I know, I know. You'd all really like to come diving with me, right? Since most of you can't, I'm going to take you on one with me in this post. Let's go!ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT KASEY DYKES 2013 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. USED WITH PERMISSION.Here's your dive briefing:photo credit: noel verobaWe're heading out to a dive site called Magic Bobby and we're going on a lionfish hunt! Roatan has a protected marine park around it, but lionfish are an invasive ...
Happiness
How Being an Expat Has Changed Me (or, I Never Knew I Could Drink This Much)
I'm almost coming up on a year in living on Roatan. Moving to this tiny island in the Caribbean has made me a different person. Slowly but surely, Roatan has pushed me, pulled me, stretched me and gotten under my skin and I'm changing. I think it's amazing how transplanting yourself into a foreign country can make you see yourself so differently.Since becoming an expat here...I've learned to cling less to others and rely on myself.People come and go, and come and go here. It's a ...
When you’re up, you’re up.
I've written many times on here about the weird roller coaster that is Roatan. Longfellow was right when he said, "when she was good, she was very good indeed but when she was bad she was horrid". There isn't much middle ground here. It seems like things are either awesome or shitty. I'm on the upswing at the moment!The first awesome news is that I'm moving to my own place! I will miss my super nice apartment and my roommates, but I'm moving into town which is way more convenient ...
Hey stranger. It’s been awhile.
I wish I had something more exciting to tell you all since I disappeared two weeks ago, but it's Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Honduras and on Roatan that means one thing - PARTY!!favorite dress, favorite bar, favorite song, stupid faceI, however, do not get to partake in as much of this crazy week as I would normally like to... I'm busting my ass at work in a serious way right now. We are understaffed and overbooked, and our compressor is broken so every other night ...
A Year of Awesome.
Cubicle Throwdown turned one year old this week! (source)How can I even begin to recap the last year? It's been a year since I first came to Roatan and learned to dive. It's been a year since I fell in love with this little island, and felt the pull of the 'Roatan Vortex'. It's been a year since I decided that life is short, and I'm not spending the best years of it sitting behind a desk doing something I don't enjoy.I had no idea what I was doing when I set up ...
Updates in 5 points or less.
1. Yes, I'm home! Back in West End and so happy to see Roatan again. I managed to get my first rum punch within 15 minutes of arriving. It was really surreal coming back here as I arrived exactly a year after visiting Roatan for the first time. I remembered leaving with my temporary open water diver & advanced open water diver cards, saying goodbye to new friends and telling myself that someday I would end up here and become a dive instructor. And...a year later...I DID ...
Where in the world is Rika??
Hola from… Miami Beach..!? Yes, as I’ve previously alluded to, I am in fact in Miami right now. I’m not even in Roatan!How the hell did I end up here? Good question, long story! This might be the longest post I’ve ever written, but there are pictures, I promise.Let’s start from the beginning.If we’re all being honest here…right before Christmas, I was absolutely miserable in Roatan. I had an unpleasant personal situation that managed to infiltrate every facet of my life here (which is ...
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade and drink it on a yacht.
Merry Christmas from the Caribbean Sea!!You may have noticed I have been conspicuously absent lately. I have a good reason for this, I promise.It's this:Yep. That's a 105 ft yacht, and I'm on it right now sailing to Belize, Cozumel, Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Cuba, and finally through the Florida Keys on the way to Ft. Lauderdale where the boat is going into the yard and I'm flying back to Roatan from Miami. Did I mention I'm getting paid? Way more than I make at my current ...
I’m a fisherman!
Sometimes on our day off we go fishing and I hand reel in a tuna. No big deal.(I haven't watched this video with the sound on yet because my speakers aren't working, so apologies in advance if my potty mouth makes an appearance. What can I say, I'm drunk and fishing on a boat.. isn't that a free pass for f-bombs?) ...
What if money didn’t matter?
What if money didn't matter? What would you do?I DID THIS. YOU CAN TOO. ...