And now we can take you back to Utila, the beautiful little island off the north coast of Honduras where we spent a glorious month diving, drinking, sunning ourselves and making new friends.
It was a day long mission to get there from Copan, starting with a ridiculously early bus to San Pedro Sula in the north, changing to another bus to La Ceiba, then getting the hour long (slightly rocky) ferry to Utila. It's the smallest of the three major islands in the Bay Islands group, about 18km from the mainland out in the Caribbean Sea. At only 11km long and 4km at its widest you can't exactly get lost on it. Because it's a lot cheaper and more chilled out than the nearby big brother island Roatan, it's popular with backpackers wanting to get their PADI dive certification. And rightly so. Who wouldn't want to learn to dive on an idyllic Caribbean island, especially when it's one of, if not the cheapest place in the world to get qualified? So with that in mind, the first order of business was choosing which dive shop to sign up with.
There are a bunch to choose from spread out along the main road either side of the ferry dock, varying in size and quality. All offered free accommodation (again, of varying quality) with the Open Water course and were all around the US$250 mark, so we had to choose based on our gut feeling. We talked to several places and finally settled on Deep Blue Divers for a number of reasons. It's a much smaller shop compared to others, like the hugely popular Underwater Vision right next to us, so we felt we'd get a much more personal experience and not just be another number. The private room we got (above the dive shop) was also much better than others we'd seen, and we got 5 free fun dives with the Open Water course (more than other shops). We also liked Kelly, the guy we talked to - a short, barrel-chested, gun loving, straight-talking ex-Army Texan who ended up being our instructor. He had the perfect attitude and personality for us and years of diving experience, so I felt totally safe in the water with him around. He and Kurt soon fell into a daily routine of friendly shit-talking and piss-taking, along with our legendary captain Junior, who'd grown up on the island and knew the waters like the back of his hand. Another reason we liked Kelly was because he refused to partake in the ridiculous daily ritual of clapping and cheering every time we left and returned from a dive. All the big shops would do that and it really pissed us off. There were three others doing the Open Water course with us - Canadian Cat (and her boyfriend Mike who is a Dive Master and would assist Kelly in training us); Juan the crazy Mexican, and Gareth the Englishman. An awesome group of people which made our month of diving and chilling out even better.
The water around Utila is pretty damn pristine, meaning visibility for diving was great. We saw a shit tonne of coral, fish, moray eels, octopus, squid, elusive tiny seahorses, turtles, spotted eagle rays and much more. Unfortunately we missed out on the big daddy though - the whale shark. We were there at the tail end of the season so we weren't among the lucky ones to have that once in a lifetime experience. With each dive our confidence and ability grew, so we were able to concentrate on what we were seeing rather than what we were doing. Being able to breathe underwater is such a bizarre experience the first time you do it, but it opens up a whole new world, and one that is new and exciting every time you enter it. Kurt took to it like the proverbial duck to water and fell in love with diving, and I think he'd quite happily dive every day for the rest of his life if he could. So the obvious next step was doing our Advanced Open Water course immediately afterwards.
Doing the Advanced Open Water was pretty much all about having fun, while learning a few more new skills. The two compulsory ones are underwater navigation and deep diving, which meant we would be qualified to dive to a maximum depth of 30m (Open Water is up to 18m). Then there's a list of other adventure dives from which you choose three more to complete your course. Kurt and I, along with Cat and Juan were doing the Advanced course together, and we all chose to do wreck diving, drift diving and night diving. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to do the Advanced course in the beginning but I'm glad I did. It was so much fun, particularly the wreck dive which was a whole new experience, diving in and around a sunken vessel. These dives were all fun, but as an added bonus we got 5 more free fun dives with this course as well. What more could you want?
In between dives we'd all chill out at the dive shop, either in the hammocks at the end of our jetty or jumping in to cool off in the water. And there were plenty of good local places to eat, either the delicious local staple, baleada (a flour tortilla folded in half filled with whatever you want); fresh mango smoothies; burgers, pizzas, pasta or calzones. So despite being an isolated little island it doesn't mean you have to go without. And of course wherever backpackers are, there are always a few watering holes to the quench the thirst.
Luckily for me, my birthday fell right at the end of our time on Utila. So, to top off the month we thought an appropriate way to all celebrate together would be to rent our own private tropical island for a couple of days. Talk about living the dream! There's a small group of little islands in the Utila Cays, two of which are available for rent - Sandy Cay and Little Cay. We chose Sandy Cay, which was about a 40min boat ride from our dock. So after loading up the boat with 3 days supplies of food and beer (mainly beer) for the seven of us (Kurt and I, Cat and Mike, Juan, Joey - an Irish girl who did fun dives with us, and Greg - a French underwater photographer who also came diving with us) we headed off for our private Caribbean paradise. And we weren't disappointed. It's a tiny island of sand (as the name suggests) covered in palm trees and surrounded by crystal clear blue waters perfect for snorkelling. There were two bedrooms, bathroom, lounge, kitchen with two fridges and cooktop, and the essential outdoor seating and hammocks. We proceeded to spend the next two days drinking beers in the sun, snorkelling and celebrating in the best birthday location I can imagine. And all for only just over US$20 a night per person. No shit. I even got a freshly baked, personalised birthday cake delivered on my birthday thanks to Kelly (with some help from his wife) and some presents from the others. I can definitely say it will go down as one of the best birthdays of my life - thanks to the awesome people we celebrated with.
And on that high note it was sadly time to leave Utila and the friends we'd made there. But it's definitely not the last we'll see of you Utila - not by a long shot.
It was a day long mission to get there from Copan, starting with a ridiculously early bus to San Pedro Sula in the north, changing to another bus to La Ceiba, then getting the hour long (slightly rocky) ferry to Utila. It's the smallest of the three major islands in the Bay Islands group, about 18km from the mainland out in the Caribbean Sea. At only 11km long and 4km at its widest you can't exactly get lost on it. Because it's a lot cheaper and more chilled out than the nearby big brother island Roatan, it's popular with backpackers wanting to get their PADI dive certification. And rightly so. Who wouldn't want to learn to dive on an idyllic Caribbean island, especially when it's one of, if not the cheapest place in the world to get qualified? So with that in mind, the first order of business was choosing which dive shop to sign up with.
There are a bunch to choose from spread out along the main road either side of the ferry dock, varying in size and quality. All offered free accommodation (again, of varying quality) with the Open Water course and were all around the US$250 mark, so we had to choose based on our gut feeling. We talked to several places and finally settled on Deep Blue Divers for a number of reasons. It's a much smaller shop compared to others, like the hugely popular Underwater Vision right next to us, so we felt we'd get a much more personal experience and not just be another number. The private room we got (above the dive shop) was also much better than others we'd seen, and we got 5 free fun dives with the Open Water course (more than other shops). We also liked Kelly, the guy we talked to - a short, barrel-chested, gun loving, straight-talking ex-Army Texan who ended up being our instructor. He had the perfect attitude and personality for us and years of diving experience, so I felt totally safe in the water with him around. He and Kurt soon fell into a daily routine of friendly shit-talking and piss-taking, along with our legendary captain Junior, who'd grown up on the island and knew the waters like the back of his hand. Another reason we liked Kelly was because he refused to partake in the ridiculous daily ritual of clapping and cheering every time we left and returned from a dive. All the big shops would do that and it really pissed us off. There were three others doing the Open Water course with us - Canadian Cat (and her boyfriend Mike who is a Dive Master and would assist Kelly in training us); Juan the crazy Mexican, and Gareth the Englishman. An awesome group of people which made our month of diving and chilling out even better.
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| The Utila Princess ferry |
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| Deep Blue Divers - our home for a month |
The water around Utila is pretty damn pristine, meaning visibility for diving was great. We saw a shit tonne of coral, fish, moray eels, octopus, squid, elusive tiny seahorses, turtles, spotted eagle rays and much more. Unfortunately we missed out on the big daddy though - the whale shark. We were there at the tail end of the season so we weren't among the lucky ones to have that once in a lifetime experience. With each dive our confidence and ability grew, so we were able to concentrate on what we were seeing rather than what we were doing. Being able to breathe underwater is such a bizarre experience the first time you do it, but it opens up a whole new world, and one that is new and exciting every time you enter it. Kurt took to it like the proverbial duck to water and fell in love with diving, and I think he'd quite happily dive every day for the rest of his life if he could. So the obvious next step was doing our Advanced Open Water course immediately afterwards.
Doing the Advanced Open Water was pretty much all about having fun, while learning a few more new skills. The two compulsory ones are underwater navigation and deep diving, which meant we would be qualified to dive to a maximum depth of 30m (Open Water is up to 18m). Then there's a list of other adventure dives from which you choose three more to complete your course. Kurt and I, along with Cat and Juan were doing the Advanced course together, and we all chose to do wreck diving, drift diving and night diving. I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted to do the Advanced course in the beginning but I'm glad I did. It was so much fun, particularly the wreck dive which was a whole new experience, diving in and around a sunken vessel. These dives were all fun, but as an added bonus we got 5 more free fun dives with this course as well. What more could you want?
In between dives we'd all chill out at the dive shop, either in the hammocks at the end of our jetty or jumping in to cool off in the water. And there were plenty of good local places to eat, either the delicious local staple, baleada (a flour tortilla folded in half filled with whatever you want); fresh mango smoothies; burgers, pizzas, pasta or calzones. So despite being an isolated little island it doesn't mean you have to go without. And of course wherever backpackers are, there are always a few watering holes to the quench the thirst.
Luckily for me, my birthday fell right at the end of our time on Utila. So, to top off the month we thought an appropriate way to all celebrate together would be to rent our own private tropical island for a couple of days. Talk about living the dream! There's a small group of little islands in the Utila Cays, two of which are available for rent - Sandy Cay and Little Cay. We chose Sandy Cay, which was about a 40min boat ride from our dock. So after loading up the boat with 3 days supplies of food and beer (mainly beer) for the seven of us (Kurt and I, Cat and Mike, Juan, Joey - an Irish girl who did fun dives with us, and Greg - a French underwater photographer who also came diving with us) we headed off for our private Caribbean paradise. And we weren't disappointed. It's a tiny island of sand (as the name suggests) covered in palm trees and surrounded by crystal clear blue waters perfect for snorkelling. There were two bedrooms, bathroom, lounge, kitchen with two fridges and cooktop, and the essential outdoor seating and hammocks. We proceeded to spend the next two days drinking beers in the sun, snorkelling and celebrating in the best birthday location I can imagine. And all for only just over US$20 a night per person. No shit. I even got a freshly baked, personalised birthday cake delivered on my birthday thanks to Kelly (with some help from his wife) and some presents from the others. I can definitely say it will go down as one of the best birthdays of my life - thanks to the awesome people we celebrated with.
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| Mike and Juan, on our way to Sandy Cay |
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And on that high note it was sadly time to leave Utila and the friends we'd made there. But it's definitely not the last we'll see of you Utila - not by a long shot.
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