USVI-On-Line

I had persuaded my husband to join me on a scuba diving trip to Roatan, Honduras. It was a trip arranged by the local diveshop in Kenosha, WI, that I went to Cozumel with in April. Unfortunately no Sea-nile on this trip. Some familiar faces and some new. It was going to be a good time!!

Since my husband doesn't dive, I still figured he would have a great time as there was a house reef just outside the resort (Cocoview resort). Then he could snorkel, hang out in the sun and read a book whie I was diving.

Well, off we went and we flew first to Newark and stayed the night in an airport hotel. Coninued the next day to Roatan with Delta via Atlanta. Finally we arrived in Roatan in the early afternoon. It rained. I didn't pay much attention to that as it usually rain in the tropics. Little did I know that this was going to continue for 3,5 days.

We got settled in a cabana and the accommodation was very nice. It was settled right on the water with a balcony. Basic, but clean and roomy and everything seemed to work.




For the first three whole days it looked like this. It rained and rained. Buckets. They tried to repair the roof in the main house where it rained in, but fortunately it didn't rain in the cabana. No diving for me during these days and my husband tried to snorkel, but he didn't see much at all. Visibility was bad in the shallow bay and reef.




On Wednesday it started to dry up and we saw the sun. Much better! Today I did an afternoon dive and even if it was way too bad visibility for my taste, I did see a seahorse which was the highlight of the trip.







Thursday was overcast again but only a little rain. Mostly just clowdy. We went to Anthony's Key resort and did the dolphin dive. It was fun and the last 15 minutes of the dive the dolphns really hanged out with all of us and it was great. The dolphins were not captivated but fed. They had a trainer and he was with us. We were at a reef at about 55 ft depth.




Friday our last day was really nice, sunny but very windy. It was better for diving than for snorkeling as the surface was way too ruff. Here are a couple of pictures from the resort:





Taken from the dock:





Husbands snorkeling picture:



Last night we had dinner as usual. It was lobster tails and steaks and it was good. After dinner the first a few people starting to feel bad. My husband got stomach pains and we went to bed early. At 2 am I was up the first time throwing up. The morning after (our departure day) my husband was not good but he went to breakfast. I was in bed after throwing up a number of times and and it came both ways so to speak. He found out that several people in our group were sick. At 11 we were forced to leave and I had to move up from bed. I was so weak so I couldn't walk and I was still sick. At the airport they fixed a wheel chair for me and I don't remember much more than I sat in the chair and threw up in plastic bags. But we have to get to the US. If I was going to be worse, I didn't want to end up in hospital in Honduras. I was not sure they would accept me on the plane, but I have to say Delta staff were really nice to us.

After a delayed flight to Atlanta, we decided to stop there. We had a flight to Washington that we missed and I badly needed a hotel room. At 10pm I was good enough to stand on my own legs and shortly after that we were at the airport hotel. I guess I don't have to tell you how nice that bed felt.

We had plans to go to Washington and meet up with Ksea and stay the night there. Now this was not possible, but we flew the day after in the morning and met her at noon. Ksea took us home and let us shower and fed us with soup. That was wonderful. Thanks Ksea and family. Next time we'll stay longer and will feel better.

We all think that it was the lobstertail that made this. It happened to at least 7-8 people and it happened fast. But we don't know for sure.

Anyway, so except for this, the rain and the fact that I did only 4 dives in the whole week due to the bad visibility, we had a good time. I don't think I'll ever will get my husband to join me on a dive trip again. So even if this was not the best week in my life, I will try to remember the good and forget about the rest. We just had bad luck and that happens sometimes.

wow, sorry for your awful experience of sickness. Forget that part in a hurry if you can!

Sorry it wasn't a great week but good times soon come, right?

Maggy I'm so sorry about the rain and getting sick! I had food poisining in Paris on my one trip there... so I missed seeing the Louvre!

One the plus side, the houses on the water look amazing! And I'm glad you finally got home safely.

I love love love your pictures! I'm glad I could help in some small way to make your trip home a little more comfortable. You will never get sick on vacation again, right?

Love love love the bat picture!!

Maggy, so sorry for the miserable weather and that you were so sick, especially for traveling. Thank you for sharing these wonderful photos... may your next trip be just perfect!

Crap - bad weather and food poisoning - not a vacation to remember (except for the seahorse). Those houses on the water do look amazing though.

You're so active and upbeat, I just can't imagine you being wheeled around the airport.

April soon come and you can try again!

PS - had my first spinning class last night. Can I borrow that wheel chair?

Got food poisoning from lobster in Cancun...I was sick for a month and now have an auto-immune disease that my Dr. believes was triggered by the food poisoning...
I hope you're all better...Love the hummingbird picture!!

What an odd time of year to have that kind of rain! So sorry it didn't turn out as you'd hoped. Yes, it does happen sometimes, unfortunately. Ah well, you have a great attitude about it.

Sorry too about the food poisoning. I ate some bad tuna on the last night of my honeymoon in Aruba back in 2002 (at the nicest hotel on the island, too). NOT a romantic way to end one's honeymoon, let me tell you.

DELETED

Thank you all for your nice comments.

I'm fully recovered now and I don't think there will be any permanent consequences, except for a hole in the wallet .

I believe the bad weather was mostly due to the extreme cold weather in north America at that time. When that happens cold fronts move south and create rains in that part of the world. January can still be in the end of their rainy period, but like STJ it's not common with those rains that last many days. So we just took the wrong lottery ticket.

I have already started to plan the next vacation to STJ/Virgin Gorda, so there are no sad feelings. I'm blessed that I can to travel as much as I do right now.

Maggy

Maggy, your pics are as usual great- and your hubby's too! Fine that you had some days with good experiences
- the food poisening sounds terrible and rain in a vacation is also bad. And you are lucky that you already can plan a new vacation!

Linne

Maggy, I'm so sorry that you got sick and for the bad weather you had.

Yes, food poisoning happens no matter where we are - still, picturing you in a wheel chair at the airport is... not sure what I can say. It must've been tough traveling like that. Glad that you survived the trip.

The seahorse still looks cool, and I love the bat (cute how it stretches out its limbs, especially the tiny feet).

Hope your next vacation will be wonderful!

Pickle wrote: Yes, food poisoning happens no matter where we are - still, picturing you in a wheel chair at the airport is... not sure what I can say. It must've been tough traveling like that. Glad that you survived the trip.

The seahorse still looks cool, and I love the bat (cute how it stretches out its limbs, especially the tiny feet).

Thank you. You know, next time I'm in a hurry I will play sick, grab a wheel chair and take the fast lane before eveyone else I was so grateful we didn't have to wait in all those lines, like immigration and transfer luggage and then another security again. OK, no I won't. I'm lousy at acting, so they would see right through me, lol.

Regarding the bats and hummingbirds. During the days, there were hummingbirds by the feeder and bats during the nights. I took MANY shots of them, but just a few turned out good. They move constantly, especially the hummingbirds. But they were both fun to watch.

We also saw a lot of nice stuff in the shallow water from both our balcony and from the dock. We saw several Eagle rays, morays, porcupine puffer, scorpionfish and others as well.

Maggy wrote:We also saw a lot of nice stuff in the shallow water from both our balcony and from the dock. We saw several Eagle rays, morays, porcupine puffer, scorpionfish and others as well.

That reminds me of being in a remote atoll in French Polynesia. Sitting on the deck, which was right on the edge of the water where the reef extends very close to the beach, I saw sharks constantly roaming around, a 6-foot-Moray, stonefishes, a huge trumpetfish (nearly 3 feet long), etc. And from the little dock, which was built right on the drop-off, I could see more sharks, turtles (swam right by), tons of tons of fish, etc. I loved it. The water was crystal clear - didn't have to snorkel to see all those creatures. Well, we did snorkel too, of course.

I guess you just can't convince your husband to try diving again. I kind of understand him – I don't dive, either. At least he does snorkel. Have fun on St. John and Virgin Gorda (assuming he is going there too, right?).