I’d decided to stay at Alton’s Dive Centre as they offered a volunteer rate of $259 plus free accommodation and the other volunteers had done their diving there; such a good choice! I arrived and was put in a dorm with Laura, a Canadian. I ended up going out for dinner with our next door neighbours, Codie and Emma, Aussie sisters and Paul and Jason, Kiwis. (2nd night off) From this moment on began so much laughter with the three girls that I was often in tears! Absolutely love them!
When I arrived, it was raining and I hadn’t signed up for diving in the rain, so luckily, as I started my course, the sun came out and for the rest of the course it was hot and sunny and it didn’t start to rain again until Saturday evening/Sunday morning; perfect timing!
As I went to the laundry (I’d only packed for a 5 day trip!) on Wednesday, I bumped in Amanda, Sarah and Moa, who had decided to come after all which meant a few more friendly faces on the island. Although, I don’t know what they did with their days, there isn’t a huge amount to do on Útila if you’re not diving.
I started my theory on Wednesday afternoon. I was really lucky in that I was the only one on the course and ended up with two fantastic instructors, Nina and Tom. On Thursday morning I went in the water for the first time for my confined dives...terrifying! Lots of skills; take your mask off underwater (no thanks, I like to be able to see), take your regulator out (no thanks, I like to be able to breathe). By the end of this session I was convinced I hated diving and the thought of going out on the boat in the afternoon really freaked me out! The girls and the others at Alton’s were great and it was nice having them on the same boat for support! So in the afternoon I went out on the boat and did my first 2 open water dives! The first one was slightly less terrifying than the confined but I could only look straight ahead and was much more focused on breathing than fish! By the 2nd dive, I was starting to get the hang of it and actually managed to look around me and check out some fish. I finished my theory on Friday and did my 3rd and 4th open water dives, by which point I was really enjoying it. On Saturday morning, I did both my fun dives which were great. On the first dive we saw a turtle which was amazing! I also saw lobsters, a spotted moral eel, angelfish, parrotfish, and spotted drums.
Dive signals are my new favourite thing and can be useful in a multitude of situations. Although, if someone had taught me more of the fish signals, some underwater confusion would have been avoided; spotted drums = swim this way, can you see it, no but I don’t want to disappoint anyone, so just signal OK.
On Wednesday night (Johnny, Theresa, Koo and Luke hadn’t arrived at this point) we went to Tranquila and witnessed the first performance of Jake’s infectious chart topping hit, ‘Dive’ – dive, dive, drink, drink, drive, dive, dive, dive, equalise. I was walked home by Jake, Rory and Joe and on arriving home, Jake proceeded to climb into the top bunk, go to sleep and snore loudly, much to the annoyance of Laura (I’m sorry Laura!)
On Thursday we all went out for supper and ended up in Tranquila. I met Rory and Joe outside Will’s Taco, the best taco shop around, but sadly it was closing. I couldn’t persuade the owner to give me a taco, but he did give me a plain tortilla for free...and then the boys, having walked me home the night before and it being quite a long way, got in a tuk tuk with me and dropped me home.
On Friday night, we went to Tranquila and Coco’s...and this is where the picture of the tiny motorbike comes in, my ride home. The island is basically comprised of one long main road and everyone uses golf buggies, quad bikes or motorbikes to get around. Those methods of transport I can understand, but this mini bike was ridiculous. I’m just glad no one witnessed the hilarious image of me on a tiny bike!
Saturday was a big night. There was meant to be an Alton’s booze cruise but due to the lack of a captain, it became a session on the dock. By 7pm we were being loud and hilarious and/or obnoxious in the baleada shop. This was followed by Treetanic and Tranquila. Treetanic is the coolest bar/restaurant/hotel. It took the owner 20 years to make and is decorated in mosaic, bottles, shells, stones, glass, mirror and full of paths, walkways, sculptures and spiders! There are huge webs between all the trees and huge spiders! Genuinely one of the most fun nights of my life, we laughed a lot and the photos speak volumes; plenty of dive signals!
On Sunday, we tried to catch the afternoon ferry, only to be told that due to bad weather at La Ceíba, the ferry had been cancelled and it was unlikely that we would leave before Wednesday! Cue an afternoon in limbo! We had checked out of Alton’s and had to come back and check back in...We just couldn’t stay away! I was most thrown by the fact that if we were stuck, the bagel shop didn’t bake on a Monday! These aforementioned bagels got me through a lot of the early morning sessions! I was so exhausted by this point that I fell asleep fully clothed. (3rd night off)
Luckily, we managed to catch the ferry on Monday morning. Codie and Laura had been at the dock since 5am and at 6.15am they finally announced that the ferry would be leaving! Cue panic as we tried to get hold of everyone, scattered around in various hostels, to let them know. The majority of us made it...Bree was left behind but at least she had Tim. It was pretty choppy and there were lots of sick people...what is it about people being sick; you don’t want to look, but you can’t help it!
So we were finally back on the mainland and on a mission to catch a bus to Tegucigalpa. By this point I had been persuaded, not that it took much, to head on down to Nicaragua with the others. I didn’t have my passport though so it was lucky that we all had to stop in Tegus for the night. Our bus managed to hit an accident on the way home, causing a delay as we waited for the police/tow trucks. When we finally made it back to Tegus, I had to make a mad dash to collect my passport, get home, unpack/repack and meet the others at the hostel, as our bus was supposedly leaving at 5am. The children were so excited when I got home! They had apparently been asking constantly when I was coming back. Bless them. (4th night off)
Why are bus stations always located in the worst, most sketchy parts of town? I attempted to get a bus at 5am the next morning, only to be told that there wasn’t one. So we ended up waiting in the bus station for 4 hours, while the girls got a lie in and arrived to find preserved seats. But at last, we made it out of Tegus, towards Nicaragua.
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