through Pat and Ron from Montreal, and my neighbor 'V' who is learning to become a Dive Master at Native Sons Dive Shop, i have met a lot of new friends from the Dive Shop, and we have been getting together for dinners and other events.
an interesting turn of events... one of the guys, Dustin, was ready to leave and go to Caye Caulker and was talking about volunteering .. at Madi's .... so i made some introductions and he is still there !
here are some of our fun nights ... doing Music Trivia with this group and ...
eating pizza at C-Level ... a VERY good pizza, by any standards, not just island :)
having drinks while watching the SunSet at our Every-Night-SunDowners-Ritual ...
we had a great night celebrating V's birthday, sitting at the Dive Shop snacking and drinking ...
which eventually lead to this attempt at a 'human pyramid' on the beach ... we started out with a 5-person base.... and realized that was a little optimistic ...
then reorganized to a 4-person base ... thankfully no one was injured....
it rained on Easter Sunday ...
we had a few stormy days and nights, which lead to some excitement when a mooring broke loose and this catamaran drifted on top of the reef ...causing a lot of destruction to the reef and the 'cat' .... the Marine Park was called at 1am to try to free it from the reef ... without results ... eventually the next day they got it off the reef and pulled it up closer to shore ...
it remained there .... :(
and i'm getting pretty good at using the Dremel to engrave the mooring bouys ... :)
i'm still doing Beach Patrol, and during the week of Easter, Semana Santa, i spent every day at West Bay .... it was crazy busy there with 3 days of Cruise Ships, plus all the local vacationers from mainland Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador .... i usually try to spend some time with people explaining and educating about the importance of the reef, etc .... but this week, i was just a 'Traffic Cop' ... go over there, ....don't do that, ....move over here, ....go this way, ....get off that coral, ....it's not a rock, ....don't stand there, yes, you are standing on the coral, ....don't sit on the coral, no, it's not alright! ... kids jumping off the coral, and as soon as we turned our back, they were back up there again ... it was just a game to them ... they didn't care ... it was a very frustrating week with idiots like this ...
and this ...
one afternoon, i was so frustrated, i just had to go out snorkeling on the reef, by myself, away from people, and breath ....and relax...
i saw this beautiful pair of Blue ParrotFish on the sandy bottom...
such pretty blue with the white sandy background :)
and this beautiful HogFish, Initial Phase ... such brilliant colors !
love the distinctive 3 spiny dorsal fins sticking up :)
a few more signs on the beach ... of the 8 signs we made ... 4 have been stolen so far :(
Nic installed these 'bouys', directing people to a 'safe' route through the reef, out to the beautiful snorkeling ... and i made a sign explaining what they were ... 'NADAR' is Spanish for 'SWIM' ... but most people didn't pay any attention :(
13 Apr - Drift Dive Half Moon Bay
there wasn't anything going on at the Marine Park, so i decided to do one last dive; ...i saw 2 turtles, but no close encounters, ....
Azure Vase Sponge
'V', my Dive Master Trainee 'lead' this dive and pointed out, what seemed to be an 'earthworm, floating in the blue ... kinda weird ... ?
Indigo Blue Hamlet protecting his 'territory' ...
we had an 'unwelcome visitor' while we were down there ... it was a Remora ... that harmless, although annoying, fish ... also known as a 'Shark Sucker' ...
that likes to attach itself to other fishes .....or divers ......
he visited everyone one of us, just to make us squirm ...
'V', with the Remora watching closely as she checks her watch during our 5min, 15feet Safety Stop
other than that it was a rather uneventful dive, .... but nice to be in the water, clearing my mind for an hour.... floating and drifting peacefully among the marine life ....
What Else?
i had several other crisis during the last few days of my stay ... my power charger to my computer stopped working ... i finally found another Marine Park volunteer that had a charger and he let me borrow it for the night, ... but i went home and planned to do a lot of work, ...only to find out my internet time had run out ... :(
and .... i also ran out of peanut butter :) ... i was hoping i could make the jar last another few days ... seemed like i was getting a message that ... 'i should have gone home yesterday' ... isn't that a song ?
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