Mikes Vacation

A teasing of retirement as a day in the life of the Peoples.

So I got down here on Saturday after taking a lil puddle jumper from San Salvador. Traveled out to the West End of Roatan where my dad has been anchored for basically 2.5 months out of 3. The heat index is about 100 so welcome to an early Texas summer. However, it aint bad and great reasons to jump off the back end of the boat to snorkel over to a large reef just outside the moorage, which we did my first day. Right under the boat we have a medium but fat 3-4' barracuda who was friendly. Then today we have had 2-3 sea turtles popping up every now and then. At the reef, the fish were amazing, every saltwater fish I knew from looking for my aquarium and stuff. There must be way over 70 different species down there all traveling in schools or by themselves. Some of the prettiest were yellow tailed damsels that have these really cool bright blue spots on them.

So that's just off the back of the boat, then on top of that there are probably 30 dive buoys within a mile of the boat. Today's dive, we get in the water, its shallow at first (15') but enter into a canyon that's only wide enough for one diver, we go down it for like 5 min weaving through it sometimes so tight that its like a tunnel. Different corals line the edges, hidden under the ledges are a few pesky but very pretty lionfish (which are great eating by the way!!! Found out last night at a benefit bbq for the local kids) Then we exit the canyon onto a massive wall with the pretty blue Caribbean water going down to the bottom and fading into the deep ocean. Swimming along the edges are rays, schools of fish, huge tube sponges that got up to almost two feet across and 4 feet tall. Along the wall there are many more of these canyons for exploring, seeing a huge Caribbean king crab, anemones with tentacles the size of my fingers white with a purple tips, so many different corals some pinks, some orange, lots green, and cool iridescent blue sponges too, everywhere you look it is just paradise here. If you happen to slow down and just float over a patch of coral, so many little colorful fish are there and small creatures you notice too. Then the occasional turtle swimming up at the top of the wall, silhouetted of the sunny water above, large branch corals between him and us, and schools of fish swimming around him…

So then after a brief afternoon siesta, we pull up our dingy to a dock, pick up our dive tanks waiting there for us that were just filled and walk the unpaved sand street of the town (about a mile long if that), lined with small tropical bars, open air restaurants, and many dive shops. Stop in and buy some veggies out of the back of the truck and stock up on bread and eggs for the week. I can't wait to try the coconut bread for French toast. Then for dinner we decided to have a lil surf and turf of lobster and filet and finish the night with a lil glass of 23 yr old rum on the rocks and gaze at the quiet night sky lightly bobbing in the water…

How can you ask for a better life…. This has just basically been 3 days so far of my week vacation for me, but months of adventures and relaxation for newly Granddaddy Peep's and Grandma Mom.

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Unexpected Surprise

Helen had been home just three days from helping Kelsey move to Oregon when we woke up to an E-mail from Kelsey writing that she was on her way to the hospital and her water had broke. You might think we would be totally excited to have our first grandchild come into this world. We were but there was a problem. Kelsey was seven weeks away from her due date. We had made plans to be there and here comes Kiele (Kiwi) seven weeks early. Kiele was also breach so Kelsey told us she was not leaving the hospital till the baby was born and she was having a C section. More things to worry about. By 9:00am we had Helen booked on the 1:00pm flight to Houston and continue on to Portland. Arriving at 8:30 Portland time. Fast work!!! The doctors tried to slow down Kelsey's labor to give Kiwi some meds that would help develop her lungs. They were hoping to postpone labor by at least a day. Kieli wanted out of there and they could not slow down labor. Kieli was born by C-section at about 2:45pm on April 17th before either her Husband or Helen could get there. She was 4.5 lbs beautiful little girl who surprise everyone and was able to breath on her own and scored a nine out of ten on the baby tests, which is even great for a full term baby. She will have to be in NICU for a couple of weeks but she is surprising everyone how well she is doing. Kelsey is also doing well recovering at home but spending most of her waking time at the hospital. Kelsey has already shown how great a mother she will be, and can't wait till Kiwi gets to come home as well. We are very proud of both of them. Life is good

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Highlight of our year in Roatan

Our daughter Kelsey was able to visit us here in Roatan. We had a fantastic time sharing our island life with her. Kelsey was 6+months pregnant with our first grandchild making it a very special visit. One special time was our visit to Anthony Key Resort to swim with the dolphin. Both Helen and I just watched from shore but Kelsey had a very moving experience. During her time in the water their pregnant dolphin came up to Kelsey's belly and nuzzled her nose against Kelsey Even the trainer was surprised and acknowledged the dolphin's understanding of Kelsey being pregnant. It was quit a thrill for everyone in her group. We look forward to being with Kelsey for the birth of our grandbaby

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New Pictures Updated

Check out the new pictures I have added to "Photos of our Adventure"

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Anchored In Roatan A Vacation From Cruising

We have been in Roatan for over 2 months now. Most of the time on a mooring in West End. West End is dive central. There are 30 dive sites just a short dingy ride away. I have been lucky enough to dive all the sites around us. Lucky meaning I have a dive partner group consisting of John and Kathy on Mystic Moon and Tim and Paula on Hooligan. Life doesn't get much better. The people here are extremely friendly and helpful. We have made friends with West End Diver who have been great. West End has a variety of restaurants and bars that make life fun. Helen has been in the states for a month helping our daughter get settled in Oregon and I have just been diving. It has been hard to update our Blog when your life consists of waking up, having breakfast, deciding where to dive, eating lunch, exploring the West End, and doing a few boat chores when it doesn't get in the way of Happy Hour. The hardest decision we make in a day is what to thaw for dinner and where to dive. The weather has been consistently in the mid eighties and seventies at night. Up until two weeks ago we had a cold front come down from the states about once a week. This meant stronger winds out of the North to West. Sometime we would move for a day or two and sometimes we would just sit tight. We have had one noteworthy storm of 50+ knots where we broke the blades on our wind generator, and lost the sunshade on our Jib. Other than that it has just been strong trade winds of 15 to 20 most of the time.

Diving has been great. We usually dive the reef wall protecting this end of the island. Our dives always involve depths of 70 to 80 ft and the marine life is incredible. We were very lucky to see a Hammerhead shark, very rare for this part of the world. Morays, giant crabs, Hugh grouper, are just a few of the common sittings. Today we dove a wreck on the north end and saw 3 green morays, 2 turtles, many large grouper, a 5ft or longer flat purple flat worm, lobster, and the biggest crab we have seen so far. Doesn't get much better that this.

Life is good I am waiting for Helen's return to explore more of the island. We will be heading back to Bocas Del Toro in May to store the boat for the summer so we can be with Kelsey when she has her baby. Our first grand child!!!!

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