Got-a-tan on Roatan

Rewind back to December 8-16 and James and I will find ourselves on a Caribbean island, Roatan, Honduras. We spent the week there getting PADI certified in scuba diving on the 2nd largest (and probably most beautiful) coral reef in the world! Because this experience was several weeks ago and we have many blogs to post, I'll try to just hit the highlights:

Friends

We went to Roatan with some Canadians who work at CAG, Jack and Jen Talsma. They are a teaching couple (she teaches English and Jack teaches P.E.) from Canada, and exactly our age, married for almost the exact same amount of time as James and I! They couldn't have been more fun, talkative, or easy-going, and our personalities all seemed to mesh very well, which made for a great experience. We will definitely be traveling more with them!

Lodging

We stayed at the quaint and quiet Posada Arco Iris (Rainbow Inn). We had a room with two beds, hot water, and a kitchenette, which is where we cooked most of our meals since the island was more expensive than Guate. Its best feature was definitely the deck! The deck had a little table and a hammock to relax in, which is where I spent lots of time! We never really felt couped up, even though it rained for a straight two days near the end of the trip. The posada was right across a sleepy street from the ocean, so we were just steps away from the beach! We layed out to read, went snorkeling, and take naps from our posada. It was also in a central location -- less than a block from Native Sons (our diving place), the bakery where we got coffee every morning, and the grocery store where we bought food.

Land Wildlife

Roatan had plenty of great wildlife on land that was as entertaining as the aquatic life. We had lots of fun watching and listening to the bright green parrots at sunset at a happy hour bar, feeding the monkeys at our posada, watching the leaf-cutter ants work hard on the trees (amazing, actually!), and watching two chameleons fight a battle on our very own deck! It was spectacularly fun! More good news? No giant spiders or bugs in our room!! Yeah!

Aquatic Wildlife

The animals we saw while scuba diving AND snorkeling were beyond my wildest imagination! Among a multitude of other beautiful types of fish, we had the luck to see:

A sea turtle
An eagle ray
Cuttle fish
A sea snake
Barracuda fish
John dory fish
Parrot fish
Trumpet fish
Spiny lobsters
Giant grouper fish
Beautiful coral
Blowfish
Angelfish
Lizard fish
Gobi fish

And so much more, but these were some of our more memorable sightings! We actually spotted the ray from our bakery's deck where we were having coffee, and I saw it jump OUT of the water! Crazy!

Diving

The experience of diving is a surreal one. You are weightless in deep water (40-60 feet for our level) and surrounding by a world that does not seem to notice you, and yet you can get as close up as you want. I loved it! I found it to be exhilarating and relaxing all at the same time, and it quickly became one of my favorite future hobbies :)

Island Life

Being on a Caribbean island is like being in a slow-motion time machine. You never look at your watch, you never worry about being mugged, and you can always squeeze in a nap or a margarita no matter what the hour. Spectacular sunsets, warm winds, lazy days, and a calm, clear ocean are many of the factors that make James and I "Beach people" when seeking out a good vacation :)

So, I guess that concludes our Caribbean vacation for 2007! We were sad to leave, but on the other hand, we were very excited to come back to the U.S. to see our friends and family! More in the next blogs on that!