turtle tagging

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On Wednesday we finally tagged our first turtle. Without the assistance of Darren, one of the dive masters at Fantasy Island Resort, it may not have been possible. They have been a lot harder to catch than expected. Unfortunately we do not have a boat by which we can do a longer term tracking (4-6hours) so we went back with the dive boat on Friday to see if the turtle was still hanging out in the area of release and thankfully, yes it was still there.

On Thursday we came across a small turtle and attempted a capture. At one point the little shit swam circles around me, staying just out of arm’s reach, as if taunting me. If it is possible to look like a moron underwater, I can assure you that is what I looked like. Of course it got away as well. On my way back to join the rest of the divers a big, ugly moray eel chased me to within five feet of the surface, snarling, pointy teeth and all, what an asshole. Woke up on the wrong side of the coral I suppose.

By late morning Friday I began feeling the symptoms of food poisoning. It came in waves so I felt well enough to go on our planned excursion to the West End (a more happening part of the island), where we grabbed beds at Georphi’s hostel and made a few new friends with people staying there and set out for happy hour drinks at Mucho Bueno. All of us decided to get dinner at the rotisserie chicken place which was excellent, but unfortunately my previous illness reappeared and I found myself curled up in bed for the remainder of ‘party night’. I was pretty bummed to say the least.

On Saturday we found Cindy’s for a breakfast baleada (similar to a burrito but not) and a fruit smoothie at Earth Mama’s, both excellent. What followed was no less than an epic day of shopping in West End, Coxen Hole, and French Harbour. Feeling accomplished, I was relieved to get back to the shower to wash off all the road dirt. Have I mentioned that experiencing the roads and drivers of Honduras is like living out Crazy Taxi in real life? No lie, I imagined having to dive into a ditch at any moment to escape a taxi that may drive off the road. Brought back some good memories of that video game.

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