Utila Part 3 - The Finale ???????????????

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Trip Start Aug 26, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End May 26, 2008 Next
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  Utila, Honduras
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Its a perfect sunny day here on Utila. Its Feb 23rd, a Sunday and after a BBQ party last night, Cross Creek patrons are a little woozy this morning, myself included.
The weather has been spectacular here lately. No rain, warm waters (27-28 degrees), super visibility around 30+ meters.
A few days ago, 20 rough tooth dolphins visited us in the harbor and even allowed us to jump in and swim with them for 20 minutes. It was amazing, I was able to free dive down and on ascent, they would circle around me and follow me to the surface. It almost makes up for my 11 months here without seeing a whale shark.
Felix Long Dog is still loving life, although the ladies will be out of his plans for the future as he just has his balls chopped off. The islands vet did a  great job at hacking off his nuts. I even have photos.
I was a little concerned at first when 3 months ago, i visited the vet and she informed me that he only had one ball and would require serious invasive surgery to operate and hunt for his missing nut. Fortunately it was easily located on his followup visit and easily removed. Now he is at my feet as i type, with 4 stitches where his nuts used to be.
His wife - Shizuka Mucha Caca also had the job done. Both were becoming a little more promiscuous than we planned and thought it would be best to have them castrated before we add to the Cross Creek family.
In other news my plans are becoming a little clearer and i will be leaving this island within the next month.
I'm having great difficulty with Felix. He cant come back to Aus, due to 6 months quarantine and the small fee of $4000 so it looks like he will be relaxing on Utila for his long and happy life with Shizuka Mucha Caca and the Cross Creek Crew.
I will be wrapping up my Instructor stuff here within the next few weeks and spending my remaining days Fun diving and exploring the island... this i haven't had a chance to do in the 10 months Ive been here.

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A little later

Its a really shitty day here on Utila. We have had top weather for 2 months now - nonstop sun 30 something degree days. The water is been so glassy that on the night dives, you can see the reflection of the stars above. When the moon is full, we swim down to 15 meters and lie on out backs and look up at the surface and you can see the moon clearly lighting everything and casting shadows. The wind has stopped for the
last few weeks, which meant massive sand fly attacks. Normally we get a strong consistent east wind, that blows them away, but lately, they have been so annoying. They are tiny little things that get everywhere.
They bite in your ears, and on your scalp, they fly up your pants and bite your nether regions. Little bastards.

All that nice weather came to an abrupt end  when this huge tropical
storm broke out late yesterday afternoon. It was a perfect day, then
all of a sudden, the clouds filled up the sky and showed what the
Caribbean can deliver..lightning and insane swirling wind, then
horizontal rain. We planned on going out for dinner, but even the best
poncho wouldn't have saved us from the Caribbean fury. It lasted a few
hours and everything was soaked. Shizuka and Felix were barking at the
sky. Even the TV dropped out. All the stations had a disclaimer saying
the satellite signal had dropped out.

So, i slept soundly and woke this morning at 7 for a day in the office.
Its cloudy, cold and windy, and the supposedly full boat that was
meant to leave at 7:30am Thomson with 22 people on it, left 10
minutes late with about 7 people. All dive masters.

Whale sharks - well, supposedly this is the season for them. But in my
11 months on Utila, i haven't seen even a single one of the buggers!
Yesterday, i had the afternoon off and decided to clean the house and
do a few choirs. I had a productive afternoon cleaning everything, even
the dogs, but when the boat came back at 4pm, all the divers were
ecstatic.. they had seen 2 different whale sharks and swam with them 3
separate times. Damn! I have been so unlucky.

I'm starting to count down my time on the island. I can finally see
myself leaving.. after 11 months on Utila and 32 months traveling, my
time is almost up. I announced my resignation to the dive shop and will
do another course or 2. Probably 10 days more work. Then i will spend
another 10 days on the island and do the things i haven't Had time to do
over the last year, such as walk around the island - survivor style,
FUN DIVE, drink beer at 5pm and watch the sunset (the ferry comes in at
5 pm which means all the dive shops run down to greet the newcomers and
handout flyers, dragging potential students back to the shop), ohhh,
there are a million little things i want to do... most involve doing
nothing, some are as extensive as walking to the water tower and
watching the sunrise and sunset with a bottle of vino.

Then, by the end of March, i should be able to leave this crime
infested island. I will be returning to the rafting place up in the
jungle with a whole bunch of us that are planning on leaving the island
at the same time. Then, all going to plan, i should be able to hit the
blue hole in Belize, visit a part of Guatemala and travel north through
Mexico to the USA, hitting LA and Santa Barbara and finally taking a
flight back to sunny Australia. I can see myself there sometime around
Winter, and the first thing i want is a meat pie, sausage roll and some
Bundy rum and ginger beer! and maybe a side of VB.
-----------------------------------------

Survivor Utila
I did it. I made it all the way around the Island.
The full story is here on my face book page - make sure you read it.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=11330126034

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Leaving Utila
This deserves a whole entry in itself and there is truly alot of emotion involved when leaving a place that you have called home for 12 months.
There were just way too many people to farewell and in the end it was easier to just up and leave.
I made special arrangements for Felix Long Dog and Shizuka Mucha Caca, who both had to stay on the island. Its a shame. I was really hoping to take them with me, but traveling through Central America with a dog or two would have been hell. They will live on the island and hopefully be well looked after. Im actually going to try to get them to the USA, so if anyone reading this ever visits Utila, make sure you stop in at Cross Creek and give the long dog a hug for me.
My alarm went off at 4am and that was it. My time on Utila was up. I heaved up my backpack for the first time in 12 months and headed out the door with Sabrina. We picked up brother Stu on the way and gave the doggies  nice goodbye hug. Felix stayed put but Shizuka followed us all the way to the dock. It was dark and warm. Kind of surreal to be wandering the streets with a backpack. I would normally be coming home from the pubs at this time. But now im heading to the ferry. A huge line greeted us and our fears were realized when we were told there was no more room. Its possible that a few people wont turnup, said the woman, so we waited and sure enough, at 5am, when the ferry was due to depart, there was plenty of room. Bye Stu, bye Shizuka and that was it. I stepped onto the ferry and Utila became but a dot on the horizon as we chugged our way to La Ceiba.
A bunch of eager taxi drivers awaited on the mainland and we quickly picked one up and were on the way to the bus station, leaving Utila and La Ceiba behind.

About time.

So, here i am, traveling again. Its nice to be back on the road. Meeting new people and seeing some new scenery for a change. First stop - Copan.
I will bring the details here soon, but right now its 7pm and I'm in Antigua and so hungry, so stay tuned.

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