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Once in the safety of daylight the city suddenly grew on me! After getting a traditional Baliada for breakfast from the market and watching the school kids and city workers going about their daily business we started to do a bit of sight-seeing. The square near the hotel was lovely and has been renovated, the other main streets and big square and church were also lovely but after been told not to have any valuables on you, even in the day, we couldn't bring a camera which was a shame! I then looked at the National Theatre and was going to head to some museums but got distracted by the shops! After meeting the Kirstens who worked in Honduras for a year I had top tips for the capital and headed straight to the MultiPlaza Mall. I loved it!! After been here for so long walking in the equivalent of the Westfield, London or Metrocentre in Newcastle was such a treat! A food court with western food, amazing shops, actual brands I recognised of clothes, make up and shoes! I went a bit crazy and tried on way too much stuff in Zara. After the cash machine not working, and not having ID due to the whole "no valuables" thing, I couldn't get enough cash out for all the things I wanted! Which in hind sight was a very good thing and just treated myself to one dress for my travels. After I did realise I didn't need a floor length black dress and leather jacket in Central America! After my shopping trip I got some dinner and headed back to the town centre. Here I grabbed two pairs of shorts for 1 dollar for the beach and went to the hostel before darkness descended and it suddenly became a death trap for anyone left on the streets! It wasn't too bad though as I had to be up at 5am for my bus to La Ceiba.
Waking nice and early and getting the bus no problem I was well on my way to La Ceiba and by late afternoon I was already at the ferry crossing to get to Utila. This little island is famous for dancing and extra busy during this weekend due to the famous (apparently, I hadn't heard of it) SunJam festival, which hosted international house and electro DJ's on one of the tiny cayes. On the ferry I met Louise's boyfriend who had come out to visit for his holiday. We chatted on the boat then were greeted by Louise at the dock. I got settled in to my accommodation of one of the dive shops and met Cassie and Paul who we meet in San Juan!
The next day, with a lazy morning we all went for lunch then swam over on the dock with swings into the ocean and jumping off the top. It was amazing to be back on a tropical island after a long period of cities and I just enjoyed the sun and sea and safety! That night we joined another dive centre for a booze cruise around the island during sunset. Here I met another few people the others had met while travelling and we all had some rum and listened to the music. After we docked we all cooked some dinner and had a few more pre-drinks before the SunJam warm-up party at Coco's, the island's main club. This was amazing and my first bit of electro music since arriving. We all enjoyed it and met the festivals organisers. After a late night we headed to bed in preparation for the 24 hour party the next day!
Waking up a little worse for wear we all met for lunch and a slow swim before getting ready for the party! We had a few pre-drinks then headed to a boat to go to Water Caye. It was about half an hour on a boat and we were all pretty excited! The Water Caye was tiny, about 400m long and 200m wide at a guess with just palm trees and sand! It was beautiful. We got there late afternoon and chilled by the sea with drinks watching the sunset and chatting before going to dance! Around 7ish the party really got going with DJ's, amazing laser shows and a huge range of fire dancers! We all loved it and danced for hours! Around 4ish starting to flag and with the devastating news that the food stall had ran out of all food, we all went to the end of the island to chill out, chat, sit down and wait for the sun to rise! At around 5am we headed back to the boat for what we thought would be a nice ride home. No. We were completely wrong! As I got in the boat I commented on how calm the sea now was, tempting fate does not even cover it. Once out of the protection from the island the waves were ridiculous! We were jumping up and down in the boat, constant shower of sea water all over us, and by shower I mean bucket after bucket of water been thrown in your face! After coming to terms with not staying slightly dry, the salt constantly burning your eyes and all our money disintegrating it became funny. It was either laugh or cry of fear and coldness! After half an hour of, let's say an unforgettable experience, we were all more than ready to get a shower and go to sleep!
In the morning, well afternoon I should say, we met up for a late lunch and chilled out later going to check out this cool bar, Treetanic, apparently 4th in the world, then went round to Louise's hostel for a big group dinner. This was amazing and was our last night together before Louise and Louis separated off. After saying our goodbyes we headed for bed after a really good weekend and last month travelling together!
In the morning it was Cassie's birthday! So going for a big birthday breakfast and the nice surprise of Louise and Louis returning as the ferry was so busy, we enjoyed another final goodbye! After this, Cassie and I headed back to Cross Creek Dive Centre, where we were staying, to start our dive course. I was doing my Advanced Open Water so was going straight out. We did our deep dive followed by our navigation dive. These were amazing, at 30m under water looking up to the surface felt like looking to the top of a sky scraper and on the navigation dive we saw a sea turtle, which I believe from my experience at the biological reserve was a Hawksbill. It was so graceful in the water compared to on land and was swimming right next to us. After coming back we all had an hour or so before doing our night dive! I was excited for this but also slightly apprehensive as the weather was turning worse due to the approaching hurricane (predicted hurricane that was hitting the island the following day but didn't seem to bother any of the locals so we were pretty relaxed about the whole thing!). So the waves were choppy and there was a current, it was pitch black and I was slightly scared of the dark! Anyway I "manned up" and jumped in! It was definitely a cool experience but I wouldn't really jump at the chance to do it again. It was amazing when we went down deep and sat on the sand. We all covered our lights and moved our arms, this stimulated the bioluminescence in the water and suddenly the pitch black water transformed into what looked like space with the organisms appearing like stars in the night sky. Swimming in this, with the feeling of anti-gravity literally felt, I believe, the closest to been in space as any other experience on earth. After this we carried on swimming. I didn't particularly not like been able to see anything other than the spot where the torch shone for two reasons. Firstly you had little chance of seeing much life, secondly you had little chance of seeing much dangerous life i.e. a shark or eel coming out of the dark! I got a big enough shock when I turned around and saw a giant ugly porky pine fish! So I did enjoy it and was glad I did it but think I will stick to the day dives! Once back at the dock and sorted Paul and I went down to meet Cassie for her birthday meal. The Mexican, called El Picante, was amazing and we all stayed there late and had the customary rum and birthday tequilas!
As predicted, the next morning the hurricane came. It wasn't as bad as I had expected though! Basically, being a really windy, stormy day in England I was quite disappointed. However it was definitely too bad to dive so land bound for the day, people relaxed then did the only other thing there seemed to be on the island...drink rum! So the Danish guys at the hostel created our evening's entertainment with 'StormJam' the follow up to 'SunJam', obviously. With the nonstop party until the storm ended. The main event of the StormJam was the topical drinking Olympics. With various drinking games in partners with a leader board, medals and prizes! We all joined in and had a really good time! Succeeding in flippy cup, bear bong, beer bowling and drink relay races! After we went for some food then out to the bar and clubs. It was a really fun night and definitely passed the Hurricane land lock quite nicely.
The next morning the weather had died down enough to dive. Off we went to do our wreck dive. However out at sea the waves were still pretty big and current very strong. Due to this I found it hard to swim against the current to reach the others and when descending lost everyone in the group! If you've been diving before you'd realise this is not good so I had to come to the surface and bob about until once of the instructors realised I was gone. Soon enough Matt came back and we went to try to find the others but with the wreck being so deep you cannot see it from the surface and due to swimming against the current for so long we had to end the dive. After this and feeling rather sea sick we went for our Buoyancy dive! This was shallower and so much fun! Practising floating upside down, through hoops, running along the ocean floor and other games we all had a laugh! Once back on board and to Cross Creek we all had a BBQ and drinks on the deck.
The next day I completed my wreck dive and also did a drift dive. This was amazing and a lot easier without the current. We saw an eagle ray, which was amazing, and lots of other cool fish! The next day I had my two free dives to do so in the morning Cassie and I finished them off. The weather was finally back to normal and the dives were great! As we went in the morning we had the rest of the afternoon and our last day on Utila to fill! We headed down to the private beach at the end of the island which was beautiful and sunbathed and swam in the sea. Before dinner a few of us went on a run and I used it as a last chance to get photos of the island as I have not been on task with that job at all! First I back went down to the amazing bar, Treetanic. This really felt like I was in the set of 'The Little Mermaid' crossed with Willy Wonkers Chocolate garden! I then ran across to the other side of the island and caught the sunset from the beach. It was really pretty to see and I realised how much I loved Utila! Just another place that felt like a little piece of heaven! Once back at the dive centre I got packed up then joined everyone for a second BBQ before an early night for another 5am travel day start!
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