Yes it has white sand beaches. Beach. White sand beach. Singular. A small one. It's still lovely, but there isn't actually much for beach lounging and daydreaming about how great everything is today whilst listening to waves crash and sipping on some cocktail with an umbrella sticking out of it.
It's common knowledge that hurricane Mitch left Honduras in shambles and that, to this day, they're still the least developed country because of it. Parts of Utila look like it was just hit yesterday.
The other thing that made things difficult was the fact that it seems like the businesses change on the regular, and everything we looked for was gone/renamed/moved across town.
It felt like we'd accidentally come to the wrong island.
To be clear, it IS a beautiful place, and it IS the place to learn how to dive, but if that's not what you had in mind when you came, its a bit of a surprise.
(The main drag in town.)
(The main drag in town.)The island is jam packed with ex pats and backpackers and feels a little like you're missing something. Like there's some kind of secret thing that you don't know about that is the key to making it the Caribbean paradise you kept seeing in pictures.
We stayed in The Backpacker's Lodge which was bare bones, but run by nice people, and $5 a night. We rented bikes and explored the island....
or rather the 15 minute ride that is the road that goes through town. Everything else is houses. We ate some good food, we listened against our will to the man who, like clockwork, sits on his porch across from our hostel room and blasts Shaggy music on max volume by himself for about an hour.
But wait, I'm painting this out to be a nightmare.
(Detail at a crazy treehouse bar.)In reality, these things I've described were more funny than anything else. We had a few good frustrated laughs and in the end, tried something we might never have done if it weren't "THE thing to do on Utila".
Scuba diving.
We didn't end up taking the full 4 day PADI course because, 1. We didn't have 4 days, and 2. We didn't know if we'd freak out and hate it and never dive again.
The people who own the hostel we stayed in also own a dive shop across the street and offered us an "introductory dive". Basically, they run you through the basics, how to breathe, what NOT to do, where all your gadgets are, and then they toss you in the ocean and go for it.
We get 2 tanks for $74 and spend the day in the ocean.
(Our Gear)I was nervous because it felt a little less "ease you into it" than the 4 day course, but the guy assured me that all we had to do was NOT hold our breaths and he would take care of the rest.
We went out on a boat, he taught us a couple things.... It seemed like a lot of things, and a lot of words that were way over my head.... and then he said, "Ok, ladies first."
I said, "No no, Ryan has to go first." but I was THINKING, "What? Wait, Ryan got shown all his equipment, where's MY equipment, why don't I get to try out the regulator? SHOW ME MY GADGETS!! WAIT!"
And then I got thrown in the ocean.
He had me sit on the edge of the boat, hold one hand over the weight belt and one over my face, I said, "Are you SURE I'm going to float? and then he shoved me backwards.
For the record, I DID float.
Even more important, I went first. Yeah. I did a brave thing before Ryan did. Which was totally out of character. Sure, it wasn't totally a choice, but I could have refused if I really wanted to. Which I kind of did, but nevermind.
Ryan said, "The moment they tossed you off the boat into the ocean was the best moment of my life."
Which I think says a lot about our relationship.
The first few moments, he had us submerge and kneel on the sand, which wasn't very far down, and he ran us through some movements. Basic breathing, clearing our masks, taking the regulator out and getting it back.
My mask was fogging up, despite all the spit in it, I couldn't stay still, I was floating around, the sand was everywhere, and the bubbles from the mask were loud. I panicked. I started hyperventilating and gesturing madly that I wasn't "ok" and pointing at the surface. I knew in the back of my mind how to surface, but at the time, it wasn't happening. I grabbed at the inflator button and the instructor took it from me, shook a finger, and I freaked out MORE. Somehow, I ended up on the surface. For a moment I thought, "thats it, I'm not gonna be able to do this" but for some reason I didn't say that. What I DID say was, "Ok sorry, I'm good. My mask was filling, I couldn't see, I needed to get to the surface. Sorry. Ok I'm good."
He said that was perfectly normal and happens pretty much every time, and we went back down. We figured things out, and then we swam.
We did two dives. The first one was the learning, plus a swim around a reef shelf looking at critters and getting the hang of it.
The second one, was swimming over a huge reef wall, through a crack in it, and back to the other side.
It was so amazing, I can't even explain it. Anyone who has done it before will probably know what I'm trying to say though. It was almost familiar, but I can't imagine why. It goes against every human instinct, and its definitely nothing like anything I've ever done before. Snorkeling is kind of similar, but you're on the surface. There's nothing like reaching down and touching the ocean floor and looking up and seeing the sun come through the surface of the water.
We came out happy and amazed. Our instructor said we were naturals, and he spends 5 hours just trying to show people how to clear their masks. Obviously, we rock, but it was still nice to hear HIM say it.
Ryan came out feeling pretty weird but other than that the experience was a total success.
The rest of the trip was just a day, which we spent mostly trying different places to eat and strolling through town.
(Ryan beating everyone at pool.)On our last night, in the middle of dinner, I had a strange episode which we're still trying to figure out. It could have been any of a million things. Among them are inner ear issues, panic, anemia, Deet side affects, food poisoning. It happened suddenly, and ended after a few minutes as if nothing had happened, besides being shaken up and tired.
I was dizzy, sweating, nauseous, sounds and lights were warped. It was the most frightening experience, I was sure I was going to pass out, but I didn't. Maybe it was the dive, but the divers didn't think so. Ryan went to the bar next to the room to ask about a doctor in case we needed it and a few people piped in their theories. Nothing seems to fit quite right, so it remains a medical mystery.
(The coolest restaurant ever. Also the scene of the crazy mysterious health moment. That's the ocean in that open space. It has rocks set up at the bottom like an aquarium and they feed fish so it acts as an open water natural aquarium. So cool.)We left the next day, healthy, but tired. We always seem to have schedules that require a 5am wake up call. This is not natural for us. By a long shot.
I was happy to leave, mostly because the island is small and there was only so much we could do there, but also because being on the move has gotten a hold on me. Its feeling good to just pick up and find a new place. Being able to go anywhere we want is something that doesn't happen very often, and while its nice to settle down and relax somewhere, this is pretty exciting. Tiring, but exciting.
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