Utila to Jewel Cay


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Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Utila
February 23rd 2011
Published: March 3rd 2011
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Up at the crack of dawn to start our diving adventure!! Sooo excited! Especially to leave the Bavaria. Adios!
We packed up & headed out. Of course we bought a Baleada for breakfast from a woman on the street with her makeshift stand. It's what people do for breakfast & I love it.

We arrived at the shop & waited for it to open. Once Naja, our dive instructor showed up, we found out that we actually won't dive until the afternoon. But we are still heading over to Jewel Cay this morning. We got on the boat & headed west. Jewel Cay is on the southwest end of Utila. It's so beautiful out here. The water is so many wonderful shades of blue & so clear. Thankfully today there aren't any clouds, although it is a bit windy. But it is soooo hot! Love it!

Once we arrived to the Cay we were arranged into where we were all staying. The main hotel is a big house that has a huge common room in the middle with rooms around the edges. There's a little shared kitchen that I am excited to use. We were escorted to the other hotel (Kayla 2) where they put the couples. 😊 Mike & Liz are our neighbors. The room is super cute (there's even a dresser so I can move in) & set in the middle of this teeny tiny town. There aren't any cars here & so far I've seen one bicycle. It is so sweet! The Cay is tiny. The entire length of the Cay is about 1/4 mile & wide enough for houses on both sides of the walking street. I'm in love with it!

After settling in we headed to the main hotel, Kayla, & sat around & were very lazy in the sun on their wonderful dock. The dock is set over a shallow reef that quickly drops off & there are so many fish just swimming around it. Heaven!

We met one of the dive masters, Angel, who helped us get our gear set up & ready to go. Their gear is by far the best we have used & it is really nice to have good gear I've come to realize. The boat arrived & dropped off the morning divers & we were on our way! Yippee!! The first skill of our PADI Advanced Openwater Diver is a deep dive at West End dive site. It was so fun! Naja had a few games prepared for us to show us how nitrogen narcosis really affects you at depths above 30 meters. On the boat she handed us a board with numbers from 1-20 randomly written on it & we had to touch the numbers, then touch our nose, counting backwards. She timed each of us to compare our time underwater. That was an eye opener into how much the depth affects your brain. It took both Geoff & I 12 seconds on deck & 26 seconds underwater. When I was counting there were moments where I couldn't quickly remember which number was next & when I did it would take so long to find it on the board. We all at least doubled our time. You really do feel kinda drunk at those depths. We were at 110 feet when we were doing this game. Naja also brought an egg down & cracked it open to show us how the yolk stays together & floats around. It was entertaining. The rest of the dive was fun. The coral here is incredible & the quantity of fish is intense. I am so happy to be back in the water again! We saw two of the biggest green moray eels yet. They were jumbo sized. Actually all the fish we saw were super sized. Yeah!

Our second dive was at a site called Don Quickset & our skill was compass navigation. We had to show we could use a compass & swim in a square & she had us find our way back to the boat without helping us. We all did just fine & made it back. The visibility was pretty good & again the coral & the fish were beautiful. The coral & sponges are not as big as in Belize but the fish are bigger & the colors of the coral are more varied.

We got back on the boat & shared stories with everyone. It's always fun talking about what you just saw with everyone else. Also, Mike & Liz are both biologists & are super well versed in sea life so it is really cool having them around. I'll describe a fish or coral or sponge I saw & they will tell me the name of it! I love it & want to dive with them forever! They both taught marine life classes to kids in the Florida Keys & really know their stuff.

Now that we have dove so much it's so fun to fell more confident about our skills & really take in the fine detail of the life in the reef rather than just the bigger picture. I'm so excited to keep diving!!

Back on our quiet little Cay we bought some beers & filled up Gary with ice & then all headed out to dinner at the Fish House with our little travel unit. It's a little restaurant that has a rooftop deck. We had fish burgers & fries & beers & talked about our day. It was a lovely end to a super fun return to diving. We all headed back to the dock at Kayla & star gazed. The wind was blowing really hard but the stars were incredible! We could see the Milky Way & Orion looked like he really was shooting the bull (Taurus) who was chasing the sisters of Pleadis (all taught to us by Liz). I love star gazing. Especially in the middle of the ocean with very few city lights. So incredible.

Back to our room & our very very comfortable bed & a good nights sleep. It is ridiculously quiet here. No dogs barking, no morning wake up call from the roosters.... joys!



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