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March 2005
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Diving in Roatan
The food was delicious, and with huge helpings. You could get combos, half-servings, whatever. Coconut grouper was a highlight, as were the desserts, which they would gladly box up for you so you could eat it in your hammock back at your room. We were also fortunate enough to be there over Thanksgiving holiday, when they set up a huge buffet with ham, turkey, steamship round, vegetable soup, bread, fresh fruit, salads, pie, cake, and two ornate pastry-turkeys which stood about one-and-a-half-feet tall. You could find their miniature counterparts on the dessert table. Every morning they had a breakfast mini-buffet with fresh fruit, orange juice just squeezed that morning, and more pastries, plus a breakfast menu of eggs, French toast and the like. The waiters (and everyone else at AKR) were very nice and friendly and would bend over backwards to please you. The diving was outstanding, with accommodating, friendly dive masters and boat captains. Even pulling on a wet three mm suit wasn’t so terrible. Our dive master, Wendell, was wonderful when it came to pointing out itty-bitty things I wouldn’t have found after hours of searching, like little shrimp hiding in an anemone, or a flamingo tongue, scorpion fish, brittle stars, a fire worm, juvenile spotted drums. He even showed us two scorpion fish (a male and a female) free swimming. It wasn’t infrequent that we would stare at where the tip of his broken car antenna was pointing shrugging our shoulders for a few minutes before actually seeing what he was trying to point out. Some of my favorite sites were “Mary’s Place,” which had lots of deep canyons, LOTS of fish, and beautiful sponges; “Butcher’s Banks,” where I saw my first hawksbill turtle, and “White Hole,” whose little cracks and crevasses (at least on my night dive) were teeming with brittle stars, urchins, lobster and crab. We also had two octopus sightings, which made for an excellent first-ever night dive experience. I would, however, skip the “Bear’s Den” trip, which seemed barren and dead after such awesome dives like the ones listed above. Also unique to AKR was their clinic and decompression chamber. Yes, they have their own chamber on-site, roughly a thirty-second walk from the dock. This clinic is not only for the use of vacationers, but also provides care for the surrounding locals. A mandatory 12 dollar donation to the clinic at check-in guarantees you proper treatment for any sort of ailment, diving associated or not. This fee also allows locals to receive help for free. Considering the rooms, the food, and the diving, Anthony’s Key was definitely an awesome way to spend a week in the tropics. I know my family will definitely be going back soon. Diving in Grand Bahama Editors Note: Robyn, as was Shannon in the article above was trained by area instructor Linda Mills. This is an open letter addressed to Linda from Robyn. We really appreciate her allowing us to read it as well.
Finally, when we arrived, I put everything together and I remembered (or hoped I remembered) everything you ever said because when it was my time to go, I wanted to be ready, ready for anything. Then something amazing happened right when I jumped in ... Everything felt so perfect ... just wonderful! I can't describe the feeling but my thoughts of dying, running out of air, etc. just vanished and I was just excited. I suppose I knew I was ready and that I didn't need to worry. So, in my happy mood, I descended (of course with my buddy) and, another shock! Equalizing came so naturally---by now I was ecstatic! So I'm all the way down, looking around and guess what I see swimming toward us … a huge!!! Reef shark!!! But the funny thing was...I wasn't afraid. Later on that same dive, I saw three more sharks and one was about a yard away before we saw it. I was surprised to find that there was no divemaster who came down with us to lead the dive. I think my dad was too because on all the dives he went on with his mother there was always a leader who showed him everything. The next dive
that day was "West Anne's Paradise" (the site where I forgot my weight belt).
It was great, with lots more fish and coral, max depth 50 ft. By now I had
gotten very comfortable with my diving skills, and I felt I was ready for
anything; probably not a great thing to feel on my second dive but I was
excited. My favorite fish is the blue tang. My father and I ended up surfacing
really far away from the boat, so again I got to practice some of those skills
we weren't ever supposed to have to do.
Do you remember the first scene in Finding Nemo when the big barracuda
comes towards Nemo's dad's house and the evil music plays and the barracuda
turns slowly? Well, while I was looking at the boat there was a GIGANTIC
barracuda with a little tiny barracuda. Dad and I were REALLY close to it. And, a little off the dive topic,
to add a little culture flavor, that night when we were at the town square where
they had a live band singing, I was sitting waiting for my dad to return from
buying a drink when a Hispanic guy came up and asked me to dance! I did not
want to go but he insisted. Then, to top it off, he started doing some
confusing mamba dance moves--and I've never danced to that before!! That
was interesting... So that was the diving part of my trip. I just want to thank you, Linda, for everything you passed on to me. I can see, looking back, that some of the things I did were kind of stupid, but I didn't get sick, injured, or mentally damaged in anyway, so I know it turned out all right. Everyone complimented me on how natural I was and I believe that just explains how great a teacher you are. I thank you for your patience and care.
Please Support Fishersville Quarry
The quarry is owned by an area developer who has leased the quarry to Kathy's Scuba in Harrisonburg which in turn has solicited a supporting cast including Dive Connections, Jeff Elkins, John Hutchens and Linda Mills and others to bear the costs of leasing and running the quarry. The operating cost run about $4,000 per year and it only makes sense to keep it open if area divers want to use it in sufficient quantity to raise that money each year. Dive Connections announces that it will sponsor 7 weekend adventures for general training and diving beginning April 30th. It will also sponsor "Thursday Evenings" beginning May 5th through October 27th. The dive instructors and divemaster of Dive Connections have agreed to personally purchase season passes and make every effort to attend each event. They will bring BBQ supplies and fix'ns in the hope that other will join in and help make a fun social event out of it. Season passes are $85 ($65 for SeaDevil Sponsor Members). the pass allows the holder to attend all of their weekend and week day events. As an additional benefit to SeaDevil Sponsor Members, Dive Connections will provide an unlimited Air Fill card for 2005 for only $20! So join the fun and help support diving in this community by purchasing a Fishersville Season Pass and become a SeaDevil Sponsor, too!
We'd love to talk with your teacher about coming to visit your class to talk about the ocean and the creatures in it. We'll bring scuba equipment and would like you to help us show it to your classmates. We'll talk about the animals in the ocean, the things that are happening to the ocean to hurt the fish and the things that you and your classmates can do to help protect the ocean.
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I’d just completed my open
water certification barely two weeks ago and was about to embark on my very
first dive trip to Roatan, Honduras, at Anthony’s Key Resort. My brother, age
12 and not yet certified, was to attend the Dolphin/ SCUBA camp, where he would
get to swim with the dolphins and get a Jr. Scuba certification while my mom,
stepfather, and I went diving. There were three dives scheduled for each day
plus a night dive on Tuesday and Thursday. Our bungalows were wonderful—two
separate rooms connected by a walkway and deck, the entire structure stretching
out over the water. Not all of the rooms were suspended in such a fashion, but
being able to wake up and see a barracuda, two cushion stars, some silversides
and cuttlefish hanging out under your room was priceless. Our rooms were also
equipped with air conditioning. And for you shell-collectors: any hunting
quest just outside your door (or under your deck, as case may be) will reap a
bountiful spoil of small whelks, “olive” or “bubble” shells, margin shells, bits
of dead coral, and turban-shaped shells (If you find a large, whole one of these
then you are lucky—I wasn’t able to find one that wasn’t already inhabited by a
huge hermit crab.). However, please refrain from buying the conch and whelk
shells from gift shops, as these may have been illegally collected while they
were still hosting the mollusk. So called “conch hunting” is a major problem on
Roatan—conchs which were once abundant are now rare in the wild.
It
has been forever since the trip but I suppose I have not really had time to sit
down to write about it. I appreciate you for teaching me so much, Linda.
Without your instruction, I would not have been able to complete many of the
tasks put upon me during my trip. Believe it or not, I was thought of as one of
the better divers on the trip—thanks to you! And I did get to practice putting
my weight belt on--in the ocean--so it's a good thing we practiced that a lot.
I forgot to put on my weight belt on my second dive and I noticed when I could
not go down...so I went back to the boat and one of the guys handed it to me and
I rolled over and put it on without dropping it or anything!
My
first dive in Freeport was called "SPID City (?)," I have to describe how
I was feeling ... it was so different. The boat ride to the spot felt like it
lasted forever! I was terrified, there was no one else my age ... so I stood
there as the boat zoomed away from shore, alone. 
