Only 8 Months Late

The plan was to keep this blog up to date while in Honduras so people could follow along with what I was up to and get an idea for what it takes to become a PADI professional. And since it is better to be late then never, I will attempt to recreate the experience as I have time.

As you might have guessed, things did not go quite as planned with the whole internship. My perception of what to expect was quite different from what was actually to happen. Day one of the adventure began by flying from St. Louis to Roatan, Honduras where I was to be picked up. It all started off smooth, I was flying on a buddy pass and was able to make first class the whole way. Unfortunately things would not continue to flow quite as well.

When I arrived in Honduras, I passed through customs and collected my luggage and walked out to find the person picking me up as I had been promised. I walked around the airport, not too difficult, looking for somebody holding a sign or something. An hour later I was still looking. I thought maybe I had confused the time zones and had told them to pick me up an hour late. So I waited some more. As the time passed, I started to think that I had been scammed and contemplated flying back to St. Louis. Another hour passed and I decided that it was time to find the dive shop on my own. I asked somebody if they had heard of Ocean Connections. Fortunately they did know it and even knew the owner and gave me directions. I hopped in a cab and took off for West End.

Even arriving in West End was a little bit of a shock. Everyone I had talked to had told me how West End was really touristy and had been built up to look really nice. They were off one town, West Bay has a lot of resorts, West End is a dirt road lined with dive shops and bars. It was rainy season when I arrived so the dirt road was full of potholes and it was faster to walk then drive.

I walked into the dive shop and asked about the internship. People knew what I was talking about, which was a reassuring bit of news, but the owner and divemaster trainer were not at the shop. So I waited a little more. The divemaster instructor, Luke, returned to the dive shop on "The Pancake", one of the two dive boats at the shop. This one was generally reserved for students since it was smaller and slower. Not long after that, a whirlwind of activity started as the owner, Trevor, and his girlfriend, Sara, came storming into the shop after spending a day on a charter boat where they saw a whale shark. After the flurry of activity, I met Trevor and found out that I was expected, they just did not know when I was to show up. They were expecting to see me in about a week. Fortunately, they had accomadations available for me so I had a place to sleep that night. And thus ended day one of my journey to Honduras, after carrying all of my dive gear and clothing about half a mile to the cabin.