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Published: December 26th 2006
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Christmas Eve Party - The Band
Ryan (in orange) is not only an awesome instructor, but an awesome musician! So here I am... still in Roatan. The Ferry was cancelled due to high winds and rough waters. It's been stormy here since yesterday. So another couple nights in Roatan. Let me catch you up on what's been happening yet again:
Christmas Eve: Awesome night! The night dive was spectacular. It was a little scary at first. Just the thought of not being able to see everything around you was a little frightening... not to mention that they were talking about having seen a HUGE jelly fish on the last night dive they did. Once we got in the water though, it wasn't so scary. We went down just as the sun had set but no stars were out yet. You could still kind of see. There were 7 of us including Ryan, each carrying a "torch" (fancy dive word for flashlight) so it was actually quite cool with all of us swimming pretty close to one another, lighting up the area. One of my favourite parts of the dive was just looking at the seven beams of light swimming along. The other thing was turning around to look behind me and seeing nothing but black. EEEEK! Scary.
We didn't
Christmas Eve Party - Jody and Derrick
The awesome couple from Barrie. They became really great friends. Awesome people. see anything super exciting on the dive, although being down there in the dark was cool enough. The coolest part was coming up after the dive and looking at the sky. There were so many stars in the sky and they were so bright. A beautiful clear night. What a cool way to spend Christmas Eve. AND IT MEANT I WAS NOW ADVANCED CERTIFIED!
Later that night I met up with Jody and Derek as they were finishing up dinner, then the 3 of us walked down to a resort called Land's End. The dive people are friend with the owner and he was having a party/live music night at the bar. I had SUCH a great time. Byam (one of the divemasters - not Byron, like I originally thought his name was) was dancing around like a goofball so I got that on video. So funny. Tom (his friend, the other divemaster) was so drunk and so funny. Andrea(instructor), Jody, Scott, Tom, Byam, and I were head banging at one point to the band. Ryan (instructor) was playing bass for this awesome guy who was singing all sorts of great cover tunes. It was just a really good
Christmas Eve Party - Divemasters
Byam and Tom, taking a year between highschool and University to become divemasters. time, enjoying each other's company. By the end of the night, Tom was doing one handed push-ups, Byam was attempting to match me in the splits, and Andrea had me singing Italian opera to the rest of the people left in the bar (about 10). It was a fun night.
Christmas Day: Started at 6am when I heard the kids upstairs running to open their presents... first time I actually had a slight feeling of Christmas. We did two dives in the morning. The first was at 10:30 and the next at 12:30. The first one was AWESOME! We saw a spotted eagle ray really early on in the dive. I had seen one before in Utila, except that it had been from a distance. This one was so close to us. Really cool. We also saw another Turtle and some HUGE snappers and grouts. Funny thinking that people fish for these things to eat, and here I was swimming with them.
The second dive wasn't as good but still a dive nonetheless. The water was REALLY rough. There was a storm coming in and the whole boat was just bobbing. Under the water it wasn't so bad though.
Christmas Eve Party - Dancing
Busting a move on the dance floor; Andrea, Tom, Scott, Scott, Jody, and I Spent the next little while settling up my bills and forms and such with the dive shop and hotel, as I'd be leaving (so I thought) super early the next morning.
Dinner was awesome. Around 3pm, Scott and I met up with Jody and Derek at the Buccaneer restaurant where they had an all you can eat Christmas buffet for 20 dollars. I had turkey, ham (probably the best ham I have EVER had), stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, rice, cheese pasta, and gravy. Then for dessert they brought us out a sample plate with everything. Oh man, I was SO full after that. I had to go back to the hotel to lie down. We all went for naps actually. So funny.
Last night was rainy and crappy weather but I managed to find Byam (Scott calls him "Bring-em") and Tom at the Purple Turtle bar. After about 2 hours, the whole crew was there again. Another good night hanging out, chatting, and drinking with the gang. Andrea was so funny. She's such an amazing woman. She was telling us all about growing up in East Germany and what she did to escape it, the journeys she's gone through
and the person she's become from all of it. She's so awesome. She was quite entertaining too. The night ended with a bunch of us running in the rain, and Andrea jumping in the mud puddles. I almost peed my pants when she fell down into the sand just before the car (a woman I dove with a couple times named Michelle, and her husband, live on the island and dive with Native Sons) . At this point the electricity all over the island had gone out and it was pitch black. Actually quite scary not being able to see ANYTHING without the light of a car. The moon wasn't even as helpful as I had thought it might be.
Boxing Day: So I woke up at 5:15am, was in a taxi by 5:45, and at the ferry by 6:20. They told us (nice people I met in the taxi on the way there, and I) that they ferry may not be running due to high winds and rough water but that they'd know in half an hour. So we waited. Then they said it was cancelled. Then we waited more, debating what to do. We thought about waiting
Christmas Eve Party - Ryan
Ryan's turn to take the lead around until 2pm for the next ferry but weren't guaranteed that it would run anyways, plus that was 7 hours away. One of the girls talked to someone who worked there and they said that apparently it was really bad in La Ceiba and that they couldn't see it going for about 48 hours. That was enough for us. They decided to check out another part of the island (in French Harbour) and invited me to join them but I decided that I'd rather return to West End and spend more time with my new made friends. Into a taxi I got and head back to Native Sons Dive Shop. Tom looked shocked to see me and Byam made some smart comment about me missing my ferry. Andrea was hilarious. She gave me a big hug. She had been saying lastnight that she didn't wanna say goodbye. I told her "It's not goodbye. I'll see ya later." Little did we know how soon later.
Got my room back at Chilli's. I paid for 2 more nights. I figure I might as well do a day of diving tomorrow. They took the boats around to the calmer side of the island
Christmas Eve Party - Head Banging
doing some serious head banging. Byam's neck was sore the whole next day... lol yesterday and then drive us all out there by truck, as it's calmer conditions.
I went back to bed for a couple hours and then hung out at the dive shop all day today chatting with Ryan, Andrea, Byam, Tom, and Scott. Ran into Jody and Derek on my way down to this cafe too. They were surprised to see me as well but had wondered if the ferry would go out or not.
Tonight the staff is having a Christmas party with gift exchange and then the rest of us are gonna join them after for some drinks and socializing. It should be fun.
Tomorrow is a 2 tank dive and then tomorrow night is Wednesday night at the FUBAR. Just like my first real night on the island. Byam was telling me today that he's making me sing opera at open mic. We'll see.
I really like my new found friends. I'm now thinking of ways that I could come on long weekends to visit and dive. Hmmm...
I called Julie to let her and Nadia know that I'm not gonna go to Guatemala for New Years anymore. I figure I'll spend my money on two
Christmas Eve Party - Tom
"watching" Andrea's wine while she went to the bathroom... lol more nights here and then just spend New Years in Comayagua with Walter. Walter liked that idea when I called him today, although disappointed that I wasn't coming home tonight. Such is life. I'm just excited to be able to spend more time with some totally awesome people.
Well, I should be off. I gotta make some dinner and then am meeting Scott for drinks before the party. Happy Boxing Day!
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DAD XXX OOO
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Sarah. Here's my holiday blog. Christmas worked. Boxing Day worked. You up for a trade??? I'm glad you're having an amazing time. Love, now and always, DAD XXX 000