Wild and Precious Life: Diving in Utila

Deirdre, Brennan and I with Shelly, our awesome dive instructor. Thanks, Shelly!

We had an amazing week learning to dive in Utila, Honduras. It was a scary adventure trying to get there - ferry to taxi to collective taxi to hired driver to bus to ferry to tuk tuk (breathe) - and it took a day and a half. We stopped for the night in La Ceiba and as we were checking into a nice hotel, Brennan said, "I don't care how much this place costs. I've had about enough dodgy things today, Mom. I want to stay here." We did.
I was so relieved to be there and dreaded the trip back all week after hearing "Well, make sure you don't take a bus that looks like THAT. They go into the villages and are robbed by bandits all the time." Or "Don't stay in San Pedro Sula. It's really not a safe place." They way back was easier to navigate and just time consuming...not unsafe! I feel more confident and comfortable navigating the system in Honduras now, but it was awful to do it for the first time with kids in tow.

I was so glad to be on this ferry from La Ceiba to Utila!

I'm telling you, after all of that travel, it was fantastic to get off the ferry in Utila and see that someone was standing there with a sign with my name on it! Tuk tuk to Alton's Dive Center was waiting for us!

Deirdre and Brennan in their first tuk tuk (motorized rickshaw)

Diving in Utila? Worth the trouble. I have been terrified of this my whole life. I grew up with the knowledge that this was how my grandfather had died in 1960 when my grandmother was pregnant with their 6th child. No one I know scuba dives (that I am aware of, anyway, though I know it doesn't often come up in casual conversation), so it has been somewhat of an enigma to me, fueling that fear. I started snorkeling down here and have lots of fun with that, so I figured it was about that time to conquer that fear.

Sunset on our first day in Utila

We started Sunday afternoon with the theory portion, learning about the rules and equipment and how they work (and how to take care of them!). Monday morning was more theory and quizzes. In the afternoon, we got into the water...swim test, treading water for 10 minutes, then our underwater skills. We got our gear and started getting ready to get into the water when I noticed that my regulator (what you breathe out of) felt like it was difficult to breathe out of. That's not fun! I asked the assistant instructor about it and he said, "Yeah, it's a little difficult, but it is still within regulation. You can get air. If it's going to cause you psychological issues, we can switch it out." I said it was fine. Then we got under the water. Nope. Not fine. I was flipping out in my brain a bit. I asked for a new regulator. Not gonna lie, I was still flipping out in my brain a little under the water. We had to take our masks off under water and then put it back on and get the water out of it. Later, we had to take the mask off and breathe through the regulator for a minute with no mask...then put it back on and clear it. For me, it was the most difficult part. Deirdre and Brennan were all stars taking their masks off and putting them back on. They both had a little trouble with taking it off and leaving it off, though.
We were tired when we got out of the water on Monday and we were back at it on Tuesday morning...theory and quizzes in the morning and more skills in the afternoon...some in the shallow water but then we went out on the boat to actually dive. We had to repeat all of the skills that we had practiced in shallow water in deeper water. Brennan came down and went back up a lot, saying that his ear was bothering him. He snorkeled a bit while Deirdre and I did some skills and then swam around...the underwater world is truly fascinating! I had trouble staying under...I just kept floating to the top. I guess I am just a buoyant human.
Brennan ended up not being able to dive because he got an ear infection. Bummer! Deirdre and I finished the course and are scuba certified! Brennan will hopefully finish up his course with a conservation group here in Belize.
I am pretty mortified that I didn't get more pictures - I only have one of Deirdre in her scuba gear - you can see Brennan in the background in the water. I had stepped away for a moment when he emerged and he was out of his gear by the time I got there. The rest of the time was dive, dive, dive...no time for photos.

Deirdre (and Brennan) scuba-ing

The island with its dive sites

One of the dorms at Alton's Dive Center

The diving was spectacular - we were able to see so many tropical fishes (parrotfish, pufferfish, trunkfish, cowfish, flounder, and the list goes on!). We got pretty close to a few nurse sharks and a couple of moray eels - creepy! I was completely astounded by the coral formations. It was absolutely amazing to be able to see the underwater world. I swam in a school of creole wrasse and am constantly in awe of how the fish just don't seem bothered by our presence. Fascinating!

Our trip back through Honduras was long, but relatively smooth.