Last Utila Blog!

Incredible restaurant, hotel, bar..Jade Seahorse on Utila

Took 15 yrs to build...this is full of shells, bottles, etc.

The detail work on this place is stunning

Jade Seahorse rooms...enchanting, would love to stay there

Has to be seen in person to really appreciate

Beautiful arch

So many nooks and crannies at the Jade Seahorse

HH cooks, Zeidi and Mirna with Mgr. Loretta

HH employees Tammy (we had lots of laughs, thanks for the lobsters Tammy!) and Ellen

Simba a cutie patootie. sorry for the sideways pic

HH employees, Ellie and Lori, twins that I can never tell apart!

View from the HH Internet Room, nice, eh?

HH Internet Center, where I was most of the time

Beautiful sunset coming back from Utila to the Cay, for you Joann!

Yes, a real beach! But on Utila, none on the Cay

Delicious Cantaloupe Juice, Zanzibar Cafe, Utila

Very nice place to stay on Utila called Lighthouse

Getting towed to Utila after breaking down

Stranded after breaking down on Mr. Donald's water taxi

Licsy and Erin....help, come rescue us!

Maybe we don't want to be rescued..we're in paradise!

Pam and me goin' with the flow after breaking down

Jade Seahorse

Kelly at the Jade Seahorse Inn

Feeding apples to the horses

Kelly at the caves where you can swim

Beautiful ocean view from Pumpkin Hill

Local Cayon woman salting fish which they sell to visiting Catholics for lent

Me at ML which I was marketing to sell land

Doing my fave thing...shell hunting

Henry with HH in background

Garifuna cleaning a Black Fin Shark

Well folks, it's finally time to say goodbye to the wonderful Cayons, divers and tourists I've met along my interesting journey to the Utila Cay in the Bay Islands of Honduras. I leave tomorrow morning for an uncertain future back in San Diego, California. Not sure what I will be doing there for work, but I am open to almost anything. I'm going to stay with a firefighter friend of my sons. All I know is I will be closer to Ocean Beach which is my dream place to live. Someday...and soon I hope.

I have had a lot of fun with my new roomates of the last few weeks, Kelly and her Dalmation, Basil. We went horse back riding on the most beautiful trail on Utila at Red Ridge Stables a few days ago..and I've got some sore thighs to prove it. She said horses always looked so emaciated in Guatemala, but they were well fed here. I might have mentioned this before, and am too lazy to look back...but her and her husband Dave are cruisers and live on their boat. He's got it up in dry dock on the mainland repainting it while Kelly has been working with me here at HH doing marketing. She's a tech whiz compared to me on the 'puter. But having her live in the house with me has been one of the bright spots on my journey. We have really had fun bonding, telling deep dark secrets (ha!) to each other and cooking together. We're damn good cooks if I do say so myself. And once Basil warmed up to me, she has been a total cuddlebug. I'm gonna miss her...ok, and you too Kelly. Thanks for turning me onto Maya-Ik hot sauce...gotta find me some of that stuff back home.

I am really going to miss the employees I worked with at Harbor House. Didn't get pics of them all, but thanks for making my time there that much richer, and teaching me about your culture, a little Spanish, absolutely fascinating. Antoinette, Tracy, Tammy, Loretta, Zeidi, Mirna, Janis, Ellie, Lori, Nicki, and new girls Ellen and Erin, thank you all.

All the locals have been so incredibly sweet. When I would tell each one I was leaving, they all said, "You're coming back, ya?" And Sheila, one of the market owners told me that I'm now a Cayon..that pretty much brought a tear to my eye. I guess I do have to come back now.

My only regret was not seeing that giant leviathan of the deep, the whale shark. Even though I went out on the dive boat to snorkel several times, I always seemed to just miss seeing them by a day. One day they saw 5 of them. Another reason to return.

Several of my friends have asked what did I learn about myself while I was here. I think I might have to digest that first and do a bit of hindsight introspection. Kind of hard to see it while I'm still here. One thing I can say though, I did find out that I'm a pretty good creative writer. Victoria really was pleased with a lot of the marketing material I wrote. Most of it was quite humorous, which I wasn't sure she would like, but she certainly did. I'm now applying for creative writing jobs, relating to marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and entertainment reviews.

The horse back riding trip that Kelly and I went on was fun. I used to own a horse, but haven't ridden in over 15 yrs..and man, are my thighs sore today. Two hours in the saddle is a lot when you haven't gone out in a long time. But what gorgeous trails we were on. Mostly very lush, green and shady. We did one full out gallop and I almost felt like I was going to fall off the saddle..shows how long it had been for me. I'm a little ticked off that Kelly's thighs aren't sore..must be the luck of youth I guess. 2 hours for $25...much cheaper than anything back home.

Actually, everything here in Central America is very cheap. You come here with US dollars and it can go pretty far. But if you work here....not so much. I was offered a bartender position on Utila, but at about $15 a shift plus tips, which usually aren't much, I wouldn't have been able to save a dime. But rents are fairly cheap, especially if you have a roomate which you pretty much have to do. 1-2 bedroom places go for $250-350. Man, wish I could get that back home.

I think it's significant that when I would tell everyone that I was going home and it was too remote here for me, they would never feel the same way...they loved that about the Cay. People seem to love traveling through Central America...after all, it is quite affordable, especially if you are very young and don't mind giving up things that you were used to back home. In the long run, it is really not for me. I miss being able to go out to great restaurants, buying anything I want to make that special meal with, the creature comforts I've grown used to and am spoiled by. I'm a TV nut..so, I miss a lot of my shows back home. Maybe insignificant to some, but it's what I enjoy. I can still be near the ocean back home and go snorkeling if I want to. I know I will miss the color of the waters out here though. I could

never live in a land locked state..got to have that sea...for some reason I just can't live without it.

So, it's been a lot of fun sharing my Caribbean adventures with you all. Thank you for your personal emails to me, your support when I got lonely, and for your comments on here. I hope to have another blog posted when the next story unfolds. Life affords us so much if we only open our arms, reach out, and embrace the great adventure.