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 ...
Budget Breakdown: Goodbye Jungle!
So I've posted a few things about finances here before. There is my most popular post of all time on Cubicle Throwdown, Tipping Guidelines for Diving on Roatan (or Anywhere) that had quite a bit of money info in it, as well as a detailed Dive Instructor Salary on Roatan post that generated lots of love but also some threats from jerks who wanted to hate on "gringos stealing all the jobs here" (again, to those people: first, read my small disclaimer post, then, get your ...
Roatan Review: Casa del Sol
I'm really excited to be bringing you my second Roatan Review!Casa del Sol is a guesthouse located just outside the entrance of West End in Roatan that can accommodate short-term or long-term guests. I personally have been staying here at least once a month for the last 8 months every time I go into 'town' because I have been living too far away to go home after a night out. Casa del Sol used to be managed by my friend Laura which is how I first ended up there, but has been taken over by my ...
Roatan Month 17 Roundup
Seventeen months! Did you know that's how long killer whales gestate for?Me neither. But I googled "seventeen months" and that's what the internet says. The more you know...Speaking of killer whales, holy Blackfish. This is some seriously sad business. If you like to visit aquariums, you should watch that movie. Also, someone sent me this video of Kuroshiro Sea tank with good intentions, but literally the first three seconds had me in tears. If you watch this and you think, ...
So it’s 2014 and I’m not on a yacht.
But thank you to all my readers who asked if my nearly 3 week absence on here was due to me running away on another megayacht, a la holidays 2013. Unfortunately, no, I just got totally overwhelmed at work during the new years week and understaffed in a major way, so I was in the water and handling all the administrative stuff and then had to take a little computer-holiday after that was over so my head didn't explode. I've also been battling some ridiculous power outages (like 14 hours a DAY ...
‘Home Alone’ and Coconut Rum: An Expat Christmas
Even though this is my second Christmas abroad, it's really my first expat Christmas. Remember last year how I ran away on a megayacht on Christmas Eve? And then didn't come back for two months? I don't know if that really counted as an expat Christmas last year since I was on a fancy boat drinking endless champagne (woe is me).This year I am at my house, by myself, working as usual. When your job caters to people on vacation, you don't get holidays off.christmas at my ...
Expat Blog Awards 2013!
I've entered this year's Expat Blog Awards over at over at Expats Blog, and I would love for you all to read my entry and vote for me!!You can click the badge above, or follow this link to my entry: Top 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming an Expat in Honduras.To vote for me, simply leave a great comment on the entry at the link above - not this post on my blog, although you can do that too if you want! They require all comments to be over 10 words to ensure ...
Roatan Month 16 Roundup
Full disclosure - I had NO idea what month it was for the roundup at all. I had to go back and search for the last one!You can always see all my monthly roundups by clicking on the 'roundup' tag below... but here they all are in order: Month 15, Month 14, Month 13, Month 12, Month 11, Month 10, Month 9, Month 8, Month 7, Month 6, Month 5, Month 4, Month 3, Month 2 and finally little old Month 1. Sometimes when ...
Why I Tell You to Get the F#*&! Off the Coral
Yep. I really do tell people to get the fuck off the coral. (Great news is I'm underwater, so they can't hear my foul language, but the hand signals I give them seem to suffice.)Even after numerous briefings about the Roatan Marine Park from the shop assistant and dive lead, people seem to not be getting the message. I'm not sure where this mindset of "it's okay to manhandle or feed creatures, take shells or anything else I find, or be shitty diver and smash the coral to ...
Rainy Roatan Nights
We've been dodging a very big bullet on Roatan for nearly two months now... RAINY SEASON. The dreaded few months of the year where gray skies and rain only leave us a few days of sun, where the power is out more than it's on and when you get 'trapped' in bars, restaurants or your friends house because you want to wait out the torrential downpour that just started outside. It's the time of year when you go to take out one of your clutches from the back of the closet and discover all 4 of ...