Hey everybody! First of all... Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kala Hristougenna, Feliz Navidad, Joyeuse Fetes, Bon Natale, Happy New Year, Bom Novo, and all the rest. For anybody I missed, Seasons Greetings! :) There is absolutely no way that I can send everybody I care about a personal holiday greeting, so I'll restrict that to family only.

Special greetings go out to Ted (where are you?), Peter G, Mihai, Charles, Denise W, Denise S, Colin, Mick and his family, David C, Dominique B, Raviv, Chris & Will, ****TheMaker & Shane (for all your help)****, Valerie B, Marius, Stefan, Kiley, Joan, Alexa, Meg, Sarah K, and Ron...

Saludos especiales a Gabriella, Maria P, Sarina, Margarita, Paulina & Mariana y su familia, Vera, Tania, Claudia, Barbara, Ana, Patty, Irving, Maria U, Ida, Karina, Auri, Ale, Andrea, Dani, y Rafael... Hay bastante otros, pero es imposible de continuar... Tomé demasiado muchos cervezas en las tras 4 meses para acordarme de todos... :)

Des bonnes voeux à Cécile, Sébastien, Marie, Hélène, Karine, Tony (le moufflon), Sandrine, Joelle & Anna, et plein d'autres...

Hope you received and were able to read my last email. If not, it's available on my website. It was sent out under trying technical circumstances and apparently some people did not get it.

Thought you guys might be getting a little bit bored with all the history, so I'm going to forego that stuff in this update (sorry Frances!!!), and tell you some stories about my adventures on a sailboat, scuba-diving in the Caribbean, visiting the second-largest jungle in the world, and more... (and that was just in the first 12 days).

At the end of my last update, I was about to board a 38 foot sailboat and sail to the Caribbean island of Utila (part of the Bay Islands of Honduras). To orient yourself, look up the city of Livingston, Guatemala on a map of Central America. It sits on that country's only stretch of Caribbean coast. Utila, Honduras is 120-130 nautical miles (as the crow flies), 90 degrees due east of Livingston. We left early Monday morning, the 25th of November, and arrived Friday morning, the 29th and our speed ranged anywhere from 3-5 knots.

What is a nautical mile?
The S.V. (Sailing Vessel) Lady Jane is navigated by an Italian, Capt. Roberto Parea and his Spanish girlfriend Inma. You can check out their website. The sailboat is really only built to sleep 6, but my new friends persuaded the captain to squeeze me in on the boat. My four shipmates were Marius, a funny and articulate dude from Norway; Stefan, a tall, lanky Swiss guy who was always ready to join me for a beer; Kiley, a pretty blonde American with lots of stories and a penchant for bluegrass music; and Joan, her Julia Stiles look-a-like friend, with an almost constant thoughtful look on her face.

Our first stop was a shallow area off the barrier reef, where the water was turquoise blue and only about 20 feet deep. The captain got into the water in full wetsuit gear, mask, and snorkel, along with a huge speargun that he used to successfully capture 3 or 4 fish for our supper. We ate snapper and tuna that night and it was delicious. We snorkeled a little bit there too, but our first day at sea was cloudy so visibility wasn't great. Sunlight helps a lot because it illuminates the colourful fish.

Our destination for the night was a small island in the Sapodilla Cays. Its name was Nicholas Cay (Belizean territory), and we anchored about 75m offshore. The island was practically deserted. In fact, a bungalow resort had been planned for the cay but construction went halfway and was abandoned due to lack of funding. Imagine the eerie sight of seeing dozens of buildings without doors, windows, lightbulbs, or furniture. Semi-installed shower stalls were lying on the floors inside... A perfect place for a group of squatters. The small island, not more than 250m across in any direction was covered in towering palm trees, discarded conch shells, and coconuts. Conch shells are considered a top prize by many seashell collectors. These are the huge ocean treasures that mimic the sound of the ocean when you put them to your ear. Some of them can also be blown into, somewhat like a horn. The Queen Conch, the most famous, is an endangered species. The meat of this one, and of other conches, is a delicacy and the shell is highly valued as well. These beautiful ocean-floor dwelling creatures are hunted very easily. You need simply punch a hole in the bottom of the shell, and yank the defenseless animal out.

We had a little happy hour on the island with a bottle of Bacardi and some Coca Cola (Vivela!). Afterwards, Marius and I had the bright idea to skip the skimpy dinghy and swim back to the sailboat. What a beautiful idea. If you've never been to the ocean at night in a tropical locale, let me tell you about phosphorescent plankton. These little creatures glow in the dark and swim around showing off their lights. If you disturb the water, they get pretty excited. When Marius and I jumped in, they swarmed all over us. A photo of the scene would have had us looking like floating green Martians. They don't hurt at all as they are miniscule organisms, but it was a spooky and surreal experience.

Information on the Queen Conch
Photo of the Queen Conch
International Law Prohibits Commercial Trade in Queen Conch
Our next stop was a hidden cove, with a deserted beach. Deserted at least by the last humans that had been there. We did find a shelter (man-made) constructed from palm leaves and tree branches. It hadn't been used in quite a while, judging from the surrounding debris, but still looked quite sturdy. The beach was no more than 15 or 20 feet wide, covered with toppled palm trees and rotting stumps. Probably remnants of the last tropical storm or hurricane to have passed through here. The beach is isolated by thick jungle and rocky points guard the cove's entrance.

Nightfall brought strong winds to the cove, signs of an approaching storm. They were a strong northeasterly and reached speeds of 30km to 35km. But rain fell only in small drops and only for a few seconds here and there. Some parts of the sky were clear of the ominous dark rain clouds and in these spots, you could see many stars. An odd sight, the clear sky mixed with foreboding storm clouds. Have you ever had quietness so intense that you couldn't concentrate? In this place, sitting on the bow of the boat, the wind was fierce and soothing at the same time. This made concentrating on absolutely nothing a very simple thing to do.

In the morning, when we left the protected area of the cove, the sea was rough. We felt the brutal effect of the previous night's storm on the waves. They were rocky, and the boat pitched from side to side. Sun was interspersed with rain. I did not feel good at all, and was anxiously awaiting a stop in Tela. The girls were planning to debark there, since they had fallen short on time and needed to meet an obligation back in Belize. The weather was rough enough that we were unable to anchor, so the captain called a boat in from shore to taxi the girls in They were sorely disappointed to be cutting their trip short. The unpredictability of the sea ruined their plans. It also ruined mine, as my stomach was by this time extremely queasy and I COULD NOT WAIT to get off the boat. We couldn't dock, so the captain took the decision to sail straight to Utila, this meant continuous sailing for the next 18 hours...

When we finally arrived in Utila, we were so glad (myself especially) to finally get off the boat that we didn't care that it was pouring rain. We didn't even want to wait for the captain to take us in the dinghy. We hired a local fisherman to bring us to shore with our bags. At this point I was sporting four weeks growth of beard, and I finally shaved it all off (sorry Mick!!!). My hair is almost to my shoulders now, and I'm getting used to it. Maybe I'll continue to let it grow until I return to Canada!!

Marius' photos of the sailboat trip
A couple of the delicious meals served to us on the boat (though they weren't quite so diligent about preparing our food on a regular basis, but that's a story saved for a cold pint of Strawberry Blonde at Brutopia, and not to mention our "lost" bottle of Tequila) were these...

Recipe for Guacamole
Recipe for Conch Ceviche
Utila is one of three Bay Islands, the others being Roatan, and Guanaja. Remember I told you about the Garifuna people being exiled to Roatan at the end of the 1700's? They also migrated to Utila and Guanaja. The dominant language on these islands is English, with Creole and Spanish widely spoken as well. Roatan is the most popular, the most expensive, and has the best scuba diving, the best beaches, and the best parties. The other, Guanaja, is more remote, and was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Utila is reputed to be the cheapest place in the world to get certified for scuba diving. You can get PADI certified here for about US$125. I was certified at Waddell Aquatics, on Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal (fun & friendly place to get your certification). Ask for John Gilsenan and tell him ryanrowe.com recommended you.

For more info on Honduras, visit a non-government sponsored website, run by an Honduran enterprise

My main objective in Utila was to scuba-dive, and though I had never planned to visit here in the first place, the sailboat trip opportunity changed my entire itinerary. On my tight budget, I was able to find the money to go on two dives. They call them fun dives, where they take you down for 30-45 minutes to enjoy the underwater scenery. It was my first time scuba-diving without a teacher around, so I was kind of nervous, but the school (the Bay Islands College of Diving) made me feel very comfortable. We went down to about 50 feet on the first dive (Ted's Point), and 40 feet on the second (Moon Hole). Both are located on the opposite side of the island from the barrier reef, but that doesn't mean my dives weren't worth it. It's a completely different world down there. At first I was a bit nervous going so deep, but achieving neutral buoyancy (floating like a fish) was much easier for me in saltwater wearing only 12lbs of weights, than it was wearing 28lbs of weight on a freshwater dive (Lac L'Achigan). I chose not to buy or rent an underwater camera for financial reasons, and also because I wanted to keep my hands free while scuba-diving for the first time. Ted's Point was hilly terrain, lots of coral reef, rock overhands and cool underwater passages. It was sunny out and I saw a queen parrotfish, a juvenile spotted drum, and a four-eyed butterfly fish. Moon Hole is named as such because it is a sandy circle about 50 feet in diameter with reef encircling it. Here I found a stargazer, a blimpy looking fish with eyes on the top of its head. A very reclusive creature, it buries itself in the sand to avoid predators. The only reason I found it was because I wanted to feel the texture of the sand. As I picked up some of it, the floor started to move, and out popped this huge fish! Scared the living s*** out of me. I also came upon a really frightening looking barracuda with a rusted old hook still in its mouth. He evidently hasn't forgotten what humans can do, 'cause he swam away from me, instead of towards me. :) If you want to see what my mood was immediately after I went scuba-diving that day, check out my update from November 30th, 2002.

P.S. The photos referenced above were taken by other people, but are accurate depictions of what I actually saw that day.

Utila also has some great bars. The Bar in the Bush is only open on Friday nights and is a crazy cool place to be. It's worth spending a Friday here just to visit this place.

Email me and ask me about the cool thoughts I wrote down on a beer coaster while I tripped on three different levels. It's worth it just for the laugh. :)

Coco Bongo's on Saturday nights has some wicked techno, dance, and hip-hop music, while the Cross Creek (on Sundays) has a great atmosphere and some cool Canadian owners. I spent the night here instead of a hotel before catching a ride on a boat at 3am to the mainland. Try walking in the dark on an island in the middle of the Caribbean when you're drunk at half past 2 in the morning. It was cloudy too, so stars and moonlight were out of the picture. Utila cuts its electrical power from midnight till 5 to conserve energy, so the entire island is PITCH-BLACK (that's a cool movie, by the way, with Vin Diesel, go check it out).

Though I only planned to stay here for two days, I managed to hitch a free ride on the cargo boat TONIA C II in the middle of the night on my third day. It dropped me off early in the morning in the port town of La Ceiba. Taking the ferry would have cost me 195 lempiras (C$20 or US$13), so it was nice to save that money after luxury items like a sailboat trip and scuba-diving.

La Ceiba has a great atmosphere too. It was my transit point between Utila and the Mosquito Coast, and then again when I headed to Tegucigalpa. It's a town where the streets and sidewalks are filled (maybe cluttered is a better word) with pedestrians, street vendors, honking taxis, children and adults and dogs on bicycles (just checking to see if you're reading!) and blaring music from clothing stores. The atmosphere is fun and lively, and I enjoyed just walking arounnd town. The Coca Cola Christmas Pine tree was a bit cliché, I would have rathered a Corona Christmas Palm tree (even more cliché). I also went to go see a movie in a local cinema, The Mothman Prophecies, in English with Spanish subtitles. This is a great way to practice Spanish because you can match the dialogue with the printed text. Check out the very friendly laundromat (name is: LAVAMAGIC) on the main road towards the COTUC bus station. Some really cool people work there!!! Mention my name to Jony.

Hitchhiking by boat was also convenient for my next destination, as I was able to find free passage on a fishing boat to Central America's largest and most untamed jungle area (la Mosquitia, also known as the Mosquito Coast).

At this point I had been immersed in the English language WITHIN Central America since the 18th of November (about 14 days). Kind of bizarre, huh? I did not escape this influence until I headed to the Mosquito Coast. Since this email is getting long again, and I wanted to wish you all a happy holiday... I'll adjourn and continue in a few days.

Marius, Stefan, Kiley, Joan - Thanks again for the sailboat trip, a pity we never got to touch the Jose Cuervo.
Joelle & Anna - J'ai perdu vos courriers, envoyez-moi un email! Je raconterai l'histoire de La Mosquitia quand j'ecris la prochaine fois
Michael - Got your email about the bar in Panama City for New Year's. thanks, but if there's a cover charge, we'll probably skip it! I'm tapped :)
The crew at LavaMagic - thanks for helping me dry my sleeping bag after the Mosquito Coast trip