For a scuba diver, there is never enough time. Time is why we watch our bottom timers closely, diving within limits to avoid the unfortunate side-effects of defying evolution. Time is why we purchase computers, tracking our nitrogen exposure against those ever-ticking no-decompression limits. Time is why we invest in nitrox-capable tank compressors, why we spend hours learning enriched air dive planning, why we take the additional trouble to analyze our fills: for those precious extra minutes of hovering, blissfully, alongside a massive wreck ten stories beneath the waves. Time is why we will hang on a decompression line in the open blue for far more minutes than we just spent swimming alongside the wreck of the Josie J at » read more «

I just got back from a kickasstastic evening up at Oasis Lounge in Sandy Bay. Since Mark and Jonie have taken over the place a few months ago, the quality of service, atmosphere, and food has improved by leaps and bounds. No longer just another random out-of-the-way bar, the new Oasis Lounge merges the serenity of a pool bar with the low-key spunk of a local hangout, albeit one taken up few notches by savory snacks (the Southwestern Egg Roll is defintely worth a bit) and an effective (and attractive) wait staff. The large plasma television in the lounge is connected to a US-based satellite, ensuring that your Monday Night Football games will air uninterrupted even when the Honduran cable » read more «

For the first time in two years, Roatan has sobered up. As opposed to the time-honored tradition in America of getting absolutely blitzkrieged on booze whilst enduring the endless onslaught of CNN poll results on Election Day, Honduras prohibits all alcohol sales over election weekends. Given the volatile mix of machetes and machismo that permeates Honduran culture, the separation of Booze and State is probably a good idea. Between the irate Mainlanders barricading the rain-soaked streets and the Gringos drowning their frustrations while “trapped” in the bars, the continued sale of alcohol during the RECO protests earlier this month fueled island tensions to a stupid level. The game of politics is already mankind at our lowest; better to leave alcohol » read more «

Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got til it’s gone? November 4, 2008. After one month of depressingly endless rain and wind sinking Roatan to the mud-coated economic low that typifies the island rainy season, things are finally starting to look up. An eclectic international group of expatriates is intensely huddled around a television watching the results of the United States election trickle in. The excitement is palpable: inside, American international policy is finally about to make a profound transition that will hopefully mend the shattered relations between the United States and the rest of the world, while outside the wind is relenting and weather is finally making a turn for the better. When » read more «