We’re about half-way through our stay on Roatan, already. This is a jewel of an island, as both the locals and the expats who live here attest. My experience is limited to West End, a short trip to Coxen Hole to deliver some donations to Familias Saludables, and, of course, the coral reef just a few minutes off-shore. That alone is enough for me to want to stay.

So far, I’ve checked out the following dive sites:

• Temptation Reef
• Canyon Reef
• Dixie’s
• Sea Quest Reef
• Turtle Crossing
• and today I think I went to a place called “Butcher’s Bay” or similar. Gotta check on that.
  

These locations vary in depth from about 40 to 80 feet. The topography changes as well. Canyon reef features a couple tight swim-throughs, Dixie’s is a nice wall down to 80 feet or so, and SeaQuest is a fairly level reef beside a sandy bottom with some nice coral outcroppings—a great spot for photos and video—like this little one I shot on the 4th of July. Visibility has ranged from good to excellent, mostly depending upon whether or not we get a rainstorm here. Each dive has been for just under an hour.

Taking the day off tomorrow. One thing I’m still getting used to with this video equipment—aside from the amount of air I’m using—is buoyancy control. Diving at the National Aquarium is the best practice I could’ve had to hone my buoyancy control, mostly because it’s so shallow—where buoyancy is the most vulnerable. But now, lugging around this equipment is the next step in buoyancy control. It’s just one more thing to think about. So for now, it’s a lot of up and down. Which sucks. But I’m getting the hang of it, slowly.

Anyway, that’s the long way of saying these photo/video excursions have left me with a bit of a squeeze on the left side, so I’m going to take tomorrow off.