Blogs from Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, Central America Caribbean

So, after 3 weeks of volunteering, I finally moved out of the BICA visitor centre and into a dorm down at Altons. Except.... well, Hannah by this time was sick of her cramped dorm room down at her dive shop, and had moved into an air-conditioned twin room at Underwater Vision, complete with an ensuite bathroom and hot water. So naturally, my dorm room at Altons became a storage facility, and I spent most nights at her place, enjoying being cosy at night, rather than sticky. I moved out on Tuesday, and my PADI open water dive course started the following day. In between watching videos and reading my textbook, I spent most of the time sat on the dock at Altons and swimming in the sea. On Thursday, my dive group collectively decided that we´d ... read more

“Make voyages! Attempt them… there’s nothing else” Tennessee Williams. The idyll of Belize seems a lot time ago now. We are now in Nicaragua, on the Pacific Coast where the ocean waves thunder down onto the black sands, enraged and tumultuous. Woe betide any surfer who wipes out in these foaming tempestuous waters. Leaving Tobacco Caye, the waters of the Caribbean were pretty turbulent. A Westerley wind had picked up shaking the coconut palms and causing waves to break on the peaceful side of the island. Munch, our boat captain was prepared to take us (hope he wasn’t stoned) back to the mainland and we navigated the crossing back to Dandriga in his little plastic boat bouncing and vaulting the swell. Reaching dry land was a relief as I don’t think our backs and butts could ... read more

I get it now… I understand where to meet the travelling female. I understand now the better way to innocently communicate. For years I’ve been slugging it out on the cheap shitty local buses getting to know the local way of life all the while missing that elusive single travelling female. The rarity of seeing a young, attractive, good personality single travelling female has been limited for the 4 and a half years of on and off travelling in the past 9. As JP5 comes to a close I realised that I should have mixed it up a bit, especially in Central America. I should have taken more of the tourist shuttles to get from A to B. I learnt this when my sister and David joined up with me and we took the tourist shuttle ... read more

After a long bus ride - Managua > Tegucigalpa > La Ceiba - we were truly exhausted. Why you might ask-after all the bus seats recline, but I'd be tired whether I slept or not. If I tried I might be able to sleep...but then imagine what I'd miss as we made our way through the country, even when it is dark there are thngs to see! We had stopped for the night in Managua and made our way through the immediate area around the bus station (read 'sketchy') to a family run guest house we had heard about and after cleaning up we headed out to find a place to get a beer and a bite. Isn't it curious how one always finds the energy to 1) find a local drinking establishment, and 2) have ... read more

Rain greeted us as we arrived in La Ceiba port, which was our gateway to the Bay Islands. We were warned that rain would be very much a part of our stay here at this time of year, and since it was rainy season, this wasn’t shocking news, but we took the positives, and figured at least it wasn’t cold when it rained here. We decided that out of the three Bay islands Utila would be the best choice for us, as it is the island generally frequented by backpackers like ourselves for the main purpose of diving. The reason most backpackers come here to dive, is because it is rumoured to be the cheapest place to dive in the world….. a statement I have no back-up for, however it is pretty damn cheap compared with ... read more

Coming at you from the Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras! It's seriously nice here, we arrived with the catamaran from Roatan, wich was total shit, just local wangsters selling weed and coke. Utila on the other hand is very chilled out, inhabited by pirate decendants that speak Pirish ;), an english/jamaican mix. And not forgetting the population of divers from all over the world, because Utila is known as a diving heaven. We started the PADI.Open Water Diver course and finished it after 3 days of theory and 4 dives, 2 to 12 and 2 to 18metres. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed it, diving is cool as shit! Tomorrow we go solo on our two free dives as certified divers, and we have a party and barbeque waiting for us on the island together with Parrot's Dive ... read more

It's official...we passed our final exam and all our dives so Amy and I are certified to dive. Technically the two of us could purchase gear and go out and dive together just us two but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. We hope to try some diving in other countries on our trip and it is a lifetime diving certificate so we can dive for years to come. I was surprised at how difficult/technical diving is compared to how I envisioned it. It isn't that diving is actually difficult, but it takes some skills and getting used to. At first I thoguht it was just breathing out of a regulator and smimming under water...far from it. You completely control your movement with your breathing and your legs are used to just push you ... read more