Roatan. Just dive it.

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Took all day to get to Roatan.  Said my goodbyes to Rosie and Tanya in San Pedro Sula and then hopped on to a bus to Roatan.  The bus driver seemed to think that driving as fast as you can and playing chicken with every other vehicle was the order of the day.  We would have arrived in La Ceiba early because of the breakneck speeds we were travelling at if it hadn't have been for hitting a car we were trying to overtake.  After a lot of discussions with a lot of people, ranging from the driver and passengers of the car, to the police, to bystanders and to random motorists, we drove around trying to find a garage to repair the car.  Once the driver had sorted out how much it was going to cost we were able to resume the drive to La Ceiba.

Arrived on Roatan about 6 at night and was trying to find a bus to get from the ferry to the West End (where the dive shops are) when a friendly Aussie guy called Andrew offered me a lift.  Arrived in the West End and standing outside the first dive shop we came to was Lucy, a dive instructor I met on Caye Caulker.  She was working with Coconut Tree Divers and as Sonja had recommended them anyway, I decided that was were I would dive.  5 dollar air-con dorm rooms also helped seal the deal.

Sand flies! I hate those little sh1ts!

Unfortunately, it being Sunday, everything was shut so spent the first night in Valeries.  The only good thing about it was that it was empty.

To cut things short, I spent the next 2 and a half weeks diving everyday.  Did my Advanced, Nitrox, EFR and Rescue Diver courses and 14 fun dives.  I think you can take it that the diving was pretty damn good!  I did a night dive was pretty spooky (what with the blood worms wriggling around and trying to get into your ears and the huge King Crabs sat on ledges watching you swim past!)  There were 2 wrecks that we dived, one at 30 metres, the other at 40.  Both were really cool and I would have loved to have done a night dive to them but just didn't get the opportunity.  One of the wrecks (el Aguila) was home to a slightly crazy Moray Eel who decided to follow our group around the wreck like a long green dog with no legs and had a habit of popping out when you least expected and scaring the sh1t out of you!

Didn't see any sharks but did see turtles, loads of Moray and, well, just too many to list.  The one good thing about leaving Roatan was no more Sand flies!  I hated those little sh1ts!