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Published: November 8th 2006
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What a wonderful week! As usual, could always be longer.
The Bay Islands are great - lots of eye candy, lovely people to hang out with, hot but breezy so a perfect combination.. not to mention the myriad of hammocks to chill out in, funky bars, cosy BBQ restaurants with top nosh, and THE DIVING! Enjoyed various bar nights (although
obviously not drinking too much as alcohol, boats, early mornings and diving don't really mix) at the Treetanic bar (see photo) with Elisa. Also called Jade Seahorse after the restaurant beneath it, it is a sensory overload of colour, shapes, tunnels, pagodas, tree houses, every size and shape of light, tinkling windchimes... fab fab fab.
The other weird anomaly is the language - the islanders speak a kind of criolle mix datign back from the British pirates which used the island as their base, crossed with french and caribbean-african patois from slaves who made their way down the coast. Spanish is almost the third language after this and english. Very weird to see someone who looks like they would be more at home in a north carolina trailer park coming out with a rich rasta dialect!
I went
for a PADI Wreck Speciality course with my fantastic female instructor Tatiana from Underwater Vision. She was a petite Brazilian vision of big sunglasses, tiny skirts, the most gorgeous smile, bizarrely daughter of an ambassador, very thorough, and the biggest heart and enthusiasm. She lent me a great book on the treasure hunt for the Antioch, lead ship of a flotilla of Spanish armada ships which went down off the coast of Florida with gold and silver ingots, not to mention a myriad of other finds of value and historial interest. It took decades for it to be found, and bizarrely has since resurfaced in my travels at the Money Museum in PotosÃ, Bolivia since the silver was from there. There is a silver ingot and a replica of the ship in the neumismatic display... surreal connection to these earlier travels.
We spent one day in the classroom and on reel technique (you always use a reel when penetrating wrecks so if you kick up silt and viz drops you can get back out, minotaur maze style), another day diving the large cargo ship at 30 metres which was my target, drawing maps and measuring the site (and saying
hello to the very large wrasse sitting underneath the hull!), as well as practising reel technique on a smaller wreck in shallower water. The final day was the penetration itself. We went in through a funnel on the 2nd level and had to swim down two further levels to the cargo hold beneath then return. Was fun although I didn't really have time to be worried as was concentrating so hard. I didn't mind the confined space at all but I did have to keep my calm as I negotiated around floating bits of insulation and hanging wires.
Had a great day diving where we visited Pigeon Cay between dives and had the best fish burger ever... is quite surreal pattering down the boardwalk barefoot with your swimming cozzie on and not much else to eat lunch in a clapboard bar. Unfortunately didn't get to Black Hills or Aquarium, both of which I had heard were amazing.
To see some of the amazing sealife at Utila take a look at my friend Helena's blog... http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Honduras/Bay-Islands/Utila/blog-82465.html
I met some fantastic people on this part of the trip... so nice to hang out with them. Apart from Elisa I met lawyers and fellow Brits Helen and Leah, Brit turned American Rich and his mate Dom; Matt, Pete and Steve - medics from London who had just finished uni. We spent a great day hiring a boat to take us to Water Cay - your common an' garden desert island - palm trees, coconuts, white sand, turqiose water, the odd abandoned hut, and no-one apart from us. Bliss. We drank rum and coke sitting in the warm, shallow water, and when the mood took us, went for a bit of a snorkel. Coming back was pretty crazy as the wind had picked up and there were a fair number of us squished 3 to a board in an open boat. We got completely soaked the entire way back, drenched every time the boat hit the next wave... you couldn't even open your eyes from the force of the spray. Very amusing as what can you do but giggle?
From Utila I headed back to the mainland and a bus to Omoa, a little beachside town full of holidaying Hondurans. A pretty bay enclosed by hills it leant itself well to 24 hours R&R swimming and chilling in the hammock before heading across the border to Guatemala. It even had some history - a fort built against the English!
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