Canadian Nomad

After what happened with the jail situation, G and I thought it would be best to let things cool down back in Utila, so we spent a few days “vacationing” in Roatan.  We had an amazing time including a delicious meal at a Thai restaurant.  Very expensive from what we were used to in Utila but the setting was stunning, a dock that had tables all along it and the sun setting in the background as we ate our meal.

The hotel Chillies where we stayed had two puppies named Messy and Max. We fell in love with them instantly. Max was a very sleepy puppy and Messy had more pep, yet needed attention consistently. We took Messy out for the day to West Bay for a relaxing day on the beach. People flocked to her because she was so adorable. We had a great lunch at a resort right on the water then followed lunch by tanning on the gorgeous beach.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay in Roatan on account that G had to finish his Dive Master. Monty and Christy helped us get in contact with a man named Captain Vern who has a catamaran he uses to and from Utila and Roatan., This is a very popular and affordable option to get from one island to the next. The ride is smooth and the company is great. Ask any dive shop in Utila or Roatan(West End) to get information. On the ride you wouldn’t guess who got to come with us, Messy! We got to keep her for a week while we were in Utila and then we sent her back home with Captain Vern.

Once we got back to Utila I decided to get my Open Water and Advanced Open Water Diving certificate. It was a neat feeling going underwater and being able to breath. One of the courses I took was called Peak Performance Buoyancy Control, they had us going through hoops underwater and knocking over weights in the sand with our regulators. It was such a blast, though my favorite part of the class was when I got to do ninja moves with my friend John underwater. They had us doing flips and kicks and punches all in slow motion Matrix style, so much fun!

It took no time at all to get my certificates and start fun diving. We saw so many amazing things underwater such as; lion fish, parrot fish, moray eels, barracuda, lobster, eagle rays, dolphins, turtles and my favourite… WHALE SHARKS!

Once G left I moved in with our friend, Noemi, also from Quebec.  She and I got along like two peas in a pod. Noemi works at Coco Loco’s bar and there were nights it could be rather dead and lonely there.  One night I dropped by to keep her company and there was the biggest storm I have ever seen on the island.  The rain was pouring, the thunder crashed all around us and the lightening lit up the sky.  It was a spectacular show.  Noemi and looked at each other, looked out at the dock being pounded by rain, looked back at each other then ran to the end of the dock.  We were soaked the second we stepped out from under cover .  We blared the music and danced for hours  like crazy fools.  It was one of my most favourite nights!

Tags: Captain vern, Chillies, Coconut Tree divers, Dancing, Dive master, diving, lightening, lion fish, Open water, PADI, Roatan, sun jam, Utila, West Bay, whale sharks
Posted in Travel | No Comments »

I’ve been so busy doing so many things I have not had time to blog. I’ve been working, eating sushi, playing in golf carts, frolicking in fresh water caves, dancing in the rain, cooking incredible meals, tanning around the pool, going on hikes, fighting off tarantulas, kayaking through the canal,  and swimming in the beautiful Caribbean ocean.  So much to do on such a small, yet gorgeous island of Honduras.

The other day a group of twelve of us rented golf carts and made our way to the caves. Once we got the caves I was having too much fun driving the golf cart to want to stop right away so one of the guys and I took off in the cart. We went exploring the dirt roads and took the golf cart on roads that were 4X4ing worthy! We were doing 180s, drifting the cart and going through huge puddles.

Once we got back we hopped into the caves to cool off then all of us jumped back into our carts and made our way to Pumpkin Hill. I was trying to do some fancy reverse work and almost killed the guy, Rusty, who was sitting on the back of my cart by backing into a barbed wire fence. Oops! So he then decided he should drive, because now he doesn’t trust me. But, once we got to Pumpkin Hill Rusty started going up a steep hill and hit a stump in the ground. Which because of the angle, made us start flipping backwards down the hill. Luckily the big guy, Big G, sitting on the back of the cart jumped out and started pushing the cart back down so we didn’t fully flip. If the cart had followed through and flipped, we would have tumbled into the third cart directly behind us and all of us would have been seriously injured. But, we all got out fine and we able to laugh about it afterwards.

Later that night while working at La Pirata Sports Bar, I was standing on the patio around 3:30AM just cleaning up a bit before close. All of a sudden, this local girl walked over to where I was standing, grabbed a bottle and smashed it on the ledge right in front of me scattering glass alll over my legs and in my flipflops. She then kept the neck of the broken bottle in her hand and went back to dancing.

I walked over to the other bartender to see if he saw the incident that had just occurred. Right when I was about to talk to him he ran over to the DJ and told him to cut the music. Once the music was cut you could hear two girls yelling at each other in the corner of the patio. Before I knew it a girl, surrounded by people, was walking towards me just covered in blood holing a heap of napkins to her bloody face. The other bartender had taken the girl with the broken bottle neck out of the bar and I was taking care of the girl with the slashed face. I’ve never seen so much blood. I had to clean the blood splatter which covered most of the patio, chairs and tables. The girl who got slashed was later taken to the local doctor, she will defiantly need stitches. I had a night off after that horrifying accident. I was very thankful.

My flatmates and myself decided it would be an ingenious idea to shave Big G’s chest. Our first thought was to do a happy face, but that seemed too average. Then, we thought “Well how about a Superman symbol?”. Once we pulled up the Superman symbol to copy from we had one more great idea. A Super G symbol for Big G’s first initial.  It was a night full of fun and laughter. The next morning while walking with Big G down the street people would stop and laugh or stop to take a picture. It was great fun.

Tags: 4X4ing, Bar fight, Caribbean, Cooking, Dancing, Dancing in the rain, Fresh water caves, Frolick, Golf Carts, Hiking, Honduras, Kayaking, La Pirata, Laughing, Super G, Superman, Sushi, Tanning, Tarantulas, Utila, Working
Posted in Travel | No Comments »