Day 3: Roatan, Honduras

Today the PADI scuba course began! We got up early to start the scuba training. Lots of book work this morning before we got out into the water in the afternoon. The book work is really easy but there are lots of terms to remember. We watched a few videos to go along with the book as well. It was a pretty tiring day but lots of fun.

The west end of Roatan is mostly a long single unpaved road with shop after shop running along both sides. There are fruit & vegetable vendors selling from the bed of their pickup trucks, plenty of little snack shacks, some overpriced restaurants that cater to tourists, and dive shops scattered in the mix. The road is made of sand and a little gravel so whether it’s rainy or sunny, your feet get covered in sand and grim. Since it’s just sand, the road is really just a series of various sizes of pot holes that are either filled with water or squishiness from the passing rain. Right now it’s the rainy season so we get a lot of rain here but it usually only last maybe a half hour and then is sunny the rest of the day.

Meandering up and down “the strip” we pass locals, plenty of American tourists on Christmas vacation,  and lots of slobbery dogs who don’t even notice you. Since Roatan is a major tourist draw for Honduras, we see lots of American tourists who are very rude and give the rest of us a bad name. When people vacation to other places, especially in other cultures, it is important to adapt to your new surroundings and accept the differences instead of expecting the people and places to function in the way you want or expect them to.

We had lunch at (our now favorite place to eat) “The Shack.” We call it the shack because that is exactly what it is. No Sign, No Menu, No English. Just great food at a great price. Today we had fried chicken with salad, fried rice, and fried plantains. It all comes out on a plate that looks like it belongs in a 5-star restaurant. All for only 100 lp ($5.30USD)! The shack is up an old set of stairs and sits above all the shops below so we get a great view of Half Moon Bay as we eat our lunch.

yummy!

After lunch it was back to the shop to suit up for our afternoon dive lesson. We only went out to about 6 feet and practiced our skills. Mask removal under water, removing and replacing our regulators under water and breathing off of our buddy’s regulator in an emergency.

We got back to the shop. Cleaned up our gear and sat back on the deck with a few beers. Great end to a fun day…

hanging out on the beach