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Utila, Honduras It was meant to be our last day in Utila, and we still hadn't found a whale shark. But I was feeling lucky, so we decided to stick around one more day and go diving in the morning with the hopes of finding one. I'll kill the suspense for you right now and tell you we had no such luck. However, I still had the greatest day that I had in the month we spent on the island on that last day. We took the morning boat out and began with a drift dive, which is where the boat drops you off in one spot, you head one direction underwater, and the boat picks you up in another. That dive was highlighted with two full-grown spotted eagle rays, which glided effortlessly past us a short distance away (only the second sighting we had of these the entire time) and a large barracuda swimming with us several meters down. This was rare because barracudas are primarily surface fish, which is where they do the bulk of their feeding. Then, within minutes of getting back on the boat, we found ourselves surrounded by dolphins numbering about thirty. Everyone on the boat instantly turned into giggling little children, moving about hurriedly to get the best view of our new friends. Dolphins are attracted to boats, so when we started moving, they all swam with us for about 10-15 minutes. So that was a pretty tough dive to beat. And since we knew we weren't going north to look for whale sharks on our next dive, Eric decided to end his diving in Utila with that high note. Understandably so, I might add. But I wasn't ready to call it quits yet. I still hadn´t seen a shark of any kind, so I headed back out with my buddy Gav from Liverpool to hunt down a nurse shark, an underwater find that has become less and less frequent due to overfishing in the area. But we knew they were out there, and we went for it. Now, when you go fun diving, you go out with a dive master who guides your dive for you. But this time me and my buddy Gav from Liverpool didn't follow the dive master and the rest of the fun divers, and instead went out on our own. We spent only ten minutes on the reef, then headed into the shallows which is where a nurse shark would be found. So up and down over coral formations we went, diving down onto our bellies to look in the sandpatches under coral ledges where we might find our suspect sleeping. Systematically we made our way across the reef, perusing up and down the unknown halls and caves of coral we approached. After about 15 minutes we nailed it. We found our unsuspecting suspect hiding cozily under a sharp, narrow ledge, sleeping the day away. Unbelievable. Mind you, all of this was accomplished before noon that day. We immediately began the celebration with some noontime beers, and split for the afternoon before meeting again at beer-thirty that night. The evening was topped off with beers, barbeque, and friends on the roof, Coco Loco's after that, and a rousing night at Bar in the Bush. (See below for info on all these items) I couldn't have asked for a better send-off from this town that left me with so many memories. *** The Money ***1 Lempira = 1 banana
*** The Town ***Utila is a tiny island in the Caribbean just off the Northern coast of Honduras, renowned for its beautiful reef and inexpensive diving, and we spent a month living there. We began our scuba diving from scratch, getting our open water certification in four days and our advanced open water in two. From that point on, you can basically do any type of recreational dive you want, including night dives and deep dives. Our dive school was the Bay Islands College of Diving, which is the only 5-star dive school in Central America, so it was basically like we were attending Harvard, but for the price of Austin Community College. Power in Utila is supplied by a small power plant that shuts down from midnight to 6:00 AM. So if you don't make it home by midnight, it means two things: you are in for a long dark walk, and you probably think the road is playing a mean trick on you by swaying from side to side like a funhouse. Not fun. And for the folks who are not fortunate enough to have a generator where they live, and thus do not have 24-hour power, the nights are hot and uncomfortable. I'm happy to say that we were not amongst that sweaty group of soldiers. Utila is basically a one street town, except for the occasional sidestreet that goes up the hill to some residential areas and a few restaurants and bars. The main road curves around the east harbor, and is lined with small, homey businesses with names like Mermaid's, Reef Cinema, Bundu Café, and Coco Loco. The people are friendly and welcoming, which is nice since you can't avoid walking past them each day. And if you are low on money, it's no problem, they'll let you buy dinner on credit, and come back and pay them the next day once you can go to the bank. Or if you need a pair of scissors, The island is small enough that you can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes, and that is exactly what all the backpackers do. Most of the people who live there for an extended period of time (ie. people who work in dive shops) pick up a bicycle, which easily cuts that time in half. Then there are the locals, who all have scooters or motorcycles or the ever-popular and annoying 4-wheelers. The road is more like a triple-wide sidewalk, and pedestrians have the right-of-way of a chicken. So all you hear in town is the buzzing of scooters, the ringing of bells, the honking of pansy-ass little horns, and the resourceful children yelling "beep-beep-beep-beeeeeeeeeep" at you from behind. Then there are about 8 actual automobiles in town. Three of those are astrovan taxis for the airport, and the other five are beat up Toyota pickup trucks used for construction work and delivering beer and Pepsi. *** The Nightlife ***
Friday night however, is Bar in the Bush night. This bar is only open one night a week, and when it is open the entire island goes to it. The party goes on all night or until people trickle out, If you happen to dive with the Bay Islands College of Diving like we did, you have a whole different social scene available to you. They have a huge rooftop deck on top of the school that looks out over the Caribbean, and at the end of each day they (being your good friends who you hang out with) have chilled beers waiting for you in large ice chests, for the cheapest price in town of 12 bananas. After an afternoon of wonderful diving, I could never think of a better way to top it off than to have a few beers with a few friends as the sun goes down over the Caribbean. From there it was off to dinner (if we weren't BBQing on the roof), then to Coco's later that night. *** The Left Ear ***Our intention upon arrival was to go all the way with scuba diving, and invest the time and money necessary to become dive masters. However, at the end of our open water course, my left ear had other ideas. As I was trying to descend to a depth of 12 meters, I got a bad squeeze in that ear, which basically means I couldn't equalize the air pressure in it, and it put me on the sidelines. I went to the local doc—some hippie dude from Ohio, who has never been diving in his life—and he told me I would never be able to dive again, because my ear was anatomically shaped differently and would never be able to properly equalize underwater. Not good news at all. This was the first week, after we had paid rent for an apartment for the next month. So what am I going to do, hang out in this tiny place where the only thing to do is dive, and not dive? Sorry doc, I don't play that game. So I waited a week—a week during which my ear was so out of whack that when I spoke I literally could not tell if I was yelling or whispering—and then headed back out to finish up my certification despite my ear. I was cool as the other side of the pillow, and I got certified that day. During the week that I was out of commission, Eric pushed ahead with his dive courses, getting his advanced, medic, and rescue diver certifications. I got my advanced cert, and called it a night after that. So now we both had two weeks left on the island to do nothing but go fun diving. *** The Diving ***Aside from Utila being the cheapest place to go diving in the world, it is also known as one of the best. The visibility here is incredible. Some days you can see 100 feet down from the surface. The reef is full of incredible coral formations and fish life. Although we were not lucky enough to see a whale shark during our stay, they were certainly seen often by others. The reason we had bad luck with it is because for about two weeks, the weather conditions became really windy, which meant we couldn't go to the north side of the island which is where they are found, and even when we did, the water was too choppy to look for them. Whale sharks are spotted by looking for schools of fish jumping out of the water because tuna are feeding on them. The whale sharks follow the tuna and pick up the plankton around them. Manta Rays are often found with them as well. So when the water is choppy, you cannot see over the waves to look for fish boiling up out of the water, and thus you can't look for whale sharks. However, we were lucky enough to have plenty of other amazing moments underwater. I already mentioned the nurse shark and the dolphins, which were the two biggest highlights of my diving. We also had sightings of green moray eels and spotted moray eels, each of which look like little demons of the deep. Plus angelfish, hawksbill turtles, lobsters, crabs, balloonfish, porcupinefish, scrawled filefish, groupers, flounders, parrotfish, barracudas, trunkfish, black spotted drums, and thousands of the more common species cruising around. Every day was a privelege to be underwater. I really can't think of any better way to start my day off at seven in the morning than to commune with Poseiden's paradise. Being underwater is such a relaxing sensation. The only thing you can hear is your breathing, and when your breathing becomes perfectly calm, steady, and rhythmic, it's a truly special form of meditation. That coupled with all the beautiful scenery and the slow moving nature of it all just makes for a spriritual and uplifting experience. *** The Living Quarters ***
*** You Know It's A Small World When... ***You know it's a small world when you run into someone you grew up playing high school tennis with in a town called Lubbock, Texas, and haven't seen or heard of him in six years, in a bar called Coco Loco on an island called Utila. 
Utila Photo Gallery
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I can't begin to describe how beautiful these animals are. It doesn't even look like they move a muscle when they carve their way through the water, and you can just tell they are having so much fun shooting in and out from underneath the boat, surfacing 4 feet away from us and occasionally entertaining us with a few jumps. At any given point you could see at least ten of them swimming together alongside the boat. The most accurate word I can think of to describe the moment is magical. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was giddy with excitement, pointing, oohing, ahhing, laughing, smiling, and simply sharing in the gift of the moment.
The sandpatch used for viewing was only about 4 feet wide, between two coral walls about 10 feet high, so the only way you could look at her was to be lying parallel with her, in front or behind (we decided it was a her simply because it was a "nurse" shark, and we named her Nurse Skippy because just before departing on our hunt, I was asked if I thought we would find one or not, and I replied confidently "you´re damn skippy"). Nurse sharks are full grown at about six feet, and our's was around four. It was perfectly still, lying on the bottom, with an impressive set of dorsal and tail fins, pale white eyes, and soft grey skin. We soaked in the view for a few minutes, then took turns swimming off to find our other divers to let them know of our discovery. Before we knew it, Nurse Skippy was surrounded by 25 other anxious divers waiting to feed on her presence. I felt bad for her in a way, but I must say she was a good sport about it all. I happened to have an underwater camera with me, so hopefully I'll be able to introduce her to all of you as well.
and they only sell them in packages of three, they'll just take out the pair you want and sell them to you for whatever price pops in their head.
The place to be at all times is Coco Loco. Coco Loco is a small outdoor bar, built on a pier over the ocean. There is a hole cut out in the dock where people sit and look down at the dimly lit water, as well as several 8 inch tall benches scattered around the edges of the dock. All you have to do when you go to the bar for a drink is tell them you want a beer or a cuba libre. (Translation: Salva Vida or a rum and coke) The dancefloor is a 10 x 10 area that you have to pass through to get from the bar to the pier, and late at night that proves to be a chore. The music is typically dance techno type stuff, with Fatboy Slim being played at least a dozen times a night. Occasionally, you will see the local exhibitionist fire dancers putting on a show at the end of the pier. Basically, if you go out any night of the week, you go to Coco's.
and when you leave you are always greeted by a pitch black stumble of a walk home.
Bar in the Bush is a mixture of volleyball, multiple firedancers, chilled partyers, crazy partyers, local toughguys, and people dancing who don't normally dance. It's definitely a scene to savor. Travelers catch themselves sticking around those extra few days just to catch one more Bar in the Bush.
My other biggest thrill underwater was to come face to face with a full-grown spotted eagle ray, which swam past me at eye level, no more than three feet away. The moment goes so fast that you don't even realize it when it happens, but the few seconds I got to spend with that majestic animal underwater will forever be burned in my memory.
Upon arrival, we knew we wanted to stay for a month, so we immediately set out to find a place of our own and not some hotel. We found that place by means of a small cardboard sign posted in front of a local business. It was the bottom floor of a two story house, and it worked out to cost $4 a day per person. Five rare things about this apartment: