Port Royal – Mermaid on a Raft

On the go again

summer

01/26/2017 I’ve been so busy having fun that I forgot about this blog. Not really, but I’m good at putting it in the back of my mind while there is partying to do. And there was partying.

I went to a great party in Port Royal at the lovely property owned by Mel and John. They have put so much hard labor into this piece of property, in the year since the last time I was there, the changes are amazing. This was an undeveloped piece of land situated right at the water’s edge. They have built a large boat dock there and they are still living in their boat while building and working on their land. They have a bodega with a living roof and an awesome casita called Casita Lisa, named for Mel’s BFF. There is a beautiful hand laid stone path winding down from the casita towards the water. The spot for their home is ready and waiting to be built on. I rode out with Francie and Franklin, it’s a long drive on some rough road. We went to the landing in Port Royal and got a ride with Maggie and Norm on their boat, along with Deanna and Roger and Jeanie. It was a great day with wonderful friends.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — A real cow skull on the front of the living roof.

15977318_10155089761452334_8497061343720818474_n — Francie, Me, Roger and Jeanie with Heather in the back

They had BBQ beef and pork and even though I don’t eat meat, I did and loved it. We left late afternoon for the loooong drive home.

On Friday the 13th I decided to push my luck and go diving with my friends Eric and Carly who own Blue Island Divers in Sandy Bay. I have not gone diving since I hurt my foot on Oct. 6th. It was time. After the 5 shots to the ankle it was feeling pretty darn good. I had my friend Carmen’s dive gear to use. She has company for the forseeable future and then they head back to the states so she decided I may as well use it. I got to the dive shop and Eric checked out my gear, got everything ready and we left in the boat. There were 3 other divers with us besides Eric, Carly and I. One was the new DM, Pauli, and a couple and another guy. We got to the spot and fell overboard, waiting for everyone to get in the water before descending. I have used the same mask since the end of Feb 2008. I bought it then while in Curacao with Olivia. It cost $40.00. The last time I dove with it the mask was fine, no fog, no leak. Perfect.

I was having difficulty equalizing and had to ascend a bit before I could clear my ears. Plus, my mask was filling with water. I got my ears equalized and descended with Eric. My mask was like a funnel, I must have cleared the damn thing a dozen times. As soon as I would get it cleared, it filled up again. It reminded me of a situation when we were getting certified. I had a mask with a big profile, it held a LOT of water. We found this out while doing the mask clearing part of our certification. I took my mask off underwater, put it back on, cleared it but couldn’t get all of the water out so I sat on the bottom of the YMCA pool w/ a regulator in my mouth and my mask filled with water. I was fine, just chilling, waiting for the instructor to make his rounds. He came to me and gave me the “up” signal. He asked what I was doing and I told him I couldn’t get all the water out and he said, “so you’re going to sit there with a mask full of water?” Yep, I was. He gave me a different mask, I went back underwater and cleared it immediately. This is what happened diving this time. After clearing it so many times I said, screw it, just dive. So I finished the dive with my mask 1/2 full of water. My dive kind of sucked, had to keep my head in a certain position and didn’t want to go to the surface because, well, I just didn’t. I was pissed. And I had a major head full of snot. UGH! New mask is on the horizon.

After my dive I went up to Ann’s house. I’m so glad she lives close to Blue Island because I may not get to see her very much if she didn’t. We ran and grabbed lunch, I took her home and made the drive east myself. Not bad driving east at days end, you don’t have to fight the blinding sun like you do when you drive west.

Bill and I went to Chuck and Nancy’s house for drinks and dinner one evening. They live 4 minutes away. We were joined by Lynda and Dave and Don and Janice. (thank you for the CD Lynda)

16178760_10207071688265304_2795817189258740546_o — Nancy, me, Lynda and Janice (Lynda’s photo)

Earlier in the month I was contacted by my friend Amanda Walkins who used to live in Scotland but she and her Irish Colombian husband recently moved to Ireland. Amanda has a boring life. NOT. This girl travels and she writes. This is sort of how we met. Anyhow, she emailed me and asked if I would be interested in meeting Jason Holland. Jason is the Latin American editor for International Living (IL). Jason was going to be visiting Roatan in the near future.

I said of course I would. I asked my friend Alex Poirier to join us. Alex is a Buyer’s Agent and has been here for a long time, he has a boat and is a buyers agent for the realtors on the island. Jason wanted a tour of Port Royal and the waterways surrounding and Alex was going to do that.

Alex and his wife (and my partner in crime) Marilyn and I picked Jason up a few days after he arrived. We showed him some properties for sale, showed him Pristine Bay, Havana Beach, went to Eldon’s, to new areas being developed and we showed him a home for sale. After that we went to the dock, jumped in their boat and went to Alex and Marilyn’s house for a drink.

16112541_10157952763520161_6382461887391283345_o — Alex, Jason and I at CBYC

After that Alex, Jason and I did a tour in the boat. We would have gone down to Port Royal but the ocean was rather pissy that day, it was blowing hard with good sized waves.

Alex would need to stay inside the reef and you can’t do that to go where we wanted to. So we went back to the car and drove there. On the way to the landing in Port Royal, we stopped at Martina’s restaurant and B&B. O M G. Martina makes these curly fries from potatoes she spiral slices very thin. Again, O M G. We also had Jerk Chicken Tenders that were absolutely delicious. If you are ever on the road to Port Royal or in Camp Bay, go to Martina’s, yummy stuff. Or spend some time there, the rooms are nice, she cooks for you and it’s a very tranquil setting.

With full bellies we left Martina’s for the boat landing. There we grabbed her skiff and went to Port Royal the short way. We were headed to Kim and Joe Wonder’s house on the water.

Kim and Joe live totally off the grid. They have their own electric and water and with boat access only, they have become very adept shoppers. So unlike me who forgets so much shit that I sometimes travel to the store a few times a day or I talk Bill into going for me. Their home is very nicely done, amazing bathrooms (main home and guest house) it’s well taken care of, everything looks new. Honestly, the view literally takes your breath away. AND, it’s for sale. They want to go out on their big boat and do some live aboard traveling. Here is the link to this gorgeous home: http://www.islandrealestate.com/view/roatan-home-4354/ Check it out and spread the word.

After we did the Port Royal tour we drove Jason out by La Sirena in Camp Bay and then turned around to make the long, into the sun, drive west.

I hope Jason had a good time. There were still a few things I wanted to show him so we made arrangements to meet on Thursday morning for a little tour of my favorite places. Unfortunately, we did not make it to my favorite place on the east end, the beach on the moon. Maybe another time.

Wrapping this up because I need sleep. These past few parties (in the next blog) have worn me out.

Come back soon.

With visions of whale sharks

weird

1/16/2016 My 3 legged dog licks rocks. I’m not lying, she does. She loves it, I’m not overly enthusiastic about the whole thing. For some reason this satisfies a particularly intense need that she has. She drools when she does it, maybe she has a deficiency? Yes, this is the same insane dog who ate between 40 and 50 heart worm pills at once. I still don’t know how she got them out of the suitcase. They smelled like beef, that’s all that mattered: they were hers. We gave her a bottle of liquid charcoal by the syringeful to make her puke. She never vomited but she quickly developed a taste for Charcoal. She did shit pure black the next day, but puke? Nope..

We have had dog collar issues this past week. I was given some dog collars so I changed the boys collars for sturdier ones. The next day Barrio brought me Gringo’s collar, chewed in half. WTH? I put another older used collar on Gring and found it in pieces on the porch later the same day. I put his older collar on and IT WAS CHEWED OFF TOO. I ended up putting the thin cheap Wal Mart collar back on him, it’s been 2 days and all is well. The pleasures of raising 3 male pups can’t ever be put into words. It’s mystifying to say the least.

I have watched again for the billionth # of times a show on Netflix called Iris. Go out of your way to watch this movie, it’s about an amazing woman. She makes me think of the times when I worked at Lynn Hayes in Williamsport, just a young 18 year old girl working in the fanciest, most expensive clothing store in town. I fell in love with fashion. I didn’t follow the norm though, I always wanted to be different. That was my deal. Ladies, do yourself a favor and find the show Iris and watch it, she is an upscale, bohemian fashion icon.

I moped around here on Monday, depressed about Bowie’s death. I think I moved everything and cleaned off the shelves, listening to Bowie. Later on I ran to the store to get stuff to make something to take to the 2nd Annual Port Royal Bash and am glad I went with options in mind because Eldon’s had nothing, again. I was reduced to broccoli salad, which turned out yummy. I ran to Mega Paca and saw 3 friends there, it’s really my favorite store, ever. I can find Banana Republic plain colored t-shirts for around $1.00, dresses for $3.00. I get my shopping fix, spending under $10.00 and come home w/ a bag of stuff. I saw an ugly but large cooler bag there on Monday, didn’t buy it b/c it was orange and green. After I got home it’s all I could think about. This is the story of my life. This is what I did buy though.

I got up early Tuesday and ran to Mega Paca and bought the damn cooler bag. It’s ugly and I love it, it says Tropicana on it. Bob and Rosalie picked me up Tuesday morning around 11, we were meeting other people at BJ’s at noon to get a ride to the party on the Islander . I believe there were about 40 people on the boat on the way over, most with chairs and coolers. It was the usual crowd, most everyone was there and the ones that weren’t, like Bill and my un-named girlfriend, well, we decided they all had hemorrhoids.

Mel and John have recently started building on their gorgeous piece of land on the water in Port Royal. They are doing it building by building, all the while living on their big boat docked right there. It’s really beautiful and serene out there. The easiest way to get there is by boat and it takes close to 30 minutes from Oak Ridge. There is a road but I guess it’s pretty long and not in great shape.

1404705_10154426952147646_4516811767580189175_o — Thanks Keri for the pic of Jeanie and I, although curious why you named it Double Trouble???

Wednesday I cleaned again, this time I moved all the furniture and sucked up 736 pounds of dog hair. No lie. It took forever and then I let the dogs back inside so they could shed some more. I’m a sick sick person.

I read online that whale sharks were spotted in the waters in front of our house so I contacted the dive shop and begged them to call me because I can be there in 10 minutes. Thursday I got up, dressed in my swimsuit and a skirt, had my snorkel bag all packed and they didn’t call. I decided around 1 I had to go to the bank, not a lempira in my pocket, so I reluctantly got dressed and left. I got a call from Holly at the dive shop saying the whale sharks were still in the area and maybe tomorrow. Maybe just became a HUGE word.

Thursday night we went to Chuck and Nancy’s for dinner and were home late and had 6 hungry dogs. I got the dogs fed, watched Modern Family and went to bed. I had visions of whale sharks in my head. Friends, this is at the top of my bucket list, it’s something I REALLY want to do. My dream is of me slipping into the water next to one of these giants and hoping I don’t die from a heart attack due to uncontrollable excitement.

I awoke Friday morning, whale sharks still on the brain. I dressed in my swimsuit again and had all my gear ready to go, but no call and it was time for Español escuela so I had get myself ready. I showered and got my stuff around for class.

On my way to Spanish classes (which is always followed by wine at BJ’s) I encountered the following: a young boy thrusting a live chicken, held by the legs, at me as I drove by. Like I’m actually going to stop, grab the chicken, give the boy a few lempiras, strap the sucker into the front seat belt and go on about my day. What reasons could he possibly have come up with in his mind that I was going to stop and take a live chicken from him? Do I look like a chicken lady? Isn’t there a law about dangling a live chicken in front of car windshields while the car is moving?

Then around another corner were 2 Brahman bulls standing in the middle of the road. These things are BIG evil looking cows. Shortly after the cows I came upon a TukTuk, a 3 wheeled vehicle like they use in Indonesia. It was filled to maximum capacity with what looked like a bunch of candy and it had a maximum speed of 7 MPH. What I could see through the back window was all colorful foil packets. Maybe they were all condoms and not candy but seeing all of the pregnant ~~women~~ girls on the island I’m placing my $$ on candy.

Power went out a few times last night, not for very long though, thankful we have battery back up for the WiFi! It reminded me that power was out a week or two ago on the West end of the island because someone shot the lines with a bullet. I don’t make this shit up, I don’t need to.

I was asked to be in charge of Saturdays at the airport, making the schedules, finding subs if someone can’t make it. Last Saturday night I was making spread sheets again, good for my brain. Thank you Amanda B.

My friend Amanda Walkins, who is a blogger and also writes for several well known publications, Huffington Post, International Living to name a few, has her own blog.

In her most recent post, she talks about leaving the island and now living in Scotland. She also gives mention of my little blog. Thank you Amanda!!

From Amanda’s blog: Mermaid on a Raft: Debbie retired to Roatan and has been documenting all of her island shenanigans over the last several years. Her humor is hysterical, and her life will make you jealous if you’re still plugging away waiting to retire. She posts tons of photos from snorkeling adventures, her regular social outings with other expats, and the many volunteer activities she does all around the island. She’s incredibly helpful if you’re thinking of retiring to Roatan – be sure to reach out!

Also, Amanda’s handsome Irish Colombian boyfriend said the grape looking things I saw underwater are indeed Sea Grapes..who knew?

I hustled my butt at the airport today. It was a zoo again. Maybe I’ll only mention it when it’s slow because I’m sure everyone says why does she do it if shes going to whine about it. I’m not whining though, just remarking how freaking busy we were. I love mass pandemonium and chaos for short periods of time; therefore, the airport gig is well suited for my personality type. I love it. I worked with my friend Caroline again, we make a great team! I really enjoy meeting the new people, having them look at me with wonderment when I tell them my story of how we ended up here.

As soon as we got home, I had my daily crack.

While at the grocery store I saw Woudsin (my friend from Helene). I gave him a big hug and a kiss. Then some gringo came up and asked me if I lived here and I said sure do. He said we just bought a place, I asked where, he said Helene. He then asked if I knew Perry or Rick and I said yes, that I knew both of them but have known Perry most of my life. I put two and two together, and realized he was w/ Woudsin. He then said to me, did you spend the night at Perry’s and do you blog? I said I sure do and my overnight at Perry and Kay’s blog was called Serene Helene. He said, I read your blog and have the photos you took at Perry’s on my phone. Small island and I’m always happy to meet people with the weirdest connections to me. I told Woudsin to show them where I lived on their way up island and told them to come visit. Welcome Terry and Cal to Helene, Roatan.

The extended dog fence is moving along slowly. As expected. EVERYTHING moves slowly here except taxi’s and $$. The fence they ordered and delivered was 8′, ours is 6′. Damn. Just got the estimate for the gate and windows for the shop and plan to get them started ASAP.

When I finished my yogurt after work (airport) we grabbed a suitcase and a bag, both full of soccer jerseys and shorts and socks. We met our friend Miguel (who just came for dinner last week) with several guys from 2 different teams in Oak Ridge and Pandytown. They were very excited to be getting soccer stuff. The leader is a coach and a minister and his mission is to get the kids off of the street and playing basketball, soccer and volleyball. Our friends, Trish and Dave, from Toronto were given these uniforms by a league back in Toronto. Many thanks to the donating league and to Trish and Dave for carrying all the extra luggage down here. they made so many people (kids and adults) so happy! I will get more photos when the season begins again mid February.

It was fun to see the guys smiling and excited about having jerseys that matched. I gave the teams 2 of the soccer balls Trish and Dave brought also. I feel really good that the uniforms were given to men who still play soccer and who encourage the kids to play as well.

When I finally returned after being gone most of the day the boys were extremely happy to see me. Funny how much I miss them as well.

I still am dealing with the bruised/broken, disintegrated rib from 2 weeks ago. It hurts. I always thought my Mom was exaggerating {when she fell in the big huge green garbage bin trying to retrieve something she threw away by accident} about her ribs but I understand now that she wasn’t. Lesson learned the hard way, again.

Hasta Luego..whale sharks still on the brain.

Urine trouble

1936461_10207443841710299_1748120031465280086_n

01/11/2016 RIP David Bowie. (please click on the link to listen to Let’s Dance) When I read the news this morning tears involuntarily began streaming down my cheeks, dripping onto my lap. It was not a good start to my day. When it hit me that Ziggy Stardust was no longer, I decided today was not going to be a beach day for me.

12512708_10154483452024167_3911406541300268897_n

I struggled several times during the morning. We have lost lots of rockers before but the majority of them screw up and kill themselves by OD’ing and then we make a huge deal over their deaths. Freddy Mercury died from AIDS, John Lennon at the hands of a madman and David sang his last song because of Cancer. All fabulous talents, I’m just terribly sad.

Friday I attempted to pay our 2016 taxes, naively assuming I could go there and do this within 30 minutes. LMAO, where do I think I live? Ridiculousness followed. After waiting, chatting with the Mayor, Aaron, Clifford and Bernie, who all work there and my friend Gus who I met at the vet clinic, I left. Spanish class was waiting. Once we were out of Spanish class we all went to BJ’s to party and party we did. They ran out of wine soon after I got there and Marilyn would have none of that shit so she Jeanie and I jumped in Marilyn’s boat and went to her house to get 3 bottles from her personal stash for the bar. That’s just how we do it here. After a few glasses of wine we decided to plank someone’s boat. Thanks for the photo Melanie Wood!

12400736_10153361791785980_8359348102929703331_n (1) — Melanie is always there to help document these events.

12496050_10153361792040980_3320821127242055718_o — Thanks again Melanie Wood. We were dancing fools!

I spent my Saturday at the airport with Caroline, Miss Peggy, Lisa and Linda. It never fails to happen, the first flight was due in at 12:18, it came at 12:55. Fifteen minutes before the next flight and 20 before the next 2. It was crazy again, some man said to me very surprised, “You don’t get paid to do this?” Nope, volunteer. We were notified Friday eve that there was a passenger on one of the planes who was not to be allowed into the country and was to be put right back on a plane to the states. We spotted him before he even entered the building, he was apprehended and somehow talked his way out of the situation, was put through immigration and allowed to stay for the week. Very odd..I was exhausted and still had to go get groceries. The grocery store had nothing, no Blue Harbor lettuce, no jalapenos, no grated cheese, none of my fav yogurt, nada. (update: I went today, Monday, still nada..wth?)

Sunday morning I got up early, walked all 6 dogs, showered, then got things around here and was out the door at 8:30 to be in Oak Ridge for the Catamaran Boat trip. Radical Catamaran Adventures is an absolute blast!! This was my third trip and I’ll be going again Feb. 28th with the vets too! It’s 7 hours on a huge catamaran in the calm clear waters of Port Royal. We stop and snorkel at the cow and the calf, another spot and then a wreck. The boat is non-stop food and drinks, all included in the price, plus music, dancing and craziness. I was with a bunch of friends, and had an absolutely incredible time.

Needless to say, it was a beyond fabulous day on the Radical. It’s definitely something to look forward to when they have their ex-pat specials. A full 7 hours of majestic scenery, warm clear water and a boat full of friends. So blessed to have these people in my life and to get to live the life I am.

When the boat trip was over I stopped and picked up Miguel, our former worker. They were coming for dinner. He was going to bring his brother Winston but he had to leave Sunday so just he and his girlfriend and baby came. We had pizza on the roof. Miguel is such a fabulous, honest, trustworthy person, I’m so glad we have stayed friends.

Update on a few things. I may have mentioned that I fried the extra batteries to my good camera when I dumped the kayak. Well, I tried to use one of the batteries after it dried out and I got an error message on my camera. I then tried the battery that was dry and charged and my camera would not turn on. I charged the battery more, still nothing. I was so flipping bummed because I take pics every single day of my life. I quickly posted on a FB page to see if anyone was coming down in the next few days to bring me a new charger and 2 new batteries. Luckily my friend Linda was arriving Sat. so I sent them to her and she handed them to me when she walked into immigration. I was very doubtful they were going to work but they did. My camera is functioning and I was so damn happy that I didn’t ruin it. Thank you so much Linda!!

Also, my friends from Williamsport that I was going to hang with on Friday at BJs messaged me and said they had to go back to the states immediately. My friends Mom had taken a turn for the worst and they needed to return home. They got there one day before she passed. RIP Mrs. Daniele.

I asked my friend Amanda Walkins to ask her handsome Irish Colombian fiance’ who knows a lot about marine life and the jellies we encountered. This is her response:

This is what the Irish-Colombian says, “Comb jellies do not sting. Moon jellies can sting, but not badly. They were not the ones stinging you though, it was all the siphonophores that you can’t really see, but they’re long strands (did you read Rika’s latest post about the blackwater dives at West End Divers? Courtney took a photo of one – it’s the second-to-last picture in the blog: http://www.cubiclethrowdown.com/). They show up when it’s more stagnant because they’re feeding on the bacteria that accumulates with all those nutrients from the runoff, especially on the south side. It happens there more frequently, but happens on the north/west side, too. That photo of the French Angelfish – you said it was bad viz. That’s the runoff with bacteria and nutrients that the siphonophores and all the comb and moon jellies were feeding on.”

These are some stock images of siphonophores:

Tomorrow is a beach party in Port Royal. I had 3 different things planned to make, knowing that the grocery would not have all of the ingredients I needed so there had to be choices. Thankful that I planned ahead with a few ideas..broccoli salad it is.

My friend Julie (of Robby and Julie, who will be here for a week March 26th) posted this on one of my Catamaran pics; You have more fun in one week than some people have in a decade! Thanks Julie, I sure try!

My parting thought:

If you’re ever sad, just remember that the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.

(instagram photo by @stevendouglas)