by Eddy-Staff Writer
Scuba diving is a great and healthy sport that can be taken advantage of by practically anyone from the age of 8 to 100 plus and I, having grown up in the Caribbean islands and living and diving in the scuba dive world I have personally seen and experienced the healthy results of this wonderful sport with very cool people and lifestyle. The lifestyle itself is great for you as divers are either diving, studying about fish etc. going up the dive ladder by learning advance courses in scuba, etc. eating healthy vegetables and seafood and the general attitude around the dive shops is one of continued learning, fun, new adventures and knowledge.
All of those involved in the scuba life dive for the sheer beauty of the marine life, the reefs, caves, wrecks and deep dives and find warm pleasure in experiencing the beauty of the oceans underworld and the cool pleasure of riding atop a cruising dive boat before, during and after, while sunning oneself while wondering what to have for lunch or where to beach comb for the day.
So after little debate and less travel planning, we here at Health and Fitness Talk ventured off into the Caribbean coastal islands of the tropical country of Honduras, namely Roatan which is the largest of three islands that make up The Bay Islands of Honduras and is widely known within the scuba dive world to be one of the best and least expensive places to scuba dive, beach comb and hang out in the world, since tropical beaches, turquoise pristine blue waters and plenty of cool watering holes servings hot meals and cold drinks. The dive center chosen was to be a PADI 5-Star Dive Center named West Bay Divers based on many positive online reviews.
West bay Divers stands alone as the only independent dive center in West Bay beach, which is laden with high volume dive resorts that often lose the common touch because of the high volume of customers through no fault of their own. But we felt much more attended to by the staff at West Bay Divers who have not lost the common touch and the hands on Dive Center owner who made us feel at home from the start and whom we have built a friendly relationships to this day.
We were meet by our smiling Greeter and Driver from Infinity Bay Beach Resort with an air-conditioned ride and whisked away to our beach-side resort, lead to our central air-conditioned suites and left on our own for the next 7 glorious days.
After a quick dip in the beautiful infinity pool and chugging down our welcome cocktails we toweled up and headed down the beach in our flip flops to West Bay Divers and were warmly greeted by our dive host, shop owner and Staff Instructor Lukus A. Maximus who gave us a tour of the well stocked facilities and briefed us on the daily dive schedule and other services that they offered and how they collaborate on marine research projects with several universities and non-profit organization Marine Academic Research.
The finest staff in scuba diving hands down!He also explained how the valet service worked as the shop prides itself on giving every diver complete valet service throughout ones dive which made me feel well taken care of and with the added English accent of some staff members and Instructors we felt like we were in a very cool scuba version of James Bond, adding a style to our stay with West Bay Divers which we truly enjoyed and will go back to for some more and bring the wife along.The dive day itself begun with an early morning cup of green tea and a protein laden buffet offering bacon, sausages, omelets, pancakes and a vast variety of fresh fruit and juices served beach side at our beautiful beach side resort with its infinity pool.
Keep in mind that we were doing three dives per day and needed that energy-packed protein plate of delicious food. After prying ourselves from our beach side table we headed off to the dive shop and once there we started our preparation for our dive by visiting the Dive site chart to see what site we would be visiting that morning, we gathered our wet suits, BCD’s, fins, dive computer etc. and stood there while the courteous, warm and hip staff members did not allow us to carry any gear as they happily loaded our tanks and gear onto the dive boat suitably named “Care of Kane”. Its nice to have this kind of top shelf service as many like me are forgetful and can misplace a mask or dive computer and takes a lot of pressure of your first dives back in the water if you have been out for some time.
The sun felt warm on our skin and refreshingly cool at the same time from the breeze whizzing through our hair and the pristine blue waters were so clear that you could actually see the types of coral reef fish that were hanging out down there once our boat tide up to the dive buoy. This has got to be the best part of any divers day as the boat captain turns the boat engine off and all you can hear is the light wind blowing through your hair accompanied by the gentle Caribbean rocking of the boat. By now everyone has begun to don their scuba gear and winning at keeping their balance from the swaying of the boat one by one enter the water.
Eventually Lukus who is also our Divemaster for the dive gathers everyone around him and explained the ins and outs of the site that we are about to see and how it would unfold. Everyone is buddied up to watch over each other and off we go one after with back entries into the cool but then bath tub warm Caribbean waters where we automatically inflate our BCD’s to keep us afloat and hanging close to our buddy. Once everyone is ready in the water Lukus gives the thumbs down and every begins their slow descent while equalizing their ears as they reach 10 feet then 20 then 30 then 40 and on to the pre-decided bottom time location where the dive itself actually begins with a smooth and beautiful tour of the most wonderful colors that you will ever see at the wall of the reef itself. On one side you got the beautiful coral reef to your left and then to your right you have the deep blue waters that can go as deep as 10,000 meters and be part of it all.
