Up & down, uuuup and doooooown, hold it in. Hold it in! This wasn't quite the introduction I was expecting to the Caribbean seas! We were on a catamaran on our way to the island of Utlia. This was our second attempt as the trip the day before was cancelled due to rough seas. That night we were forced to stay in the coastal town La Ceiba. The best way to describe La Ceiba is "pikey." Perhaps a little harsh, as the local Honduran tourist guidebook describes it as a town with great "potential" (rip it down and start again 'potential' me thinks). Anyway, we stayed in a little grotty hostel which was near the beach, it was cheap and the room looked slightly better than the options in the town centre, with a stand up fan with propellers that looked liked they had been ripped off an aeroplane and when switched on you would be blown to the other side of the room. It would come to life and start vibrating its way around the room until it crashed into the bed. If it wasn't for the electric cable plugged into the wall, I am sure the possessed fan would have managed to chop us up. There were some interesting rules pinned to the door of our room too. Our favourites were 'Do not use the fans as dryers and switch off the fans when you leave the room, two rooms caught fire already.' No shit. 'Do not bring prostitutes (aids, messy rooms, stealing and very close with criminal activities) this is not a brothel.' And the last, 'Do not use drugs here, police informers everywhere.' Good advice all round we thought.
The next day we awoke early to get the first ferry to Utila praying for calmer seas. Everything went smoothly and we had our seats on the busy catamaran. As the boat left the dock the locals were making the sign of the cross and praying, something told me that this was going to be an adventure. Some people say its best to keep your mind on something else to avoid feeling seasick. Cath excelled at this by chatting up the handsome Dutch cyclist, who had made his way all the way from Brazil. I was awkwardly sitting in-between them watching the crew hand round sick bags and kitchen roll for the bits that got away. Well thanks to my Boots trusty travel calm pills, we arrived on dry land with no spills.
We were in Utila for one reason, to be in the Caribbean and to learn how to scuba dive (isn't that 2 reasons?) It is reportedly the cheapest place in the world to learn and get you PADI certificate whilst learning in crystal clear waters amongst the coral and beautiful coloured fish. We were very excited to be here. Diving here is the only reason tourists really come to Utila and there are plenty of dive centres to choose from with each centre sending out workers to get you to sign up as you step off the boat. We went to the 'Bay Islands College of Diving' as everyone we had met on the travelling circuit had only good things to say about them. We checked in, signed all the papers and Johan, who was to be our dive instructor showed us to our accommodation. We walked in on two Swedes virtually having sex on the sofa, Ahhhh, shared living, you just can't beat it!
Our first day at the college was theory day, averagely boring but crucial for diving and there was a lot to learn. There was also a medical form including a long list of ailments and past illnesses to tick or not to tick, to qualify for the next part, the diving. By the end of the day I had one question left, should I be diving if I had had a Pneumothorax (or popped lung for the rest of us) 7 years ago? A bit of medical research on the old Internet was in order. We found out that yes it could be dangerous and could lead to my death, or as some reports said 'Don't worry mate you'll be fine' but its best to have a CT scan and be signed off by a doctor. Now I was pretty sure they didn't have a CT scan on this little island let alone if they actually had one in Honduras so I wasn't sure if I should be gambling with my life. When we asked the friendly manager, the answer was quickly determined and although he had been drinking all afternoon, he became very sober and said that there was no way, under no circumstances that he would take the risk of letting me dive. With this news Cath took me to sulk over a beer and to watch the sunset but we both felt pretty low. However I trusted the friendly manager and the following description of what can happen when you suffer a second pop under water was a good enough reason why not to risk it for me: When a lung collapses while diving, the air in the chest cavity is at the ambient pressure of the dive depth. Upon ascending, the air in the chest cavity expands, and further compresses the lung and other organs like the heart (tension pneumothorax). This is a life-threatening situation and is one of the main reasons that a history of spontaneous pneumothorax is an absolute contra-indication to diving since most divers and dive boats are not prepared to provide first aid to a diver with pneumothorax. Based on the words of Ernest S Campbell, MD.
So, I very much enjoyed snorkeling instead, watching from above and Cath found another diving buddy although it was a good job it wasn't the Dutch cyclist! She went on to succeed in getting her Padi certification with highlights of holding an upside down jelly fish in her hand while hovering over the sandy ocean bottom, descending to 18 meters down a coral wall, watching a shoal of pipe fish go by and being face to face with rainbow fish oh, and being able to actually complete the dreaded 'mask task' finally and not freak out by the fact she was breathing under water!
Utila town consists of one main drag and everyone gets around on quad bikes, push bikes or golf buggies. The locals are a strange mixture, some having British routes which you can instantly see due to their very pale skin and freckles and some African and they all speak a bizarre type of Spanish, English and Garifunian which means you are never quite sure which language they are speaking since they interchange seamlessly mid-sentence. What everyone seems to enjoy on the island is American Superbowl. The dive center bar was showing the game and intrigued to see what all the fuss was about we went to watch. Not quite what a game on the TV should be about as you only see snippets of the match as the rest of the four hours are taken up with America's best adverts of the year??? Personally, I thought the best part of the game was Prince at half time. Afterwards it was time for Karaoke, Oasis, Frank Sinatra and an empty bar! Rock n Roll!
My 30th birthday was fast approaching, our first plan was to travel to Belize for a bit of birthday beach action, but due to time, logistics and budget, we got a flight to the neighboring island Roatan instead. Some folk tried to stop us going but as the island has the beaches Utila doesn't and the snorkeling is top draw, Cath booked us on the next plane out. It did seem a little extravagant getting a flight over however boats don't travel between the two islands and you'd have to return to the mainland and the whole trip would probably take another two days and I didn't quite fancy spending my birthday in the hotel room with the possessed fan. Utila's airport is interesting. After our taxi (a golf buggy) dropped us off, we headed for the main terminal and by the main terminal I mean the make shift bus shelter. The airstrip was at least tarmacked and our bags were checked in and tagged using different colour tags for different locations, so all very organized really and then the flying minibus came in and with a hop skip and a jump we were in Roatan.
Cath had found us a nice hostel to stay at, a little more expensive than Utila but well worth it with balconies and tropical gardens. We were in a duplex with a private room and shared the kitchen and shower with a couple of others, an Irish girl, a German girl and another crazy Dutchman, which was all very nice. We were expecting Roatan to be a little more hectic than Utila due to having an international airport and cruise ships docking in once a week, however at Half moon Bay it had more relaxed Caribbean ambience to the place and with a quick water taxi you were on a white palm fringed idyllic beach with beautiful turquoise waters and an easily accessible coral reef and amazing colourful fish - my favourite being the huge blue Parrot fish about 1m long!
Unfortunately the peace and tranquility is ruined once a week for two days by cruise ships which dock on the other side of the island and bus all the people over to the beautiful beaches. One day there was a cruise ship that had just come from Texas, some of the passengers didn't even know what country they were in, let alone what country they were going to next; "Shucks some place called Belize! Where ever that is! Hell I don't know! I came all the way from Texas, USA." That's just across the water mate! You might have thought that the crew on the ship would have provided some information on how endangered the coral is and might have advised their passengers not to stand on it! Thankfully they all left by about 3pm so we only had to cope with them for a couple of hours - God, I'm becoming a right traveling snob!
Well, so my 30th Birthday had arrived and it had also been a good six months since I last trimmed my beard. The beard had started to collect food and it hurt sometimes when I chewed on it accidentally when eating. I was getting older I thought and so I believed it was time to start looking younger. You can see the beard trimming experience in our photos however as it was my birthday I left a tash for a more distinguished appearance, slicked back with the crazy Dutchman's hair gel.
Catherine took me out for steak and beers and even arranged a cake and balloons in the restaurant for me, if my tash didn't make me stand out then the balloons definitely did! After dinner we went and found a bar meeting up with some new found friends for a couple more drinks or was it a few more than just a couple? Hmmm, it must be the age, my memory is starting to go.
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