so I had something to drink, too. I enjoyed the tour the owner gave. The brewery has a unique set of challenges due to energy costs on the island, taxes on imports, and waste water disposal. The tour was different than others because of these aspects, which I enjoyed hearing about.

Tonight we had lobster and steak for dinner. After dinner the staff announced people who completed dive certifications. Linda and I were recognized for completing nitrox. The bartender Willie served his rum punch at 7:30 pm. I grabbed a glass for Linda. I bought myself a coke. The coke down here comes in returnable bottles. It’s made from cane sugar.

We made it an early night. We went back to our cabana. I went out to look for Edgar to give him a tip. Edgar was our dive master for two dives one day. I wasn’t able to find him. We will leave an envelope with his name in the office. I also wanted to grab our sand socks, Linda’s hairband and my wet suit off of the line in front of the dive lockers. When I was about to walk over there it started raining.

We had to wake up a half hour earlier today because the boat left at 8:00 instead of 8:30. Our dive site, Mary’s Place was further away. It’s also a popular site, so we wanted to get there before it got crowded. Something special about Mary’s Place is that there are two swim throughs. You are surrounded by coral on either side as you go through these areas.

While we went through them, I took photos and videos of Linda swimming. When I watched the video after the dive, I realized that I was taking short breaths in and out. Slightly panicked but not quite hyperventilating. Marco would always tell me when I get back into the boat that I’m breathing too quick. He says breathe normal and mimics my rapid breath. After realizing this I made a much better effort to breathe slowly – a four count in and an eight count out, on my afternoon dives.

At Mary’s Place, we saw a turtle swim through our dive group. Now, that was exciting! We also saw a mantis shrimp. Linda saw a large seahorse. After the dive, we drove through the harbor on the way back to avoid the swell of the large waves. The dive crew on board brought the boat up to a couple groups of kids waiting outside their houses. They threw each group of kids a package of cookies. It was heart warming to see that.

For our drop dive, we asked to drop on the Prince Albert wreck. Linda and I swam through many parts of the wreck. We might not have explored all of it. But we easily saw 80% of it, if not more. We saw a trumpet fish on the wreck. Andy saw a lion fish before he went into the wreck the first time.

Before the afternoon boat dive, Andy wanted to stop by the nurse’s station. He explained how he felt foggy after diving. How it was way worse before breathing nitrox. She talked to Andy about breathing slowly, taking a four count in and an eight count out. She said you need to focus on it until it becomes monkey memory. The nurse considered us new divers because we haven’t had over 100-200 dives yet. She also gave a vibrating tool to clear water from ear drums. I need to return that before we leave. Since getting this advice and using it, Andy feels better after diving.

The afternoon dive was at the French Cay Cut. We saw big groupers, schools of fish and a moray eel swimming. We also saw a sting ray. Other fish include a big trumpet fish and a sand flounder. We also started noticing jellyfish, which we haven’t before.

We dropped on Coco View Wall in the afternoon. Andy found a jellyfish and took a video to make a record of his effort to control his breathing. Linda saw a huge lobster on the wall. Andy found a shrimp in a barrel sponge. Linda saw a spider crab along the chains for the safety stop. We saw two lionfish. One was at the pier, and the other was to the right of the safety stop.

Before dinner tonight, they had a hermit crab race. You can buy as many entries into the race as you want. Crabs are $1 each. Top three finishers from the first round advance to the final. Winner takes all. We entered four crabs for the race. I was surprised that we actually won both the first race and the final. Linda took a video of the crab races. But she missed the night dive master, Edgar, saying he would turn the losing crabs into soup.

After the crab races we ate dinner. Then we got to watch the fire dancers. We did both of these events the last time we came to Coco View. But they are still a lot of fun. We came back to our room to discuss how we are going to allocate funds for tipping. Linda and Andy also talked about practicing diving before our next trip.

This morning our boat dive was a repeat from our last trip. The dive site was Valley of the Kings. We saw a trumpet fish. We also saw a few schools of fish. Seems that schooling happens more at shallower depths. We also saw a spider crab, a lobster and a tiny pipe fish.

Our drop dive was Newman’s Wall this morning. When we neared the end of the wall, Andy found a yellow jawfish poke its head out of the sand. One of our dive masters this week gave us a tip after he pointed one out to us. Andy didn’t get a photo of it that time. But the dive master said if you see one, he’ll go back in his hole. Then you can wait a bit. They are curious fish, so they will poke their head out to look at you. When Andy saw the fish at Newman’s Wall, he was able to get a pic with this tip.

When we got to the Prince Albert, Linda spotted a trumpet fish. We practiced taking photos the way Mickey suggested at his lesson earlier in the week. We also saw an eel under a large rock heading up the chains after the safety stop. It was likely a green moray eel. We also took some nice pictures of a large trunkfish.

Our afternoon boat dive was PG & Me. The best part of this dive was the two swim through spots we went through. One was a crack in the reef that we descended through. The other was another hole in the rock we swam through on our way back to the boat. We saw a flounder hiding on top of a barrel sponge. Andy scared it unintentionally so we saw it swim a bit too. There was a deep wall. We saw a sting ray coming back to the boat.

Our afternoon drop dive was at Coco View Wall. Andy saw a king crab. We also saw lobsters and shrimp. They dropped us further back on the wall. So we didn’t have as much air when we got to the wreck.

Tonight we attempted another night dive. The tide is very high. There’s a full moon tonight. The current near the resort is also very hard to swim through. We put our fins on close to the resort where Linda could still stand. Andy led us to the platform. The whole time we struggled to progress. We were able to follow the reflective buoys on the chain. As we struggled with the current, eventually the chain stopped. At that point we couldn’t figure out where the next buoy was. Andy remembered the chain going all the way through the grass until there was sand substrate. Visibility was very poor. We made the decision to abort the dive before we got to the safety stop. Getting back to the resort was a challenge.

We made it to shore, but we misjudged our direction. We both thought we would be near the hammocks on the dock the way the waves were pushing us. However we wound up further down the beach near the cabanas. It was a challenge getting back to the entrance to take our fins off. We didn’t want to walk on the sea grass.

Today Edgar was our dive master. Our morning boat dive was at Osman’s Reef. We saw two seahorses and a pipe fish in a rock. Our drop dive was at Newman’s Wall. We stayed shallow, aiming for 20-30 feet deep, to conserve air. We also wanted to see the Prince Albert. Andy found a seahorse on the wreck. We also saw a shrimp next to the seahorse.

Our afternoon boat dive today was at First Bight Wall. We saw puffer fish, lobster and king crab. We also saw a fish that tucked into a hole in the sand. Edgar pointed out a very small fish to us. We talked to him about it later before dinner. He said it was called a red arrow fish, or Arrow Blenny.

Our drop dive in the afternoon was on Coco View Wall. Linda found a king crab on the wall. Andy took a cool photo of some crab remains he found in a barrel sponge. We’re guessing a fish had a tasty treat there. Once again we stayed around 30 feet until we got to the Prince Albert to explore it more. We saw a yellow seahorse on the wreck. Andy made it to the wreck before Linda. Only to realize that she was a ways behind him. She was trying to get his attention because she saw a Manta Ray. Andy saw it before it left. But the picture he took was from far away unfortunately. The ray swam along the sand towards Coco View Wall then we out from there. On our way in from the safety stop, we saw a crab buried in the sand. It was after most people take their fins off. A guy walked right past us, he could have stepped on it. We also saw a barracuda underneath the platform before we took off our fins.

We played cribbage before dinner. After dinner we called Annabelle. We we out for a night dive at 8:30 pm. Before we went out a couple divers that just came in gave us some tips on where to find an octopus. We found it right where they said. Just to the right of the safety stop. Andy realized it was hunting. He ballooned up his body to attack a fish. He took off after that though. We also saw a barracuda swimming around the wreck and near Newman’s wall. We got a nice photo of a sea turtle with some fish hitchhiking on it’s back. We saw another octopus on the stern of the wreck. We had plenty of time to observe this one. We have some great photos and videos from it. We found a lobster inside the wreck too. Andy also found a ragworm there. We saw a hermit crab digging through sand for food after the safety stop. Andy saw a sand flounder on the way back in.

Today our morning boat dive was The Wreck of Mr Bud. We saw two sea horses. One was black striped, the other looked like a regular sea horse. We saw a moray eel swimming around in open water a couple feet up from the reef. Another interesting thing was a tiny crab. We also saw a pipe fish near the mooring line at the end of the dive. Andy liked Mr Bud because it was the first time he and Linda got to swim through a wreck.

Our drop dive was at Newman’s Wall. Linda spotted a lion fish on the coral wall. We also saw some squid near the trail coming in from the safety stop. There were several of them. We also saw a lobster.

Over our lunch break, we took a class on under water photography taught by Mickey. Mickey runs the camera shop at the resort. We rented an Olympus 5A from him. He has it set so we can take decent shots under water at depth without a flash. He talked about two different approaches to photography. One was a photographer who would spend a week taking a single photo. He said you create a photo. The other photographer said “F8 and be there”. His thought was that you want to capture a single moment that happens in an immediate instant.

Mickey said that you want to capture this instant you see a fish so that you get it’s head and eyes facing you in the photo. Too late and often we get photos of fish tails as they swim away. He talked about taking a quick first photo and setting the camera for better settings if you still have time to get a better shot. He said that you’re best under water with the sun at your back, just like on land. He also said that it’s best to be looking up at a fish rather than down.

The boat dive this afternoon was Forty Foot Point. We saw a mantis shrimp at the mooring line here on our last trip. Today he didn’t make an appearance. We saw lobster and a crab on a coral shelf.

Our drop dive was on Coco View Wall. Andy spotted a large lion fish, a puffer fish with spikes, and a shrimp in a barrel sponge. We also saw hermit crabs.

After dinner we had a video call with Annabelle. Then we got ready for a night dive. Our plan was that Andy would lead the dive. We wanted to dive Newman’s Wall, then come back to the Prince Albert. After that we wanted to see the sunken airplane off of the Prince Albert.

On our way out, we saw a bunch of lobster on our way to the safety stop. Andy saw one just past him, then two coming right at him. He went over one in about four feet of water. After the safety stop, Andy spotted a couple squid as we approached the wreck. Linda was struggling to take a photo of them. Eventually we moved on. Andy had used a lot of air at this point. We would have stayed at the wreck and airplane rather than going to Newman’s Wall.

We had come up the bow of the ship after seeing the squid. One mistake here was following the line down to the airplane. What we should have done, if Andy hadn’t used so much air, was go back to the middle of the ship where the compass heading leads you from Newman’s Wall. This would be a known reference point.

At any rate we continued forward thinking we were headed to Newman’s Wall. Andy was worried his air supply was too low, so he turned back. Linda was a bit confused about what was happening. We continued the dive when Linda noticed our dive computer beeped at us.

We are diving nitrox, so you can’t go past a certain depth for safety purposes. The computer beeped because we had reached this depth. At that point Linda got Andy’s attention and we started to surface. On our way up we saw a sea turtle swimming with a few fish hitchhiking on its back.

While we were navigating this disaster, it wasn’t completely clear what each other was doing. We held on to one another as we had difficulty maintaining our buoyancy. At times we would ascend too fast. We intended to do a safety stop. We actually wound up doing two of them because we unintentionally surfaced once, then went down too deep, and had to do another safety stop.

Once we were on the surface, Linda suggested we remain calm. Andy apologized for getting us lost and leading too deep. Linda later admitted we were both at fault because she should have intervened sooner. Andy turned off his flashlight realizing we may be out there for a while. We didn’t need two lights swimming back on the surface holding each other.

We had swum for a bit and poked out heads up to see where we were. Somehow we were turned around, swimming in the wrong direction away from the safety stop and resort. From that point forward, Andy poked his head up periodically and corrected our course. He aimed us for the two story beach accommodation at Coco View. Andy was concerned that the current may prevent us from making progress home. He picked his head up a couple more times. Relieved, he saw the beach residence getting much larger as we were getting closer.

We saw the strobe light flashing at the safety stop. We went down to grab our tags from the safety stop. Then we came back in through the channel like normal. On our way in, we saw a coral reef eel snake.

We were glad we made it out safely. We were also glad we had each other to get through this disaster. After we got our gear put away and back to our Cabana, Linda stated that the diving computers Andy bought before the trip saved our lives.

Today was our first day of diving. We woke up, then went to rent our gear at Dockside Divers, which is the dive shop at Coco View Resort. After that we ate breakfast. Our first dive was at Anka’s Place. We saw a nurse shark, two lobsters, and two moray eels. For our morning drop dive, we dove Newman’s Wall. We saw a seahorse on the shipwreck. We also saw a puffer fish by the safety stop.

After we ate lunch, we stopped into the dive shop to finish our nitrox certification. We did a test then the dive master taught us how to analyze tanks. We need to analyze our nitrox tanks ahead of our boat dives. We also stopped by the camera shop to rent a camera.

The afternoon boat dive was at Two Tall, Two Small. We saw a nurse shark underneath coral. Andy saw a lobster. Actually, this trip we’ve seen so many lobsters and hermit crabs that the novelty is wearing off a bit. The drop dive was at Coco View Wall. Again we saw another lobster in the coral.

We waited a bit to eat dinner. The Super Bowl was on TV in the upstairs of the restaurant and bar area. We watched the game and ate dinner. I talked to another guest who also happened to be an unemployed database administrator. After the halftime show, we set out for a night dive.

We are a bit more prepared for night dives on this trip. We have a spare flashlight to share as a backup. We also each have a beacon light. It doesn’t focus a beam like a flashlight. Instead it’s like a light bulb. So it illuminates the other diver for you. We had some difficulty keeping track of each other without this last trip.

On our night dive, we saw several hermit crabs. We saw a few lobster on our way to the safety stop. Our plan was to dive Coco View Wall first and turn back early. Next we wanted to explore the Prince Albert wreck in the front yard. We saw a couple coral clinging crabs – they have a large round body. On an earlier dive we saw one in a barrel sponge too. When we made it to the wreck, we saw three or four turtles. We saw two separately, then two together. The sea turtles had fish sleeping on their backs. Just along for the ride, like in Finding Nemo. Andy also saw a couple small squid, probably a little bigger than one of his fingers.

For this trip we came back to Coco View Resort in Roatan, Honduras. Because we missed out a couple days of our last trip, we were given a credit from the resort. They gave us two years to use it. So here we are, just coming in under the wire.

Linda and I initially booked a flight with an overnight layover. The night before our flight, we were able to change flights. Instead we had to wake up at 3 am to drive to the airport. Again we flew through DFW, then to RTB. We weren’t able to sit next to each other on the flight to Roatan because we booked last minute. We were glad we skipped a day of travel though.

Our trip was fairly uneventful – which is a good thing. We landed in Roatan, went through customs, met up with Chloe from the resort. Then shuttled to the dock, took a boat ride to the island resort. We had a late lunch when we arrived. We turned in some paperwork at the office.

Linda and I signed up to hunt Lionfish. She told me that she isn’t interested in hunting them. But she will dive with me as I hunt them. Although they are a horrible invasive species that destroys the marine life at the reef here, I can understand why some people don’t want to hunt. I will be happy if she just comes a long with me.

After dinner tonight Linda and I played a game of cricket on their dartboard. However we kept track on Linda’s phone because the dart board didn’t work very well. After that we played two more games of ping pong.

We came back to our room and called our daughter Annabelle. Grandma had just gotten her home from a birthday party at Annabelle’s friend’s house. It felt good to talk to and see our baby girl. We are making it an early night. Looking forward to diving tomorrow.

We drove out to Denver over Annabelle’s spring break. We planned to spend a couple days with her cousin Hannah and her uncle Matt and aunt Karly. Leaving after work Friday, we split the drive into two days. We spent the night in Des Moines, IA. We arrived in Denver ahead of schedule on Saturday. Matt made us steak for dinner.

Our first full day was Sunday. We went to Meow Wolf in Denver. A google search describing it turns up the following “What is it? Meow Wolf: Convergence Station is a massive, 90,000 square foot narrative art exhibition built around the concept of quantum travel.” I would describe it as a post apocalyptic environment. The place is fairly large, with people in costume and a handful of stories to walk through. We met a teller who gave Hannah a prize. She also sent Annabelle on a quest. AB had to find a woman in black robes near the Castle and hand her a crystal. When we found her the woman told us the crystal was from the wall nearby.

We ate lunch at Briar Common Brewery + Eatery. Then we headed to Red Rocks. I have been to Denver a few times. I always wanted to go to Red Rocks but hadn’t been there yet. We had to hike a bit from our parking spot to get there. We didn’t see a concert but we got to walk around the stadium. It’s built into a natural amphitheater in a rock formation. We got to dance around on stage. The cousins played a game of tag. We took photos. We walked to the top of the stadium seats. You can see the city of Denver in the background from the top. On our way home we stopped at the Colorado Creamery for ice cream. The ice cream really hit the spot, it was very creamy and tasty.

We went to see Lake Superior. It reminded us of Ireland at the Berran because of the rocky shore. They had cool picnic tables made up both rocks and logs cut in half. We stopped at Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel walkway. I was a little nervous going across the bridge here.

We saw Two Harbors Lighthouse from the outside. We ate a gyro and hot dogs and fries at Coney Island Deluxe. Then we stopped at the train museum and rode the narrated train. The train museum was definitely worth a visit. They had a large assortment of engines and train cars. We were even able to go inside them.

We ate pop tarts this morning while we waited for our tent to dry. Then, we broke camp. It took us two hours of paddling with the wind and portaging to get back to the outfitters. We took the river to Sawbill.

We returned our gear. On our way out, the outfitter mentioned he’d like to hear how our trip went. So we met up with him to give him an update.

We drove to Goose Berry Falls. We stopped to see Split Rock Lighthouse on the way. We saw the upper falls. Thenw e set up our tent to dry before pitching it. We showered.

We went out to dinner at the Grand Superior Grill. It’s a resort with a restaurant. They had a giant bolo ball game on the lawn in front. So we played for a bit. We came back to camp and saw the middle and lower falls. Hardly anyone was out after dinner which made the experience that much more enjoyable. The falls were handicap accessible. They have both switchbacks and stairs to get down to see them. Then we had a campfire and went to bed.