We set up in an apartment/small house owned by a wonderful lady named Fern. Sean has stayed at her properties during his previous visits, so we were able to land the "friend discount"...$6/night per person...I'd say that's a pretty reasonable price for a fully furnished place!
My first Honduran food experience: the baleada. Beans, lettuce, tomato, egg, onion, chicken, parmesean, and "special sauce" (which made the meal!!)..spread onto a tortilla, folded in half and cooked ($3). It sounds basic enough...but the pure deliciousness of this food lead me back to it every other day for 3 weeks. And when we weren't eating baleadas, there was no shortage of restauraunts and street stands.
We had pizza from Pizza Nut:
Crepes from the French crepe guy:
A steak dinner for Sean's birthday:
And of course...
But my absolute FAVORITE part of this island....
SCUBA diving! I've wanted to get my SCUBA certification for...pshhh...a long time. Now, on the one of the worlds largest coral reefs, I would take the plunge into the deep(ish) blue. I went to Utila Dive Center (UDC) where Sean did his dive master a few years back. The dive mantra: kill only time, take only memories, leave only bubles. The "dry class" was easy...watch videos, fill out chapter reviews, take chapter quizzes and one final exam. But the underwater class was nothing short of amazing! The instructors, Stacey and Thérèse, did a fantastic job explaining all of the hand signs and skills before we got into the water. Once we were underwater, they went through each skill before testing us, one by one. It was such a cool and calm environment. I mean...we were UNDERWATER. Ahh...I love it!! So I completed my open water, diving at sites with a small ship wreck, coral walls, swim throughs, and fish. Tons of fish. A hawksbill sea turtle!! Sting rays. Morrays. SHARKS (just kidding). But, the water was warm and the visibility was great!
I loved it so much, that I went on (along with 2 other classmates) to complete my advanced open water. This required 5 aditional dives: deep (we went to a larger shipwreck...100 ft down), buoyancy (helps you learn to control your body more), navigation (underwater with a compass=seriously fun), drift diving (diving in a current is ultimately lazy..the boat drops you at one point and picks you up down the way), and night diving (that. was. awesome!). Along with the purchase of my courses, I got 4 free dives...one of those was on the north side of the island. These sites were even more stunning (is that possible??)! In addition to the awesomeness...many times (with a bit of a tip for their troubles) the boat captain will take everyone out to look for (and snorkle with) whale sharks or dolphins. We had reports of a whale shark after my very first dive...the captain was awesome enough to locate it...but I barely missed seeing it!
Anyways. I have a new found passion...and I can't wait to dive at sites around the world! But...back to Utila. We spent some time at UDC, jumping off the top level of the dock and swimming around.
And snorkling off the coast...That was pretty amazing! We walked in from a small private mini-dock, making our way out to the coral. This was what it looked like along the way...
And this is what it looked like when we got there...
an angel fish...
a trumpet fish...
I could carry on with these pictures all day, but I'm sure you have better things to do. But, I love the water, and that's that!
Utila is a beautiful place. Aside from the 2 main island activities (drinking and diving), there are fresh water caves, an iguana station, botanical gardens, a small beach, and hiking to pumpkin hill (the only hill on the island-providing amazing panoramic views). I look forward to returning!
~Jac
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