A long trip home, but arriving just in time ...

My flight back to the Caribbean left Nashville at 6:00 a.m. It is an international flight so they say you should be at the airport two hours early. My experience has been that at 4:00 a.m., there is absolutely nothing open in the Nashville airport, including the airline ticket counters and kiosks. But I still had to get gas and return the rental car so I left Murfreesboro about 3:45 a.m. Ugh.

I was flying United again so it was with some trepidation that I handed over my bag to be checked.

The first leg of my flight was to Houston, then hustle from one terminal to another for the next leg which was Houston to San Pedro Sula. I again, when making the reservations had faced the problem of if I flew into San Pedro Sula on any day other than a Saturday I couldn't get a flight back to Utila, so I would have to take a bus and a ferry and likely stay overnight somewhere, so I booked a flight to Roatan instead.

At the time it made sense, Roatan is another of the Bay Islands, I can on a clear day see it from the dive boat. How hard can it be to get to Utila from there?

I arrived in San Pedro Sula at about 11 a.m. Here is where things get worse. Every flight to Roatan from Nashville included a LONG layover in San Pedro Sula. Mine was about 21 hours. I tried to convince myself and anyone who asked that it wasn't going to be that bad. I've spent lots of hours in airports and while not great I have music, books, games on my myriad of electronics and a computer with all that time to write.

The problem with San Pedro Sula Airport is that there is almost nowhere to even sit. There are some tables and chairs at the restaurants but when the place is busy it is tough to find a seat, and I usually try to avoid taking up a seat at a restaurant if I'm not a paying customer. Before you go through security, which you can't do until a couple of hours before your flight, there is one five seat bench not at a restaurant. The other problem for me is there are almost no electrical outlets. I asked if there was one and was told by the customer service people that there was nowhere to charge a phone. I found a plug against a wall finally and spent some time just sitting on the floor charging my phone. My luggage had arrived safely but again, until two hours before my flight to Roatan I could not check my bag in so had to lug it with me around the airport as I looked for somewhere relatively quiet and comfortable to wait it out.

Many hours sleeping sitting up -- or at least sleeping while trying not to fall over.

I had attempted to make arrangements for a boat ride from Roatan to Utila, on a ferry called the Lady Julia. Unfortunately, the day I wanted to travel they didn't have enough customers so the ferry was not running. No one had a flight going to Utila so I took the only other option. I caught a ferry going from Roatan to La Ceiba (back on the mainland), then a second ferry from La Ceiba to Utila. The ferry rides are reasonably cheap but it added more hours to my long travel days.

Once again it had taken me two days to get back to Utila.

I left Nashville at 6:00 a.m. on the 26th of August and stepped off the ferry in Utila at about 5:00 p.m. on the 27th. But I immediately knew I was "home". David from Pirates Bay Inn was at the Ferry Dock to meet potential new guests. He helped me with my bags and offered me a ride in a truck they had at the dock.

The first whaleshark in four weeks or so had been seen couple days before so I was anxious to try and get in the water. I scheduled a dive for the 28th.

We completed the fist dive of the day, it was really beautiful and I was so glad to be back in the water. Then during our surface interval Captain Louis started driving out towards the open water. He was watching for the tell tale signs that start with  a lot of birds at the surface. As we got closer he looked for the "Tuna Boil", large schools of tuna near the surface jumping out of the water and feeding. It really does look like a big pot of water at a rolling boil.

All of us on the boat got our fins, mask and snorkels on and waited on the back of the boat. Louis watched the water, slowly moving around the three separate boils we had come to. Suddenly Louis yelled, "there it is, right next to the boat, get in, get in!!" We all slid into the water and there it was.

Most people are lucky at times like this to spend a couple minutes close to a whaleshark. This whaleshark was probably around our boat for 15-20 minutes. The experience was absolutely incredible and the whaleshark was magnificent.

Hard to tell but all that mess at the top of the water? That is birds diving in and fish jumping out.

Tuna, lots of them, these ones just looks so calm, but imagine this multiplied by hundreds all racing around and jumping out of the water.

They estimated this whaleshark to be about 7 meters long (about 21 feet). Most graceful huge animal ever.

I felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to be in the water with this amazing animal.

After about 20 minutes the tuna boil had dissipated and the whaleshark had returned to the depths. We then left to get to another dive site for our second dive.

The second dive was gorgeous but hard to compare with what we had just experienced.

My friend and dive buddy Laurent.

Butterflyfish

Gray Angelfish peeking out from behind a sea fan

Since then I have been on the boat a couple more days. The visibility has gotten a bit worse and last week the seas were a little rough but still gorgeous dives. Up until now I've always just worn my 2.5mm Spring shorty wetsuit but I think I'm about  ready to start wearing my full 3mm suit during the rainy season.

I'll Make that Trip to Utila-US-Utila Work ... or Die Trying

When last I left you I had checked in to Pirates Bay Inn for a week-long stay, while I worked to find a more permanent residence and settle in to life in Utila. That, and did some diving.

My reasons for wanting so badly to be in Utila the first week in August were two-fold. One, I had been told that the first week in August has historically been one of the best for whaleshark sightings. And two, the baby turtles from the nest I had guarded on the beach in June were due to hatch and if I could swing it I wanted to be a witness.

First things first, I signed up to dive most of the week I was there. See. I already feel better. Then I made arrangements to look at an apartment to rent. The apartment is close to town but not on the main road so it is relatively quiet, in a complex with four apartments and a fenced yard. It is two bedroom (hey a room for a visitor -- hint, hint), included cable and internet. It has air conditioning in one of the bedrooms but I don't need it. There are floor fans in each of the rooms and I'm actually fine just using a fan. The only thing not included int he rent is electricity which can be a bit pricy but it appears I can likely get by on about $100 US per month. It is "pay-as-you-go" electricity which is actually kind of nice, because i left the island for a couple weeks I emptied my already almost empty refrigerator and just shut off the breaker to it. Therefore there was no electricity being use dint he house while I was gone.

I dove every day. It was absolutely beautiful diving, as seems to be the norm, but alas, no whalesharks. But that was okay. As everyone told me, "you're here now all the time, you'll see them". Good point.

I was a little bummed, Chris, a dive master I've come to love diving with, had recently had an emergency appendectomy so he was not able to be in the water at all. Good part was he then worked as our boat captain. I did however get to dive with Imke a lovely German dive master. Unfortunately she was planning on leaving the island to do some traveling alone in Central America. But it was great to dive with her before she left.

So, we may not have seen whalesharks but we did have some amazing dives!

Really the best part being the turtles and spotted eagle rays which I think we saw one or both on every dive that week.

Of course there is all the other marine life as well ...

I did go out to guard the beach one night but the baby turtles from the nest I had guarded had already hatched and made their way to the ocean (we hope). As it turns out, the eggs seem to hatch during the day not at night. But I was lucky enough to witness a huge loggerhead turtle come up on the beach twice during the middle of the night to look for the perfect nesting spot. She did not lay eggs, checked out couple spots, I think likely came back the next night to dig her nest and lay her eggs. I'm still hopeful that maybe I will get to see some eggs hatch this month.

After a perfect week at Pirates Bay Inn/Captain Morgan's Dive Center I finally had to leave and make the move to my apartment. A quick TukTuk (taxi) ride and I was there with all my worldly possessions (3 suitcases). I unpacked my bags, visited the grocery store, the power company and the store to get a Honduran sim card for a phone. Then I began the process of re-packing for my planned trip back to the states to go with Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures from West Palm Beach to Tiger Beach in the Bahamas to dive with the big sharks. That is for the next post.

Before I go though I want to reiterate how great the people are at Pirates Bay Inn and Captain Morgan's Dive Center. I know I raved about them in June when we visited but I don't know that I've ever felt so welcomed anywhere I've visited. When I arrived on August 2nd and showed up at Pirates Bay Inn, almost every instructor and dive master I had met in June and all the office staff immediately came up and welcomed me back, by name, asked how I was, asked if i was there permanently, asked how Greg and the rest of our group from June was. As usual, the room was clean and comfortable, the food was excellent from Christina and Adith, the beers were cold  ... couldn't find a thing to complain about. And for every concern I might have had about what I needed to do to get permanently settled, almost every one of them offered help and support. I truly felt like I had arrived home, where I was meant to be.

So now it was time to get back to the US. As usual I made my reservations later rather than earlier but still tried to go as cheaply as possible. The trip to the US wasn't too bad. I took a flight from Utila to Roatan using World Wide Travel (they don't seem to have a website) here on the island. Then I caught a United flight from Roatan to Houston to Nashville where United promptly lost my luggage. I watched them scan the barcoded luggage tag as I went through customs in Houston but somehow it went to El Paso. Really? El Paso? The worst part was when I checked with the lost luggage office at the airport in Nashville the woman there looked it up on the computer and saw that it went to El Paso. Then throughout the night and the next day I  got text messages from United saying they were still trying to locate my luggage. I called the number given to me, because I could help them locate it, "IT IS IN EL PASO!!!!!", but you only get a computer recorded message, no human to talk to.

I arrived in Nashville the night of the 13th and was leaving on a plane at 6 a.m. on the morning of the 15th to go to West Palm Beach. I was beginning to get a little nervous. I had my regulator and dive computer and camera equipment with me, but I still needed fins, mask, wetsuit, booties, hood and my other clothing etc..

Finally on the afternoon of the 14th, they delivered my bag to my hotel in Nashville.

I took Delta to Florida and back to Nashville without incident. I'll write about the fun of getting back to Utila  -- on United again -- in my next post.

Yes, that was a big sigh you heard.

On the bright side, if you do a fair amount of international travel I can't recommend the Global Entry and trusted traveler program enough. When you have a fairly quick layover in your port of entry (for me Houston) it is wonderful to be able to quickly get through customs and on to your next flight. There is always the possibility that I will still get stopped and have my luggage searched etc., but so far that has not happened. It has also given me TSA pre-check on every domestic flight I've taken since I got it. It truly makes international travel so much easier, and well worth the $100 it cost.

With every bad situation there is always something good ...

When last I left you I was complaining about the difficulty in getting from here to there  -- or there to here I guess it is now. But you know what I mean.

But even when I thought I had it figured out there was still another glitch. From my June trip I knew that one, Belize dollars could not be exchanged at a bank in Honduras. They could only be exchanged right when you get off the ferry and you don't get the best exchange rate. Trust me, in June I lost about $200, the moment I stepped off the boat. Water under the bridge as they say. But, the banks in Belize will only exchange limited amounts of Belize dollars for US dollars, $250 USD to be exact per day.

So this time, thinking ahead, smart cookie that I am I decided I only really needed about $400 US to get me where I needed to be and give me some cash until I could get to a Honduran bank to get money. And, based upon my June experience, I knew I could get a ferry ticket, on the ferry, the day I traveled.

Off to the bank I went, got cash from the ATM and went to the window. I explained I wanted to exchange Belize dollars for US dollars. The very nice woman behind the counter explained to me, again, that I could only exchange a limited amount. I explained that I understood. She then went off to talk to another person behind the counter, her supervisor I assume. Then she comes back and says they don't have the ability to exchange any more Belize dollars that day, that their central banks decides how much they have to exchange and when they reach their daily limit they can exchange no more. Huh. This was on Wednesday, giving myself some wiggle room just in case there was a problem, I asked if Thursday morning I could then exchange money. She said, she wouldn't know until Thursday morning when the central bank told them.

I quietly left the bank and headed down to the other end of the main street to a different bank. I didn't just fall off that turnip truck. I stood in line and when I got to the window I explained I wanted to exchange Belize dollars for US Dollars. Here the teller tells me that I can only exchange the dollars if I am leaving the country. Hooray, I have the right answer here, I am leaving the country. She again explains that I can only exchange the $250 USD amount and that I need my passport and my ticket to leave the country. Well wait, I tell her I don't have a ticket, I'm taking the ferry, and getting my ticket on the day I leave. Nope, sorry, gotta have a ticket and she proceeds to tell me that I can go to one of the tour operators on the sidewalk and buy my ticket today.

Breathe.

So I head down the sidewalk to the appropriate tour operator. Surprise! They are closed.

I decide I have a better idea.

I think a beer is in order. It is really hot and I am really tired and really really frustrated. I walk to the Pickled Parrot, and visited Eugene and Lynn and had a Belikin. I told Eugene my troubles and he asks how much money I'm trying to exchange. I tell him I want to get $400 USD and he says, wait a minute, goes inside and comes back out and hands me $400 USD in 20's. My savior. I drink two beers then head for home to finish packing.

I got all my belongings -- well almost all, a few items I just could not find a way to stuff into one of my suitcases but I could not bear to give up, and left with someone in Belize to be picked up later --  into three large suitcases. Friday morning my friend Cruz drove me and my luggage first to Above Grounds Coffee for my last cup and donut and then to the ferry, I buy  a ticket and they load my bags.

I'm off! At about 9:30 the ferry leaves Placencia, and after a 15 minute ride we stop in Independence where we wait for Immigration. The schedule says we leave Independence at 11. At about 10:45 the Immigration officer finally arrives and it takes about 45 minutes to stamp all the passports and collect the exit fee. Now we're off. It is a reasonably uneventful ferry ride to Puerto Cortes, Honduras but because we left so late I already know my chances of making the afternoon ferry in La Ceiba were somewhere between slim and none. But I knew I still didn't want to spend a night in San Pedro Sula and if I wanted to take a bus I would have to take a taxi to San Pedro Sula then a bus and wouldn't arrive in La Ceiba till rather late. My plan remained to take a taxi and make the trip as quickly as possible.

So the title of this post ... clearly things were not going as planned but there was a bright spot.

While on the ferry ride to Puerto Cortes I chatted with three people. One was a young woman from Australia on her "gap year" -- the year between high school and college. So I figure that likely made her 18 or maybe 19. How was she spending her gap year? She was spending seven months traveling, alone, through much of Central America and volunteering at different places. She had been in Guatemala for a month, volunteering with kids. She was in between assignments when we met, had spent some time in Caye Caulker in the north part of Belize and a couple days in Placencia, was on her way to Honduras where she would stay in Puerto Cortes a couple of days and hoped to get to the Copan Ruins, then would be headed to  Costa Rica where she would be volunteering for a few weeks. I kept looking at her with such awe. She was so self assured, confident but still a fun-loving young adult. Then I also looked at her as a mom, I don't know that I could have let my daughter go off alone to Central America with just an general idea of a plan but without family or friends for support in each different country she would visit.

The other two people I chatted with were a couple from Holland. He, Rogier, is in his final year of residency in Amsterdam as a Urologist/Surgeon. She, Kelly, was a nutritionist/dietitian but then went back to university and got her masters degree and now works in Senior Health Care Management. They just got married and are on an 11 week honeymoon. They traveled to Canada and Alaska, then to Isla Holbox in the Yucatan, then spent about 4 days near  San Ignacio in Belize. They were traveling to Utila. Turns out Rogier is a huge music festival fan and the weekend we arrived was Sun Jam and annual music festival held on one of the Cays off of Utila.

We decided that Rogier, Kelly and I would share a cab to La Ceiba. With the delay at Independence we didn't even arrive in Puerto Cortes until almost 3, then the half hour with Honduran Immigration and we got into a taxi about 3:30. Last ferry leaves La Ceiba at 4:30 and it was a 3.5 hour drive. But we were enjoying each other's company, Rogier speaks pretty good Spanish and we headed off. We decided if we could talk the cab driver into it we would stop somewhere that had wi-fi, on the way and choose a hotel from Trip Advisor. There was a minor problem in that we now were going to hit "rush hour" on the way which would delay us even more.

We stopped along the way at what really was a bar, we used the facilities but they had wi-fi and we found a hotel.We all planned to catch the early ferry, and were tired so we decided the three of us would share a room to save some money. We chose the Hotel Partenon. We finally arrived a bit after 8 p.m., had dinner at their outdoor restaurant next  to the pool and on the ocean. Not bad. A really nice and comfortable hotel, and our room included Breakfast in the morning.

Next morning started with a taxi ride to the Utila Princess the ferry to take us to the island. We arrive and there is a very long line waiting to buy tickets. We get in line. Interesting thing about Honduras; making things run more smoothly or more quickly is not really high on their priority list. They have one person selling tickets and for each ticket they must scan your passport as well. It is not necessarily a quick process. When we get to the window to buy our tickets we learn that the early ferry has already left because it was full. It is about 10:00 now and they said there would be another ferry very soon. So we sat to wait.

My new friends and travel companions, Rogier and Kelly

And we waited. They said the ferry would be there by noon, but noon came and went. The lady at the ticket window told me that there was a problem with the ferry in Utila and they had to fix it but it was now on the way. Finally about 2:00 p.m. the ferry arrived, we got on and headed to the island.

I got a tuk-tuk (taxi) from the ferry to Pirates Bay Inn where I got a lovely room and signed up for several days of diving. More about that in the next post.

Despite all the problems with trying to get from  Placencia to Utila, I was so thrilled to meet Rogier and Kelly and they were wonderful traveling companions and I hope we will stay in touch. I'm considering it all a positive experience. Not one I really want to repeat any time really soon, except the part about meeting new friends.

You almost can't get there from here ...

100 miles, as the crow flies.

That is how far Utila is from Placencia, Belize. So one would think getting there should not be that big a problem. One would be wrong.

When I met my friends in Honduras in June for our trip to Utila, I posted about my ferry/taxi/plane/ferry/bus/taxi/ferry/bus ride from Placencia to Utila and back again.  I made the trip that way partly for the adventure and partly to save a little money. I didn't save that much  money, but whatever.

Here I am, less than a week away from moving to Utila permanently and again I have to figure out how to get there. Add in that two weeks after I arrive I'm  heading to the U.S. for a shark diving trip that leaves out of West Palm Beach, Florida.

This time, I am still hoping to not spend too much money, but more importantly is trying to avoid overnights in places like San Pedro Sula (apologies to Hondurans who love their city).

Let me add that I have to take into account that I'm schlepping everything I own, once again, to another country. I really wanted to pare 4 suitcases down to two but that just isn't happening. Now I'm trying to be happy with three bags.

This is how it feels ...

So let's consider the options ....

Flying: There are no direct flights to Utila, so I have to fly either to Roatan or San Pedro Sula. But there are no direct flights from Placencia either place, that means first flying to Belize City then taking a flight from there to one of the Honduran cities. Because I'm moving  to Utila each of these flights would be one way, adding to the cost.

The other thing that I have to consider is baggage. Remember, these planes are like 12 seaters. The baggage regulations will allow two checked bags, the third bag they won't promise you can take, depends on if they have room,and then you pay extra baggage fees. If the plane went to my final destination that might be okay, I could just have my extra bag arrive on a later flight. But since the flight goes somewhere else, that means I either stay and wait for it or have to make a return trip to wherever to pick up my bags.

So we are back at the ferry idea. I can take the D-Express Ferry from Placencia to Puerto Cortes, Honduras. It only runs that route on Friday mornings. Then I could take a taxi to San Pedro Sula to the International Airport and fly to Utila. But they only fly on Saturdays .... we're back at an overnight in San Pedro Sula.

Okay, I can take the ferry from Placencia to Puerto Cortes and take a bus to La Ceiba then the ferry from La Ceiba to Utila. But wait, the bus would not get me to La Ceiba in time for the late afternoon ferry so that means an overnight in La Ceiba.

Again, I could suck it up and do an overnight but one, it adds cost, and two, I am dragging three huge suitcases and my backpack around.

So maybe it isn't quite this bad but ....

Am I sounding grumpy?

So here is what I've decided, the D-Express Ferry on Friday the 1st to Puerto Cortes, a taxi from Puerto Cortes to La Ceiba (about a 3.5-4 hour drive), and the afternoon ferry from La Ceiba to Utila. The taxi ride will be pricey but no more so I don't think than an airplane ride and I skip the overnight.

I finally felt like I had it figured out, but then I started trying to make reservations for my trip to the U.S. I had originally planned on a "multi-city" trip, Utila  to San Pedro Sula to West Palm Beach to Nashville to San Pedro Sula to Utila. When I need to be in West Palm Beach and when I can get to San Pedro Sula .... that just doesn't work without a couple of overnights. I've split it into two distinct trips ... and I'm leaving out of Roatan. Cheaper out of San Pedro Sula but my time and sanity are worth something. So it will be Roatan to Nashville, round trip. And then a separate trip Nashville to West Palm Beach round trip.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

It seems that with my plans finalized everything should be perfect. But Murphy's Law is always there, and there has been a tiny wrench thrown in for fun. The deal for Greg's house fell through last week. I've been trying to secure another rental and I have some promising leads which I'll  have to finalize when I arrive in Utila. I have set up staying at Pirates Bay Inn again for the first week I am there. My birthday gift to myself, a week of diving ... Welcome to Utila. Hopefully Greg will be able to find the perfect house, either the original deal can be tweaked and revived or a more perfect house will come on the market. My fingers and toes are crossed that he finds the perfect retirement home in Utila. Please send positive vibes, good thoughts, prayers, whatever it is you do for Greg to find the house he really wants and wants me to rent! (The last part was me being greedy, really let's just hope for Greg to find exactly what he really wants so he can retire and live the good life in the Caribbean.)

We did more than just diving in Utila

While one of the main reasons to visit Utila was to dive, we also did some other things as well. One thing we did plenty of was eat. And there are some good choices for food and I found them all to be reasonable in price. In fact a couple of the places that were recommended to us people commented were a little "pricey". I didn't find any restaurant I would consider pricey.

Of course I've already raved (and will continue to do so) about Christina, the cook at Pirates Bay Inn, she is wonderful. We also visited several bars and restaurants around the island including Foo King Wok, a great chinese restaurant. The portions are large so between four of us we shared two entrees and rice and i think someone ordered an appetizer. I think the entire dinner cost each person about 250 lempiras .. about $12.50, it may have been as much as $15.00 but still I considered it reasonable for the quality and quantity of food.

The chef at Foo King Wok also does Sushi Tuesday, where at Pirates Bay we were able to put our name on the list for sushi Tuesday evening. Choices were shrimp, tuna or vegetarian. I had vegetarian  and thought it was great! The others in our group tried both the tuna and the shrimp and were equally as happy.

We also went to Driftwood (some went twice), they had great food, we sat near the water and the special the night I went was Filet Mignon which I think cost about $15 USD. Really good food, again averaging about 250 to 300 lempiras per person including tip.

A couple of our group went to La Piccola, an Italian restaurant, and then we also visited Rehab a bar and restaurant and Skid Row Bar and Restaurant.

Overall I would say all of our experiences in bars and restaurants around the island were great and reasonably priced.

So, the other reason for Utila?

I have finally convinced some people that retirement is the way to go. Greg has seriously started to plan for 4-5 years down the road and decided he'd like to live somewhere tropical, hence Utila. The first few days we were there, Sandra and I tagged along with Greg and his realtor Brad to look at possible properties. Greg originally had his heart and mind set on a property known as Eco House which in the pictures looked lovely. After looking around though Greg finally decided on a house known as Bambu house, and put in an offer. His offer has been accepted and things are in the works, hopefully he'll be closing around the end of July.

I am fortunate enough to have Greg as one of my best friends and he has offered to let me rent his home in Utila, at least until he moves there permanently when he retires. I am so excited about what now will be the next chapter in my adventure, moving to Utila. As opposed to Placencia where the diving is very expensive and I've only really gotten in the water twice and cannot work, the diving in Utila is very reasonable and I may have the opportunity to teach there. At least I will get  many more opportunities to dive and to improve on my photo skills.

Here are a few shots of the house:

Front view of the house

Another view from the front

Large covered porch - lots of plans for this area

The living room, taken from the landing between the two bedrooms

The kitchen, outside that doorway is the dining area on an outdoor deck.

The house is lovely as is but Greg already has a few things he will be doing during his visits to improve the house and make it more his own. It is a 2 bedroom, one bath home with a small loft which will be an office area. It also comes with a detached studio apartment and the outside is lush with different trees and flowers. I think Greg plans to plant a banana and a lime tree. I'm excited to help him do those few projects and I will get to see him several times a year when he comes down to his house.

A very eventful and fun week came to a close. On Saturday the four of us took the 2:00 ferry from Utila to La Ceiba.

A comfortable and easy hour long ferry ride from the island back to the mainland. Once in La Ceiba we headed for the bus terminal to head back to San Pedro Sula. Kevin, the owner of Pirates Bay Inn had recommended a place to stay in San Pedro Sula, small apartments which he and his family considered safe with a restaurant on the property.

The bus was large and comfortable for the 3 hour ride, until about an hour into the ride when the driver turned on the air and the temperature in the bus was like a freezer. It probably was about 60 degrees or so, but after what has been months in tropical weather for me, it might as well have been -60 degrees. I froze. But we finally arrived in San Pedro Sula, the place we were staying had sent a car to pick us up.

The place we stayed was comfortable and easy. Our reservation included breakfast on Sunday morning, then we got a taxi for Sandra and Paula to head to the airport for their flight  home. Greg and I decided we certainly weren't going out and about in San Pedro Sula so it was a day of relaxing by the pool and taking it easy. Our relaxation was slightly disturbed when I was out on the porch of our room (to get the best internet signal) and I heard two gunshots.

I've had some experience hearing gunfire but I waited to see if I had mistaken the sound. A few minutes later there were two more. Over the next half our or so we heard a total of about 15 shots. The place we were staying is surrounded by a 10 foot concrete wall that is topped with four strands of electric wire and armed guards at the entrance gate. I saw staff members of the property while I heard gunshots and no one even blinked. It clearly was not concerning to any of them and they obviously felt safe inside the "compound".

It was just another reminder that for me and for anyone coming to visit, the safest thing to do is to fly into the international airport in San Pedro Sula and get a flight to the island. The ferry idea I used didn't really save me any money and forced me to have overnights in San Pedro Sula at both ends, not what I'd recommend. The island of Utila itself felt completely safe and I've spoken to several people who live there (expats from around the world) and everyone agrees it is a safe place to live and work.

While living there, it will be necessary to get some things from the mainland and from all that I've learned so far, anything I need can be gotten in La Ceiba and I can make it a day trip to there for whatever is needed.

So, the plan is I'm giving my 30 day notice at my current place and the first week of August I'm headed to Utila. I'm told the first week of August is one of the very best for Whalesharks in Utila, and I still have those baby turtles to see hatch around the 8th. Then I have a shark trip in the Bahamas the 15 through the 21st of August and a visit to Nashville after that. I should be back in Utila for the long hall at the end of August.

If you see Greg around be sure to congratulate him on his new home. My next job is to convince Greg that he should retire in closer to 2-3 years and make Utila his full time home.

Monday Greg and I took a taxi back to Puerto Cortes to take the D-Express ferry back to Placencia. And as is the way things happen the D-Express was not running, an engine had gone out and they could not make the trip on two engines. I at first thought we might get stuck in Honduras but as it happens there is another ferry that goes to Belize called the Starla. Problem is the Starla takes us to Dangriga, on the coast north of Placencia. It is a 3-3.5 hour ferry ride and then a 1-1.5 hour bus ride from Dangriga to Placencia.

Next post: Greg's visit to Placencia and Lobsterfest

Now That's What I'm Talking About

It doesn't take long for the four of us to settle in and relax a bit at Pirates Bay Inn. Within a couple hours our names are already on the boards for the two morning dives for the next six days. Boat arrives at the dock there at 7:00 a.m. and we are on our way to a dive site by 7:30.

The vibe in Utila is a great one. The island is 7 miles long by 2 miles wide and has about 17 different dive shops on it. It is a mixture of Hondurans, ex-pats from the US and Canada and a wide range of people from all over the world. Utila does a lot of dive training, people getting certified and at least as many becoming divemasters and dive instructors. Because it is cheap to live and dive in Utila it is a "backpackers" paradise.

For example, Pirates Bay Inn also owns Captain Morgan's Dive Centre. If you sign up to get  open water certified with Captain Morgan's you can get free lodging at Pirates Bay Inn. They have private rooms that when you're doing dive training are $29 USD per night, clean and safe and comfortable (add $10 per night if you insist on having air conditioning). They also have some dorm style rooms that you can stay in for free if training, if not training you can stay there for $7 per night.

7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning we get up and go to the bar/restaurant at the resort. Its really more of a bar, there are no dining tables and wait staff, but there are plenty of chairs around, bar stools at the bar and a couple picnic tables close by, and really good food.

Christina does the majority of the cooking and boy is she good at it. You can get the usual, eggs, bacon, toast type breakfast, or baleadas (a thick flour tortilla folded over some mashed black beans and other ingredients like eggs and bacon or sausage, cheese), but you could also get crepes, fresh fruit, homemade yogurt, french toast, cereal, and of course coffee, iced or hot even a latte or espresso drink, and fruit juices. I usually had either a baleada or scrambled eggs, bacon and a tortilla (homemade right there) and coffee and a bottle of water to take on the dive boat and it cost about 70 lempiras. Yep that is just over $3 US.

The dive boat was filled  every morning with about 14 divers, usually about 6 of us "fun divers" already certified, and the rest in various stages of training, either open water or advanced open water students and an instructor for each of those classes a divemaster or two to lead the fun divers and usually at least one if not two or three dive masters in training.

We regularly went north for the first dive site of the day and south for the second. It all had to do with the wind and the waves. Most of our dives consisted of the boat mooring in about 25-40 feet of water at the top of a wall. The wall often dropped off to close to 100 feet.

The dives were beautiful, we were fortunate to see a lot of see life including turtles, spotted eagle rays, lots of green moray eels and the usual cast of caribbean sea life. Surprisingly we saw no sharks  during the entire week. I'm not sure why the lack of sharks in this area.

Green Moray Eel in for a cleaning by Coral Banded Shrimp

Beautiful coral

Queen Angelfish

The Halliburton Wreck

Sea Turtle

Tarpon

Blue Tang

Of course my desire was to take photos. I assembled my camera gear, put fresh rechargable batteries in my strobes and checked to make niether my strobes or housing leaked. I jumped in the water on the first day and my strobes would not fire. I took a few pictures but was really frustrated as once I got past about 30 feet I got none of the beautiful colors of the reef or the sea life.

I thought maybe there was a problem with the batteries and left my camera on the boat for the second dive. When we returned to the resort I borrowed a charger from Sandra and charged more batteries. Second day I jumped in the water and got about 2 shots where one of the strobes fired then they both failed again. I was afraid my hopes of lots of photography opportunities were going to be dashed completely. That afternoon we checked out strobes and batteries, testing different batteries in each strobe. Finally, after a bit of futzing with the connectors on the cap of the battery compartment of the strobes I got them to work. May need to buy new caps (although I'm secretly hoping to find a way to upgrade my entire system actually but don't think my sparkling personality is paying for one and doubt I could find enough people who would want to donate to a "Go Fund Me" request).

I did try on the second day to change my attitude and rather than giving up and being upset about the equipment failure to try and work on my ability to take some good shots with just the ambient light. It is tough and I hate to lose the color, but just the change in attitude just made the diving better anyway. Overall I wasn't particularly happy with many of my photos from this trip but it serves as just a reminder that I have to just keep working on learning photography more, and taking lots of pictures .. only way I'll get better.

Chris a native Utilian from Pidgeon Cay, our divemaster, carried a spear with him on most dives and did his best to reduce the lionfish population, and Eitan an Israeli instructor on the boat with us on a majority of the days we dove also speared lots of lionfish. Greg finally got his chance to carry a spear and after a few misses early on he and Chris got a beautiful bunch of lionfish. On Sunday they brought their catch back to the Pirates Bay, cleaned the lionfish then lightly breaded them and fried them up for lunch and after a great haul on Thursday by Chris and Greg they brought them back cleaned them and Christina made Lionfish Ceviche.

Greg's first Utila lionfish kill.

Chris Howell, our divemaster with his and Greg's lionfish haul destined for ceviche.

On Wednesday we got the biggest treat. On  our way to the dive site we came upon a large pod of dolphins. Our Captain, Whitney stopped and we got to get in the water with snorkel gear and swim with them. It was so great to be in the water so close to these beautiful creatures. Then after getting back on the boat when we took of several of pod surfed the bow wake of our boat. I lay on the bow of the boat and took the video, when they would breach  I could have probably reached out and touched them they were so close. It just made my week perfect. I had hoped to upload the video here but that seems beyond my capabilities.

Also on Wednesday night Paula and I volunteered with Sea Shepherd to help in guarding the beach and the nests of turtle eggs and any turtles coming up on the beach to lay their eggs. Unfortunately there are still those who would come out and steal the turtle eggs to sell on the black market. At 7 p.m. we went to the BICA (Bay Islands Conservation Association) office, which also houses the new Sea Shepherd office and met with  Fernando, the coordinator of this program and Chel who would be the person actually logging research information about nests and eggs etc., as well as Haley, a visitor from Wales who like us just wanted to volunteer. We rode out on ATV's to a secluded beach set up a tarp with some sleeping bags laid out on it and started our watch. It consisted of every hour walking one half or the other of about 600 meters of beach, watching for signs of turtles coming up on the beach, signs of poachers, or signs of turtles returning to the sea.Then we returned to the base camp and slept until the next patrol, from 7 p.m. til about 4:30 a.m. We didn't get to see any new nests laid or turtles but Chel was kind enough to show us a nest of eggs which had been laid two nights before. We saw two or three eggs of what is likely about 200 eggs in the nest. The eggs stay in the nest for 52 days so my plan is to be there on August 8th to see those babies hatch and hopefully make their way back to the ocean.

Turtle Eggs in their nest.

All in all a great week of diving with great friends.

My dive buddies, L  to R: Greg, Paula, Sandra

Next post: The other part of the trip to Utila and returning to Placencia.