Those who pee in their wetsuit, and those who lie about it. This is a funny and common saying in the diving community. It throws newbies off guard. Denisse was saying it to her pupils as I was getting out of the water today, but we’ve also heard it from our original PADI instructor, Dan.
Wow. Big day. We closed down the kitchen last night with Jodi and Rafa and then had to get up and be at the dive shop today for an 8:30 dive. We got up around 6 am, and began prepping for the day; lunches made, watermelon cut up, suitcases packed, dive gear ready. At 8:15 We walked to the dive shop where they were readying the boat with everyone’s tanks and BCDs. Denisse was taking a family out from the Louisville/Boulder area and Denzel had us. Honestly, besides Jodi and Rafa, everyone we’ve met has been from Colorado.
We started out headed to The Point, but when we got there, Denisse didn’t like how big the waves were, so we turned around, and went to the Lighthouse. It was another drift dive, where you drop into the water at one point, and the dive boat picks you up where you surface.
I managed the whole dive without holding Denzel’s hand! We saw mating porcupine fish, a large grouper, some kind of crab, things I don’t have names for, and the coral at today’s dive site was the best I’ve seen so far on this trip.
Once we were done with the dive, we climbed back in the boat, had some watermelon, and headed back to the shop. Tomorrow is our last full day, and we arranged to dive again in the morning.
We went back to Turtle Beach, packed up our snorkel gear to head down to West Bay, along with our passports and at-home Covid test kits. We didn’t really have a great warm fuzzy for how this Covid test was going to go, but in a pinch, if it was a disaster, we’d walk right by a testing center on the way back home.
We got to the end of West Bay, set up the tent, and promptly lowered the tent again to take our at-home, proctored Covid tests. We ordered a coffee and Coke at the big fancy resort we set up in front of and selected a quiet, out-of-the-way table in the back. Don’t mind us while we stick this swab in our noses and rotate it 5 times (Nathan pulled a sea monster out of his nose). There were a few connection hiccups, but both of us tested negative and we have the documentation to prove it.
Chores done, we ate our sandwiches and spent the afternoon snorkeling. Today is election day, and no one should be selling or serving any alcohol. Denisse said it was because the current government is worried about riots and protests if the wrong party wins. I read online that the Honduran democracy hangs in the balance basically, and this election is a very big deal.
So, imagine my surprise, when a fellow on a kayak selling pineapple juice also said he could put rum in it. I don’t imagine he has a license to lose, so after thinking about it a second, I ran after him and ordered two pineapple juices con rum.
After we stuffed ourselves with a whole pineapple each, we rinsed off in the water and began to pack up. As we walked toward Turtle Beach, I WhatsApp’d Big John, the water taxi guy, to see if he would ferry us to West End for dinner. We made a date for 6 pm, hustled to Turtle Beach, moved all of our stuff back to Monkey Lair, organized, showered, and headed out to dinner.
