Diane in Roatán

Hey, Camp Folks!

When those of us who work here at Everything Summer Camp head out on some adventurous excursion, we love to feature the story on our Blog. It was only last month that our Call Center Supervisor Diane took a week off to travel nearly 2000 miles away to one of the Caribbean islands of Honduras called Roatán.

Roatán provides a great location of the coral reef which attracts all sorts of different submarine life, so this island is known for its excellent snorkeling and SCUBA diving opportunities. They even have two summer camps for anybody who’s interested in checking them out! They have the Vista Verde Summer Camp as well as the Dolphin Scuba Summer Camp.

Diane journeyed to Roatán on missionary work to build a new house for a family of 11 in one of the poverty-stricken villages of the island. With a crew of roughly 20 people, they built a new house in four days! And with just one day left for fun, Diane hit the water for her snorkeling adventure!

She went with a group, but she and a friend of hers got separated. They were trying to catch up with the group, but an islander popped up out of nowhere with an orange flotation device and offered to show them around wherever they wanted to go. “Grab on,” he said. He pulled them wherever they wanted to go and dove down and resurface with different treasures from below like a giant conch (a seashell with the sea creature still inside). And, though she didn’t get to see it, Diane said he brought a starfish up for some other folks! Recalling the whole experience, she said, “That was so awesome!”

After a couple hours of snorkeling, her group caught a water taxi over to the beach where they were met with the horses they’d be riding! It had been at least 25 years since Diane had been on a horse and it was her dream to ride a horse way out in the ocean. She wanted to gallop one too. Wouldn’t fate have it that Diane got to ride Bird, the most stubborn horse in Roatán. He wouldn’t go into the ocean, when directed to. The tour guide knew the horse could, but Bird had to be led out into the ocean. After the walk back to dry land, Diane was excited to gallop, but Bird wasn’t. Once again, the guide said he knew the horse could, but was apparently just not in the galloping mood. Though Bird turned out to be a wet blanket of a horse, Diane still loved her experience with him!

After horseriding, Diane and her group headed over to a Sloth and Monkey Farm where you can just hold an adorable sloth or monkey as you please. Can you imagine walking around the homestead where all these gentle, cuddly creatures live? And after their visit to the Sloth and Monkey Farm, they visited another farm full of nothing but iguanas. An entire farm of iguanas, just hanging out around your feet! Watch your step!

This was all in one day! It was an incredible thrill for Diane—she deserves it! But even so, when I asked what her favorite part of the trip was, she referred back to the people whose villages she visited and told me, “I think my favorite part was seeing how happy people can be with nothing.” You can learn much more about her work with the missionaries, the people of Roatán, and donations to the cause made from Everything Summer Camp on our Facebook post when you click here. And, as always, thanks for reading, Folks!

- John