Saturday 28 January 2012

In Other News Around The Shop…


We now have the new Roatan Marine Park bracelets for 2012 (red), and also the new Marine Park calendar.



Beer O'Clock (after the last boat comes in):  for the past few months we have been buying cans of Salva Vida from the supermarkets, as they were undercutting the bottle delivery service by quite a substantial amount.  Now that the offer has expired, we are back on bottles (hurray for the Port Royal drinkers out there!)

The extensive West End road works are, for the most part, no longer directly in front of the shop.  I did say, for the most part…
Also, the hand-painted island map (art by Brett Kroos) is being retouched and revarnished….Watch this space…

The tank path is clear...

The DMT board is also looking quite full again - Katy is leading dives and becoming a highly competent Divemaster, Ty and Bob are on their fourth day of training.  If Marco's wishes come true, this board should soon be an interactive touch screen!

Think "Minority Report"...


The deconstruction of the double-decker dock. (didn't there used to be something between us and Sundowners?)

Open Water swim test: swim to the freestanding posts and back, twice.


PJ, Sammy and Matt Howell are back on the rock from their trans-Central American road trip!

Recent Sightings:

Green Moray Eel feeding on a Lionfish @ Blue Channel
Ocean Triggerfish (doing their flappy dance) @ Lighthouse (in the blue, off the wall)
Spotted Eagle Rays @ Hole In The Wall


Half Moon Bay Weather Report:

Very calm, partly cloudy....It could rain.  Maybe aye, maybe no.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Familiar Faces


Almost every week, and certainly every month, a familiar face reappears at Coconut Tree.  People come and go, but there are certainly many who return year after year (you know who you are!) - and they often seem surprised to see many of the same faces behind the desk or giving the dive briefings.  And then all the way from Oz, Jules appeared…

Ever elusive to the camera, we were not able to find a photo of Jules underwater...

After nine months of travelling in Central Asia, Scandinavia and Latin America, Jules arrived in Roatan ready for two weeks of sun, sea and a half-hearted desire to do a bit of diving. Her original plan was to refresh her dive skills, and maybe do a couple of fun dives . But, Jules didn’t count on falling in love with Roatan or falling in love with diving… 

Those few days turned into eleven weeks and Jules went from (in her own words) ‘a flailing air thief’ to diving five or six days a week, doing the morning two-tank dives and the odd night dive.  At Coconut Tree, Jules did a refresher course with Monty, and then completed her Advanced Open Water with Marco within her first week at the shop. She now has more than 70 dives in her Coconut Tree log book.

Jules said, “When I came here in November, I didn’t ever think that I would do my Advanced Open Water, let alone gain the confidence to do night dives, to enjoy deep dives or even complete a 74 minute dive. But, I did!  And, I definitely didn’t expect to spend eleven weeks diving, to talk diving or even buy some dive gear!"

So, what’s next for Jules? More diving of course…And maybe, just maybe, we’ll see her back at Coconut Tree to complete the much discussed Rescue Diver and Divemaster courses.


Recent Sightings:

5 Turtles (one dive) @ Half Moon Bay Wall
Criss-Cross Tritonia @ Shallow Aquario (night - it's very very small...)
African Pompano!!! @ Shallow SeaQuest (a first for Marco!)


Half Moon Bay Weather Report:

A beautiful day for diving, Potlicker is out at West End Wall

Hot in the sun, with the flag on the glass bottom boat only flapping half heartedly.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Island Diving

Welcome to our new location!  All your Coconut Tree information transmitted through the Coconut (Tree) Telegraph...



At the dive shop, every week is a different set of faces.  Divers come and go from all over the world - USA, Canada, Brazil, Costa Rica and the Netherlands, just to name a few places from this past week alone!  But what about the very people that actually come from this island?  Well, we're also here to get them into diving.  This past week we had Ander Miller (Cindy's son - if you've been here before, you have without a doubt experienced Cindy's cooking at the blue shack) and Dillow Brooks complete their Open Water courses.  They absolutely loved it, big smiles all around.

from left to right, Dillow Brooks, 15, Ander Miller, 17, and Rags getting ready for confined water

Getting interested in diving and eventually rising through the ranks to the level of Divemaster or Instructor can be a great way to increase their skill set and their employability on the island - many of the larger dive resorts have a large number of staff.  One of our success stories along this line was Gerald Mann, from West End.  He did his Open Water through to Divemaster at Coconut Tree, and now works full-time as a Divemaster at Anthony's Key Resort.

Gerald, during his Divemaster Internship


Recent Sightings
Common Octopus @ Dixies Place (they really aren't that common at all)
Black spotted Nudibranch @ Bikini Bottom
Nurse Shark @ Three Brothers (a newer mooring, between Turtle Crossing and SeaQuest)

 Half Moon Bay Weather Report
Calm seas, pretty hot in the sun, but with a nice cool breeze. (very precise and scientific, I know)