Up at 6:30 to be at the whale shark & oceanic research centre (WSORC) for 7:15. Me and Tracy and another couple are paid customers, then a bunch of volunteers are coming as well. We left at 8:00am.
On the way to the area where whare sharks are spotted, we saw a pod of dolphins.
There were no whale shark sightings yesterday, but there was the day before.
We looked around for a long time. Our first catch was a plastic chair partially covered in barnacles that we hauled on board. Next was a huge plastic bag filled with garbage, it was also hauled on board.
Things were not looking good, we'd been out for probably over an hour and I thought we were heading back when we spotted two boats who were tracking a whale shark. There are regulations in place regarding number of boats and number of swimmers allowed in the water at once, so we waited back until the other boats left, then started tracking the whale shark.
To track, the captain of the boat looks for "boils" on the surface of the ocean, which are thousands of fish jumping out of the water as the shark feeds. Once the captain gets close, he can see the whale shark near the surface, then guides the boat near, then screams at everyone to get in the water, it's close!
The first jump was spectacular! I went in and immediately, less than 3 metres away, this >25 foot whale shark swam past, right in front of my face. I'm sure I was inside the 3 metre "do not enter" zone (stay a minimum of 3 metres away from the shark, 4 metres near the tail, as the tail could break your bones!) The shark then dove down and we all climbed back on board.
The second jump, we missed her, she was gone by the time we entered the water.
Poor Tracy, she's never snorkeled before, never been in the ocean before, so she was very anxioux and nervous about this. She missed the first jump and freaked a bit on the second jump. Fortunately, our main guide, LB, took Tracy aside and, with the help of a floatie device around her waist, tried to show her how to properly use the equipment.
Another jump, I was first in the water and swam along side of her (the whale shark), about 12 feet away, for about 30 seconds before she went down. AWESOME!!!!
Meanwhile, Tracy is still getting lessons on snorkelling.
We had some other jumps where we saw the whale shark from a distance as well. The volunteers, some of them that have been there for months and months, said these are the best jumps they'd ever had.
On another jump, most of the snorkelers were back on the boat, but me and LB were still in the water just getting ready to climb on board when the captain starts screaming "Behind you, behind you!". Both LB and me look back and there she was, right behind us, coming up to take a look at us (not feed), as there's no fish around. She got a look at us, then turned away and dove down. Amazing.
By this time, we were having such great jumps that the dive centre associated with WSORC has asked us to stay out and track the shark so they can get another boat out with more people that want to snorkel. We're sure getting our money's worth, as normally they'd had called it a day by now. The crew and volunteers were blown away.
The best jump happened later, Tracy felt she was ready to give it a go. Everyone else had gone into the water, me and Tracy were last. I pulled my mask down, put my head under and the whale shark was swimming directly at Tracy and I, just metres away. Whale sharks can't see directly in front of them, so they told us in the quick training session if you're in front, swim to the side she it can see you. I started swimming to one side, and he saw me and swerved a bit, directly at Tracy still. I turned my head to look. The whale shark was about 1 metre away when Tracy got her mask under water and did she get a surprise! She was startled, the shark was right there. Tracy immediately tried to start swimming away, and I'm sure her fin hit the shark in the face, and it turned and went down. LB immediately went to Tracy's rescue to make sure she was alright. We have a picture and a video of Tracy almost getting eaten alive by this whale shark. Back on the boat, everyone was laughing and talking about Tracy's close encounter with the shark kind. That definitely did not follow regulation!
We kept following the boils byt stopped doing jumps, waiting and waiting for the other boat to arrive. It finally came with 10 people. Our captain laughed when he saw one of them, she's been trying to see whale sharks for weeks, but everytime she comes out, they never find any. She's probably thinking this is her chance!! They all swam to our boat and then us 4 transferred to the other boat (it was a small speed boat) in huge swells, a bit scary.
We got back about 2:00pm and will meet back at the dive shop at 5:00 for a debriefing and to look at everyone's photo's.
Tracy and me went for lunch, then back to the dive centre at 4:00 and hung out.
Everyone showed up at 5:00 and we found out that the 10 people that came out to replace us on the boat struck out. Hahaha. No whale shark sightings after we left. We got soooo lucky!
We looked at the pictures and video, discovering that someone got a picture of Tracy almost getting eaten, but better yet, there's video of it!
As it got dark, we walked onto the dock of the dive shop. There's a dock light there and eagle rays like to come in in the night and swim around the light. We saw a few.
Went back inside and woman who works the bar started chatting us up. She's a local, born and raised on Utila. She loves to talk politics, growing up on the island, the waste of people now, how the island has changed, etc., etc., etc.
We talked for about 2 hours, then to bed about 9:30.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Monday, May 06, 2013
Iguana's and Lagoon Kayaking
Up about 7:00am, went for breakfast then to the Whale Shark & Oceanic Research Centre (WSORC) to see about doing a whale shark tour, where you go out and try to find whale sharks and snorkel with them. It wasn't open yet, so we walked to the iguana research centre and got a tour from Sharon, a British born Indian. The iguana research centre is run completely by volunteers. After the tour, she even took us up to the water tower where you can see around the whole island. Much of the island is swamp and mangrove.
After that, walked back to WSORC to inquire about boat trips. They need a minimum of 5 people, so we signed up to go to tomorrow. We're the first two to sign up.
We went shopping for shorts for Tracy, then hung around a cafe and a had a smoothie.
In the afternoon, we walked to the lagoon and rented a kayak and kayaked part way up the lagoon channel that runs between the north and south coasts of the island. Very nice mangrove forests the whole way. Got lots of sun, got a sunburn on my face and legs.
Started walking back to town, stopped at WSORC and two more people had signed up. Woohoo! Only one more. It's a dream of mine to swim with whale sharks, the biggest shark in the ocean. They said they will send an email later letting us know if the tour will go ahead or not.
Back to town, showered (cold water) and went for another smoothie, then to El Picante, a Mexican restaurant, for supper. Super delicious.
Did nothing special tonight. We did an email from the whale shark and oceanic research centre indicating that the boat tour will go ahead tomorrow. Yippee!
After that, walked back to WSORC to inquire about boat trips. They need a minimum of 5 people, so we signed up to go to tomorrow. We're the first two to sign up.
We went shopping for shorts for Tracy, then hung around a cafe and a had a smoothie.
In the afternoon, we walked to the lagoon and rented a kayak and kayaked part way up the lagoon channel that runs between the north and south coasts of the island. Very nice mangrove forests the whole way. Got lots of sun, got a sunburn on my face and legs.
Started walking back to town, stopped at WSORC and two more people had signed up. Woohoo! Only one more. It's a dream of mine to swim with whale sharks, the biggest shark in the ocean. They said they will send an email later letting us know if the tour will go ahead or not.
Back to town, showered (cold water) and went for another smoothie, then to El Picante, a Mexican restaurant, for supper. Super delicious.
Did nothing special tonight. We did an email from the whale shark and oceanic research centre indicating that the boat tour will go ahead tomorrow. Yippee!
Sunday, May 05, 2013
To Utila
Up at 7:00am and took a taxi to the wharf a short distance outside of town and got boat tickets to Utila. All the backpackers came out of the woodwork, a whole bunch showing up at the pier to head to the Roatan or Utila. Just under 500 lempira for a ticket.
Boat trip was about one hour.
When we arrived, lots of people handing out fliers and brochures to various dive shops around Utila.
We chose the Bird of Paradise Hotel, right at the main intersection. $7/night/person. Can't argue with that price! We booked for 3 nights.
Sunday most things are closed on Utila, so we walked all over to see where everything was.
After supper, we went bar hopping to a few bars along the ocean front.
Boat trip was about one hour.
When we arrived, lots of people handing out fliers and brochures to various dive shops around Utila.
We chose the Bird of Paradise Hotel, right at the main intersection. $7/night/person. Can't argue with that price! We booked for 3 nights.
Sunday most things are closed on Utila, so we walked all over to see where everything was.
After supper, we went bar hopping to a few bars along the ocean front.
Saturday, May 04, 2013
La Ceiba
Up early to pack and get breakfast from the guest house. They're so friendly here at the guest house (Dos Molinos, I think?). The hostel guy took us to the bus terminal at 9:00am and we got bus tickets to La Ceiba, about a 4 hour bus trip.
Tracy is quite entranced with the way people live here, so different than what we're used to in Canada (or any western, developed country).
At La Ceiba, we got a taxi to Parque Central, but he took us to his friends hotel, he probably gets a commission if we stay there. We didn't like it, not a great location, so we had him take us to a hotel near Parque Central (Hotel Iberia). It's a bit expensive, but oh well, only for one night.
We walked around downtown and went to talk to a jungle tour company, but she only spoke Spanish, so that was all for naught.
Went to Expatriate's Bar and Grill for supper. They served massive amounts of food, holy crap. After supper, we walked around some more as it was getting dark, including going to the beach. So horrible at the beach, so dirty, everything run down, lots of questionable locals hanging out there. The pier wasn't even a pier, it went way out into the water, but was just a bunch of pieces of wood laid out on top of posts in the water.
We went the hotel restaurant for a couple of drinks. They had really hot peppers sitting in a jar on the table, I told Tracy I'd buy her a dress or shorts if she ate one. She did it, her mouth was burning for about 30 minutes after that and she had the burning ring of fire the next morning.
In Honduras, I've never seen so many armed people. They are all over, including armed guards at restaurants. It's common to see people walking around own with a machine gun or a revolver at their hip or a riding a bike with a massive machete. It's all quite bizarre.
Tracy is quite entranced with the way people live here, so different than what we're used to in Canada (or any western, developed country).
At La Ceiba, we got a taxi to Parque Central, but he took us to his friends hotel, he probably gets a commission if we stay there. We didn't like it, not a great location, so we had him take us to a hotel near Parque Central (Hotel Iberia). It's a bit expensive, but oh well, only for one night.
We walked around downtown and went to talk to a jungle tour company, but she only spoke Spanish, so that was all for naught.
Went to Expatriate's Bar and Grill for supper. They served massive amounts of food, holy crap. After supper, we walked around some more as it was getting dark, including going to the beach. So horrible at the beach, so dirty, everything run down, lots of questionable locals hanging out there. The pier wasn't even a pier, it went way out into the water, but was just a bunch of pieces of wood laid out on top of posts in the water.
We went the hotel restaurant for a couple of drinks. They had really hot peppers sitting in a jar on the table, I told Tracy I'd buy her a dress or shorts if she ate one. She did it, her mouth was burning for about 30 minutes after that and she had the burning ring of fire the next morning.
In Honduras, I've never seen so many armed people. They are all over, including armed guards at restaurants. It's common to see people walking around own with a machine gun or a revolver at their hip or a riding a bike with a massive machete. It's all quite bizarre.
Friday, May 03, 2013
Off to Honduras
Got up about 6:30, went for breakfast and waited with Terri and Joe until 8:30, when our ride to the airport came.
We got our bags checked and went through security and had a bite to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
We had an uneventful flight to San Salvador, where we had a 2 hour layover before our flight to San Pedro Sula.
The flight from San Salvador to San Pedro Sula was on a prop. plane. I've never really flown in one of those before (other than really small single engine ones). Talk about noisy!
The guy from Los Molinos guest house picked us up at the airport and took us to the guest house. This is Tracy's first time in a third-world country, it's a shock to her to see how most of the world lives. Infrastructure decaying, there was an old woman in the parking lot of the airport begging, Tracy didn't know what was doing until after, she clued in, she couldn't believe it. Rundown houses and buildings, garbage and trash everywhere, stray dogs and cats everywhere.
After getting into our room, we walked to the mall near the guest house, which of course is like any mall in any city, all the typical American stores. We had trouble finding a bank machine that would accept our bank card, but finally found one. Tracy was getting a bit freaked out not being able to get money. We went across the street from the mall to a pizza and chicken place (Pollo King) and had a pizza for supper, then back to the guest house. They spoke no english and our Spanish was quite limited, but we did manage to get what we wanted.
We got back about 7:00pm, and San Pedro Sula was recently ranked the most dangerous city in the world and there's nothing to do. Tracy started going through her backpack and discovered that her shampoo container broke and shampoo all over her small backpack. Sucks but what can you do.
I'm presently sitting in the front room of the guest house typing these journal entries, Tracy is upstairs watching TV, trying to learn Spanish by watching the Spanish subtitles on American televisions programs.
Tomorrow we're heading off to La Ceiba on the northern coast of Honduras.
We got our bags checked and went through security and had a bite to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
We had an uneventful flight to San Salvador, where we had a 2 hour layover before our flight to San Pedro Sula.
The flight from San Salvador to San Pedro Sula was on a prop. plane. I've never really flown in one of those before (other than really small single engine ones). Talk about noisy!
The guy from Los Molinos guest house picked us up at the airport and took us to the guest house. This is Tracy's first time in a third-world country, it's a shock to her to see how most of the world lives. Infrastructure decaying, there was an old woman in the parking lot of the airport begging, Tracy didn't know what was doing until after, she clued in, she couldn't believe it. Rundown houses and buildings, garbage and trash everywhere, stray dogs and cats everywhere.
After getting into our room, we walked to the mall near the guest house, which of course is like any mall in any city, all the typical American stores. We had trouble finding a bank machine that would accept our bank card, but finally found one. Tracy was getting a bit freaked out not being able to get money. We went across the street from the mall to a pizza and chicken place (Pollo King) and had a pizza for supper, then back to the guest house. They spoke no english and our Spanish was quite limited, but we did manage to get what we wanted.
We got back about 7:00pm, and San Pedro Sula was recently ranked the most dangerous city in the world and there's nothing to do. Tracy started going through her backpack and discovered that her shampoo container broke and shampoo all over her small backpack. Sucks but what can you do.
I'm presently sitting in the front room of the guest house typing these journal entries, Tracy is upstairs watching TV, trying to learn Spanish by watching the Spanish subtitles on American televisions programs.
Tomorrow we're heading off to La Ceiba on the northern coast of Honduras.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
The Wedding
Tracy and I got up around 7:30 and we walked along the beach for a bit then went swimming. The waves were huge, crashing down, it was fun. This was Tracy's first time swimming in an ocean and being on a beach.
We went for breakfast with Terry and Joe, then Tracy and I went back to the beach.
At 11:30 we had to meet up with the airport transport dude to let him know what time to pick us up tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 12:10pm.
We went for lunch and Carlos, a guy who works for the hotel, helping to do entertainment, came and asked us if he could sit and eat with us. We obliged. We talked about his job and he went fishing to see if Tracy was single or not. Haha. He works 6 days a week at the hotel, 12 hours a day. Crazy. Tracy asked him if he had a wife or girlfriend, and he said no, he has no time, he's always working. Tracy feels kind of bad about even being at the resort, being waited on hand and foot by these overworked people who are really just like us in Canada, except we were born into a country where people don't have to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and can have a life outside of work.
We spent the afternoon getting rolled around in the surf. I did learn how to effectively drain my sinuses of water, though. I bent over to do up my velcro on my sandals and water started running, like an open faucet, out of my nose onto the hallway floor. Cool!
Early in the afternoon it started to get cloudy and windy, and as the afternoon went on, it got more windy and more cloudy. The wedding is to take place at 5:00, so the hotel setup the wedding area on the beach earlier in the afternoon. Around 4:30, rain was threatening and it was getting darker and Terri and Joe had to make the decision to move the wedding indoors. It's very rare for rain this time of year on Cancun, the hotel staff were quite surprised.
The wedding was moved to an upstairs, open-air, covered restaurant. They laid out fake (or dead) starfish, making an aisle for the wedding party to walk up. Tracy was Terri's maid of honor. There was only 6 of us at the wedding, myself, Tracy, Joe's mother and her husband (who came over from Ireland), Joe's sister and her daughter. Tracy was the only one from Terri's side of the family.
As Tracy came up the stairs to the aisle, she wasn't watching where she was going and walked on one of the starfish and nearly did a face plant. Haha, it was awesome.
I took lots of pictures and it was a short ceremony, about 15 minutes, then about 45 minutes of pictures. The rain stopped during the ceremony, so they decided to take more pictures out on the beach.
Supper was at one of the fancy restaurants at the resort,a 5-course meal and was delicious. One of the courses was tomato soup with a cream base, and Tracy blurted out for everyone to hear, "This soup is so delicious, I'm gonna get the shits later." Joe and her sister started howling.
Joe's mom and her husband (Joe's stepdad) are awesome. Very Irish, red, red hair, and the husband has a pretty heavy accent. He's 70 years old, but looks and acts like he's 50. Same with Joe's mom. Interesting story, Joe's mom and real dad are divorced, and the guy that she's currenty married to was her first boyfriend, like 50 years ago. And now, 50 years later, they got back together (both of them being divorced).
Tracy and me went to bed around 9:30.
We went for breakfast with Terry and Joe, then Tracy and I went back to the beach.
At 11:30 we had to meet up with the airport transport dude to let him know what time to pick us up tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 12:10pm.
We went for lunch and Carlos, a guy who works for the hotel, helping to do entertainment, came and asked us if he could sit and eat with us. We obliged. We talked about his job and he went fishing to see if Tracy was single or not. Haha. He works 6 days a week at the hotel, 12 hours a day. Crazy. Tracy asked him if he had a wife or girlfriend, and he said no, he has no time, he's always working. Tracy feels kind of bad about even being at the resort, being waited on hand and foot by these overworked people who are really just like us in Canada, except we were born into a country where people don't have to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and can have a life outside of work.
We spent the afternoon getting rolled around in the surf. I did learn how to effectively drain my sinuses of water, though. I bent over to do up my velcro on my sandals and water started running, like an open faucet, out of my nose onto the hallway floor. Cool!
Early in the afternoon it started to get cloudy and windy, and as the afternoon went on, it got more windy and more cloudy. The wedding is to take place at 5:00, so the hotel setup the wedding area on the beach earlier in the afternoon. Around 4:30, rain was threatening and it was getting darker and Terri and Joe had to make the decision to move the wedding indoors. It's very rare for rain this time of year on Cancun, the hotel staff were quite surprised.
The wedding was moved to an upstairs, open-air, covered restaurant. They laid out fake (or dead) starfish, making an aisle for the wedding party to walk up. Tracy was Terri's maid of honor. There was only 6 of us at the wedding, myself, Tracy, Joe's mother and her husband (who came over from Ireland), Joe's sister and her daughter. Tracy was the only one from Terri's side of the family.
As Tracy came up the stairs to the aisle, she wasn't watching where she was going and walked on one of the starfish and nearly did a face plant. Haha, it was awesome.
I took lots of pictures and it was a short ceremony, about 15 minutes, then about 45 minutes of pictures. The rain stopped during the ceremony, so they decided to take more pictures out on the beach.
Supper was at one of the fancy restaurants at the resort,a 5-course meal and was delicious. One of the courses was tomato soup with a cream base, and Tracy blurted out for everyone to hear, "This soup is so delicious, I'm gonna get the shits later." Joe and her sister started howling.
Joe's mom and her husband (Joe's stepdad) are awesome. Very Irish, red, red hair, and the husband has a pretty heavy accent. He's 70 years old, but looks and acts like he's 50. Same with Joe's mom. Interesting story, Joe's mom and real dad are divorced, and the guy that she's currenty married to was her first boyfriend, like 50 years ago. And now, 50 years later, they got back together (both of them being divorced).
Tracy and me went to bed around 9:30.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Off to Central America
Off on another trip! This trip has a quick stop in Cancun for Tracy's sisters wedding, then to Honduras and Nicaragua.
Our flight left Calgary at around 6:30, so Tracy and I were up early, about 2:30am to get ready. Heading to the airport was a pain in the ass. The city had northbound Deerfoot shut down at Southland Drive, so we took Blackfoot north to Glenmore, then tried to get on Deerfoot, but that was all blocked off. So over to Barlow, and north until it ended, and the ramp to Deerfoot was STILL blocked off up there. We took some other random roads, slowly heading north, finally managed to get on Deerfoot and make our way to the airport.
We flew United Airlines from Calgary to Houston, had a short layover there, then Houston to Cancun. United sucks, you have to pay to use their entertainment system, so new tv or anything for us!
Once at Cancun, we paid for a shuttle to the hotel, Viva Wyndham Maya, about 1 hour south of Cancun. Expensive shuttle, $112US for both of us, but that included a pickup back to the airport on May 3.
We arrived at the hotel about 5. When we checked in, Terri and Joe (Tracy's sister and her almost husband) had left a message at the front desk for us, so after putting our stuff in our room, we went to their room.
They showed us around the resort. It's all inclusive, so food and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are to be found everywhere. We had supper at one of the buffet restaurants.
It was really windy and cloudy and was getting more cloudy and windy as the evening went on. Tracy and Terri did "girl stuff" for a while and me and Joe say on some beach chairs in the wind and dark. I was getting soo tired, after only about 3 hours of sleep the night before. Tracy and me went to bed around 9:00pm.
Around midnight, a huge storm hit. Thunder and lightening like you wouldn't believe, and torrents and torrents of rain. I got up and watched it for a while from our main floor balcony. As I was going back to bed, I noticed our floor was all yet. The rain was coming through the concrete and into our room. Tracy and me got all our bags and everything off of the floor to prevent them from getting wet. After a while the rain subsided and we slept again.
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