I spoke with Tim the other day about the killer whales. He said they are transients, but I don't remember how often they come around. Yesterday, a whole pod of pilot whales were tooling around off shore. We were able to jump in the water and snorkel with them. It was a most awesome spectacle. Tim got some lovely pictures of them. Sadly, my camera had died two days earlier. However, before it did I got a very useful class on photography from Tim. It was $125 and well worth it. I was shooting much better pictures, until the camera died. :-(
We took the city tour yesterday. It was a nice diversion from diving for an afternoon. We saw the iguana farm, which is actually a perserve not a farm. People on the island actually eat iguanas. There were also a pair of monkeys, who love lifesavers. You can give the lifesavers to them in the packages and they are quite adept at unwrapping them.
Next we went to a botanical garden. An expat American runs it as a labor of love. There are all types of different trees and plants and he gives details on all of them. It was a very informative tour.
Finally we made it to the West End. It is a quaint little area that seems to be laid out in a bar, dive shop, giftshop, bar, dive shop, gift shop pattern. The street is dirt and they had a large scrapper driving down the middle flattening out the ruts. The real prize was hitting the market for vanilla and good Honduran coffee (as oppossed to the cafe oro or maxwell house at Cocoview), which I am presently enjoying. Don't buy them in a gift shop, just go to the market. I got a pound of coffee bean, half a pound of ground, a large bottle of vanilla, a beer, and an ice cream for $13.
Cocoview has been a very nice resort. We have definitely enjoyed it quite a bit. However, last night there was an incident that left me with a slightly bad taste. They had evening activities with fire dancers, who were really incredible. As an incentive, they told us a drawing would be held for a free trip to cocoview. It was actually a drawing for a chance to be placed in a drawing for a chance at winning a free trip. It wasn't very well explained, an issue that seems to keep coming up in many other areas. In any case they did say that you needed to be present to win. At about 8pm my wife is not feeling well and decides to go back to the room, we figured that since I was there I was representing us. The drawing was held and my wife's name was called. I was overjoyed, until they told me that since she wasn't here it didn't count. A very dissapointing experience to be sure. Later, I spoke with the bartender Michelle? and said basically, I understand those were the rules, but could they make them clear in the future. She then blew me off insisting that the rules were the rules and I had been told. Not exactly the way to treat paying customers, a little more tact would have been appropriate.
C'est la vie! One another note, I really must stress how wondferful the staff is down here. They really do go the extra mile. Time to go enjoy the incredible diving.
