Video camera

Only now did I realize the huge mistake I made by not taking underwater camera with me. I don't think have enough patience for taking photos. I think video would be a better option.

Стопами Че Гевара... (Last Day)

Naturally there was no diving on the last day. Technically I could've squeezed in two-tank dive in the morning... but bad weather and special transportation it would've been too much. So instead Andrej and I rented a couple of motorcycles and embarked on a road trip around the island.

There is only one paved single-lane road on the island. It connects west and east. Little towns and villages all alike fly by one after another. Coxen Hole the island's capital appears to be the busiest place here with heavy traffic and crowded streets. One could spot a few tourists in the crowd. My guess is that they are coming from the cruise ships docked in French Harbour.


Coxen Hole

French Harbour is the next large town. It's home to the islands fishing fleet. Industrial looking town. There is very little development past French Harbour.

A few times we took some side-roads in hope of crossing the island from south to north, but always ran into some unimaginable slums and dead ends. People paid very little attention to us. The slum dogs were nothing like the dogs at West End. Looking like walking skeletons, they would run away from people.

Roatan. The Shark dive

I'll just cut to the chase, the sharks.

A few words about the dive site itself. A small plateau about 3mi off shore right at the edge of the continental self ends with vertical drop of 3000+ feet. A small patch of sand about 70 feed across situated between the abyss and a coral formation that protects from the current (and sharks if the decide to snick up from behind). Now about the sharks. They are all (or rather mostly) females of gray reef sharks (the black tips) about 7-10 feet long. The males are significantly smaller about 5-6 feet. Females are usually calmer then males. The dive shop that organizes the dives has a monopoly on shark dives on the island. They found the site about 9 years ago, they made the sharks behave certain way, they got the rights.

Shark dive is a highly organized "мероприятие", not the usual free for all. The divers descend along the mooring line then lined up against the coral wall facing the abyss. The sharks feeder begins shaking his
noise maker while banging a bucket with a few pieces of fish against the bottom. Sharks started to appearing in a few minutes. It was impossible to pinpoint the exact moments when the sharks came. They just slowly materialized from the blue. Soon 6 sharks were circling in front of us. So far it didn't feel much different then Brooklyn Aquarium. Obviously the sharks were familiar with the routine. Then the feeder opened the bucket and threw it in the middle of the sandy patch. The sharks jumped at the bucket like dogs, quickly swimming away and back. There used to be a pat-moray eel living at the site. One day he was first to make it to the open bucket. Sharks simply ripped it apart.

Once the feeding frenzy way over the sharks started to slow down. Now we were allowed to leave the wall and swim around the sharks. I didn't feel any anxiety or so I though... But according to my pressure gauge I was sucking air like there is no tomorrow... :) My dive buddy Andrej and I tried to keep away from the rest of the group, a bunch of obnoxious Frenchmen. We swam at the fringes of the site where contact with the sharks seemed to be less polluted by the crowd.

As I previously mentions most most of the sharks were females. One male appeared right after the bucket scene. Usually males keep away from people. They are more nervous and aggressive then the females. This one guy (with half face missing) was quickly pacing around looking pretty anxious. I hovered 5-6 above the bottom. It was the best way to watch the sharks. Some would swim right at me turning away at the last moment or swimming right above. I'd turn on my back letting the shark swim right above me belly-to-belly. They were so close...

Roatan. Day 4 (new diving report)

The first two dives of the day were nice, relaxing promenads along one of the walls here. Lot's of turtles.

However the afternoon dives were out of this world. The site was pretty shallow from around 40' maxing out at 60'. It was all canyons, craveses, over hangers and tunnels. Visibility was just perfect. There was a pretty strong surf at the top of the reef with a light current along the coast line. After exploring enough caves I swam to the top of the reef and hovered for about 40 minutes. There was a slight surf and current which carried me over the reef. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. To be honest no words could give justice to this dive. After the group surfaced I still had half a tank of air. So I started complain about wasting the opportunity to dive some more. So the dive master offered to go with me for another 30 minute swim around the reef. One more guy joined.

The diversity of sites is amazing. In such a small area (our boat rides to the sites usually last no more then 10-15 minutes) there are so many different profiles.

Tomorrow we go to Hole in The Wall. People say about diving at this site that it's like rock climbing. Then in afternoon we go to swim with sharks, then night dive. There is a possibility that a storm will be coming for north. We might not be able to do the shipwreck dive on Wednsday... we'll see.

Roatan goes green...

"When the lights go out in the city..."
Apparently there are scheduled blackouts on Roatan. Energy saving policy of the local government.

West End, Roatan, Honduras

There is only one street n this town. About half mile long strip of restaurants, inns, and dive shops.

West End, Roatan, Honduras

Monday is a busy day. Garbage collection and "chistka vygrebnyx yam".
The town stinks on Mondays. it's already 7:30am and I must leave for
my first dive today

Roatan. Day 3

Finally I have a chance to update my blog. 

A few words about Roatan. This island seems to be an English speaking conclave in Spanish speaking Honduras. Originally settled by slaves from Jamaica, Roatan is very much different from mainland Honduras. First and obvious difference is that everybody on the Island speaks English. There are a lot of Americans and Europeans who permanently live on the island. And final and the most important difference: this island is all about diving. I'm staying in a small town West End; a single street settlement where ratio or dive shops to divers is 2 to 1. Small inns, bars and dive shops. 

There are no direct flights from NY to Ratan (anymore). First you fly to San Pedro Soula then you catch a small plane to Roatan. 20 minutes taxi ride and I'm in West End. ALl together it took me almost 18 hours to get here.

First day of diving was a bit disapointing. Beacuse of a storm coming from North we had to drive to the Southern side of the island to the alternitive dive sites. As the result we ended up with two-tank dive. But it was a good worm up.

The Roatan is part of one of the largest reef barriers in the world second only to the Great Reef Barrier in Australia. Essentially it's the same reef as in Belize and Cozumel, only better (comment for Shibaeva). Most of the dive sites follow similar profile; plateau at 40'-60' then drop of about 100' which forms a wall. People come to Roatan for two thisngs: sharks and to "clime" these walls. They are spectacular. If you enjoy  underwater strucures more then marine life you should come to Roatan.
Today we had our first 3-tank dive. Lots of turtles, lobsters and crabs. Huge nurse shark, probably 5m long.

I'm a bit tired right now. So I'll add more details tomorrow. I'll just add that so far this trips is everything I hoped it would be and more. Tomorrow we plan a morning dive on shipwreck; 100' commercial freighter that sunk in hurricane. And there'll be a night dive on Tuesday.

Сочи в снегу...

It's snowing in NY... Brooklyn is all quite with very few cars and people on the streets. The snow is still virgin-white. I days like these. Feels right. I only hope it wont case any problems with the flight tomorrow night.

Did I mention that I'm flying out tomorrow? :)

Дама сдавала в багаж: Диван, Чемодан, Саквояж, Картину, Корзину, Картонку И маленькую собачонку

Packing for the trip is not that complicated. I'm taking pretty much all my gear. I'm ditching my 5mm full ws and 5mm hooded shorty. Instead I'm taking newly acquired and never used 2mm shorty. Should be more then enough especially since I'm naturally thermo isolated.


There are few things I'd like to get before I leave:

1. Noisemaker - totally necessary since my buddy and I often wonder away from each other.
2. Considering a new mask. Lower volume and softer silicon skirt. I don't like to shave and because of that my current mask sometime leaks.
3. finger pool + surface marker (just in case)

Just got myself a great light "UK Sunlight C4 eLED Dive Light". Tested it in bathtub.

After all my gear list, although not exactly hogarthian,  is pretty laconic:

1. Reg with octo.
2. Jacket BC
3. 2mm shorty
4. pan view mask
5. Atomic Aquatics Split Fins w\ spring strap
6. weight belt with pockets
7. Primary + backup lights
8. My beloved Wenoka "Squeeze" Lock Titanium blunt-tip knife (BC mounted)
9. Tusa warm water gloves

There's a first time for everything

I am about to embark on my first real dive trip. In 3 days I will board the plane, all my gear tightly packed, and off I go.

I decided to start this blog as my diving diary; places, equipment, techniques, adventures, future plans... I wouldn't rule that this blog could change its directions in the future. But for now it's about diving.