We were expecting airline delays, lost luggage, being held at gunpoint or landing somewhere other than Roatan, what we got was on-time airlines, complimentary drinks, good food and all of our luggage!

After clearing customs at Roatan airport, we boarded an air-conditioned bus from CoCo View, stocked with welcome rum punch. After a 30 minute ride, we turned off the main road and ended up at a "Welcome to Fantasy Island" sign. We left the bus and crossed a bridge, took steps down to a dock and then boarded a boat for our final destination: CoCo View. After a 2 minute boat ride we were on the CoCo View dock. We met Dayssi, manager of the beach houses. She had us load our carry-on luggage onto her golf cart and told us to grab a bike and follow her to Beach House #10. Riding against the wind in the heat and humidity, the house seemed miles away. We dropped off our luggage and rode back to the clubhouse for dinner. Before dinner was over, it was dark outside. The six of us from Kittyhawks were joined by a couple from Houston, TX, Jeane and Carl Squires. This was their 5th visit to CoCo View.

New diver orientation was Sunday morning at 8:30. After hearing about the dive facilities and meeting the staff, we got our weight belts, a space in the gear room and set up our gear for a shore dive with a dive master to check our skills and to familiarize ourselves with the layout underwater. There is a platform outside the clubhouse where you can put on your fins and start to follow a chain through a natural cut in the reef out to the Prince Albert and the DC-3 plane. From there we hit Newman's wall and at the point was a marker with a compass heading back to the wreck. We then moved over to the CoCo View wall and back to the chain which lead back to the platform. Visibility was pretty good as you could see the wreck from either wall The wind died down on Mondav and by Wednesday, the wreck looked like it was in Portage Quarry. Evidently the wind helps clear the sediment out of the water.

By afternoon, we were ready to go out on the dive boat. We were assigned to the EZ Diver II (the red boat). All dive sites were less than 29-1/2 minutes from the dock, most within 15-1/2 minutes. Maps of the dive sites were used as placemats in the dining area and then shown again before each dive. Our dive master, Osman, would tell us "this is one of my favorite dive sites", "boat will moor in 25' of water", "follow the wall, keeping it on your right", "at 2,000 psi come back along the top of the reef', and "go slow", also, "last week we saw nurse sharks, hammerhead (squid), eels, turtles or rays at this site"

Each boat dive was followed by a drop off dive on either Newman's or CoCo View wall. You got your gear on and the boat slowed down, set the motor on puree and off you went. You just followed the wall to the chain and back to the platform. You could just stay on the dive boat and return to the dock, because you knew that you could do this dive again tomorrow!

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided in our package and besides, there was nowhere else to go and eat. Lunch and dinner provided a variety of good food; even the turkey noodle soup which we suspect was made with "FRED", the parrot that hit the ceiling fan. It was eat, dive, dive, eat, dive, dive, eat, dive, sleep. Most of us made about 20 dives.

The boat dives were on walls and you could pick your depth. You could stay at 30' on top of the reef or easily hit 100'+. All of us were diving on computer, but those that were not had a tough time with the deep dives and short surface intervals.

One day, Jeane and Carl decided to join us so that Carl could shoot some video of our group as he had a new toy but had done some impressive footage. Well, as usual, we were the first ones off the boat, we took off and never looked back. Finally at the end of the dive, we met up with them and got on the video. Jeane says we were just a bunch of asses and elbows and they could not catch us. We now have our own club cable channel "A&E".

On two evenings, we went over to the cay for BBQ and crab races. They provided the crabs, you could not have your dive buddy qualify. Randy picked the fastest crab and won a gold cup (holder). One evening they had local children come and dance, but we all went night diving and missed out on this.

We hit 10 different dive sites plus the two walls and the wrecks throughout the week. Most of the fish were juveniles. We did see eels of various varieties, octopus, turtle, ray, lobster, crab, squid, but no sharks, which was a disappointment to all. If only we had been there a week earlier when all of the dive sites were infested with sharks, rays, etc.

Beach House #10 was our home for a week on Roatan. It was a nicely furnished house with lots of windows and ceiling fans. We had bottled water available and sometimes had to use it for bathing as the water pressure was very low. Of course, the kitchen sink became home to several Nikonos cameras. We had a screened in porch on the lower level and an open porch on the upper level. The bugs bothered some, but not others. Guess it depended on which chemicals you were using as protection. We did have lizards on the ceiling and they loved the peanuts-in-theshell Sharon brought.

After our final dive on Friday morning, we went on a land tour of the island. We went by boat to the Fantasy Island dock and got on a non air-conditioned bus, although as long as the bus moved there was a nice breeze. The island is mountainous and we were high enough to see the ocean on both sides of the island. Our fist stop was in a town called Oak Ridge. It was supposed to remind you of Venice, Italy with the canals and boats as the main form or transportation. There is a shrimp packing plant in this town. We got in canoe like boats and were taxied through openings in the mangroves to another area and turned around and then stopped at a little 'tavern' for a drink. We had all decided that there was not a sewage system in the area. Restrooms were marked "he-ones" and "she-ones". Reports were that there was no need to flush.

Back aboard the bus we went back by CoCo View past the airport to the town of Coxen Hole. There were several souvenir shops here and a grocery. The grocery had T-shirts and baseball hats with American teams for sale. They had "Big Pedro" shirts, evidently the Spanish version of "Big Johnson".

Once back at CoCo View, we had to pack so our luggage could be loaded on the boat for the ride to the airport so it would be there Saturday morning when the plane was to leave. Friday dinner was to be followed by a farewell party. All in all, it was a pretty quiet party. There was free Honduran beer and rum drinks, but only about 20 people stayed around the clubhouse. By the next morning, everybody was up and packed only to hear it pouring down rain. We were furthest from the dock with carry-on luggage to move and bikes! Eventually we made it to the clubhouse for breakfast with luggage in tow. Around 8:30 we boarded the boat to go over to get the bus and off to the airport. We were told that we would be sitting in the air-conditioned room at the airport while we waited for the plane but that the restrooms were not in working condition. Well the airconditioning was whatever air came through the open door! It was a long hot wait for the plane, but the locals were more than happy to go get you a bottle of pop for a dollar.

In Houston, we said goodbye to the divers we met while in Roatan, waited 4-1/2 hours for our flight and headed home.

In retrospect, everyone seemed to have a good time and diving was good even though we never saw any sharks. There will probably be a lot of pictures, a video, stories, some lies and a slide presentation at the July meeting.