Villa Rina Internacional Resort La Ceiba

... to sail to Utila due to bad seas leaving some people stranded. As I could think of no place worse to be stranded than Banana Republic I was quite glad how it had worked out! Luckily the rains had stopped and when we got to the port the next morning the ferry was leaving as per usual. It was very strange to see these salty seamen waiting to board the ferry - they sounded just like extras from Pirates of the Caribbean and we could barely make out what they were saying to ...

We crossed into Honduras with no problems. Passed through a couple of checkpoints with armed guards inspecting our bus. All is ok!

After a brief visit to Rio Dulce, which reminded me A LOT of Calexico, CA by the way, we loaded onto another cattle truck headed for San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Five hot and sweaty hours (Never, NEVER ride in the last row of a bus!) and a couple of armed checkpoints later, we arrived at the central bus station. We roamed the bus station looking like ...

... time exploring. We had about 40 minutes underwater before heading back up to the boat for a break (you need to have 'Surface Time' to eliminate some of the nitrogen you breathe in from the tanks from your body). We moved to another dive site and went back in for our second Open Water Dive. This time, neither of us had any problems and, as well as hundreds of colourful fish and coral, we were lucky enough to spot a giant turtle bobbing about in the water ...

... My Spanish needs a LOT of work). One of them lent me a mask to see the fish and the first thing I saw was Kalins sunglasses at the bottom of the river! Lucky timing.

Chicken, beans, rice and corn tortillas for supper and then we discovered Guifiti!! Guifiti is a Garifuna drink where 20 different plants, roots, herbs, leaves, etc from the jungle are put into a jug that is then filled with rum. It sits for a couple hours or overnight and then is good to drink. The ...

... get food and some cash at the ATM. We had been hoping to catch the ferry from La Ceiba to Roatan that night at 4:30pm, but we were quickly figuring out that that was not going to happen. We got into La Ceiba and found a place to stay called the Posada Catracha. It is a clean and quiet place that has great rates for a double room with private bath. We dropped our bags off and went around the corner to find a little italian ...

Utila ist eine Insel in der Karibik und eigentlich einfach ein Taucherparadies. Sprich touristisch, aber angenehm, da es einfach junge Backpacker sind, die tauchen... So wie ich halt...;) Ich war fuer eine Woche da und bin prakisch jeden Tag tauchen gegangen. War super wunderschoen. Also die Korallenriffe sind einfach krass dort. Man kann an geraden Steilwaenden runertauchen, z.T. dann wie in die Riffe rein (so Hoehlenmaessig), einfach sau cool... Ich bin ...

... is it pocked with holes, there is an incredible amount of traffic and the drivers are absolutely insane. I have rarely been nervous on the road when traveling...until now. I definitely had a few scares and relied on pure faith to calm me. We got to the laguna and unloaded the boats. Several boys from the local community were more than eager to help and soon we had all ...

... to say, I did not feel very well rested the next day and I was feeling a bit grumpy. My plan had been to check out some tour companies around town and try to find a birding tour to Pico Bonito but I did not want to spend another night at that place! What to do? Bail and head to my next destination? I decided to call a tour company to find out where they were. Turns out they are 10 Km. out of town where they have ...

... supporting the orphanage. Maidelyn in particular did an incredible amount of work, beyond all expectation, in shopping for supplies for me to take to the orphanage. I don't know how I could have done all that without her help. On Friday night, my last night in La Ceiba and Honduras, Maidelyn made a fantastic farewell meal for me. She knew I loved seafood and so she created a meal that included oysters, shrimp and a succulent garlic lobster tail. She even created a drink with clam juice ...

... also she told them that the purchases were going towards an orphanage and that always stretched the money further. Walking out of the butcher shop, our hands were full once again. Jeff caught up to us and helped with the goods while Maidelyn made some more purchases at some of the vegetable stalls in the market place in front of us. And then we piled ourselves, and the last of the food, into the car. The car was packed. The trunk was completely full and there was random grocery ...