99 replies to this topic

[Divegirl412]

looks like you guys had a great time.
none of you look like your avatars...except dave.

I don't look like my avatar?????

well, in one specific way you do!!

actually, you do.

Yeah, I wondered.......

[WreckWench]

that's funny, i was told the same thing by WW and fingraber...is there a conspiracy here???

Darling you are WAY cuter then you avatar!! So I hope we got a better shot of you on the trip to prove it! -ww

[Divegirl412]

Doug, do tell about your trip. Did you find a suit in SPS?

[StuShark]

it was a fun week (well, apart from that huge line at immigration in Houston - 2hrs to get through and had to run to catch my connection...nice of them to schedule 100 planes to land at the same time )

.......will sift though my photos (500MB of them) and post a couple soon.

..nice to meet everyone - hope to do it again before too long !

[WreckWench]

.......will sift though my photos (500MB of them) and post a couple soon.

..nice to meet everyone - hope to do it again before too long !

Hey the pictures are really awesome so far...can't wait to see yours as well as more of everyone else's! And there is that matter of the eagle ray that Lynne got on film too! -ww

P.S. Can't wait to see Stu Shark on another trip soon as well!

[Diverlady]

.......will sift though my photos (500MB of them) and post a couple soon.

..nice to meet everyone - hope to do it again before too long !

Hey the pictures are really awesome so far...can't wait to see yours as well as more of everyone else's! And there is that matter of the eagle ray that Lynne got on film too! -ww

P.S. Can't wait to see Stu Shark on another trip soon as well!

Yes the ever elusive spotted eagle ray. I'll post pics as soon as I can but that won't be for a few days yet.

Diverlady

Beware of the StuShark!

[rockhound1971]

the easy route seemed to be a good way to go...$70 for the flight from Roatan to San Pedro Sula (accompanied by the wonderful ms. rosa [thank you]). Well it wasn't til after i got there that the adventure began...or should i say begins.

So , as most of you know i didn't have a ticket from San Pedro to get back to the States (my ticket was from san jose Costa rica). I figured it couldn't be too hard for me to change my American Airlines ticket from one to the other, however, once i got to san pedro there wasn't anyone at the AA desk. I used the phone they had set up for after hours and after a couple of minutes of broken spanish i come to find out that they are closed for the rest of the day...at 3:00...and won't open until 8 the next day...yesterday...the day i'm supposed to travel...okay small Honduran town, i can figure this out.... the next step find somewhere to sleep for the night.

Gathered my backpack and walked back and forth around the airport to ensure there wasn't anything there or any other information i could pilfer. Upon going back downstairs, i noticed this fairly well dressed gentleman, and approached him (in hopes of speaking english) and find out what a good hotel might be in the area...well, it turns out that he doesn't speak too much english, enough to get our conversation started and i enough spanish to continue it. He said he wasn't sure where a good place would so generously he offered to give me a hitch into San pedro Sula and help me with the adventure of finding a hotel...so i accepted...got into the 4 door geo metro and off we sped into town...speaking congenially along the way. Its was just then that I come to find out that my new ‘friend’ is an ex-drug addict who is has just returned from 3 months in Cuba on the path to recovery… anyway, without incident a bout 30 minutes or so later he drops me off at a spot close to the centro part of san pedro sula and we part ways with a smile, a card exchange and a handshake of appreciation.

Now that i had a place to stay , it being about 5:30pm or so, i decided to walk the town to see what was happening before it got too dark. San Pedro Sula is a fairly big, dirty kind of town with an absolutely wonderful catherdral right at its heart. They were like people just about everywhere else...and without any serious events i returned to my 'hotel' room for the night. Sleep was good as i was exhausted from the previous noche's discoteca. (see photo gallery for details). The next moring i awoke early, went down to the local megaplaza and had a grande cappucino, sat and read til the stores opened at diez. As i was sitting enjoying my quite drink and book, who would show up but Elias, the fellow from the day before who was nice enough to again offer me a ride to the airport. We sat and talked, the food court that i was sitting in is part of his sunday routine of going to church, then eating breakfast. As I was on a mission to purchase a suit for my interview and he had obligations to meet his familia that morning, we once again parted with an understanding to met at 11:00 outside the stores. We went to the airport where I promptly paid my $84 exchange fee, changed tickets and arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at around 11:00 last night...

The next adventure is changing faces from diver Doug to corporate Doug (maybe i'll wait until after the metamorphosis to change my avatar

Wish me luck…

P>S> it goes without mention that i had a great time in the week and enjoyed the hell out of everyones company...

[WreckWench]

Doug I'm so glad the trip went without incident! Or at least not serious incident! The best of luck in the interview...and yes...lets see the change from gypsy doug to corporate doug...that is if we can handle it!

p.s. the pleasure was ours...we enjoyed the hell out of your company as well!

[Diverlady]

For the record, I had a helluva time getting my TACA ticket fiasco straightened out. I was standing at the check-in counter for over an hour with sympathetic agent and after several phonecalls between the 2 of us, they managed to issue me a ticket! My reservation had TICKET BY MAIL on it so that's where the problem resided. (The tickets never arrived.) They issued me a ticket for my return flight so that I wouldn't have any trouble returning.

Not too pleased with TACA but the agent at the desk was great.

Diverlady

[WreckWench]

For the record, I had a helluva time getting my TACA ticket fiasco straightened out. I was standing at the check-in counter for over an hour with sympathetic agent and after several phonecalls between the 2 of us, they managed to issue me a ticket! My reservation had TICKET BY MAIL on it so that's where the problem resided. (The tickets never arrived.) They issued me a ticket for my return flight so that I wouldn't have any trouble returning.

Not too pleased with TACA but the agent at the desk was great.

Diverlady

Did they hassle you on the return as well????

[Diverlady]

For the record, I had a helluva time getting my TACA ticket fiasco straightened out.  I was standing at the check-in counter for over an hour with sympathetic agent and after several phonecalls between the 2 of us, they managed to issue me a ticket!  My reservation had TICKET BY MAIL on it so that's where the problem resided. (The tickets never arrived.)  They issued me a ticket for my return flight so that I wouldn't have any trouble returning.

Not too pleased with TACA but the agent at the desk was great.

Diverlady

Did they hassle you on the return as well????

Nope. I had a paper ticket issued in Houston so that was no problem. Just took forever to even get up to the check-in desk.

Also had to wait 2hrs to get through US customs and immigration.

DL

[triggerfish]

we're just trying to keep out you undesirable canadians.

[DandyDon]

we're just trying to keep out you undesirable canadians.

I'll slap her for you next week! Glad to!!

TF, she was trying to leave Houston (Yep, a strange city, but still in the US) for Hondursas.

I always try to make time to call the airline 2 days before I leave to confirm all details, including "And this is ticketless, right?" But you may have; TACA is not known for effciency. Even with ticketless, I like a print out of someort, faxed or emailed.

Edited by DandyDon, 20 September 2004 - 02:24 PM.

[StuShark]

ok - some pics are now uploaded (sorry, I didn't play around with photoshop - that would have taken weeks)...these are straight off the camera with a little cropping and resizing) - if anyone wants bigger versions (originals are around 1.3MB each) let me know,,,,feel free to photoshop them,,,,,(and then let me know how to do it !)

[Diverlady]

we're just trying to keep out you undesirable canadians.

I'll slap her for you next week! Glad to!!

TF, she was trying to leave Houston (Yep, a strange city, but still in the US) for Hondursas.

I always try to make time to call the airline 2 days before I leave to confirm all details, including "And this is ticketless, right?" But you may have; TACA is not known for effciency. Even with ticketless, I like a print out of someort, faxed or emailed.

Yes, I'm the poster girl for criminal activities!!

Actually DD, I was trying to get into the US so I could then take a flight home. That's where the 2hr wait occurred. But eventually I made it up to the officer and was done in about 10 seconds!

And don't get me started with TACA. I e-mailed several times AND called them but still was forced to wait for over an hour for my ticket situation to be cleared.

DL