5pm. Wednesday, 11th July.
I’m lying on a bed in a room in a totally
deserted hotel (me being the only one here) in the weird town of La Ceiba.
Look, La Ceiba really is weird. After my gruelling 16-hour bus ride from
Antigua to here (whilst a mean fever/stomachache/ throbbing head/blurry vision/
digestion problem was brewing) I arrived here, in a hotel with weak blue
fluroscent lights, eeirily quiet,and the hotel attendant skipping through
facebook photos of him pointing guns at the camera. Um ok hi. I treated myself
to a private room with PRIVATE BATHROOM, and did not leave that room until 36
hours later, when I felt mildly capable to make the trip to Utila. Mind you,
the only way to arrive on the island of Utila is to catch the Utila Princess IV
(known as the ‘Vomit Comet’) so I gingerly stepped aboard the boat. On board there was a picture of a tropical
beach on the wall with a lop-sided horizon. Almost to appreciate the tossing
and rocking that was about to occur.
The boat ride was rough, but I survived. Upon
arrival we were treated to an abundance of scuba options, with pamphlets being
thrust in our faces. I followed the advice of a German guy who was at the same
hotel in La Ceiba and went to check out Captain Morgan’s. If I did the Open
Dive Scuba Course, I would be cutting it short cause usually it goes for 4.5
days and I had 3. But they could do it and after eating some rice for lunch,
checked into a hotel room and got cracking with the theory. That night a bunch
of people went out on the town, though it was pretty quiet as it was a Sundi
night, and all. However there was a bar called Rehab, which had writing strewn
all over the walls, ala ‘get me the fuck out of this place’ and that was quite
a lol. The bar was on a deck over the ocean so it was quite nice to dangle our
tootsies in the water whilst enjoying a Monkey La La cocktail. We managed to
stay up til 2am, then swiftly went to bed so we could wake up at 6am and catch
the ferry off Utila to some smaller islands called the Jewell Cayes, where the
course would take place.
We started diving that morning. Our instructor,
Isaac, was from Spain and ran our whole course in English and Spanish, given
that there was me, another Australian girl, and an Argentine guy. As soon as we
had ran over the basics, we put on our regulators, breathed in, and before submerging,
he said; ‘Welcome to my world’.
Wow wow wow wow wow. My first impression was how
clear everything was. Visibility was awesome, and the water aquamarine. Even
just in the shallow water, everything popped out to the eyes. The hair on my
arms, the water bubbles being blown by the others in the group, skin, finger
prints. And then we got deeper, amongst electric blue little fishes, brain
corals, coral that looks like trees, and fans. Burnt orange, electric purple,
electric blue everywhere. We continued with skills for a while- taking off the
mask and putting it back on, then blowing out the air bubbles- getting used to
being able to breathe even when you can’t see.
And how you can move your body just by
breathing. People looked like unborn babies, floating peacefully around. One of
our guides had taken up a yogic seated position and just watched us, totally
suspended, about a metre off the sea bed. Unreal. So that was all very
exciting. It felt kind of like a drug- everything was so peaceful, quiet,
beautiful that nothing else seemed to matter.
That night at our hotel we had a barbecue, with
about 15 people. Good times with Salva Vida beer, lime, roast potatoes,
veggies.
Yesterday we did two more dives, this time
deeper at about 12 metres, with a huge cliff that you could just float right
off the top off. It’s too beautiful to be scary. We saw an Eagle Ray, as well
as many kinds of fish, anemones, weird worm things, and little see-through jellies.
Today we dived again, and saw more huge Eagle Rays (one came STRAIGHT at us,
though it’s better just to stop and let it pass. That was scary, had a bit of a
Steve Irwin what-if moment). And we also saw 5 SEAHORSES. Our guide was cacking
his dacks. They were amazing. The big one was old and was covered in bits of
sea plants, the young ones were black and tiny. Each one was somewhere
different, their tails wrapped around a bit of wood. So beautiful.
After getting off the boat we had to finish up
our theory, and then I had to catch the boat back to Utila (whilst completing
my final exam) so that I could catch the 2pm boat. It all worked smoothly, and
I passed the course, so I now await my card in the mail. It’s so exciting and I
can’t wait to do some diving back home (though it will be crazy expensive, I
know). I’m so thankful that I got well quick enough to be able to do it.
Just caught the Vomet Comet back here to La
Ceiba, checked into this weird place (the owners just had a domestic, euugghh)
and found myself some pasta IN A TOTALLY EMPTY RESTAURANT. I wish my bus could
just leave right now for Antigua but instead I have to wait till 5.15am
tomorrow morning. Overnight buses just don’t happen here- mostly for safety-
and it’s such a pain cause it wastes whole days. But whatever. It will be good just to sit and
listen to music and write and read and think.
And then I arrive in Antigua tomorrow night,
then maybe do something exciting on Friday (like climb an active volcano?!?!)
and then LEAVE on Friday night! This is crazy. So soooon.
Well, I think that’s all for now. Love love,
hasta pronto.
Xox G
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