Hello everybody and welcome to the most amazing three paragraphs you're ever going to read... today. Well, because I could not compare to actual authors, so you’re just going to have to settle with me. Yay! 

Today was a bit of a long day, or at least it felt like it due to the heat and humidity. However, the class did get a respite from the heat in the beginning of the day, which started with our tenth dive of the trip (WOOOW) at the aptly named dive site, Bikini Bottom.  Making sure we took Dramamine two hours before the boat ride, not just thirty minutes, as that does nothing to help, and yes, I am speaking from personal experience. Bikini Bottom was a bit further away from our previous dive sites, as we traveled southwest towards the Blue Channel of the island before dropping our “anchor”. 

The dive was absolutely breathtaking. I truly do not know how to describe it otherwise; it was just more.  The coral, the fish, the water, the reef... everything in sight was bigger, more populated, more colorful, more alive than our previous diving sites. If you were silent, only the currents shifting against you, you could hear and feel multiple species of fish and sea turtles, munching on some coral for food, or their gliding strokes through the water itself. The site was an incredible experience and has made me very grateful for the opportunity to see the ocean, its species, and its reefs in action. 

While it was nice in the water, the heat was absolutely scathing. So, with the bright minds of us Cal Maritime students and your future oceanographers and political and security strategists, we went to a futbol game, in the middle of the afternoon. And yes, I was corrected on my spelling of “futbol” due to me attempting to call the sport with its proper name, soccer, but I digress. However, the game was the finals for the national championship of Honduras, and thus was absolutely packed, with more than 2,500 tickets being sold. The teams playing were El Carbonal F.C. and F.C. Roatan Juventus, which was so much fun to go to and see, not just because they were the home team of Roatan, but because it was such an important game. 

I must say, I had only been to one soccer, sorry futbol, game before and that was in the United States. Which meant we don’t bleed soccer the way Honduras bleeds for futbol. The stands and fences were packed, the local band was playing, the chants, the flares, the colored smoke, the little trumpets that we did manage to acquire (looking at you Ona and Luca) - the community was fully invested in this game. The excitement, the adrenaline anytime the opposing team came close, and the sheer relief and happiness when Juve beat Carbonal 2-0. 

- Cadet Jorja Davy

Professors Stephen Kielar and Ariel Setniker contributed to this blog entry.

Check back often and follow the adventure with our blog series that gives the latest news from the International Experience summer 2024 program traveling through Morocco and Honduras prior to returning to Vallejo on May 27, 2024.

Stay tuned for updates to the Follow the Adventure blog.