The first week in May was the date for our annual group scuba trip, and we had a blast. For the fourth year in a row we organized a week-long diving trip with a bunch of friends, and this time we returned to CoCo View Resort in Roatan, Honduras.

Our group consisted of ten people: Jen, Aneel, Jenny, Cary, Mona, Bahman, Chuck, Marisa, Frederick, and I. All of us except Marisa were diving, and Cary completed his open-water certification during the first days of the trip. Not a bad place for your first ocean dives!


I did 19 dives in six days which may seem like a lot but I really felt like I wasn't diving that much. On Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday I did two dives each day, Monday I did five dives, and Tuesday and Thursday I dove four times each. But that schedule gave me a little bit of time to relax and enjoy being on vacation, which is something I really needed, so I didn't regret it.

My favourite dive was the dusk dive we did on Tuesday. We headed out from shore after the sun had set, but while it was still light out. I swam to and past the wreck of the 140' Prince Albert with my dive light turned off as dusk descended around us. It was an eerie, slightly spooky, but incredibly wonderful feeling! Big thanks to Aneel for suggesting that timing.


Looking back through my dive logs I realized this was the first warm water dive trip I've taken since July 2008, egads! No wonder I've missed it so much. (Well, I was actually there in Roatan last October, but I had some sort of sinus congestion issues and wasn't able to dive, so it doesn't count.) Last summer our group attempted to take a warm water trip to Loreto, Baja California, but we were there too early in the season and the water was 68F, brr.

Since most of the diving around CoCo View is fairly easy and low-stress, it was the perfect place to try out my new underwater camera kit. I shot with my 100mm macro lens for the first several days, and with my 16-35mm wide-angle lens the last few days. There was a definite learning curve involved, especially since all the macro photos were shot on manual, but I downloaded and reviewed my photos at the end of each dive day, critiqued them, and attempted to correct what I did not like the following day. Sure, I took hundreds of crappy shots that I immediately deleted, but I felt like I was doing okay, all things considered.


If you like, check out my full set of diving photos from this trip.