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Published: September 26th 2006
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Happy Independence Day!
September 15th is Independence Day so there was a cool parade. This was a float??? Seems as though golf carts are EVERYWHERE in the island, including in the parades! Another early morning and nice walk to the Dive Center. Today was Independence Day for Honduras so there was a large parade that I had to walk through in order to get to the dive center. The parade was fun to watch though and I got some cute pictures.
We started the day off with our theory. Tobi figured we should take it easy in the morning (no diving), since they had all been at the BBQ the night before, drinking quite a bit. We watched the last couple videos, did another chapter test and then broke for lunch.
First Jeff and I went to drop off my backpack at the new hotel I was now staying in. We switched since Margaritaville had reservations for the weekend. We booked at a place called Holland's Inn, which double booked our rooms by mistake so we ended up getting a 2-bedroom apartment for the same price. It was pretty nice too.
Jeff and I then went for lunch at a little trailer (where there was a tarp hung in the middle to separate the dinner area from kitchen) and ordered some typical Honduran food like the stuff we're used to
Ponponaras from Utila!
Cute little outfits... almost as cute as our girls ;) in Comayagua. It's weird how you miss stuff like baliadas and papusas.
After lunch was time for our Open Water Dive #1. I was SOOOOO excited. Jeff and I went back to the dive center, went for a quick swim, then got our gear ready to head out. I do have to say though, that in the process of being wet, and coming down the stairs from the top dock where I was chatting with Kari and Richard, I slipped right through my flip flop, breaking the thong of the flip flop, and falling down about 4 wooden stairs. I couldn't believe my flip flops broke first off, and secondly I scraped my arm real nicely on the way down. The battle wound is still in the process of healing almost two weeks later and I'm almost possitive that it will leave a nice scar. I told people a fish bit me just for fun. At least I'll always have something to remember my diving certification weekend by.
So after I tended to my scrap and got all my equiptment on the dive boat, we were on our way to our first open water dive. The dive boat
Girls With Umbrellas
I'm not sure what they do but ok... was pretty cool. It's a big speedboat with lots of spots to sit. My favourite was on the top (the roof). Kari and Richard were with our group as well. They dove in the same area as we did but with their own group, deeper down (as they were on their 3rd dive). I was pretty nervous about the dive. We would be diving down to 12 metres.
We all did our buddy checks (Jeff was mine) and then got in the water with our equiptment and waited for Tobi to make the "going down" sign. We descended to the bottom and began our first dive. Poor Jeff wasn't able to equalize his ears, so he had to go back up with Caitlin to the boat. He ended up snorkelling so he at least got to see some stuff. Because I lost my partner, I just stuck close to Tobi the whole time while he lead the group of us.
I can't begin to explain how amazing this experience was. I've included pictures of some of the less-common (kinda cool) things that we saw. We saw TONS of other fish as well. It was amazing. I felt like
Honduras
Just thought this was cute I was in a whole different world. I suppose I was.
Estelle sent me a cute e-mail quoting the Little Mermaid... "Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor. Such wonderful things around you. What more is you looking for?" SOOOOO TRUE STELLS! Best way to explain it really. Beautiful fish, beautiful coral, beautiful water.... simply beautiful.
After our exploring, we stopped on a sandy patch and performed more skills for the instructors then ascended to the top where we got back on the boat, switched our air tanks, and debriefed with the group about what to expect from Dive #2.
Dive number 2 was equally as cool. The area they took us to for this one was called "The Labrynth" and was an awesome area full of mazes of coral. Such a beautiful area. This time we performed more skills, then did our exploring. I was partnered up with Vic (the Dive Master in training) this time since there were only 3 of us diving in our group now. I felt a lot more comfortable on this dive. I finally figured out how to control my bouyancy using my breath only,
O.K.
Kari and Richard (a guy from London, England), who was her diving buddy (was the only other person in her diving certification group once Jeff left)... celebrating their certification with a beer at the bar of the Dive Center and just moved around with a lot more ease.
When we came up from the dive, I screamed yet again. All the instructors were amused by my excitement of it all. I just couldn't help it. It's an unbelievable experience! I couldn't stop smiling. I kept telling all my instructors how amazing it was and how I couldn't wait until tomorrow. Kari and Richard had an awesome dive too. They saw a turtle. I was SO jealous but hoped that tomorrow would bring more exciting sea life as well. I was also just really excited for Kari and Richard since they just earned their certification. I congratulated them both and looked forward to the next day when I would be feeling excited for me.
When we got back, we had to unload everything and clean all our equiptment. It's a whole process really. We (Kari, Jeff, Richard, and I) then all decided to sit up on the top doc and watch the sunset over the water. SO beautiful. It was so relaxing to just sit there and stare out at the water. Kari and I kept saying "Look at where we are. Think about how amazing this whole
Sunset From The Dock
Chilling on the dock, watching the sunset was magical. I want to be back in that moment right now... this pic is actually my wallpaper on my computer right now. It reminds me every time I turn on the computer :) experience is." It was definately an amazing moment of realising what I'm truly doing. I left my friends and family, to come explore a new world... one that is totally new.
Next, I was off to our new hotel to see what everyone else was doing.
We decided to go to Jade Seahorse, which was a restaurant we had tried a couple nights prior, but that had been closed. What an AWESOME place. The atmosphere is just SO cool. We took TONS of pictures but those really won't do it any justice. I just wanna know how they get to the point it is. How do you ever start something SO detailed? I feel like it's many many years of adding on little details. The food was great too. I had shrimp soup that was delicious. It definately hit the spot.
Chris and I both decided we were tired and head back to our hotel but the other girls stayed in the TreeTanic bar then head to a Bar called Bar in the Bush, which I'm assuming was exactly like the name describes.
I felt SOOO exhausted but Tobi did explain in class that the raised
Sunset From The Dock 2
Forgot to mention the dock has two levels, so we were up on top, sitting around on benches... [sigh] levels of Carbon Dioxide in our blood may have this effect on beginner divers. That explained lots. I went to bed this time, being VERY excited about the day to come... when I would get to see even more fun things under water and finish my certification.
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Your Jarnsy
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Wow
Amazing entry - phenomenal pics....I'm so proud of you. What a risk you took! "We cannot discover new oceans until we have the courage to lose sight of the shore." - Muriel Chen