Birthday Cake and Earthquakes.

Or Birthday Quake and Earthcake?

Birthday in Paradise. Diving during the day, drinking @ the bar watching the sunset, nice dinner in a good restaurant was a good start for the evening. Lots of people, lots of drinks, lots of fun! We danced and drank the night away till they closed the bar and we stumbled back home.

I just felt asleep as I suddenly woke up and thought - I am still fuckin drunk - but as I realized that the whole house is shaking, things felt of the tables and my bed was fuckin moving around. As it stopped , after at least 20 seconds, I searched for my flatmate, Anki. She stood confused like me in the doorway, not realizing what just happened. It was completely dark, no power and I tried to get dressed and pack some stuff together to get out of here as soon as possible. We are living 20 m off the beach so I was scared of a tsunami. Anki was still half asleep ( or drunk like me ) found it more important to have a pee and go back to bed. Finally I made her go and we bumped into some people who had the same idea – driving to the next highest hill. More and more people were coming. We sat on the bar ( who just reopened @ 3 am ) and slowly realized what just happened.

This earthquake was very strong, 7.3 on the scale and just 21 miles north of our island in 10 km depth. An hour later we felt a second earthquake and everybody run out of the bar. This time it was “just” a 4.1….
The whole night we spent outside on blankets, talking to other peoples story´s while feeling after shakes all the time. Still scared of a tsunami they cancelled the warning, the earthquake was to shallow – we were lucky. We waited till the sun came up and went back to our small house to see the effect of the earthquake.

In the morning everything went on as usual – Island life. In the next week we had 3oo after shakes and another small Earthquake with 5.0 on the scale. Our reactions : just another Earthquake.

Life goes on as usual.

3748 Minutes Bottom time – Life underwater

After all together 3748 minutes underwater I already should have fins instead of feet and skin between my fingers. Since the first day underwater I felt in love with diving. This freedom, silence and beauty make me curious for more and more. I started my dive master internship for a couple of weeks ( or month?? :) ) on this amazing Island. The dive sites are awesome – amazing corals, long and hidden caves, wrecks and lots of strange creatures - welcome in my office!! :)

Because my Camera is limited with Macro and Wide ankle options – I would like to present you some pictures from Daniel, a great Photographer. I am so fuckin jealous on his underwater housing. Thanx for the pics Daniel!












We had some Customers from the States who came for a special expedition on Roatan. They went down with the submarine like Jacque Cousteau discovered the oceans. They made a new world record : 2540 feet deep in the ocean!! They also made some movie nights about and from Cousteau which was great. If you ever get the chance to see the movie “the silent world” – you will be surprised how they discovered and dove the oceans. Crazy!

Everybody who knows me, travelled with me , lived with me - knows that I am a magnet for a kinds of accidents, robbing or other crazy happenings. I am also a talent of braking down things and loosing stuff.
One night after the night dive we surfaced with a group of divers – and our boat was gone. It didn’t take long till we realized that it drifted away from us – on the reef. The ocean was quite rough and the waves nearly made it flip over. Our captain was fighting on the boat but the engine wouln´t start anymore and he´s stucked on the reef. What a trap. Our boss came with the other boat to pick us up from the ocean and then the big rescue session started. It was crazy. And this time it was not my fault!!
In the end we saved the boat with only a few damages. “Shit happens” – that’s what our boss said in the end. He is great. Since now on everybody is practicing tying knots daily :)

The next day 2 people nearly drowned in our bay. 20 people were just watching them, then our guys from the shop saved them and brought them to the hospital. Unbelievable how many things can happen in this small place.

Roatan, Bay of Islands, Hondras

Finally I am on my way to Roatan, an Island in the Bay of Islands. To get there you only need to bye a ticket and tons of seasickness tablets. I only had the ticket… choosed my seat carefully upstairs close to fresh air. As soon as we left the harbor huge waves were greeting us and everybody had fun by holding onto the seat while your ass ( and your last meal ) went up in the air.
15 minutes later – silence.
30 minutes later – you could watch the last meals from nearly every passenger.
I laid down on the wet ground, surrounded by legs, tons of small full bags with a nice smelly air – I tried not to get seasick.
3 hours and 50 liters of liquid food later we finally arrived.
I didn’t feel sick, thank god, but it was hard work not to.

I met some Swedish guys and hanged around with them for a while. We had lots of fun while sunbathing on white sandy beaches with crystal blue water, partying or cooking.

West Bay, Roatan

I moved into a nice apartment just 20 m of the beach, a neat tiny wooden house where Mangos are falling of the tree, Colibri´s sucking beautiful flowers and some cats to take care of. I love this place.

I started my Rescue diver @ Coconut Tree Divers, a crazy, professional and absolutely fun place. The Rescue Dive Course was fuckin intense, I was the only student with 3 people assisting plus a crazy instructor who loves to make a big show. The next three days I was on 100% physically and mentally. Constantly somebody was panicking, bleeding, drowning or missing. They gave everything. Even during my writing exam somebody got missing in the bay…… Crazy days, but I learned a lot …and we had lots of fun.

I came to the right time, the Birthday Party for the Dive shop came along and we had a big party with both boats , lots of people, rum-punch and good food on a perfect beach. Great day.