photo series: above the bay islands

The photos that follow are of the beaches and shoreline of island of St. Helene (Santa Helena). St. Helene is separated from Roatan by a wide canal that winds through the mangrove forest between the two islands. These photos are a continuation of the Above the Bay Islands series.

The first beach one sees on the north shore of St. Helene is located in a gorgeous cove.

Rocky outcroppings add drama and beauty to the island's northern shoreline.

Practically the entire north shore of St. Helene is composed of white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters. Rose Cay can be seen in the background off the south shore of the island.

The Red Cliffs of northeastern St. Helene.

The eastern tip of the island. This area is well known for its beautiful turquoise waters.

quote of the day

Humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or Die… If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction.

- Eckhart Tolle

bliss bar 2.0

Bliss Bar has been expanded to include additional seating and bar space between the columns. New lighting gives the bar a warm glow.

New glass shelves display top shelf options.

the role of faith

Every religion on the planet has told us to have FAITH. Faith is when you cannot see how, but you absolutely know that the moment you have the dream it is given to you, and all you have to do is relax and allow the Universe to magnetize you to your dream and your dream to you.

- lessons from The Secret

photo series: above the bay islands

The photos that follow are a continuation of the Above the Bay Islands series.

 A section of the Great Mesoamerican Barrier Reef as seen from the air.

 La Sirena, an over-the-water bar and grill in the town of Camp Bay, Roatan.

 On its eastern tip, very hilly Roatan suddenly becomes an area of completely flat mangrove lowlands and wetlands. The hills in the background are on sister islands.

Above the lowlands of eastern Roatan. Saltwater crocodiles find a home here.

sustainable seafood

"Imagine just in France, a country of 60 million people, if once a year everyone ate 300g of fish from non-endangered instead of endangered stocks," says oceanographer Philippe Vallette, co-President of the World Ocean Network. "You'd save 18,000 tons of endangered species."

More than fisherman, chefs and perhaps even politicians, "it's the average citizen who has the power to change things," says Vallette. "The consumer is the final link in the chain, and when the consumer changes his or her behavior, the whole chain has to follow — from the bottom up."

- Time

happy holidays!

Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a holiday humor, and like enough to consent.

- William Shakespeare 

photo series: above the bay islands

This week, special guests Cristina and Richard did an aerial tour of Roatan and other islands and cays in the vicinity.

The Bay Islands Airways tour plane parked near Rock Island at Paya Bay Resort. The plane picked the couple up at Paya Bay and dropped them off after the tour. What follows are a series of great photographs they took from above the islands.

 View of Paya Bay Resort, including Bliss Beach (on the right).

A great view of Camp Bay Beach, Roatan (looking East). This bay and beach are adjacent to Paya Bay.

A view over Camp Bay Beach and Wilkes Point, Roatan.

photo of the day

Full moon over Paya Bay. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

quote of the day

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you will ever have.

As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love - even the most simple action.

- Eckhart Tolle

lunar eclipse

Early this December 21st morning, a lunar eclipse occurred that was really well observable in North and Central America.

Photo: AFP

quote of the day

"This is my secret," he said. "I don't mind what happens."

- from Eckhart Tolle's  A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

The point: I don't mind what happens because it's all good. It's ALL how you look at it. Everything we mistakenly label 'bad' or 'negative' has an upside to it. It just takes a little intent, a little effort, and perhaps a little time to figure out what that upside is.

US$3.5 billion

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has assessed the value of the coral reefs found in the Bay Islands of Honduras at US$3.5 billion.

- Proceso Digital (Spanish)

Don't know how they came up with that figure, but it seems rather low to me... I'd say our beautiful, healthy reefs are more in the neighborhood of priceless.

a facebook world

Facebook intern Paul Butler has been poring through some of the data held by the social networking firm on its 500m members. The map above is the result of his attempts to visualise where people live relative to their Facebook friends. Each line connects cities with pairs of friends. The brighter the line, the more friends between those cities. After tweaking the graphic and data set it produced a "surprisingly detailed map of the world," he said in a blog post. "Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well," he wrote."What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn't represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships."

- BBC

The Internet is the backbone on which the current exponential expansion in human consciousness is occurring.  Our facebook connections, for example, are typically some expression of love (i.e., our facebook "friends" are usually people for whom we have some degree of affection: family members, close friends, old friends, former lovers, crushes, classmates, one-night-stands, admirers, etc.).  In many ways, the above map illustrates the love that envelops this planet. That's a comforting thought this holiday season!

No doubt facebook's Mark Zuckerberg deserves to be Time magazine's Person of the Year. Cheers, dude!

the spirit of paya

Guests walk in the surf on Big Beach. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

letting go

To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease.

- Eckhart Tolle

photo of the day

Hovering hummingbird. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

Photo: Williams Perera of worldphotographystudio.com

letting the law of attraction work

Know yourself! Watch how you manifest the small things in life and think about how you felt inside with those things. Think about how easily they came. You will find that you thought of a small thing once and never thought about it again, and then it manifested.

What really happened was you didn't think any thoughts or speak any words which contradicted what you wanted, so the law of attraction was able to do its work.

- lessons from The Secret

overheard

I just spent two hours laying out nude in Buccaneer. I think I've burnt my dick and my balls, but it was amazing nonetheless! I'd never done that before!

- Michael Gauthier (a special Paya Bay guest)

To learn more about naturism at Paya Bay, click here.

space is being created

Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.

- Eckhart Tolle

the heart

The Heart of Paya (located on the Paya Trail). Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

This extraordinary (and very difficult) photograph was taken by the artist Williams Perera of worldphotographystudio.com

quote of the day

Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can't argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer.

- Eckhart Tolle

the trash next door

One [of the secret diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks] states that, during the election campaign that brought him to power in early 2007, [Nicaraguan President Daniel] Ortega and his party, the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN), received international drug money "in exchange for Sandinista judges releasing [drug] traffickers arrested by the police and the military."

...and...

The diplomat paints Daniel Ortega as a rogue character who would do anything to get money: "In September 2004, the boxer Ricardo Mayorga allegedly raped a young woman in a hotel in Managua. Sensing the opportunity to blackmail Mayorga, Ortega and the FSLN agreed to protect the boxer in court in exchange for a share of profits from fighting and that he be featured in political advertisements for Daniel. Mayorga agreed, a FSLN judge found him not guilty in December." According to reports from the U.S., much of the profits from Mayorga's fights went to the pockets of Ortega.

... and..

The president [Daniel Ortega] is completely crazy," says one informant, "he has become a threat to the country.

- Translated from El Pais (Spanish)

Pardon me while I wallow in my schadenfreude. This joker (Daniel Ortega), pressured by Hugo Chavez and his ALBA cronies, refuses to recognize the administration of Porfirio Lobo which resulted from the crisis-ending and massively attended Honduran elections of November 2009. Ortega has also done everything possible to hinder Honduras on the international stage after his pseudo-socialist buddy, Manuel Zelaya, was thrown out of Honduras in June 2009 for attempting to abort our constitution and remain in power. I see some karmic payback being delivered to this schmuck. This WikiLeaks exposé opens the curtains wide and reveals to the world the filth that is Daniel Ortega (something that shouldn't surprise many). The Nicaraguan people do not deserve this cretin! And, frankly, neither does Central America or the rest of the world.

There is a saying in Spanish: Todo cae por su propio peso (Everything falls by its own weight). With the transformation that is occurring in global consciousness, I believe these fake, cynical so-called leaders (Chavez, Ortega, the Castros, Zelaya, etc.) who make fun of, disrespect, and abuse their people will soon become thing of the past.

helping others through your thoughts

You can most certainly help others through your thoughts, and they can help you. Every good thought you send to another is a living force. However, the person you are sending the thought to has to be asking for the same thing you are sending. If the person does not want it, then they are not in harmony with your thought frequency, and it will not penetrate them.

You cannot create in another's life against their will, but if it is something they want, your thoughts are a real force that helps them. 

- lessons from The Secret

quote of the day

All we can perceive, experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip on an iceberg. Underneath the surface appearance, everything is not only connected with everything else, but also with the Source of all life out of which it came.

- Eckhart Tolle

the spirit of paya

A special guest relaxes blissfully au naturel in the plunge pool on Bliss Beach. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

Photo: Williams Perera of worldphotographystudio.com

quote of the day: get up, stand up

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Preacher man, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold;
'Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. come on!

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!

Most people think,
Great god will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. jah!

Get up, stand up! (jah, jah! )
Stand up for your rights! (oh-hoo! )
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! )
Don't give up the fight! (life is your right! )
Get up, stand up! (so we can't give up the fight! )
Stand up for your rights! (lord, lord! )
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on! )
Don't give up the fight! (yeah! )

We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty god is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (what you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah! )

So you better:
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up! )
Stand up for your rights! (in the night! stand up for our rights! )
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (don't give it up, don't give it up! )
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! )
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up! )
Get up, stand up! (... )
Don't give up the fight! (get up, stand up! )
Get up, stand up! (... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight!

- Bob Marley

I have no doubt this wise man was another master teacher who walked among us. His influence on the New Age/New Earth Movement has been tremendous.

Lyrics of "Get up, stand up" courtesy of LyricsFreak. See Marley's live performance of this song on youTube.

luckovich

Brilliance. Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

make.believe

Sony's relatively new "make.believe" (pronounced make dot believe) campaign is surprisingly whimsical and "new-agey" for a technology giant. I love it!

make.believe symbolizes the spirit of our brand. It stands for the power of our creativity, our ability to turn ideas into reality and the belief that anything we can imagine, we can make real.

- Sony

nouveau hippie

It's said that at forty you finally figure out who you really are...

Hippie days are here again... And I don't think many of you know but people tend to say I have an old hippie soul [especially my mom]... I think it's mainly my carefree mellow ways and my love for the planet and animals and also my love for all things vintage and bohemian, which crosses over to my sense of style although, it varies from day to day the hippie side of me will never leave.. Which is fantastic because a hippie revival movement has returned. Boho looks of the late '60s- early '70s are appropriate for summer because of the light fabrics, bright colors, funky and fun headbands, granny glasses, lots of piled on jewelry especially if made of silver from Mexico, India or Morocco. Plus I also think the hippie philosophy really hits home since it's about freedom, love, concern about the environment and the state of the world [which is all-year-round for me and hopefully you] but the only difference from the hippie days of the summer of love and of today is that it's much more stylish or 'hippie luxe' as I call them, which I am officially branding it the nouveau hippie.

Now all I need is my ipod so I can go outside and turn it up to the Mommas and the Poppas, some Stevie Nicks, of course some Beatles, and most definitely some Janis Joplin and I'll throw myself a psychedelic garden party!

Perhaps, I've finally figured out who I really am.

300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!

The night sky may be a lot starrier than we thought. A study suggests the universe could have triple the number of stars scientists previously calculated. For those of you counting at home, the new estimate is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's 300 sextillion.

- Associated Press

boycott bluefin tuna

A US environmental group on Tuesday urged consumers to boycott bluefin tuna after a conference of major fishing nations left the eastern Atlantic catch largely unchanged.

The Center for Biological Diversity launched a campaign asking people to sign a pledge not to eat bluefin tuna or to patronize restaurants, among them some of the ritziest sushi joints in the United States, that serve the fish.

- AFP via Yahoo News

Maguro in sushi restaurants is decimating this species.  Please stop ordering it!

the more love we give, the more we receive

Our highest power is love, and it is one thing each of us has an unlimited amount of. How much love do you give to others in one day? Each day we have an opportunity to set out with this great, unlimited power in our possession, and pour it over every person and circumstance.

Love is appreciating, complimenting, feeling gratitude, and speaking good words to others.

We have so much love to give, and the more that we give, the more we receive.

- lessons from The Secret

the spirit of paya

Yoga at sunset. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

Photo: Williams Perera of worldphotographystudio.com

40th birthday memories (3)

Sunday, Nov. 21. Began with the Breakfast of Champions...

Micheladas (beer with tomato juice, Lea & Perrins, lime, salt, and pepper sauce) for hangover relief!

Sunday evening. First, the Universe gave us the most spectacular moonrise! Then, Jim showed up with cool party lights that were the perfect touch to the evening! The photos are amazing...

 

Thanks for the magic, Universe and Jim!

We wrapped up the weekend with a beautiful dinner. This birthday was definitely well and thoroughly celebrated! What awesome love, fun, and friendship!

Lordy, Lordy! Ana Isabel, Davinci, and Hugo are forty!

quote of the day

Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

- Eckhart Tolle

40th birthday memories (2)

Saturday, Nov. 20. Sunset Cocktails and Full Moon Party at Paya Bay...

Hugo, Ana, Bertha, and Davinci.

Mom hugs her two children! (Ana's part of our family).

 

A beautiful full moon was rising as we took these photos!

Feel Good, Be Happy people!

Love, love, love!

Susanna's energy is indescribable. She's a magical woman!

What can you say? Lot's of love, beauty, and magic all around! Just the way we like it!

deposit some joy

Every day, or at the very least once or twice a week, take a few minutes and focus on seeing yourself in joy. Feel yourself in joy. Imagine only joy ahead in your life and see yourself basking in it. As you do this the Universe will move all people, circumstances, and events to bring you that joy. You can't be in joy if you have money worries, or health worries, or relationship problems with friends or family. So deposit some joy in the bank of the Universe as often as you can. There isn't an investment that is more worthwhile.

- lessons from The Secret

40th birthday memories

What an AMAZING WEEKEND we've had!

Friday, 5PM. Friends arrive from La Ceiba. A welcome tailgate party in the airport parking lot was a great way to get things rolling...

Friday, 7 PM. ...Which evolved into a blissful evening of partying and bar-hopping in West End. Here Susanna aptly expresses the sentiment of the weekend!...

Friday, ??PM. There were moments like this...

... and moments like this...

 ... and this...

presents!

I LOVE presents!

Margaret and Peter you guys are beyond words! Loving, sweet, kind, thoughtful, and wonderful are words that just barely begin to describe you. Thank you so much for the gifts and the beautiful energy you share with me. Much love to you, my friends.

D.

the spirit of paya

A view from the Zen Path with a glimpse of Bliss Beach. Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Honduras.

Photo: Williams Perera of worldphotographystudio.com

forty and holding the future in my hand

I turn 40 this coming Friday, November 19th... AND MAN, WHAT A SPECTACULAR RIDE IT'S BEEN! The people! The experiences! The places! The beauty! The emotions! The lessons! The knowledge! The courage! The accomplishments! The moments! The thrills! The pleasure! The pain! The wisdom! The feelings! The scents! The flavors! The textures! The colors! The sounds! And - most of all - ALL THE LOVE! And to think this mind-blowing Life I've experienced up to this point has just been preparation for D's Life - Part 2.  Which, of course, is just going to be that much more fabulous and that much more amazing! I know this because I follow the Path of Truth, which leads ever upward, and ever outward.

the server of the universe

Imagine writing an email of what you want to the Universe. When you are happy that your email is very clear, you hit "Send" and you know your request has gone into the ethers. You also know that the Server of the Universe is an automatic system, and it doesn't question email requests. Its job is simply to fulfil every request.

If you begin to worry and stress that you haven't got what you wanted, then you have just sent another email to the Universe to stop your order. And then you wonder why you haven't received what you asked for.

Once you Ask, know that the Server of the Universe is an automatic infallible system that never fails, and expect to receive your request!

- lessons from The Secret

quote of the day

Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.

- Eckhart Tolle

happy herbs

The organic herb garden at Paya Bay has been loving the recent rains! Happy herbs means great flavors from our kitchen.

honduran poverty in the latin american/caribbean context (2)

Gallup Question: Do you currently have a job or work, either paid or unpaid?

• Only 26% of Hondurans responded 'yes' to this question. It's the lowest percentage for all Latin America and the Caribbean. No other country even comes close. A shocking statistic!
• The other end of the spectrum: Paraguay (60% said 'yes'), Bolivia (55%), Trinidad (53%), Brazil (52%), Argentina (52%).

Source: Gallup Worldview 

This helps explain why people are the biggest export of Honduras. 25,000 Hondurans who illegally entered the United States were deported in 2009 (this number of deports probably only represents 25-33% of the ones who "made it.")  While the U.S. is the destination of choice of most emigrating Hondurans, many others move to Canada, Spain, Mexico, and other Central, South American, and European countries. One of the government's marketing campaigns refers to Honduras as "The Heart of the Americas." If one can imagine these pulsing streams of people constantly leaving the country's territory in northerly and southerly directions, the metaphor becomes that more vivid.

Is there an upside to this? Maybe. El Salvador and, to a lesser degree, Guatemala were scenes of a similar massive migrations of their people in the 1980s (escaping their countries' agonizing civil wars.)  Today, the remesas (hard currency transfers) from the Salvadoran and Guatemalan diasporas supply a vital lifeline of economic stimulus that continually invigorates their economies. The same phenomenon is already happening in Honduras, where remesas from North America, Europe, and elsewhere already play a key role in maintaining economic and social stability.