Flight and Fright (from travel blog)

We made it down here, despite ourselves. There was no problem crossing the border or going through Seattle, we had thought that because it was the Friday afternoon at the beginning of spring break, that it would be uber busy, but we arrived at the airport early.

Our flight to Atlanta left around 9:45, and after driving for so long, it felt late and we were tired. I sat down on the wrong seat on the plane. Seat 30C instead of 32D. Good thing Robyn was there looking out for me. Slept intermittently on the flight, taking breaks to flip through the music and TV channels available on the small screen TV's on the seats in front of us. An announcement came on asking if there were any doctors or medical personnell on the plane (!) No one was panicking, so we remained calm. Around 4am Atlanta time, about 2 hours before we landed, I flipped channels:
"new acne treatment!"
"your cat will love fancy feast!"
"CNN Breaking news! Tornado hits Atlanta!"
WHAT!!
The pilot came on and said we may experience some slight turbulence. Robyn nearly threw up and I couldn't find any barf bags. No one else had their little TV's on and were completely oblivious to what had happened in Atlanta, except for the pilot saying that there had been a storm.
Eventually we landed. As usual there was a delay, and I thought the plane was being washed (an odd thing to have done to the plane immediately after landing, but it felt like the plane was being drenched by buckets and hoses) and the captain says "well, the good news is we landed. No, wait, I didn't mean it like that! I meant, it's a good thing we landed when we did. However, all the traffic control personnell have been sent inside due to the lightening and I don't know when they will be coming back outside. As you can see, it's raining fairly heavily outside." And I had thought the plane was being cleaned... I've never seen it rain so hard in my entire life.

ANYWAY... we finally got off the plane and went on a search for Ginger Ale to settle our stomachs. We asked everywhere and looked in every vending machine to no avail. The last restaurant, TGI Friday's said they carried it so we sat down, planning to just order that... and the waitress said they were all out. Our flight to Roatan didn't leave until 11:50, and we slept, contorted in uncomfortable positions on the floor, for 4 hours. Flight to Roatan was comparably uneventful, as there were no tornados waiting at the island.

Stepping off the plane was like stepping into the Amazon rainforest gallery at the Vancouver Aquarium, so hot and so humid. We took a cab to our cabin (they had sent it to pick us up, so there was a sign that said "Welcome Robyn!" when we had made it through customs. We thought our cabin was a little bit of a walk to the beach, but the front office is pretty much on the beach. We climbed some stairs up through dense vegetation, where little geckos and leaf cutter ants crossed the pathway stairs. Our cabin is this beautiful little duplex (we can hear our neighbours. It isn't very private. We hum little tunes while we pee because there's so little privacy). It does have it's own bathroom and shower, and even a little fridge, plus, the best part of all, a hammock at the front entrance, covered by a little patio roof.

So, now we've been here three days. Som e of the highlights are ... (okay, this is food. My family will make fun of me for this because it's ALWAYS about the food for Kimie.) There are these amazing smoothies that they make at a little outdoor restaurant attached to the place we're staying. "Uno coco smoothie, por favor!"

At breakfast on our second day we met two brothers from Utah and decided to catch a water taxi over to the beach with them. They had to go rent snorkel gear, and they also rented a kayak while they were at it, deciding that it was more economical to rent a kayak for five bucks than to pay five bucks each to lie on the beach (which is what they charge. Ridiculous!!). So we all threw our stuff into the kayak and paddled out to the reef for the most amazing snorkelling. Unfortunately, between Robyn, Danielle and I, none of us brought an underwater camera. I bought one the day after, so we'll have to go back and take more. We made friends with a local guy who drives a water Taxi, his name is Ty, and he took us in his boat to see the dolphins, which are kept in a pen a little ways up the island. Ty is funny- very shy, but he grew up here so he knows everything about the island, and his english is perfect.

That same night, we decided we wanted to go for a swim on the beach just outside our cabin. I asked Ty if there was anything in the water to be worried about if we planned on going swimming and he said no, could he come swimming too? And we said of course. So we all waded into the water and are standing there chatting and Ty says, "you know, a guy caught a Mako Shark on Friday, just around the point over there." And he points to a spot not 500 metres away. I start laughing hysterically and ask him if he's serious. He tells us the story of how the guy who caught it took an hour and a half to pull it in, how it was over 5 feet long, and how they're more dangerous than great whites. Then he says "oh yeah, and there are water snakes in here too. Sometimes they travel in packs." AAAAH!! We hopped out of the water pronto.

Monday island time finally hit us and we were moving really slow. None of us brought a watch and we never know what time it is, but we're perfectly happy about that too. We said goodbye to our Utah friends as they were headed off to catch a ferry to Utilla for the week, and we headed over to Half Moon bay to do some more snorkelling. Turns out it was fairly weedy and mucky over there. I swam out snorkelling by myself, not too far out because I was alone, and ran into a lone Barracuda. They are UGLY looking beasts of the sea. I stuck my tongue out at him and swam back, feeling a little chicken that a fish could spook me, so dragged Robyn out to snorkel with me and felt a little safer.

Monday night I felt really tired and lay in our hammock napping on and off, and reading my book. Eventually I got very chilly. Robyn and Danielle stayed on the beach, and when they returned to the cabin I was wearing two layers of clothing, and wrapped up in my sleeping bag, with a sheet and a thin comforter over me, while they were boiling and couldn't stand the heat of the cabin. They wanted to go for dinner, but I didn't have an appetite. I felt fine, except for the fact that I was shivery and didn't want to eat ( and you know there's something wrong when Kimie doesn't want to eat). I stayed in and read and shivered, and felt better later on. This very bad sunburn may have something to do with sunstroke. (and yes, Mom, I was wearing a hat. And sunscreen. And I drank lots of water to keep myself hydrated.)

We're on island time and wear our swimsuits continuously. The bugs are biting but it doesn't seem to bother us! We are sunburned and sunstroked and salty and sweaty and don't care what time it is. We are trying not to be mistaken for Americans, because the locals can be pretty stand-off-ish when they assume that we are... once they find out that we're Canadian they are very friendly and invite us to their baseball games and volleyball games and offer us rides on their scooters and to bring us to dolphin shows... good thing dad gave me a Canadian flag pin before I left. Anyway, I promise not to be eaten by a shark, or make any barracudas angry... Til next time, Kimie (or a very sunburnt resemblance of her)