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Published: September 29th 2006
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Tour of the Dive Center...
Welcome to the Utila Dive Center! Saturday morning started at 5:30am when Chris got up to leave. He was heading back a day earlier because he had things he wanted to get down back at home. I didn't really have too hard of a time going back to sleep though so it wasn't so bad.
My day then continued with more theory stuff for diving. We were supposed to have finished it all the day before but were slowed down by the Czech guys not really understanding what was going on. Probably the language barrier. It was a tad bit frustrating, considering Tobi had planned to get through it faster so that I could do two extra fun dives in the afternoon that day. Oh well. It just meant I missed out on getting anything for free since I opted out of the free accomodations for the two extra dives that I now didn't have time for. Meh... was just excited to be diving. So we all passed our final written test. Just had the dives left to do.
Dive number 3 was probably the best dive of all. We got in the water, decended, and did more skills.
Part way through the skills,
Lounging Area
Relax on the porch of the shop Tobi shook his noise maker to get our attention and point out the giant turtle. It was so cool. I couldn't believe how big it actually was. Just like in Finding Nemo, I swear... lol.
We then came to the surface to do a few surface skills and there was this weird thing swimming around Vic's legs. I kept checking it out using my snorkel. It was this long, shark-fish looking thing. I later found out it's called a Ramora (see the picture) which is also called a "sucker" because it sucks on to larger animals and floats around on them. SO this thing was around Vic and then it decided to start coming around me. I was a little freaked out at first with this thing swimming in and out between my legs, tickling me with it's tail. I got used to the idea though and loved it. This thing then decided to stick itself to Tobi's tank and stayed there the ENTIRE dive. At one point Tobi even took off his equiptment under water and moved it around but it stayed there.
The dive was a good one. We saw a lot of the same things
Down the Steps and Out to the Dock
This is probably my favourite picture from the trip. It shows just what the atmosphere at the Dive Center was like... I miss it. we had the day before but also saw some cool things like this Ramora, the Turtle, and then a Spotted Eagle Ray right at the end of the dive. SO COOL! Diving is a whole new world. I know I can't shut up about it, but I can't say it enough. Just thinking about it makes me wanna do it even more.
At the end of the dive the Ramora was still with us so Kari (having finished her fun dive) jumped in the water with her snorkel to check it out. It was swimming around her too. Definately an interesting fish who is not afraid of getting close.
Dive #4 wasn't as cool as #3 but still a dive so still super cool. It was actually really nice because we swam in between a lot of the coral this time. It was like maze walls and we'd swim between them. It was really pretty. Tobi was trying SO hard to find a seahorse for us but it was no luck.
When we surfaced, I screamed a lot of times. I was so pumped to be certified. It was now official. I had finished my course requirements
The Bar
I love that the Dive Center has it's own bar. So great! and was open water certified!!!
We got back to the Dive Center and Kari and I were planning on going to get a milkshake to celebrate my certification but printing out my temporary diving license was taking too long. Tobi couldn't find me in the system. After about 45 minutes, we realised my name was registered as Sarah Willeft and with the birthday September 10th. He printed this for me anyways and assured me he would e-mail PADI right away and let them know of the changes before they mailed me my certification card. I got a picture with Syril and then Tobi and thanked Tobi for everything. He told me I should come back at New Years, as it's always a good party and awesome diving. I'm seriously considering it. I definately wanna go back there before the end of the year since it's the cheapest in the world and I would love to get my advanced certification before I head home.
I went back to the hotel to meet up with the others and head for dinner. It felt so weird. This amazing thing had just happened to me and I was so excited about it
Hut
Richard catching up on some reading of his textbook, even though he already passed all the tests and is certified. but couldn't explain it or talk about it with any of them. Chris wasn't around anymore and I just didn't know how to express it to the others. I did call home though to talk to my mom about it. After we got ready and headed out to dinner, Jill and Nadia went into the restaurant to get a table, Jenna and Julie went to pick up jewellery from Jade Seahorse, and I called home from an internet cafe. It was nice to talk to my mom. Even though she wasn't there, I knew she was sharing in my excitement of getting certified. It just felt nice to hear the words "congratulations" because it felt like a really big deal.
Dinner was interesting. The restaurant had shoes on the ceiling and had some guys playing live music. It was different and kinda cool. The food wasn't bad either. After that we head to Tranquila. We got some drinks and stood around talking. I felt so tired but really wanted to celebrate. We did a little bit of dancing, met a guy who was obsessed with Canada, and then ran into Kari. Kari was chatting with some guy who taught
Dock
Long dock where two dive boats are usually parked next to it on either side. at a school in La Ceiba I think. We actually then met a woman that he works with who said she was from "Near Toronto". This is what we all say. I asked her where though. Turns out she's from Kitchener Waterloo. I couldn't believe it. We had a nice litle bonding moment where we talked about Victoria Park and Oktoberfest... lol. Definately a cool moment. We then head over to Coco Locos (right next door) for a short while. Then Jenna, Julie, and I went to Pirate which was a bar up in a building that looks like a lighthouse. I didn't stay too long though. I was super tired. I guess an afternoon of diving will do that to you. I also knew we had to get up REALLY early to leave the next morning and know how well I DON'T do on no sleep.
Great Day!
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anonymous
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Congrats!!!
Congradulations Sar!!!! I am so jeleous, I have always wanted to try diving and even almost did once in this crazy scuba pool near my house... good thing i didn't cause I dont think it would be the same. I love hearing about all your adventures and I miss you SO much!! Sans