the rest of the trip was uneventful into atlanta. we got there, found our next terminal and on the way to the gate we pass the delta lounge so we hopped in there and grabbed breakfast. they had chocolate muffins, bagels and cream cheese, bar, juice, coffee. the chairs were much more comfortable, and they had couches. i thought about taking a pic but there were a lot of passengers hanging out and well, i don't look great when travelling but don't mind people taking me in a setting like that but some people do care and i didn't want to piss anyone off. so i passed on it. sorry. if we have time to visit on the return trip (unlikely but you never know, ATL is famous for *not* being on time) i'll see how crowded it is. boarding was on time thank goodness. as we were leaving the lounge we passed the little 'office area' where there was a man on the phone. matt stops and looks at me, points to the guy and asks "pawn shop dued?" i dunno. there was a row of clocks displaying times around the world
just outside so i tried to be inconspicuous but of course dude was looking out, and knew i was walking past to give him a look. i got a small smile. it sounded like him, it *did* look like him, so we're calling it our celebrity sighting for the trip. clarke peters is his name. and he was on hbo's "the wire" as the detective lester/pawn shop duty.
we boarded from midcraft, and when i reached our seats in 1st class the F.O. was in the galley. i asked him if i could have the pilot fill in my flight log. he took it, signed his name, and said 'follow me'. i got to go onto the flight deck. it was a little odd seeing an analog cockpit! the last several times i've been up there they've all been digital. while the pilot was filling in all the info they were asking me questions like "where was my favorite place i've been", "what's there to do in roatan", "how many places have i visited". it's kind of fun. especially when the pilot could've been the F.O.'s dad by the age difference! i swear he looked like a 20 year old kid.
the flight to roatan was a little bumpy but nothing like the storm in MS we encountered. as i'm filling in the customs card i asked the attendant a couple questions. the entire form was in spanish and while i once was decent at it i am no longer, and matt wasnt' remembering much either. we're trying to figure out 1 of the questions when i notice a cockroach on my arm. a little squeal and i shook him off. the gal didn't even see it. the other attendant who was starting to prepare for food service looks over with a question in her eyes like "what's the matter???" i didn't want to say it too loudly so i have no idea if either of them really got that there was a cockroach on board. no other little screams were heard so i guess he found his way out. hope he had a passport because he isn't going to be in GA anymore. LOL.
we got a pretty good view of the island as we approached, circled over and landed. it's a short runway that parallels the ocean, and it's a bumpy runway, but 10 years ago it wasn't even paved. as we're touching down i tell matt this is like a field landing. short, sweet, and bumpy. there was one i swear they must've installed a speedbump. we get to the end and there's a large circle - like the trolly turn-arounds in san fran. we circle around and head back to 'the terminal', a 1 building airport. there were some cool older planes there. we are waiting for the stairs when someone notices they are being hand pushed by 2 guys up to the door. the humidity just sucked the breath out of us when we got to the door of the plane. quite a bit different from seattle. we're through the line at customs, and we're waiting for our bags. i joked with matt about which carousel they'd come up on. (the joke is: there was only 1). there were only 5 of us on the plane going to cocoview so we were all out pretty quickly.
we hopped onto a shuttlebus and were driven eastward through french harbor to the dock for the boat to cocoview. planes, boats and busses. a few minutes' ride and we were at the dock for the resort. i call it a resort, but it's nothing like what most people would call a resort. it is kind of rustic in its charm. if you want to be pampered this is not the place. some might call it run down, others might describe it as tired, or in need of repair. screened-in windows or doors often have gashes in them, doors don't all fit square. but it's not the place one goes to sit by the pool and drink colorful slushy concoctions with umbrellas. this place is for die-hard divers. in fact almost all of roatan's
economy is diver/tourist based. the people both at CoCoView and elsewhere we've met are friendly, the food is filling, carb-loaded, and tasty. and there is enough diving to O.D. on if you want. they have a gym - a bench press, some free weights, a stair-stepper, and a lat pull machine. it's in a room on the 2nd floor, there's a fan, and while i'm not sure if it works an a/c unit. oh, and the windows open. the bedrooms/bungalows all have a/c, but the main dining/game/bar/lounge room seems to be cooled by fans and screen windows. no pool. their website says they have a hottub, not that you'd really want to get in it with 80+ degrees farenheit and at least 50% humidity. there's a spa with facials, mani/pedis, and massage. and that's about it. one gets up and breakfasts, then goes out on a boat dive. comes back and has lunch, goes out on a boat dive. comes back for dinner and then has the option to chill out or go for a night dive (boat or shore). in the meantime, if you don't want to eat, or want to skip the boat there's unlimited shore diving. yup. 24/7 free shore diving if you want to live in the water. and there's snorkeling. i've been doing quite a bit of that the last couple days. in fact the backs of my hands look like i held them up to a heat lamp for way too long.
but i jump ahead of myself. when we docked at the resort we were given forms to fill out - disclaimers about how we know diving is dangerous etc. and basically told our rooms weren't ready and there was an orientation meeting in about an hour. then we're pretty much turned free. ok. now what? matt and i walked up and down the full length of the docks in a self-tour that took about 20 minutes to complete. 1 good thing we saw was a hawksbill turtle who was injured had been rescued by one of the employees and placed in a penned-in portion of the sea to recover. lunch was being served so we ate up spaghetti with sauce - quite yummy, bread, and dessert. by then we were able to get into our rooms and change clothes. we decided we weren't going to try diving that day due to the air pressure with the planes. the orientation meeting kept getting pushed back later and later. long enough of a time gap for us to say 'now what do we do' and too short a time gap for us to actually do anything. then we see people who came in with
us out on an orientation dive. oops guess we missed the orientation meeting. at least there's another at 8.30 the next morning. ugh. -turns out there wasn't a meeting, some guys just grabbed a dive master and did their dive portion of it that afternoon. we decided it was nap time and that took us to dinner which was quickly eaten then we went back to bed!
outside the market was this guy who was trying to raise money to build cat-tree-houses for wayward (pet sheltered?) cats
a tug pulling a tug through the locks 
fish in the fish ladder
a yellow cedar in the lock's gardens. 
gasworks park and all the works
