Utila Part 2 - Im still on the rock.

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  Utila, Honduras
Saturday, November 10, 2007

Buenos dias long lost amigos,
Its been a long eventful time since I wrote last and for that, I apologise. I hope everyone is well and getting everything out of life wherever you all are.

As for me, well, im still living, working, partying, diving, looking after a dog called Felix and a brother called Stu and generally having an amazing time on my little island home called Utila. The diving is phenomenal and life is slow paced and relaxed. Shoes are optional and a t-shirt is not necessary.
 
The rainy season has arrived and for 10 days now, the sun has been hiding behind black clouds and torrential rain has been pouring down. We saw the sun for the first time yesterday but only for about 3 hours in the morning. Funny thing was that when it came out, it was so bright and strong and after so much rain everyone forgot to put sun cream on and now everyone is walking around sunburnt.

Brother Stu arrived on the island with a friend called Craig on the day the rains started and he is completely to blame for the crappy weather. Its been nonstop since his arrival and he is beginning to doubt that a sun even exists on this island. I hope it stops raining soon so he can see how nice it is - life isn't that fun here when the streets are under a foot of muddy water and the diving is all messed up from the runoff. I guess that explains why this time of year is the quietest and why right now im stuck in the office waiting for new students when I should be diving with a big group of Scandinavians in bikinis. Only a handful of people have come off the ferry in the last few days and the dive shops are struggling. Word is out on the mainland that this is the time to stay out of the water.

In a few days im taking off on a hike around our little island. Rumor has it that it should take about 4 days to lap the island from shore to shore. We will take plenty of mosquito repellent and hopefully the rain will stay away. We thought at first that it would be a good idea to take a fishing rod and catch dinner, then we realized how hypocritical that would be. Underwater on Utila, you are lucky to see a fish any bigger than a few inches. The rest have been caught and eaten. So it looks like we will take a machete instead of a fishing rod and feast on coconuts and berries.

In other news, my dog Felix is getting big and fat and is the most affectionate dog in the world, he always wants cuddles and refuses to walk anywhere unless you carry him. He comes out on the boats most days but sleeps up the front under a shelf for the whole ride. Every now and then he gets thrown in but doesn't really like the swimming business too much. Occasionally people come off the ferry and ask for the dive shop with Felix. Have a look at the photos attached, you can see why.

Now Stu has arrived and is planning on doing his Dive Master im considering staying here until mid next year. Then it will be and truly time to head home. Its already been 28 months and my supply of Vegemite has run low. Im missing you guys and the motherland.

Well, thats all the news from me, I hope everyone is doing fine back home and if you get a chance, hit me back with an email and news from the motherland.
Be good,
Murray,
Muzz,
IMAX.

------------------------------------------------------------ ---------
Hi Everyone,
Right now, im in the office, i have the morning here and im taking an
open water class in the afternoon. I have 5 students this round, but at
the same time im going to be teaching a rescue class, so tis fairly
hectic.

The low season is pretty much over and the people are coming back,
hence why i havnt emailed much lately, its jsut so full on. I dont get
weekends or days off, its a 24 hour job.

My normal day goes like this: I wake up with the sun at around 6. I
dont want to, but its just so bright, plus, Felix somehow knows the
time and at 6ame every day he runs into my room, jumps onto my bed and 
cuddles for a minute, then he runs away and across the bridge to the
dive shop with Shizuka Mucha Caca, our other ratty dog. They know that
in the mornings, lots of people eat muffins from the muffin man and if
they look cute, they get fed lots of muffins.

Its not all that warm at then moment, and  most nights i sleep under a
sheet. The sand flies are so bad at the moment. During sunrise asn
sunset, its complete torture for an hour or so.

I get up and normally cook bacon and eggs and sit on my swinging chair
out the front of my house and look across the stinky polluted creek at
all the dive masters leading the boats and getting equipment ready.

I wander over there and meet my students about an hour before the boat
leaves. We do some theory and then at 7:30, the boat heads out.



I do 2 dives with my students. The water is a little cooler now and we
are all wearing long wetsuits. The weather is a littel retarded. It
rains every day, then its sunny again 5 minutes later. We go diving
with the sun is up and come up 40 minutes later and its raining, its a
littel bizarre. But its getting better and every day, we have more and
more and more sun than the last.



At 10:30, i run to the ferry to get more people and at 11:30, i run
home, quickly eat any kind of food i can find and at midday, i meet my
students and we do another 2 dives. We come back at 5 and run to the
ferry again. Lots of people come in and were pretty busy right now. I
get out of the office at 6:30 or 7 at night, and then i teach for an
hour. If im not teaching, i go out for dinner with stu and the dive
masters. We eat at Bundu or somewhere else and if its a thursday, fri,
or saurday, we normally go to treetanic and cocoloco and get to bed
super late and then start the day all over again.


Brother Stu is loving it, Im teaching him everything i know and taking him
through his dive master course. He has been diving about 40 time now.
Angel, teh big boss man here has been taking all the dive masters on
some crazy dives. Once, he got them into buddy teams and blindfolded
one of them. The other one had to guide a blind diver through a 40
minute dive. Then the other day, he put tape over their air gauge so
they had no idea how much air they had left, most of them ran out of
air and had to use the alternate air source from their buddy.
Yesterday, he took them on a shore dive, they took a taxi to the beach
and he told them to try to swim out through the coral and do a dive.
They saw a turtle and big puffer fish out there and came back very
sandy.



I bought myself a birthday / christmas present. I dont own any of my
own gear and i thought it was about time to buy something. I was tired
of getting leaky / foggy masks and mouth pieces that have been chewed,
so i bought a mask, fins, booties, and regulator. They should all last
for many many years and i spent a fair bit of cash. certainly more than
im making here, but its going to be so much more enjoyable to dive with
all this stuff.



Is super sunny right now, and really quiet outside. Stu has gone for a
dive. He is assisting an advanced class with instructor anders. They
are going down to 30 metres and taking eggs down there, when you crack
an egg at 30 metres, it hovers motionless and you can play with the
yoke.  It attracts fish and stuff.


I anyone wants to send something to me, the address here is



cross creek dive centre

utila

bay island

honduras

central america



thats it.

lots of love

miss you

love

Murray

MAX

-----------------------------------
Hi everyone, hows it going?

Me and stu, well, were all hunky dory here on out little piece of
caribbean. Working super hard but having a  good time cos i guess at
the end of the day, our hard work, is diving so its nothing to complain
about.



Its been so long since my
last email but its been absolutely hectic here. You wouldnt believe how
hard we are working, its insane.

In the last week, i took an open
water course with 10 students, then 7 of them continued onto advanced.
At the same time I was teaching a rescue with 4, then started another
open water with 4 students. All this while running to and from from the
ferry, getting more students, and teaching dive masters and juggling a
nice american girl ive found called Sabrina. Lovely...

Its absolutely crazy, i
dont have time to eat or sleep. The days just fly by and you wake up
and say wow, what just happened in  last week, its now 2008, huh! wow.

Im learning alot and meeting some great people and have logged around 400 dives now! Wow!

The
weather is a little bizarre at the moment and the water is super cold
so i had to invest 200 bucks in a 5 mm wetsuit... i was freezing and
not enjoying it, so now, im super toasty warm in this thing.. it even
has a hood!

You
know, there isnt all that much to report on our little island, its all
petty stuff going on, but heres some of the goss that keeps us occupied.



1
- Uncle Ross left the island. Ross, and english guy and I arrived on
the island at about the same time... something like 9 months ago. We
did out divemaster and instructor courses together and lived in a house
called the Almond Tree for a  few months, until i was kicked out
because of Felix Long Dog. We had some crazy adventures together and
with him off the island, im now one of the long stayers! wow.

I raided his house after he left and scored an automated coffee perculater, a toaster and lots of goodies.



2
- Trevor - this little black kid that used to hang around with
us, well he has got himself into serious
strife.. he is about 15 now, and like every other black arse hole
local, is a crack head. He drinks and does crazy drugs, running around
the streets out of control. He got in a fight the other night and one
of the other crack head arse hole locals beat him up and sliced his
head. He is now running around with a bandage across his forehead,
angrier than ever. Im scared of him now and he yells abuse at tourists
as they pass his rundown hovel. His house is falling apart and the 10
of them living in there dont seem to notice that the door has fallen
off and piles of garbage are accumulating infront of their shack.



3
- I was allowed to drive the boat the other day! The Ulysses is a big
fat old boat, the slowest one in our fleet, but i managed to maneuver
her around and place her next to a buoy and tie her up. Great hey!



4
- Stus English mate Craig, who he came here from the US with just
finished his dive master and left a few days ago. Everyone was sad to
see him go. He was a massive stress head but great entertainment. Stu
is a little lonely now that he has lost his best mate.



5 - Last
night was an information session on Parrot Fish! Parrot fish are the
most important fish on the reef. They eat the algae that threatens to
encrust over the reef and turn this place into the next
Jamaica....thats bad! We learnt that they shit a ton of sand a year,
they all start their life as females and when the dominant male dies,
the biggest female with turn into a male within 3 days. They apparently
dont taste very good but these people dont care and are beginning to
fish them. removing them from the reef in utila could be the final part
of its destruction.. but the locals dont care. They dont need a future.
As long as they get through one day at a time they are happy.



6
- Two whales washed up on the beach last week. One was a big momma
beaked whale. They did an autopsy on it and discovered that its
intestinal tract and stomach was full of plastic bits - they think it
died in distress, choking on plastic.

2 days later, the calf.. a
massive baby beaked whale washed up on a different beach... it starved
and beached itself. All cos these people dispose of their garbage in
the ocean!



7 - Its stus birthday in 2 days. We are having a
surprise toga party for him and a bbq and cake and the wedding for
shizuka mucha caca and Felix. They are a great couple.



8 - Im
drinking pineapple tang to rehydrate after a few glasses of red wine
last night. I cant drink beer anymore, i just fall asleep. I had crepes
made for me thismorning when i woke to rain. I had a day in the office
so its not all that bad.



Ok, well, thats the latest in developments on our little island.

Its still fun and the diving is great
Max


----------------------------------------------------
Felix has been purchased for 250$
Night time Kayaking to the Halliburton
Felix Long Dog and Shizuca Mucha Caca Wedding
Stus birthday

 

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