Scuba Diving on Utila Island

Tuesday, January 29 thru Sunday, February 3, 2013

Whatever kid dreamed of being an astronaut, should have really considered scuba diving as well. Heck, scuba diving is as awesome as being a superhero! You've got your body suit (your wetsuit), your super power (breathing under water) and you fly over a world beneath you. Only thing missing is a cape!

Diving in Utila seems like a blur to me because it was so tremendous! The time flew by while we were there because I was having so much fun!

I will never forget my first scuba dive as it is was a huge check mark onto my life's bucket list. All my life, I have been a fish. My sister and I were the kids that could be in the water all day long. I have always wanted to be able to breathe under water so that I could spend more time under the surface.

Up until a week ago, that was only feasible in my dreams. I cannot tell you how many dreams I have where I can breathe under water through slow and deep breaths. My dreams came to life when I put my mask on, regulator in my mouth hand on my weight belt and stepped my flippers off the back of the boat. After signaling an ok to my instructor, doing a series of surface checks, we began our descent. I let the air out of my buoyancy control device (the big vest we wear that holds the air tank) and slowly sunk below the surface. As I descended I equalized my ears here and there to prevent that pressure you feel at the bottom of a pool. That was one thing I was worried about, but it was actually really easy. All I had to do was plug my nose and blow my ears out like when you're on an airplane or when you have water in your ear.

Before I knew it, we were kneeling on the bottom of the reef in a small white sandy patch. The world around me was silent, blue and absolutely serene. I swayed slightly with the ocean's waves while I waited for Nicki and my instructor, Kevin, to join me. Once Nicki's ears equalized alright, they joined me and we ran through our list of skill tests that we had to do. We had to practice things such as removing our mask, putting it back on and emptying the water, or throwing our regulator to the side and recovering it. We practiced out of air and using our partner's alternate air source regulator, and other skills to prepare us for anything that could go wrong. Once we got through our to-do list, we were able to head out for some sight seeing. One thing they want students to learn quickly is buoyancy control. If properly weighted, a diver should be able to control their up and down with their breaths, all while swimming horizontally on your belly. It was so cool to control all of that with my lungs as I watched the crazy world just beneath me.

Before diving, I had gone snorkeling a couple times to supposedly beautiful reefs and never really thought that highly of them because they seemed so far away and solely green. Diving, is a way more up close and personal experience with the sea life. The colors were incredible and the diversity in the species were awesome!

Kevin pointed out a lot of cool things like a Christmas Tree anemone that hang out on that brain looking sea sponge or coral. He signaled for us to watch and when he got his hand near it, he snapped and they sucked close and disappeared. I was so wowed by it, along with other great sights under water and all I could do was give the ok sign or the rock on hands. I wish I had a microphone to voice the excitement going on in my mind! Kevin handed us a conch shell with a snail in it and I got to see his little eyes looking out at us. We also got to hold a sea cucumber which was like a giant tomato worm basically. Like a foot long and pretty heavy. They start out long and soft on the bottom until you touch it, and then it shrinks up and becomes very dense.

Throughout the whole dive, I was wishing that my eyes were a camera! I did my best to save as many mental photos as I could. Our dive came to an end and we ascended to the surface and filled our BCDs to float. Before I even inflated, I ripped my regulator out of my mouth and exploded with excitement. You could tell that Kevin was happy that I liked it so much.

We climbed back onto the boat, waddled our way to the bench and boated to our next dive location. My second dive was just as enjoyable as my first and I couldn't wait to get back to tell Niki.

Our dive boat returned to the dock at Alton's and we learned how to rinse the salt water off our gear by dipping and dunking into different detergent bins. Once my gear was taken care of and put away I went back to the room where Niki was relaxing after her morning dive. "What'd ya think?" she asked. The next couple minutes was me going on and on about my awesome experience and how I am hooked. Niki laughed with every story I told her because she knew I would love it.

The rest of our time at Alton's was consumed with relaxing and class time in the morning, followed by afternoon dives, and dinner and drinks at night.

We got to visit a really cool bar called Treetanic which was a treetop bar that is covered with mosaics from top to bottom. I heard that the guy has been working on all the mosaic pieces around the property for some eighteen years or something like that. I was sure to return during the day and snap as many pics as I could.

My last dive with Kevin, I was thrilled to get some under water photos. Kevin was nice enough to bring his underwater camera and let me use it the whole dive. When we got back from diving, he loaded them onto his computer and put them on one of my SD cards. Such a nice guy!

On Friday, Niki and I decided to book two more fun dives and stay an extra day. Erin and Nicki were sort of over the diving, so they took off on Saturday morning for El Salvador. Saturday morning, Niki and I got to dive together for the first time. I was now open water certified and I was free from having to do skills anymore. On our dive together, within the first two minutes of diving, we got to see a sea turtle! I was so excited to see such a peaceful animal just kind of "fly" away from us nice and slowly. We also got to see a really big lion fish, along with a ton of other creatures.

As we ascended from our last dive on Utila island, I tried to soak in every last second of the ocean because I had no idea when I'd get to dive next. The reef looked smaller and smaller as I got closer to the surface and popped my head back into the sunlight.

We got back to the dive center and headed out for our last baleada. A "baleada" was a new food that our friend Taylor from South Africa had shown us. It's basically just a big tortilla smothered with refried beans and then stuffed with veggies and a kind of cabbage slaw and then folded in half and toasted. Best part about this one plate meal was that it only cost about $1.50! After discovering baleadas, we ate them for lunch and dinner every day.

After dinner, we went back to our room to get ready for the beach party at night that everyone had been talking about on the island. Four times a year, they throw this party on the beach and we just so happened to be there at that time. It cost five dollars to get in, which also got us a wristband for a free drink. Within the gates of the party, weird techno music blared from the speakers, laser lights danced across our bodies and the floor, the smell of weed filled the air, body paint streaked across people's chests and faces and EVERYONE had at least one drink in their hand. It was definitely an experience to say the least. I had fun with the couple drinks I had, but definitely not as much fun as the people tripping on God knows what kind of drugs?!

Our plan of catching the six a.m. ferry off the island was slowly falling apart, as it was already two thirty or three when our heads hit the pillows. The alarm rang Sunday morning and we quickly silenced it, and settled for leaving on the two o'clock ferry instead.

We returned to La Ceiba, the ferry town on the mainland by about three, where we caught a bus to San Pedro Sula. By the time we got there, it was getting late, and probably dangerous to continue on, so we got a hotel there and locked ourselves in for the night. The young guy at the front desk attempted to get us takeout for dinner, but had no luck because everything was closed on Sunday. We settled with Pringles, Gatorade, pistachios and popcorn for dinner and fell asleep to American movies with dubbed in Spanish voices. Ah, the sweet life of traveling!

Photos:
1) Me at 18 meters
2) Treetanic Bar
3) Treetanic Bar
4) Treetanic Bar
5) Alton's Dockside Rooms
6) Alton's Dock
7) Me, Beto, Niki & Federico
8) Utila street
9) Our bunk room