Maybe some of you already knew... but I wanted to do my PADI Open Water Diver Certificate in Honduras. Until the very last chance I did not really know whether I would go to Utila (small, cheap backpacker-style) or to Roatan (bigger, nicer, more expensive but with many beaches). Those are 2 of the bay islands and everybody should have seen at least one of them.
But first, I had to leave Copán. I chose the cheaper option which turned out to be a chicken-bus (old american yellow school bus) to San Pedro Sula and from there an express (supposed to be more modern, but well... supposed!!) bus which was definitely older and less comfortable than the chicken bus to go to "La Ceiba". There I finally had to decide and opted for Utila. I bought the ticket for the ferry and then had to wait.
Some really unfriendly man told us to pack our luggage on a small waggon so that it can be transported to the boat (they needed to transport it on the huge distance of 5! meters). The ferry itself is nothing special, it's small, completely closed and blue. It stinks inside... but at least I did not get seasick... I only felt a bit strange.
Arriving in Utila, about 10 people wanted to convince me, that their - and only their - diving school is the best one. I went with a guy who told me that his name is "Berlin" which I still do not believe and stayed at "Alton's". All the schools have more or less the same offer... come and stay, you have the first night free, so that you can "shop around" the next morning and decide for a school. Arriving at the school, I was greeted by a lovely instructor named Chris who told me everything about the school, how classes work, that they are the best because... blablabla....
Originally the plan was that I stay there for the first night and go find my school the next morning. But I was just so tired and the people seemend nice, the school was recommended in Lonely Planet, Sunset was perfect and the school was also recommended to me in Copan... so I just decided to stay there and get my certification there.
So on monday evening i already ment Wendy, a woman from Canada, who is working as a freelance-instructor with the school. Wendy isn't the youngest person anymore, but she is really lovely and caring and very experienced. We did some paperwork and then she told me that the next morning (Tuesday) I would do my first dive in the morning and then some theory in the afternoon.
So I started my diving lessons with - well, diving. We met at 9 am, got our gear, learned how to put it together and to put it back again, and then started diving... in the ocean. The school has a nice dock with calm water and there I did my first moves below the surface. And what can I say... I just loved it. And I still do love it very much. We did very much "skills" like going down, inflating our jacket, using alternate air-supply... such things. But in the end, we did a short little "dive" just swimming around and seeing the fish
In the afternoon, I had to catch up with the theory, as the other 2 in my class, Erica and Jeremy, had started with that already. I watched 5! PADI-Videos. But they were surprisingly little boring. On Wednesday we did some more skills and trying and getting used to diving in the morning in the shallow water of the dock. And in the afternoon we had our first 2 Open Water Dives. Well... the others had 2, I only had one, because I got so awfully seasick that I could not get in anymore.
On Thursday, we did our final test in the morning... I scored 92% hurray!!! And 2 more dives in the afternoon. I took some "Dramamin" which is against the seasickness and what can I say... it really helped - when being on the boat. This time I got really awfully seasick again... while floating on the surface of the ocean. I got down on the first dive, but did not feel well all the time, and had to ascend earlier than the others... and then I had to feed the fish and even needed help to get back to the boat. But thank god, we also had a group of "Rescue-Divers" on board who could have helped me... but Wendy was fully in charge and took me back to the boat.
Being back on the boat I felt much better, but not good enough to do the second dive of the afternoon. At least I had a good entertainment-programm with the rescue-class. They did a "diver lost his buddy, let's search for him and help him" session and it was really great fun watching it... and of course I also learned a bit just watching.
Today I had my last 2 dives... and finally I really could make 2 dives... they were great... we went down 18 meters (which is the max as a normal Open Water Diver) and saw many different fish... I really do like to blue ones... all of them. We saw the Rainbow-Fish and of course we also found Dora (I am still searching for Nemo).
And of course I am certified now... finally.
And now I know the trick how not to get seasick either on the boat or in the water: take the Dramamin about 2 hours before the boat leaves, don't eat anything before diving, don't drink anything with bubbles in it (like coke) and stay out of the sun and heat.
Knowing all this, the next dives are already planned... tomorrow I will start my 2 day journey to Nicaragua. I will use Managua as a hub... visit Granada and Leon from there and then, as soon as possible, depending on the weather forecast, fly out to the Corn Islands (small Islands in the Carribean). On little Corn Island I plan to stay one week... hopefully do the Advanced Open Water Diver (you need to do 5 adventure dives to be advanced) and chill at the many deserted beaches.
Oh... what I almost forgot to mention... today is "Bergfest" of my trip through central america. This means, I am right in the middle of it... 5 weeks over, 5 adventurous weeks ahead.
I will keep you posted... but I tend to be really chilled out right now... rather lying in a hammock and enjoying the breeze than sitting somewhere and updating my blog.
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