Oh, hey there. Guess what? Contrary to what many of you seemed to believe by the content of your emails, I did not die here in Honduras! I am still alive and kicking (and definitely knocking on wood). I am healthy and happy and all is well.Pardon my pause in posts for the last two months (eeeek...yikes). You'll have to trust me when I say it just got away from me. After a few weeks it just felt weird, and I let it keep going and going like when you keep watching a Friends marathon and after ...
Real Talk
This Island is Trying to Kill Me (Or: That Time I Got Dengue)
This is not the first time Roatan has tried to kill me.There was the entire first year that I was here and had allergic reactions to the sandflies and mosquitoes, had several staph infections in the bites on my legs and earned the somewhat unsavory local nickname of 'Sore Legs' from the islanders....There was the time I fell down a concrete ramp...There's been a few more I haven't mentioned due to legal issues and/or my mom's sanity.But this one has been the worst. You guys, I got ...
On Being A Chameleon
I've been back on Roatan for a week now (a very busy week! more about this later!) and absence really does make the heart grow fonder. While I am already missing good sushi and fast internet, I am relishing every walk I take down the street that takes me 20 extra minutes because I have so many people to say hi to. Being back underwater has been immensely helpful in getting my stress levels in regular parameters, and I've been lucky to be diving with a shop this week that is...wait for it... AIR ...
How Taking a Walk at Night Was a Revelation
The other night I felt like taking a walk.I used to walk everywhere before I moved to Roatan. When I lived in Vancouver, one of the biggest cities in Canada, I regularly walked to/from work downtown to the neighborhood I lived in (Kitsilano). I walked home drunk by myself from downtown after going to the bar with friends. I walked to concerts, dinner dates and shopping. I never had a problem in 5 years of living there, and I never felt unsafe.When I first moved to Roatan it was a ...
How to Become a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor
People ask me all the time how I became a dive instructor! I can say that it is not an easy (or cheap) process, but if you have a passion for diving and have the right personality to teach, it's an amazing way to do what you love - and if you want, live in some pretty interesting and exotic places.Since I can only speak for my own experience, this post is focused on how to become a PADI dive instructor. There are many training agencies around the world for basic certification all the way up to ...
Lost and Found: Back in the Water
It was one little detail that I somehow managed to forget about over the last year: I moved here to be a dive instructor. I didn't move here to run a dive shop, or to make websites, or to update Facebook pages. I worked myself almost to the bone in Canada with two full time jobs to save enough money to become a dive instructor - to live on Roatan (and other beautiful warm water locations), teach people how to dive, and take certified divers out diving.it was a lovely office, but ...
Roatan FAQ – Part 1
The #1 thing I receive emails about is questions from people who are visiting or thinking about moving to Roatan. And they all ask me the exact same questions!! I thought I better start putting together from FAQs so that people can read through these first before emailing me since I just don't have the time to give full, detailed answers over and over. I hope people find this helpful! If you have other questions you would like answered in Part 2, please leave them in the comments ...
Things I’m Going to Stop Doing in 2014
New Years resolutions scare the bejeezus out of me.If there's one thing I've learned about myself in my 28 years, it's that I fucking suck at sticking to stuff. (Other than checking Facebook maniacally; I've been doing that successfully since March 2007.) Like, I think its a kind of a miracle I even made it through university. I changed my major 4 times in the first year, 3 times in the second year and twice in the third year. Then I wanted to go do a masters in speech pathology. Then I wanted ...
Things your scuba diving instructor will never tell you….
If you've ever been scuba diving, you know your instructor is a pretty important person. You know, the one who makes sure you don't die and teaches you how to dive? Yeah, that one.I've just celebrated my one year anniversary of becoming a dive instructor and have now certified over 50 students and received my Master Scuba Diver Instructor rating, which I'm incredibly proud of.There's a few things I've learned. Actually, that's not true. There's a TON I learned. About diving itself, about ...
A Small Disclaimer.
I never, ever thought people were going to read my blog.I was never planning for it to get as big as it has, and comparatively it isn't even that big. I was shocked the first time an advertiser approached me, and had to put my big-girl panties on and ask other experienced bloggers what to do, because I didn't have a clue. Thankfully I'm part of an amazing online community of fellow bloggers, and all the ladies I wrote to went out of their way to show me the ropes.Now I have ...