I'm a PADI scuba diving instructor, freelance website developer, aspiring writer, and rum enthusiast running away from the American Dream on the Caribbean island paradise of Roatan, Honduras. I love my life!

Dive No.: 1979
Dive Site: Mahi Shipwreck, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 85ft/26m
Total Time: 42mins

Air: 200bar – 110 bar
Mix: EANx36
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 60ft/18m
Water: 75F/24C
Exposure: Rash Guard, 5mm full wet suit, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

180ft shipwreck sunk in the 1980s with very good coral growth. Wreck structure is unstable and swimthrus are discouraged.

Two squadrons of eagle rays, first a pair, next a trio, swam around the wreck. An imperial nudibranch (found only in Hawaii) fell from the wreck and landed on my slates. It hung around for about five minutes, slowly inching up my arm while my buddy snapped photos. Several extremely long fairy nudibranches inched along the wreck, their vibrant blue appendages sporting potent stingers. Schools of Moorish Idols picked at the algae. A swarm of yellow tangs attacked Kirsty’s camera.

Dive No.: 1978
Dive Site: Airplane Canyons, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 100ft/30m
Total Time: 47mins

Air: 200bar – 70 bar
Mix: EANx32
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 80ft/24m
Water: 75F/24C
Exposure: Rash Guard, 5mm full wet suit, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

Spectacular reef/canyon dive teaming with life. Two octopus, including one large one free-swimming in the open. Two tiny (and awesome looking) leaf scorpionfish. Huge Hawaii turtle. Dozens of moray eels (some crevices had 2-3 eels a piece!). Hundreds of cornetfish whipping about in the mild current. Wreck of a Cessna airplane sits in the middle of a 150ft/45m wide canyon surrounded by schooling grunts and surgeonfish. Excellent Nitrox profile.

Dive No.: 1977
Dive Site: Kaiser Reef, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 40ft/12m
Total Time: 51mins

Air: 200bar – 110 bar
Mix: air
Tank: 63cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 40ft/12m
Water: 75F/24C
Exposure: Rash Guard, 5mm full wet suit, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

Gentle shallow reef dive. Lots of nudibranches. White tip shark. Octopus. Loads of eels, including a few very big morays. Scorpionfish.

Dive No.: 1976
Dive Site: Sea Tiger Shipwreck, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 115ft/34m
Total Time: 48mins

Air: 200bar – 70 bar
Mix: EANx30
Tank: 12L/80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 50ft/15m
Water: 75F/24C
Exposure: Rash Guard, 5mm full wet suit, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

Sweet wreck penetration run. Back room of wreck covered with diver memorabilia (champagne bottles, wetsuits, etc). Huge Hawaiian sea turtle napping inside the wreck. Eagle ray swimming around wreck. Two cleverly concealed frogfish, tons of eels, and great coral encrustation all around. My first dive in Hawaii!

This is Roatan (TiR) is the visionary project by professional website developer and scuba diving instructor Steve Craig, aka TheScubaGeek.

The goal of TiR is to promote tourism and support local businesses on the Caribbean island of Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras through online marketing. TiR aims to be Roatan’s premier information service for travel, living, and island news. The site combines a clean modern design, advanced web technologies, and the power of Google Maps to present the beauty of Roatan to the outside world as never before seen.

The Story of TiR

Steve was sick of computer programming.

After wrapping up his Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Steve sold most of his belongings, packed his bags, and moved to the small Caribbean island of Roatan to teach scuba diving, drink rum, and live the beach bum lifestyle. He fell in love with the island’s jaw-dropping coral reef, friendly locals, sweeping white sand beaches, and laid-back attitude. His original plan to stay for three months was postponed… and postponed again… and again… until a year and a half of living the good life had passed by.

Steve returned to the so-called ‘real world’ to program professionally for a video game company in North Carolina. The job was good, the pay was fine, but something was missing. Staring at the photo of scuba divers on Roatan’s reef adorning the background of his computer, he knew he had to go back.

Meanwhile, a few websites Steve had made for Roatan businesses were starting to generate real results. A crazy little idea crept into his head: he could make a genuine impact on local businesses by driving tourism to the island through online marketing. Once again, he sold his stuff, packed his bags, and returned to the island he loved.

Real Time Development On Island Time

Upon returning, Steve began researching how he could make the biggest impact on the local market. Being relatively undeveloped, the island presented some unique challenges. As roads did not have names, local businesses did not have mailing addresses. There was hardly any news media on the island. Internet access was limited and quite slow by first-world standards.

Steve wanted a website that would do more than just act as a business directory. He saw a website that would show visitors exactly where everything was located on Roatan. He believed that media transparency was essential to promoting good business practices in the developing world. He envisioned a site architecture that would offset the slow internet speeds by incrementally streaming data in such a way that the website would never have to be reloaded. He dreamed of a website that would be sleek, modern, and beautiful—a place where local businesses would be proud to appear.

Steve was as naïve as he was ambitious. He thought the website would take six months to build. Unreliable electricity, crashed computers, political turmoil and personal hardships perpetually delayed the project. Progress was steady but aggravatingly slow. He poured his heart, soul, and personal finances into the project, bankrupting himself in the process.

The Dream Becomes Reality

Two years later, Steve finally published the first live version of TiR.

TiR remains the project of which Steve is the most proud. The website is proof that hard work, determination, and a fair bit of insanity can unite to create something incredible. Steve continues to refine TiR to fit the ever-changing needs of local businesses with emerging web technologies, allowing business owners to reach their online customers.

Steve hopes you enjoy the unique experience of TiR almost as much as you enjoy your stay on Roatan. If you find this website useful, please consider making a donation through PayPal; every buck goes a long way towards keeping the dream alive.

Plot Summary
An innocent protector of the poor is exiled by a military coup, only to rally his people and make a triumphant return against the oppressors.

It’s a great three-act script worthy of a Hollywood movie. “Based on a true story.” Hand over the Oscar, thank you.

In our 21st century marriage of entertainment and journalism, this is the story the mainstream media (MSM) would like you to believe transpired in Honduras during the summer of 2009. Americans were fed the tale of Honduran President Mel Zelaya, champion of the impoverished, ousted at gunpoint in his pajamas in a classic coup engineered by power-hungry elitists. Clips of Zelaya demanding his rightful reinstatement were interspersed with stock footage of civil unrest in the 1980’s, unrelated political demonstrations, and Hurricane Mitch. US President Barack Obama declared the coup illegal, and she-bear Hillary Clinton promised to see Zelaya put back in power.

But Honduras didn’t stick to the script.

As most of us who actually lived in Honduras during that fateful summer can attest, the actual events were far different than the Hollywood script MSM was jamming down American throats. I recently stumbled across an excellent article summarizing the role of MSM in deliberately misconstruing the facts about the coup to fit their storyboard.

Storyboarding the News: How the MSM Turned the Honduran Crisis into A Comic Book – by Mark Klugmann

To “storyboard the news” is to replace straight news reporting with a pre-shaped comic-book narrative, an edited fable sustained by selective reporting.

Victims of media fraud suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder will be excused for hearing the phrase as a riff on Guantanamo, that “storyboarding the news” occurs when the MSM submerges the facts underwater until the truth surrenders.

The truth about Honduras – such as why the so-called “coup” was not a coup at all – was left by the MSM on the cutting-room floor, edited out of the news reporting because it did not fit into the storyboard.

You can read more of this article at: http://bigjournalism.com/mklugmann/2010/01/06/storyboarding-the-news-how-the-msm-turned-the-honduran-crisis-into-a-comic-book/

This is why they won’t let me work in advertising… my twisted take on a Hardee’s commercial:

INGREDIENTS:

2oz rum
4oz pineapple juice
1 lime slice

DIRECTIONS:

Pour rum over ice in highball glass. Stir in pineapple juice and add lime slice.

COMMENTS:

The drink of choice on Roatan, Ron y Piña (rum and pineapple) is an deliciously refreshing way to toast the sunset. The mildly sweet, fairly acidic flavor of pineapple juice smooths out the rum’s bite while not overpowering the drink with sweetness. The drink can be made more tart by apply small squeezes of juice from the lime slice.

Best with amber  or spiced rums, especially with Flor de Caña Gold 4 Year, an amazing “bottom-shelf” rum served in most Roatan bars.

I’ll let Special Ed explain…

Less than two weeks! Yaaaaaay!

The new layout for TheScubaGeek.com is live! Woo-hoo!

There’s still some kinks to work out around the site, so please bear with me as I make the tweaks, cuts, and snips necessary. I promise the end result will be worth it!

Meanwhile, take a look around and let me know what you think!