SunJam 2008 and Multiple Other Shinanigans on Utila

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8 Times going back to the little island of Utila and it still gets better every time. Mostly because we had a great group of guys that gave it all we had for a hell of a week that seemed like an eternity. Usually I remember vacations going by fast but we jam packed so much in to everyday I think we tricked our brains into thinking we were there a lot longer then we were. That just means I can lay low for a few weeks in Rochester. Not like there’s anything that comes close to these traveling experiences anyways.
So it all started as I met with my good friend and ex Ohio State teammate Paul Turc down in Atlanta. Lucky for him the flight was delayed or he would have missed it. The flights down went pretty smooth with the exception of the guy in the seat behind me was sleeping with his head against my seat and pushing with all his might when I tried to lay the seat back. It was really weird because we were both pushing, but no one said a word. By the end of the trip I was ready to knock this guy out, but I restrained myself. So we were kind of cutting things a little tight and knew we had to get to the ferry over to Utila by around 3. We got there at 330 and it was sold out. This meant a full day on the mainland twiddling our thumbs and I wasn’t so keen on this. Turc told me to go find the head guy and pay him off, no matter what it took. So I went looking and all the doors in the office were closed. Then I saw the door open and I jumped in the office to negotiate. Turns out we didn’t have to pay anymore and I didn’t even have to BS around with the guy. We were on.
Now last year we had a pretty bad experience on this boat at there was 6 ft rollers and over half the boat seemed to puke. I was on the verge, but held it together. This ride seemed to be the same, but wasn’t as rough. I got a little woozy, but nothing serious. After about an hour we were on Utila and my buddy Alton and Dougy were waiting in Alton’s boat by the ferry dock. Its party time…
The first night was pretty low key. We just hung out at Alton’s dive shop and met a few girls from Cali, who we set up to go out in the boat the next day. We got up pretty early on Mon. and the weather was calm so we thought it would be a good time to go out fishing. After a 6-mile ride we stopped on a coral mound, which was 140 ft, deep and cut up some big Bonita and slapped them on the hook. They don’t use rods down here, which was a new experience for me. Just a line and a hook. I was hoping to go head to head with a monster, but that never happened. We caught 3 nice snapper, and had a big barracuda up to the boat. By this point Turc was getting a little sick and ready to let something fierce loose so se headed to the Keys to relax and have some beverages on the sand bar. 3 hours and “fire engine red” back later we headed in.
By the time we got back the wind was rolling and I was pumped to get my kite surfing gear out. When Doug dropped me off I told him if at any point you see my 100 yards off shore you will have to pick me up across the bay. We it only took a few minutes to get out there and before I knew it Alton had the boat out waiting for me to need a lift. I had a good session with exception the time I fell in the middle of the reef surrounded by coral. I only cut my hands up a little in this, but it could have been a lot worse as that stuff is like razor blade. The boys picked me up after an hour and exaggerated how they rescued me from certain disaster. Yeah right….
When we got back we set up a golf cart rental for the week and moved down into our place, which was on the other end of the bay. The road in town was closed so we had to take the long way through the bush. The only problem was there was no light on the cart. At first things went well as Alton lit the way with his motorcycle, but then just as we were getting onto the main road BOOM…. Right into a 3 ft pothole I went. We pushed it out and nothing seemed to be broken, but of course the cart wouldn’t move. After throwing our stuff into the room I went to find the owner of the cart and prayed nothing was wrong. Lucky for me a battery terminal just came loose and we were back in business, or so I thought. When he brought the cart back he reminded me to make sure I bring the charger inside as it costs like 600 bucks. I was like yeah no problem, but probably wasn’t listening to the $600 part, because later that night at the bar as I came out to head home and…No Charger.
So all morning I was pretty worked up over this loss and things weren’t getting better. First we missed the boat as Alton took off with his Wife’s cousin around 830 and we got there at 835, then after thinking that I can get this charger for around 100 in the states I felt reality hit me in the face after I called dealer after dealer and the prices were 550 and up. Just Great. I was pissed, but I want going to let this affect the trip so I blew it off and went on with my day. The wind was blowing again so I gave Kite surfing another try as Turc took the Cali girls snorkeling. When we got done Alton was back and we missed two Whale Sharks on that trip. I was pissed. These fish get up to 70ft and you can jump in with snorkel gear and get within feet. Alton said not to worry we would see another, but I doubted him. The good new was they arrested a guy who took the charger, but he is denying it and won’t tell them where it is. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed hoping this Honduran interrogation works out. They said they would cut one of his fingers off if they have too. Just kidding.
Tues night was a good one as hit up Treetanic and then chilled on the Ocean in Coco Loco. Lots of girls we knew around this night and I even did a little salsa dancing with a Salvador girl who I eventually dropped with to the ground after attempting an advanced salsa move, but with no injuries to either party. I’m really not clumsy…I had sandals on…
The next morning we were right on time for the boat, rounded up a few girls that were coming with and we were off in search of the whale shark. A rough ride for 2 hours and we ended up with…nothing. Well at least we had beers and snorkeling gear as we set of for the keys to relax a bit. One drink turned into a bunch and we were all a little tipsy on the ride home. We smoked a huge wave and all the sudden there was blood all over Alton. He gashed his eye up pretty good, and he looked like a mess. When we got back we were all pretty excited because the famed Alex Rust and his friend Ross were set to be on the island. As I was driving to see if Alton was going to the hospital, here is Rust on a dirt bike driving down the road. My first inclination was he stole it, because people don’t just lend you there bikes on Utila, but it was Rust and as I’ve learned before with this guy anything is possible. So he tells me some guy lent him the bike and he’s at the airport waiting to get picked up. We grabbed his stuff and met Alton down at Dr John’s office just in the knick of time to see this unique doctor in action. Now I could write a book on Dr John. He is probably one of the most smart and interesting people you could meet. Without saying more, just watch him on my video from this trip and you’ll see what I mean. Now as you can imagine Alton’s wife was a little upset at this point and she pretty much shut him down of anymore shenanigans for the rest of the week, but we still had all the boys 5 strong now and the dynamics of this trip were set to change fast.
That night there was a pre sun jam party at Bar in the Bush, which is really a Bar way back in the middle of the bush. We were pregaming at Treetanic, when I got to the point I couldn’t even see straight and was falling asleep every ten minutes. I told the boys I was going to take a little nap and would catch up later, but of course that never happened. They had a great night, and so did I. After giving err hell for the first 3 days I needed a break as the best part of the week was still to come.
On thru morning the plan was to go diving and then look for Whale Sharks again. This plan took a turn for the worst as we found out all the dive shops were booked and we couldn’t get any gear from anywhere. This sucked, but I was determined so we went to all dive shops and between 3 of them got enough to get us in the water. The dive was pretty normal with the exception of the sea turtle we saw that was eating on the coral right in front of us and how Alex turned into the most calm panicked diver we have ever seen. The moment we got out of the water another boat captain signaled that there was a Whale shark to the North. We wanted to go right after it, but we had gear that had to be back by noon so we headed quick and we were right back on it. Within minutes of our search we spotted birds, which signal that there is a bait ball below and probably a Whale Shark. As we got close we suddenly saw the 30 ft black shadow just feet under the surface and as Alton brought the boat into position we were all in on him. This is my second experience getting in with one of these magnificent creatures, but it never gets old. It was truly amazing. As soon as he dove down we got out or the water quick and relocated him for one more encounter. This time Alex was so pumped it seemed he was jumping right onto the things back. He said by the time his goggles cleared he was a few feet away. Now this day was starting out to be unreal with the exception that both my new video camera and digital camera were shot. I guess I took them a little too deep in the water. At this point I am really feeling that I am a pro at burning money. That was until Alton got a call and they got my charger back. Turns out that the initial crack head wouldn’t day anything so they paid another crack head 20 bucks to go steal it back. Now that is creativity. The police in the US should try those tactics more often.
Now today was a special day for other reasons. It was thong day for Utila and the island had no idea what was going to grace its streets within a few hours. We got back to the room and all 5 of us changed into our American flag thongs with the exception of Dougy who had more of a rainbow brute thong. Our hotel balcony was right off the public beach so as we left the rooms all eyes were on us. We first took a walk through the beach to take some pictures with our fans and then we headed for the dive shop. I can honestly tell you that though I admit it is strange to wear these for fun, it is a complete blast when you have a good group of guys and everyone loves it. Well mostly everyone. We made some rounds through town, jumped off the town bridge, and then went to Alton’s dive shop to catch the Booze cruise. The booze cruise was pretty low key with way to many guys for our liking so we bailed early and headed to the bars. This was a crazy night with many circumstances I can’t discuss, but well leave it at that. We hung with Dr John for a lot of the night as he gave me wisdom on hitting on chicks and not playing games, which I actually got drunk enough to try on a gorgeous red head, but I failed miserably. Im back to playing games again for sure. When we left the first bar a fight started to break out in the street with Dr John and the crack head they put in jail for my charger. Small island huh. We broke it up as threats were made both ways. Alex was so fired up to protect Dr John that he almost knocked the crack head out himself. He should of because it would have been a much better story. We got home around 4 in the morning and had no reason to get up early as Friday night was Sun jam and we needed rest for this all night gong show that was in our sights.
After sleeping late and getting a bite to eat it was almost time to head down to Sun jam. Now Sun jam is a huge Rave style party in which they have this big set up on an uninhabited island. It starts around sundown and ends at like 10 in the morning. Just imagine how crazy it gets and times that by 4 and your probably getting close. When we got there we set up a couple tents for naps and making out, and headed to the party. It was a long crazy night as we mostly split up and got into our own events throughout the night. It was fun to run into the guys every couple hours and relay our stories back and forth. There is truly nothing better then sharing experiences like this with good buddies. At some point in the night I found my self in a cuddle puddle with 6 girls and two guys watching some British girls do a Bryan Adams dance routine to summer of 69, and I found out later that ants were biting my back by the hundreds, but I was to out of it to realize this at the time or course. Now I’m sure this seems like a strange trail of events, but this is the norm on Sun Jam. The only negative I can say is I’m not a big fan of rave music and if I didn’t hear any of that music for the rest of my life Id be cool with it. Now of course the night could not be complete without Alex busting out the thong for a while as we got up on stage. The crowd loved every minute of it. At least the ones that were not to high to recognize, which was most. As the sun came up it was sad to see another Sun jam come and go, but I was ready to get some real sleep. Alton came and picked us up and we were all passed out and in bed through most of the day.
The last night we hit the after party at bar in the bush, but my 1 in the morning I had enough of the rave music for one lifetime and headed home. We got up at 445 to find Alton knocking at our door to wish us farewell and around the same time Rust comes back from the bar with 3 new friends. I guess he told them he would give them a ride in our charter boat, which made me nervous as the boat I saw waiting on the dock could barely hold us 4 let a lone 7. Luckily a big boat came and we had a smooth ride back to the mainland and a smooth trip home.
I can’t help but reflect on my experiences I through travel in the last couple years. They have been nothing short of amazing. I have been so lucky to have the friends I do that make these trips so special. “Happiness is only real when shared” A great quote that is so true. The people are what make theses experiences so great. It’s kind of depressing to be done with such a great week. At times I almost wish it was never ending, but then again I wouldn’t ever have anything to look forward too then.

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Photos

Snapper TIme
We caught these doing what they call hand lining. Just a hook and line and a huge chunk of fish. Lucky they were not or getting them up would be tough

Hanging out
Not a bad spot to hang out and have a couple beverages

Stitches
The is the Mayor getting stiches after he hit his head on a rough boat ride. Poor Alton

Aerial View
The biggest of these keys is where Sun Jam was held