Utila - Part 2

Its incredible to think that in just under a week I will be back home in Canada after 4 months on the road, traveling and experiencing some of the amazing things that Central America has to offer. I have really loved my time here on Utila. This little island with only two main streets that are full of people and golf cart, has been home for almost 3 weeks now. It has been nice to spend a bit of time in one place as opposed to constantly being on the move. I guess part of me has succumb to a big lie of Utila, and that is "I am leaving tomorrow." Its really easy to hang out here when you are surrounded by really friendly people and some incredible diving. I was planning on doing a few other things here in Honduras but have decided to stay here basically until I leave for Mexico. I do not feel bad for staying here and missing out on other things, this place is great and I'm enjoying my time.
After I finished my Advanced Open Water course with Alton's Dive Centre, I decided that I wanted to continue on with the next step in the diving ladder. For me that meant I was going to be getting my Rescue Diver certification. This course was a lot harder than the previous two that I had taken and made for some really long and tiring days in the water and a good wet suit sunburn to go along with all that. Thankfully I had my First Aid training, and because of that it cut of a day of the course and saved me a bit of money. The idea behind the Rescue Diver is that you are there to provide help to other divers. This could mean dealing with panicked divers, tired divers, or even unconscious ones. The course was 3 days of jumping in and out of the water "saving" people through different scenarios and learning how to handle situations both on the surface and under water. Learning search patterns, diver tows, and how to bring unconscious people to the surface, was all part of the training. By the time I finished the high stress and high intensity course I was a bit relieved and really proud of myself. It was really rewarding and a huge accomplishment. Open Water courses show you how to have fun while diving, but the Rescue program teaches you how to take care and be responsible for other divers around you. I feel that because of this course it has made me a better and more confident diver.
After my time with that I needed a chance to relax again. A few of the people from the dive shop decided they wanted to go up to the fresh water caves on the island where you can do some skin diving and snorkeling in the caves filled with water. Going up there I thought that it would be very similar to my experience at Semuc Champey, but this didn't turn out to be the case. When we arrived at the caves I was looking around for the area to begin out expedition. It was a small crack in the earth that went down into the darkness. After lighting some candles five of us made our way into the cave, with parts of the cave forcing you to crawl on your stomach through some very narrow holes. This probably would not have been an overly enjoyable experience for someone with claustrophobia. Finally we made it to the water and jumped into the refreshingly cold pools, after a sweaty walk in. Having a few underwater torches we decided to go swimming from cavern to cavern through little underwater tunnels. It was crazy to see all the little passage ways that were tuck away in the caves. Once made our way into one of the caves there was an opening we wanted to check out. I went in to take a look at the area underwater to see if there was another opening to be seen, allowing us into another room. After a quick scope out I gave the light off to another guys to check it out. He took his breath and headed under. After a few moments we were all impressed with how long he could hold his breath, a few more moments passed by and then we started to get a bit worried. I looked down into the water to see if I could see him, but the water had silted up and we could no longer see the torch and that meant it was really disorienting in there. That's when we really started to worry. I thought that Alban was going to die. The group of us just sort of sat there for a second trying to decide what we were going to do, but at the last second we saw a light, and one of the other guys, Andrew, pulled Alban out. Alban didn't have his mask on his face and looked totally panicked. What had happened was that he kicked the roof of the cavern while swimming and that dislodged a lot of silt. After that he had no idea where he was and started to panic. He took off his mask and then started to take in a lot of water, in a panicked effort to save himself. As bad as it sounds, if Andrew had not seen the light and grabbed him, I don't know if Alban would still be around. After the scare we decided it was probably best if we just went back to the dive shop. So we all took a nice relaxed walk along the coast as we made out way back, thankful that nothing too bad had happened.
The time at the dive shop has been really great. Other than the diving there has been lots of opportunities to talk with the Dive-masters and Instructors. It was really cool one night when the shop put on a fish fry with some fresh local catch. Some of the locals prepared the meal and we all just ate to our hearts content on a typical plate of coleslaw, plantains and some tasty fresh fish.
I have really enjoyed the opportunity to relax in the hammock on the end of the dock looking out over the ocean watching the world slowly go by as I listen to Jack Johnson, Snow Patrol or some jonnymeloband. This is really beautiful, and something that I am going to miss when I get home. I had thought about staying here longer and doing my Dive-master training here, but decided against it because of time and money. But I know that at some point I will do it. Possibly coming back here to continue, or maybe doing it somewhere else, who knows. All I know is that I love diving and want to keep on doing that, and possibly make some money with it at some point.
And so on Sunday I will start to make my push back north. I will make my way via ferry from Honduras over to Belize on Monday morning. After that I will basically move as fast as I can through Belize and hopefully get to the Mexican boarder in a day or two. I will then continue on up to Cancun in order to make my flight on Thursday the 6th.
I hope that you have enjoyed one of the last posts. I will see many of you very soon when I return home.

Bye for now

Mike