Utila

Utila is a tropical island paradise with turquoise waters and beautiful sunshine. But not in the rainy season. It is still a nice place to be but the rain is annoying and the water is a kind of murky brown close to shore, but nicer further out. The diving is still pretty good most days.

The island is very much a party and diving island, with not much to do beside those two things. There is not much point to being here if you don’t dive and then afterwards, everyone hangs around for some beers or rums or whatever. I can see how people get trapped here for months on end, eventually becoming divemasters or instructors. The lifestyle is pretty good.

My first day was just for relaxing, getting over the Mosquito Coast.

Second day I started my PADI Open Water Diving course. The theory was easy and logical and most of the skills were okay but I struggled with one of them – almost throwing in the towel.

We did the skills in a pool at some guy’s house on the island. Two and a half hours we were in there and it was so cold by the end of it I was shivering, and that was with wearing a wetsuit.

The past two days I have been on four dives to complete the skills in open water. This afternoon I complete my theory and exams and then its all fun diving from here on in.