Day 1 and 2...the quick take.

Day 1 is here and its time to go! The trip to Ohio was uneventful and I was able to spend a little time with my above awesome sister. Said my temporary goodbyes to my family and I will miss them all very much. It's sad to leave them behind but hopefully the plan is for us ALL to take a trip to the Bay Islands next year while I work on my instructor training. Eva meanwhile is going to work on getting her vacation time lined out so she can come and meet me on Utila around the 19th of July until we return home on the 31st. Its not set in stone but shes trying hard and I hope it works out.

 

Airports are crazy little microcosms. You see a little of everything and everyone. From the globe trotting dreadlock backpacker to the family headed to Disney for the week..People hustle by and it reminds me of a giant multi-cultural shopping mall where everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere else. Your terminals are always 5 miles away and your flight is always leaving in 10 minutes. Unless its a layover and then time and space stop functioning in the airport terminal void and 1 hour stretches on and on until 3 hours feels like a decade.

Friends seem to have fun traveling together...I've seen a few and they don't seem stressed or harried at all. Laughing and sipping Starbucks...all Hakuna Matata, no worries and stuff. I wouldn't know cause i've barely traveled with friends and even when I announce a year in advance that I'm going to Utila AND everyone says OMG! It's Awesome and So Cheap!...LMAO, no one actually goes. So while it would be really nice to be sipping Starbucks and chatting up a traveling companion right now, I'll just have to be content with the fact that I can eat or pee when ever I want......and I don't even really like coffee.

 

My arrival in San Pedro Sula went smooth...no real hassles except the baggage people wanting another 30.00 for an additional bag...no biggie and par for the course during any travel in a third world country.

From San Pedro Sula I hopped on board my tiny Sosa flight to La Ceiba, a coastal town in Honduras and awaited my last leg of travel to Utila. Sat beside an american ex-pat who has lived on Utila for 20 years...cant remember his name but we chatted it up about changes both positive and negative to the island over the last few years. Just as we arrived in La Ceiba it started to rain and we thought the flight may get canceled and we thought we may have to overnight in town or at the airport but as luck would have it our flight left after about 40 minutes. We flew out in a tiny 8 seater narrower then a mini-van and were joined by a Utilean couple bringing their brand new baby home to the island. Despite the tiny size of the plane the landing was incredibly smooth on an airstrip known for its rollercoaster like power braking landings.

Grabbing a taxi...(Hanks mini-van which has seen far better days) we dropped everyone off and he deposited me at the door to Cross Creek. I said hello dropped my bags off and met Mike from Utila apartment finders. Mike is another ex-pat who used to own a cafe here, also from the states or perhaps Canada. Mike the ex-pat hippy picked me up on his scooter...preferred method of travel on the island and showed me a couple of places neither of which i liked very well. we made arrangements to meet the next day to look at some other places. No worries as I knew that the dive center would put me up. I packed all my gear to a room on the Cross Creek

dock and made my way back to the office...decrying hippie Mike's attempt at finding me an apartment. One of the staff mentioned a place where she happened to live and made arrangements for me to meet the owner "Lupe". Lupe was very nice and showed me the two and one bedroom apartments. I liked them well enough to agree and moved right in..again lugging my gear a healthy distance from the center to the Tropical Seas. Moved in and headed back to the Dive Shop where i met Kevin and he got me on the morning dive boat...Damn glad he did because after two pretty nice dives we made a stop at Water Cay for a DMT (Divemaster training) event where Kevin had them mapping the reef around Water Cay and included a huge barbecue and we spent the rest of the

evening lounging and laying on the island and in the water while the DMTs griped about what they had to accomplish....oh well..they got chicken and rum for their troubles....Once home, I took a little nap and then headed to Rehab's to eat...called it an early night and went to bed happy as a clam that I could recuperate from my trip and not dive on Sunday.