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I have just spent a week in Utila, which is one of the Bay Islands in Honduras and I absolutely LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact, I kind of wish I stayed longer now.....
Utila is a small Island with a population of about 8000, and very different the the mainland Honduras...most people speak English....hence no practicing Spanish again! Oh well...
I spent the night in La Ceiba, on the coast of Honduras, and the next day a few of us from the Hostel left to catch the ferry to Utila. When we got to the dock, we found out that no ferry was going to be running that day. We did not want to hang around Utila anymore and luckily some (slightly dodgy) guy at the dock called up some local fisherman and convinced them to bring over a couple of small boats to take some tourists over and make some money. Eventually 2 little boats arrived which could only fit 10 people on each...there were definitely more than 20 people waiting...but luckily I got a seat on one of the boats. The trip to Utila was about hour and half and a very very bumpy ride at that! Thank goodness the sea was quite calm. The next day I have a very sore back and bum from bouncing the whole way to the Islands.
When we arrived we went in search of a diving school and eventually decided on Parrots Dive Centre...the people were really friendly and enthusiastic and did a good sales job on us.
It turned out that there were about 6 of us that arrived on the same boats and stayed at Parrots. Toby (Germany), Richard (UK), Tom & Peter (Denmark), Lisa (USA), Julia (Holland) and myself.
Bay Islands is the cheapest place in the world to do your Open Water Dive Course. We got free accommodation and a few fun dives thrown into the package.,
The 1st 2 days there were beautiful weather and we went snorkeling and swimming etc.
The 3rd day we started the dive course properly and got to go into the water for the 1st time.
Well I was very excited about the whole thing! Unfortunately the weather started to turn to s*** and the sea was rough and the visibility poor. We were doing our confined dives in the sea and only going down to about 5 metres to practice the skills eg taking mask off, taking regulator out of your mouth etc etc. As the afternoon wore on, I started to get more and more scared of being underwater, not being able to see much and having to take the regulator out of my mouth!!! Even although we were only 5 metres under we were constantly being told...YOU must not hold your breath no matter what!!! Of course all I could think of was holding my breath!
Anyway to cut a long story short, me and one other girl did not like it at all. The guys at the school however were really good, and persistent and the next day I went out one on one with one of the Instructors Leon...by day two, I had it in my mind that I would die under all this water and I could not go under...day three they took me and Julia out in the harbour and the same thing...I hated it! In the end Julia and I decided not to finish the course...I gave it a go, but really it is not for me..I think I will stick to snorkeling!
The dive school is owned by locals and run by locals. This was great because it meant we got to know some of the locals...and on Halloween they had a party at their house ...all you could drink and eat (fish soup). As all of us were travelling out of backpacks we clearly did not have any fancy dress clothing, so we got creative and walked the island looking for outfits (see photos)...it was heaps of fun.
The party was great, although only a few of the travellers dressed up and none of the locals. Despite the ongoing rain, we had a great night at Alfred and Tatiana house. Somehow I got pulled into playing Chubby Bunny...see photos...but basically you get a marshmallow put in your mouth and you have to say Chubby Bunny...you cannot swallow the marshmallow. Then another one gets put in etc etc....you can see where this is going...the winner is the last man standing with the most marshmallows...I came second (not really something to be proud of)
After we left the house we went to a bar where they did their famous Snorkel test...anyone who finishes their dive masters has to do it...basically having snorkel and mask on and funnelling Rum and Coke...YUCK!
Unfortunately the remainder of our time on the island it rained....so we played card game after card game and drank a fair bit...as you can see from the photos, not much else went on. It was great fun though. I guess the best part was getting to hang out with some of the locals, and one day Leon (one of the dive Instructors) took me through part of the town were the tourists don't usually go and showed me a bit of the island.
During the week of rain, absolutely no ferries where going too and from the Island...a few of us considered hiring an airplane ($US200) to get off. Luckily however on the Sunday the 1st ferry in a week left the Island and we were able to get on. It is funny, as the island it so isolated form the mainland...there were all sorts of strange rumours as to why the ferry was not going...but in the end it was only because of weather.
ON the ferry ride back it was entertaining having some kind of criminal on board who was handcuffed and yelling and screaming...but the funny part was he was mates with almost all the locals on board!
A week in the Bay Islands was amazing, could have stayed longer for sure, but I thought I would leave at the same time as Richard and Tom who were heading to Nicaragua as well. Meant I did not have to do the two day trek on my own. Although I loved Utila, I did not get a good feeling on mainland Honduras, so heaidng south sounded like a good option...
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