After the disappointment of Copan it was a relief to arrive on the island of Roatan. It has a very different feel to mainland Honduras because it used to be a British colony and so feels much more like the Carribean with everyone speaking Creole or English. The place itself is really beautiful and has some of the best beaches I've ever seen.
Aside from lazing around on the beach one of the big draws is scuba diving and it's supposed to be one of the cheapest places in the world to learn. Unable to resist a good deal we both signed up with a cool place on the main strip.
We arrived in the morning expecting to be told to come back later on, but instead were rushed upstairs to begin some of our pre-dive studies (watching DVDs and doing multiple choice quizes). By the afternoon we were suited up and in shallow water just off the beach! It all happened a bit quick!
The first thing we did was basic use of the equipment and practising some simple emergency procedures, but by the following day (after more quizes) we were actually diving around one of the closeby reefs. It was great too, although everything moved pretty fast our instructor was really good and before we knew it we were gliding over the coral and watching the fish swim by.
It wasn't all plain sailing though, some of the safey procedures were pretty difficult and we both ended up with water in our noses and the odd mouthful. Amy had a scare deep underwater when she had to take her mask off and struggled to get to back on. The instructor thought she'd inhaled water through her nose so was trying to hold her nose whilst keeping the second stage (breathing thing) in her mouth, but she just needed a hand getting the mask strap over her hair. Still, the drama was soon over and we had a great dive afterwards.
All in all a great stay, next Nicaragua after a grueling two day journey...
