Diving in Utila

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The Bay Islands off the Caribbean coast of Honduras are famous for the quality and the price of their diving. Another new experience for me waited there. Scuba diving. To get to this wonderous new experience I had to negotiate the bus companies of Honduras. The 7am bus took me in relative comfort to San Pedro Sula, the second city of Honduras. After around 50 Limpiras (£2) and a 3hr journey I arrived in one of San Pedros bus stations. My one task for the city was to withdraw enough Limpiras to cover my diving course and keep me fed and sheltered for the same number of days.

This is the first significant section of my journey were I have been totally on my own. This made the task a lot more difficult than it could have been, usually with two people one stays with the bagage and the other accomplishes the task. I had to wander around the city looking for the bank section, asking the armed guards if the automaticas accepted visa (which most of them didn’t) with all 30kgs of my stuff strapped to me. After an exhausting hour of searching I found one cash machine that accepted visa, just off the central park. Unfortunately it was being serviced between the hours of 10am and 2pm, no money. I changed my remaining Quetzals in the central park at a loss of about 5%, it should cover the food and shelter section of trip. I hope the dive shops accept visa for the courses.

Another cheap and this time comfortable bus journey to a town called La Cieba was my next mode of transport. Arriving at about 2pm in La Cieba I was once again accosted by many taxi drivers, I wanted to go to the airport, and catch a small plane to Utila. One of the drivers said that this was not possible as there were no planes in the afternoon. Fortunately one of the other drivers said that this was a load of crap and so I took his cab to the airport. Instead of no planes, there were many, I’m not sure what times they start and finish but between the hours of 3pm and 4pm there were 3 planes that I could have caught.

The plane to Utila is the smallest plane I have ever been on. With only 16 seats and 4 passengers. One of the passengers Karen was a dive instructor on the island with Utila water sports. She had returned from hospital on the mainland with a cracked rib, a random punching by some crazed local on the streets of Utila. She told me about several other incidents that had occurred over the last few months. Utila seems really relaxed but at night there are enough crazy men to spoil the place and mean that you have to be quite wary.

Karen kindly put me up at her dive centres accommodation for the night, and met up for a drink later in the evening. She wanted to be back in the water instructing the next day, I would have signed up but worried that a cracked rib is not the kind of thing to be having whilst underwater breathing through a hose.

The locals on Utila speak a mix of English and Spanish which is indecipherable to speakers of either or both languages. Hay man, por que is the point of tu doin? - is kind of how they speak to one another.

Walking back to my accommodation I wander through a small riot. Half the town didn’t have electricity and had been told that they wouldn’t have for the next week. The other half of the town, the part where the mayor lives was fine. Apparently some reason had been given for this but the townsfolk weren’t having any of it and were letting the mayor know this. During the evening the police calmed the situation by firing guns into the air. The townsfolk went home, but several were arrested.

In the morning I selected a diving course, based mainly on the fact that I could head out to one of the smaller islands and be based there for the duration. Pigeon Cay, a tiny Island, with a population of 1200, how they all fit here is beyond me. The dive school was Captain Morgan’s and despite a slow start to my PADI open water diving course I’m now, 4 days later certified. I can now dive fun dives up to 18m deep all around the world, which is kind of cool since that’s where I’m going.

In my dives I saw, Baracuda, Angel Fish, Lobsters, Shrimps, lots of coral, crabs and lots of other cool stuff. Haven’t drowned, or had any difficult experiences. Dan my instructor from Grays Essex hasn’t been home for 3 years and has spent the 7 months diving with sharks off the Galapagos Islands. I can see why he hasn’t been home, diving is a nice way to make a living. Currently I’m considering taking my advanced diving course which would allow me to dive up to 30m deep instead of my current 18m. I’ll decide in the morning.

Ok ... I decided, I stayed and did the advanced diving course. Diving is one of the most wonderful things I have done. Its like being part of your very own wildlife TV program, there is just so much life to see on coral reefs.

Anyways, after 10 days with out internet access I have returned to Guatemala and am updating things now. Sorry to anyone who worried where I was, Pigeon Cay didn't even have telephones let alone internet access.

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Added 18th November 2002

You have been sent a message from Charis;
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Hey Ali,
I just stumbled accross your site looking for stuff on Utila. I live in New Orleans, but Utila is HOME. It was so funny to read the impressions we (the Utila natives) leave on visitors. I wasn't home for the riot, but I couldn't help but laugh at your description of it. Well, I hope you enjoyed your stay.
p.s. The real Utila (not spanish) islanders would speak like "Hay, man, wa you doowin dat fur" 😊
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