Changes in Latitude

Saturday May 6, 2006
10:12am


Good old Atlanta. What can I say about ATL that I haven’t already said? I’m glad I don’t live here anymore – ‘nuff said.

We have about an hour and a half until our flight to Roatan leaves. Everything so far has been uneventful. With the exception of my nervous stomach and the nagging feeling that we have forgotten something. What could we have possibly forgotten? We have TWO 21 inch roller bags, a HUGE rolling duffel that we checked, and a backpack. The dive equipment takes up all the room in the checked bag. I hated to check it, but hopefully it will make it. The important dive equipment (masks), are in our carry on. Everything else we can rent if necessary.

Matthew has gone off in search of a newspaper – don’t know why it’s taking so long. I guess we should find something to eat because I doubt they will feed us on this flight. And dinner isn’t served at Anthony’s until 7pm. Part of me is so excited about this trip, but another part of me is so nervous about diving. And I have no idea why! I know once I get down there, I will be ok. I just worry way too much. I trust Matthew to take care of me and I will take care of him. All will be fine.

I am off to enjoy some fine Hartsfield-some new name International Airport cuisine. Oh how I loathe this airport. Will check back in from Roatan!

2:10pm

Still in Atlanta. We thought we were leaving….but it was just a tease. Our flight was originally scheduled to leave at 11:40 and they told us it was delayed until 12. At 12 they said the plane had mechanical problems with a 4pm fix time. They might try to find us another plane or cancel the flight. Say what? At 12:30 they said they found another plane and it was pulling up to the next gate and we should be able to leave by 1pm.

We all get on the plane and sit. And sit. And sit. Finally the captain comes on and tells us he is trying to find out why we are still sitting. Turns out, the plane they brought for us had only 4 hours left before it’s 100 hour inspection. They tried to get a waiver from the FAA , but no deal. I told Matthew to go flash his ID, but that didn’t work. Anyway – that was a HUGE mistake on Delta’s part and I’m sure someone will catch holy hell for that.

Basically, the only people who go to Roatan are divers; so we are on a plane full of divers, which means they are pretty laid back compared to most people in the same situation. Although the guy across the aisle starts hollerin’ about how he hates flying American airlines (airlines owned by American companies….not just AA) because they are so incompetent and never do things right. Obviously he has never been to Paris and had to deal with Air France at CDG.

They keep telling us they are trying to get a waiver, but I am sitting right above the cargo door and can see all the luggage being removed and put in the carts. Great! Finally he comes on and says they found another plane for us, but we have to get off and go down to the next gate.

So here we sit, 2 gates down from where we started. We should be about to land in Roatan, but instead we have moved maybe 200 feet. And now they are changing a tire on the plane they brought for us. The board is still showing a departure time of 2:45. We shall see.

Needless to say, there will be no afternoon dive for us today. That kinda sucks. I guess we will have to do our check-out dive in the morning and do the afternoon boat dive tomorrow. Oh well. Not the end of the world. But this sure is a crappy way to start our vacation.

4:07pm

On our way! We finally pushed back around 3pm, so we should be landing in about an hour and a half. Did I mention the obnoxious people in front of us? Well they were half lit on the first plane and during the break they must have hit the bar again and now are totally gone. And they keep getting rum and cokes cuz the crew is giving us free drinks and movies. The free movie is “Big Momma’s House 2” – I would rather just stare out the window at the clouds. So I am writing this and listening to Jimmy Buffett.

8:50pm

Finally!! Our flight arrived at the same time as a CO flight, so we spent quite a long time in the immigration line. But once we got through that, everything was smooth. Anthony’s Key people were there to collect our luggage and transport it and us to the resort. We never even had to touch it. That was nice.

Roatan looks pretty much the same as it did 2 years ago, but there is still tons of construction going on. Part of me thinks that is a good thing - that it will bring money into their economy. But in reality, the poor will still be poor. People will come in and build their fancy houses and resorts and the people that live here now will not be able to afford to anymore. Sort of like Jackson Hole. So yeah…it’s not a good thing. Oh and the dogs. The stray dogs always bother me.

But on to more pleasant things. The resort is beautiful. Our room is over the water and is bigger than I expected. There is a king size bed and a full size bed in here. The bathroom is huge and we have our own private deck over the water.

Once our luggage was delivered, we went up to the dining pavilion for dinner. We did not eat well all day today. Crappy airline snacks…cheese and crackers. Dinner was a nice roast pork with applesauce and rice. After dinner we went for a quick swim (the pool is beautiful too) but it cooled off quite a bit tonight, so we came back to the room to unpack.

We have not really decided if we are going to do the first or second dive in the morning. If we want to do the first one, we have to be there at 7am. I guess it depends on what time we wake up. I am getting sleepy, so waking up early should not be a problem.

Oh…one more thing before I go. Honduras has decided to adopt Daylight Savings Time. Starting tomorrow. Really - it’s about time they did that. 2 years ago it would be light around 5am and get dark around 6pm. This will push each of those back an hour.

I was going to post a picture, but this connection isn't very good.