Improved Video

I made a new video of a typical morning at Paya Bay. This one seems to be a little clearer.


MY VIEW

My daily view

Click the link below to see what I see when I stand at my front door. This is basically the scene I see when I eat all my meals also from my porch. Not too shabby if you ask me.


MY VIEW

Typical Day

I wake up about 5:30 nearly every morning. There is so much light coming into my apartment that I just can’t sleep. I usually just sit on the porch watching the ocean for a several minutes before really getting the day started. About 6 I start thinking about breakfast. I have cereal or toast and some yogurt most mornings. Once in a while I cook some eggs or pancakes. Breakfast is always on the porch again. I rarely eat inside.

About 7:00 am each morning I wonder up to the top deck to check the waves on the reef and sometimes say a quick hello to the guests. After that, it’s off to the dive shop to set up gear for the divers. We set everything up everyday so the guests are always ready to go. We are almost always finished getting ready by 7:45 or so we just sit around and talk until the guests arrive.

Lately, Jim and I have worked on the boat everyday. It’s finally up on the dry dock. We broke a support, a chain and a chain host but we made it. Actually it’s still partially held up by a second chain host because the support under the boat bends when we try to sit the boat onto it. We have 2 rough sawn 4 x 8’s in the front and only one in the back. I have to buy another on Monday to support the back end. Jim is a great worker and has sanded the entire boat. On Sunday we’ll launch a little boat under our boat and Jim will clean the bottom of the dive boat. We’ll inspect for leaks and problems and make repairs as required. Later in the week we’ll epoxy paint the entire boat from top to bottom. We use a special anti-fouling paint for the bottom.

Since we broke our new hoist I had to get another from La Ceiba. There were none on Roatan. Luckily one of the owners was there and picked it up for us and brought it back on the ferry.

We have to move the straps and chain holding the boat so we can repair the damage done when the chain crushed the sides of the boat. This boat is really heavy.

The owner is having a new engine head sent from the Florida via air and it is costing a fortune. Hopefully it will arrive before Friday so we’ll have a boat when Joe and his family arrive along with Gerri. The motor is going to San Pedro and then being trucked to La Ceiba. From there is will be put onto a ferry where I’ll go pick it up and hopefully get someone to install it.

We break for lunch after the morning dives usually about 12:30. The crew goes to a local place to eat and Ben and I eat at the resort. We eat the local food prepared for the staff however. It is always beans and rice and some sort of meat or salad. It’s simple but usually pretty good.

We usually work until about 4:00 or 4:30. If we’ve had a hard day and lately they’ve all been hard, we have a few beers on my porch. Jim needs to catch a ride by 5:00 pm or he has a 70 minute walk home.

I try to eat dinner about 6:30 and I keep it simple. I often have a sandwich or spaghetti or something similar. I sit on the porch once again and have a beer or glass of wine and I’m usually in bed no later than 9:00 pm and often earlier. I have no TV yet. About once a week I eat with the guests and that’s a lot of fun. I wish I could do that every night.

Fire Fighting - Really

This place is just full of surprises. Jim, one of the boat captains, and I were coming back from town the other day when a lady flagged us down on the dirt road. She was frantic and said something about throwing water on a fire. We jumped out of the truck and she led us to her home. We could here the roar and crackle of a fire as we approached.

Jimmy and I climbed through a hole in a barbed wire fence and went toward the fire. Sugar cane was burning and it burns really loud. It pops and hisses and it was a bit scary. The fire was probably 30 yards from the house and the lady asked us to throw water on it. She had a 55 gallon drum of rain water and a few buckets so Jimmy and I grabbed a bucket and started running back and forth. It was crazy. Throwing tiny buckets of water on flames 15 feet high seemed futile. Jimmy had no shoes and I had flip flops and we were in the jungle fighting a fire with buckets. We managed to calm the fire nearest the house and it seemed to be headed the other way. I offered to call someone but the lady said she's be dead before anyone help would arrive. We used all the water and that was all we could do. The fire was still burning but there was nothing else we could do. We left.

Later in the day I passed the place again and the fire was out and the house was safe. We didn't really do much but maybe we did save the ladies home. It was strange indeed and something I don't care to repeat.

It has been very dry and we really need some rain.

Unique Showroom

We need a new motor for our boat or at least a spare so we can get ours fixed. Several locals have approached me about motors for sale and I asked the boss if I could go look at them. He said sure and gave me an amount to spend.

I contacted one of the guys (Paul) and asked him to show me the motor. We had a 5pm appointment. About 5:30 I called him and he claimed he was on his way. I finally called again and determined that he was walking from about 4 miles away. We drove down and picked him up. We came back toward the resort and stopped at a soccer field to pick up another guy that was helping sell this motor.

We continued back toward the resort until we were about 10 feet from the entrance to the property. They had me turn down a dirt path so I stopped the truck. We didn't think the road was good enough so we started walking. About 300 yards down the path and within 200 yards of our dive shop we came across a field of 4 to 5 foot high grass. Paul pointed into the grass and said there's the motor. The grass was very buggy and had sharp edges but we waded into it about 20 feet only to discover this 200 HP motor laying there. I quickly decided this was an unusual showroom.

The stories about it are very vague but it was likely used to run drugs and was abondoned. Someone grabbed it and hid it from the police or drug enforcement agency assuming there is such a thing. We never got a straight answer on who claimed ownership of the motor or who we were buying it from. These guys just said we should pay them. I decided to talk to my boss about this purchase before going further.

We may actually purchase this motor but we are going to ask to have it mounted on our boat first to test it. We will also offer considerably less than the asking price since we don't think they have any cost involved at all and we'd be taking some amount of risk.

I've had a few strange things happen since I've been here but this is at the top for weird.

Jealousy

Paya Bay has two different kitchen crews that rotate each week. They work from 6:30 am until 9:00 pm 7 days in a row and then get a week off. The 2 crews don't really get along that well. I like most of the people on both crews and try to be friends with all of them since they sometimes provide me with meals. I ran into a problem this week however with Madlin's crew. The other chef is Charles.

I have chosen to help out one family just a little bit. Many of the staff think that I'm some rich white guy and they ask for things all the time. This one family has never asked for anything. The girl that works in the kitchen is only 20 and has a 4 year son(Oliver). No one in the entire extended family speaks a word of English. I have someone translate on occasion buy mostly we don't talk. I bought a cheap foam pad for the boy to sleep on and some shoes. The other crew is trying to turn this into some big story. They are so jealous that they can't think straight.

I have given everyone rides in the truck before and I always invite them to sit inside if there is room. In this instance I gave the family a ride and most of them were able to fit into the truck. The jealous crew however said "they should ride in the back like cattle". I was shocked and couldn't believe my ears. I can't believe that these wonderful people could be so mean to each other. I'm very disappointed and a bit shaken by all this. It's such a small island and so many people live together that everyone knows everything. Unfortunately they rarely know the whole story so they fill in the blanks with their own ideas of life. Many have had such hard lives and had so many problems they think everyone is mean and unkind and out to get something. They think everyone is out to get them and take advantage of them. They don't trust each other or any of us Americans when it really gets down to the truth. All this seems to be very deeply rooted and won't change for a very long time.

I have another little boy that is only 15 that is supporting a large family. Apparently his father beats him and doesn't work. The kid has been unable to attend school but he speaks both English and Spanish. He works odd jobs around the resort and is very shy. I'm not sure how to help him and if it's worth while. Who knows what they will do if I help someone else. I'm very discouraged at this point about trying to help anyone.

Everyone has warned my about people taking advantage of me and I've tried to be very careful. I may just stop helping everyone all together though that seems so strange that I should have to do that.

Some Fixed - More Broken

The truck is much better. The rebuilt brakes but pull to the left so you really have to hold onto the wheel when you stop.

The boat is worse. It now appears that the boat is taking on water. The bildge pump is running several times a day and the boat is just sitting next to the dock. There must be a hole under the boat. We have to put it up into dry dock soon to take a look.

I'm not sure what we are doing about the engine yet. We blew the middle port piston. We are going to order parts from Miami or La Ceiba but I need a mechanic to tell me what parts to order. Hopefully I can get in touch with him today.

We also had a radio go out last week but that's a minor problem compared to the boat.

I can hardly believe the payroll I had to pay this week. I paid a bunch of double times for Easter week and more for working 6 days in a row. The guys love it but we are quickly going broke. We really need some more customers and none appear to be booking at this point. No one knows what is wrong.

I had no phone service part of this week. We ran out of bandwidth again. My phone is all IP based so when we have no or limited Internet the phone doesn't work either. The electric has been working great for about 2 weeks however.

Stuff Happens - but all at one time?

It's been a fun week so far. Ben took our truck in for service and they found out one wheel was about to fall off and the brakes were totally gone. Typical of Roatan, there are no replacment brakes on the Island. Ben was able to get some sent from La Ceiba but they take at least a day to get here. In the meantime, we found a place that rebonds new pads but the electric was off so they couldn't do anything. Ben spend mucho dollars running around in taxi's trying to get this straightened out but ended up home in frustration.

On top of that, all our gas cans were on the broken down truck so we had no boat gas. Luckily, Henry my dive master, offered to go get the cans and gas. I gave him $20 for his trouble but we were unloading gas late last night.

Today was even more fun. I have been trying to teach scuba diving to a lady and her 11 year old child. They are very challenging especially the mom. She is more scared of the water than anyone I've ever seen. The boy doesn't pay attention but seems to do everything well anyway. He's very tiny however and has a really hard time with his weight belt. They should have finished part of the class by Monday morning but we didn't finish until very late on Tuesday.

I used the small resort boat to take out my students and a couple of snorklers joined us. Were were in the water about 30 minutes when the boat captain motioned for me. I swam back to the boat to find out our big dive boat had broken down out in the water. We had to recall everyone and take them back to Paya Bay. We then went and towed the large boat back. It would barely run and it sounded like it was all broken up inside.

I called a mechanic and he arrived about 7:30 pm. He looked at the problem and determined that we blew a piston. They suspect water in the gas caused the problem.

I have another boat rented until we can sort out this problem but it's costing us a fortune and we are loosing money daily.

Right now I have no truck and no boat. Life in paradise isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY

This week is the biggest holiday in Honduras. Over 1.8 million visitor were here this week and lot of them came to Roatan. The public beaches have thousands of people on them. There are parties everywhere.

Paya Bay is having a 4 day party that started on Thursday and continues through Sunday. They have a DJ playing music on the beach from about noon to 1:00am every night. It seem most people start arriving a little after 9:00 each night. They serve food and lots and lots of beer until everyone goes home. There is little chance of sleeping if you don't want to party because the music is very loud.

I had a great week this week. The guests were terrific and very easy going. We had 2 school teachers from New York and a family from Chicago I think. They loved every minute and keep complimenting the entire staff that works with me. We all feel really good about it.

Ben and I had 4 students this week that took the Open Water Scuba Diver class. One lady, Polly, dropped out on the first day because she didn't like it. Her husband and 2 older boys enjoyed it however and were all great students. Polly took all the test and actually scored better than everyone. By the end of the week, Ben convinced her to give it another try and she did very well. She didn't get certified but she only needs 4 dives to complete the certification so she'll certainly make it too.

I went for a short walk today which is something I've not done before. I just walked up to the tiny local bar to pay the lady that cooks the crew food. She wasn't there buy the walk was interesting. I couldn't believe all the sounds I heard. I could here the ocean waves for a long time. Later I heard dozens of birds, all differnt kinds, all around me. When I got to a small village I could here crying babies and kids having fun. I could here party music at one house. You walk very slowly as it's warm and humid. When a car drives by you close your eyes to avoid all the dust but you still get dirty and breathing is a challenge. I don't know how the locals do it every single day.

Almost Trouble

I almost forgot one of my most terrifying moments. Last week I was driving one of my crew members, Jim, home because we worked until after dark. We got stopped just a few hundred yards up the road by some clean up crews. They are clearing the brush from the side of the road. They started backing up toward me and I don't have a horn. I immediately jammed the truck in reverse and started to back up. Jim suddenly started screaming to stop.

A little boy about 8 to 10 years old was attempting to use the truck to pull his bicycle along and I had not noticed him in the dark. I had run over his bike and mangled the front wheel. Luckily the boy was not hurt but he was crying and upset. He kept saying his mother would kill him. Lucky for me, Jim knew the boy and his mother. We loaded the bike into the truck and took the kid home. Jim went and spoke to his mom and I offered them about 25 to fix the bike. Jim offered to get the wheel and install it. Everyone ended up happy I think.

Even more interesting, the boy's grandfather came out to talk with me. It ends up that he knows my boss very well and they are good friends. He introduced himself to me and we a had nice conversation as if nothing had even happened. I was so relieved.

Jim was suppose to fix the wheel on Sunday but he ended up in Jail. Apparantly he's lost some Honduran papers and was picked up for not having them. I suspect he was pretty drunk Saturday night and may have ended up somewhere he shouldn't have been. Anyway, he missed work on Sunday and didn't get the wheel fixed yet.

We had some divers last week that hated everything I did. I made an embarrasing mistake in the handling of some tips (party my dive masters fault). Because of that 2 people just laid into me personally and listed everything I did that they didn't like. I had some personal snacks on the boat and they thought I should have shared with them. They didn't realize I start work before they even eat breakfast and often don't get lunch. They were also told the bring snacks but didn't. They didn't think I acted like a divemaster and they were clearly told I didn't perform that role. Henry, the divemaster, explained it on every dive but they chose not to hear it. Other divers clearly understood everything and had no problems. One even came and talked to me because he overhood the personally bashing I took. It was my worst week but I survived and have learned some good lessons.

Finally - A few PICS

I know I haven't posted many pictures and I have no excuse. Here are just a few featuring tonights fire walkers. The folks watching are a few of the kitchen staff. The big black guy is Charles the chef.

Day to Day Events

Today I thought I talk about some of the day to day things that happen around here.

One of the things I dislike most is the trip to town for gas. It's about 45 minutes and most of it is on bad roads. The dirt road has really gone down hill with all the rain lately. There is one place where a drain pipe goes under the road and a couple of guys tried to repair it the other day. They didn't fill it in properly and now there is a huge ditch about 10 inches deep and wide in the road. One of my workers got stuck there yesterday and we had to tow him out with our truck and rope. It really tricky to negotiate. You can't go too fast but it you stop, you are done.

Another daily hazard is cows and horses. Cows constantly break out of pens and roam the streets. The locals hate them because the cows are looking for new pastures and end up eating all the flowers and nice plants people might have. When you're poor already you don't need cows eating your stuff. Horses don't seem to cause as much problem but they are in the road a lot. You just drive real slow until they move. My horn doesn't work so I don't have any way to warn them.

A local lady that has a very tiny local bar really took advantage of me today. I bought some 5 gallon water bottles from her last week and left a couple of emties with her. She later said the water company wouldn't take my bottles because they were oily. I took a couple of fresh ones there today and she gave me the rejects. They were not my bottles. Someone had used them to store gasoline and we never do that. I was pissed but didn't say anything. I will surely not be buying water from her again. She cooks lunch for my workers and I stop that if I had another choice.

We've been diving for almost 2 weeks now on the other side of the island which is a pain. We have to cart guests and equipment over there every day. Yestday, the boat was late in arriving at the dock so we got a late start. I can only use the resort bus until 1:30 each day and the boat wasn't back yet so I had to hire a taxi bus. Then one of my workers needed the afternoon off so I had to hire a guy to help out for the day. I had to make my 2 hour journey for gas so all in all it wasn't a fun day. I didn't even get to dive.

Today we finally brought the boat back but it was too rough to dive in the afternoon. I can only hope it clears by morning or its another $150 trip in gas to get the boat back to the south side once again. All the locals are amazed at the crappy weather. They have never seen it last this long. There is talk of an El Nino or something.

I've cooked a couple of my own meals lately and while I don't like doing it, I enjoy good old american comfort food. I've had tomato soup and macaroni, spagetti and hamburger helper. I also made a box cake and finished it off today.

I'm still waiting for my DirectTV to be hooked up. That was suppose to be done 5 weeks ago and I have no idea what the hang up is. I'll have to ask soon or it will never get installed.

Electric goes out at least once or twice a day and it usually takes 10 to 20 minutes before someone starts the generator. It's really hard on a lot of appliances and various devices. I bought a microwave and I'm leaving it unplugged when not in use. The power just fluxuates too much. I almost always have to reset my Internet connection.

Even with all the little problems, I'm still enjoying most days. Gerri and I have been able to talk at least twice a day almost everyday and we both enjoy that. As she says, we talk more now than we do when I'm at home. The garden at home is coming in strong and Gerri is loving it. I miss it especially my first crop of asparagus.

Still Having Fun

Despite the weather it's still been a fun week. We had a group of 5 divers this week with a few walk in locals added in. We actually left the boat on the south side because it doesn't look like the weather will break soon.

I went to the bank today and it was a zoo. I waited in line for about 45 minutes while one lady was apparantly preparing her payroll with individual deposits and cash amounts for at least 20 or more people. One teller finally let me in front of her line and I attempted to cash a check for Ben. No luck. I had to deposit the check and then pay Ben from the account.

I also met the guy that gave me the on line security device. The entire web site is in Spanish so I have to guess at what things do. It's going to be interesting.

I never play cards at home but a few of the guys asked me to play eucher today so I did. We had fun and spent an hour playing. They asked me to dinner so I ate with them tonight but I didn't like whatever it was that I ate. I wish I had cooked my own dinner.

Tomorrow is change over day with 9 new guests arriving. We start the process all over again.

Broken Weather

The weather just won't break. It's been windy and the seas have been rough for several days now. We have been diving on the south side all week. It's a real pain.

We have a little landing called Calabash Bight that is only about 15 minutes away but we still have to load the truck up with all the gear, drive it over and then unload everything. We take a separate vehicle for the guests.

Today is was raining in the morning so we were all soaked before we even started diving. The road is a muddy mess too so the truck just slides around and you hope you don't end up in a ditch or stalled out in a puddle.

The diving on the south side is good however and the guest really enjoy it. Yesterday, I didn't dive and they saw a giant hawksbill turtle and a seahorse. Both are rare up this way.

One of the crew is probably going to leave. He has an offer that will pay about double what he makes here because it's at a bigger resort with more consistant bookings. He's a great guy and we hope he stays but there is nothing I can do about the money. He has 3 kids and a wife to support so he needs all he can earn. He even has his kids in a private school and he really wants them to stay there.

I ordered a new GPS and it's finally arrived but I have to pick it up in town.

I'm meeting a banker to get our security device for on line banking so I'll get the GPS on Friday when I see the banker. I can hardly believe they have on line banking. When you attempt to go to the bank, the lines are really long. It's often a 2 hour wait and they don't even let you inside the bank most of the time because it's just too crowded. It's really crazy but I guess the customers put up with it so the banks never change.

The power just went out again. It seems to happen every day now and rumor has it that it may get worse. There is some talk that we may be without power for an entire weekend because of fuel shortage at the generating plant. They are providing power to the more populated and visited areas and leaving us in the dark.

Roatan Today – Problems in paradise

You’ve all heard the saying “when it rains – it pours”. Today was that kind of day.

THE PROPANE RAN OUT IN THE RESTAURANT
THE WELL PUMP BURNED OUT
THE POWER WENT OFF ABOUT 1:00PM

Needless to say everything is being improvised today. The kitchen used an electric stove until power went but it only had 4 burners which is hardly enough of a restaurant. Later they tried using sterno which wasn’t very effective.

I offered my gas bottle but I don’t think they didn’t use it. I said I’d trade my gas for free meals. They took my bottle but gas was finally delivered just before the dinner cooking started.

The water problem is much more serious of course. After being the salt water you really need a clean shower but that didn’t happen for most people today. I got enough of a trickle to rinse off a little. You also can’t flush the toilets but they are providing 5 gallon buckets of salt water to help with that. Believe me, you don't want to experience a water crisis.

We did get in 3 dives today but only 2 people out of 10 went diving. This place is just so relaxing people often give up the diving to chill out, rest on the beach or nap in a hammock. I did all 3 dives and I think that’s the first time since I’ve been here.

We have a lady diving this week that should not have been certified. She was certified in Cozumel but she can’t do anything right. We need to assign someone to watch out for her and help her during every dive. She can descend, ascend, do safety stops and she can’t even follow the divemaster. She often goes in the opposite direction. She uses all her air within 20 minutes on every dive. I don’t know what her problem is. Ben even gave her a free refresher class but she didn’t understand any of it and it didn’t help a bit.

I also went to Camp Bay and found the guy that found our buoys that had come loose in the storms. I gave him $5 for the two he found. Both of us were happy with that deal. Now I need time to re-install them a little more securely.

Another Week

Today is Saturday and I basically had most of the day off. I did some running around and picked up a FEDEX package that was suppose to arrive 2 weeks ago. The islanders have no sense of urgency at all and I'm going to have to learn to deal with that.

I stopped and got a hair cut at some beauty shop that had a sign that said unisex and black and white. I figured that included me. There were a few black women getting some hair treatment when I stepped inside. No one spoke english so I pointed to me head. They shoock their heads and motioned for me to sit down. I waited a few mintues and then one of the ladies asked me to sit in a make shift barber chair. I indicated short with my fingers and she pulled out some sheers and took a swipe and asked me if it was okay. She basically cut it to the scalp and I figured what the heck. It cost $2.50 so I left her $5 and she was pretty excited.

I also stopped at the store and bought some more stuff to eat. When I stopped the other day the dairy isle was almost empty and today it had a huge selection of stuff including tub margarine and yogurt. I stocked up on both. I found something packaged like frozen hamburger (the rolled package type) and it said is was 90/10 so I bought some of it too. Again the label was in spanish so I hope it's hamburger. I also found some ice cream that didn't look like it melted and re-froze so I bought some of that too. I didn't think about the 1 hour drive home so it was pretty soft when I got back but I think it will be okay. I'll have to take a cooler next time I buy frozen food. Some of this stuff is pretty expensive so my food bill will be pretty high.

I found this little hole in the wall place that sells frozen chicken and other things but there is so much frost on the packages I can't tell what's inside. The labels if any are in Spanish. I didn't buy anything there.

The kitchen is preparing food for 60 or more guests tonight plus staff members so I didn't get lunch but I made a turkey sandwich on my own. There is some sort of youth group visiting today that is doing some kind of volunteer church work. It will be interesting to see how this works out since the kitchen usually serves about 20 to 30.

We have 10 divers this week so it will be another busy one. I hope the weather is a lot better than last week and we can dive on this side of the island. Last week the weather was so bad at one point that the boat anchor ripped up the coral and got bent.

Gerri's Birthday

Today was Gerri's birthday. I felt really bad being away but it turned out really well for her. The good people she works with knew I was away so they bought her a dozen roses. Later in the day they took her out to lunch and then had a cake for her. Frankly, that's a lot mot celebrating than we usually do. She had a great day.

Tonight we had another beach party and dinner. Since the wind was down, they provided a bunch of torches on the beach as well as against the hillside again. It looks a lot like a survivor set. Later the had the Garifuna dancers again this time actually performing on the beach.

On my way back from the beach the power went off again but luckily I now carry a flashlight with me at all times. I was able to make it back to my room and the generator was turned on in about 10 minutes. I was able to have a remote toast with Gerri to help her celebrate her birthday. Not as good as the real thing but we thought it was fun.

I hooked up my web cam today and tried it out. Gerri was able to see my place for the first time. I'll try to get some pictures to post on this blog.

Gerri purchased her tickets to come down for a visit on May 5th. We are both excited and look forward to seeing each other and seeing the sites together.

Finally - Moved In

Well I finally got moved into my apartment. Its the lower level of a condo my boss owns. In the Paya Bay pictures its the one facing the ocean on the hillside not the cliffside. I'm in the lower level. I have 2 porches that both face the sea but there are trees blocking much of the view. Its okay though, one porch has two chairs and the other has a couple chairs and a swing.

This is basically one room with a bar separating the kitchen from the rest of the room. There are a couple of bar stools, a computer desk and the bed. I have a TV with a direct TV box but no wire to the satelitte at the moment. I'll also be getting a chair from upstairs next week. I have air conditioning and a water cooler so I'm in pretty good shape.

I went shopping yesterday but the boat called me just as I got started. The wind kicked up and the seas got rough. While divers were in the water the anchor broke loose in the wind and starting ripping up the reef. It actually bent the anchor. Everyone made it back to the boat and the day ended with only one dive. I never got to the food section but I did get cleaning supplies and some wine. Ben left this place really dirty. The shower was disgusting so I sprayed it a few times with scrubing bubbles and used a brush to get is cleaned up a bit. It's a bit old so it doesn't look all that good. The entire bathroom is really small and there isn't even a towel bar but there is one hook. It beats that Nekton Pilot by a long way.

Tonight is another dinner on the beach. I don't really like those things but the guest do and that's what counts. We only have 3 divers and about 5 other guests this week so its a small crowd. Our divers are really roudy and lots of fun. They went to a karaoke bar last night and stayed out late. They tried to get me to go but I was beat from moving. I'm still exhausted today as I dove a couple times and moved some more stuff as well as unpacked.

Sorry I haven't had more time to write more and I'll try to do a better job. Don't forget you can leave comments.

Discouraging Week

My boss has been here all week and things didn't go very well. My instructor, Ben, really wants to run this place and was hired about 3 weeks before me. He's a great guy and good with the customers but has no business experience at all. He has worked in a dive shop but that was only for a short while. He has not been to any other resorts anywhere so he has no method of comparing services.

Every time I ask Ben's opinion or advice he definately has one and if you don't use it, you are wrong. It's Ben's way or no way. No one including me can do anything nearly as well as he can. The crew was really happy with the way I was treating them and they all came to me and mentioned that. I'm not sure what Ben said or did but suddenly according to Ben, they don't like working with me.

Ben reported this to the boss and he confronted me with it after the crew left on Friday. I thought they left pretty happy but apparantly not. I know some of it has to do with not being able to work overtime. I'm pretty sure Ben blamed that on me and its a simple business decision.

It's all pretty frustrating and I was strongly thinking about leaving. I talked with Gerri and as usual she was able to calm me down some. Just before my boss left he talked to me and said he thought I'd be okay. He said I needed to slow down, not worry so much and learn to live on island time. He wants me to allow Ben to be more of an assistant and to manage the staff on a day to day basis since he dives with them more than me. I'll try it out and see how it goes. I personally think it's a confusing situation for the crew to have 2 supervisors but we'll give it a try. Personally I think there is a very good chance one of us will be laid off within a month but I hope not. I know we are going to get rid of our dive master soon and probably a boat captain after that unless business improves.

We've been getting excellent reviews from our guests and they like to little changes I've made so far. I have more idea's but Ben is fighting them so who knows what will happen.

Today is Saturday and the new guests for the week have arrived. This will be a very slow week as we only have 3 divers. We'll actually have more crew than divers so it will be a bit akward. I will probably sit out several times this week and split up some of the diving with Ben.

Paya Bay Story

Lurlene is one of the owners of the Paya Bay Resort. She sat with us a few nights ago and gave us some personal history. I think her story is fascinating so I’m going to tell it as best I can.

Lurlene and Mervin owned a grocery store for several years in Oak Ridge. It was the largest store in the town and doing very well. In 1995 someone started a fire in the building next door and before anyone realized what was happening, the store caught fire and was destroyed. Islander from 20 miles away knew something terrible had happened. The family was wiped out and had to start over.

Mervin owned some property on the other side of the island now know as alligator’s head. He quickly scraped together some money and started building a resort. It took a lot of time but the family stuck to it and finally had a very small place built and a few guests. The family actually slept on the beach using some mattresses salvaged from the fire. They were eaten alive every night but managed to keep building.

Hurricane Mitch came along and wiped out much of Roatan including some of the Paya Bay property. The road into the resort was totally blocked by mud and sand and the beach was gone. The entire island suffered greatly including some of the larger more established resorts. The power was out for a couple of months so any food they had stored was given away to local people. Everyone was surviving as best they could.

More of the resort had been completed by this time and much of it was okay but without food and power, live was rough and all guest cancelled of course. One night however Lurlene thought she heard someone called in the night “is anyone there”. She got up and looked outside but couldn’t see a thing. She heard the voice again “is anyone there”. She hollered back and someone approached. A lady traveling by herself had not heard about Mitch and had come to Roatan on vacation. The lady was scared and hungry. She had taken a taxi as far as it could go and the driver and her had walked with her luggage to the resort.

Lurlene explained the situation and prepared some simple food for the lady. They even found a place for her to sleep. In the morning Lurlene was refunding the lady’s money but the lady said she loved the place and warm reception and wanted to stay. She stayed the week helping out a bit and eating whatever food was available. She has occasionally written to Lurlene to thank her for the wonderful experience.

I certainly didn’t tell the story as well as Lurlene but I found it fascinating.