Diving in the Bay Islands

2 days. 4 buses, 3 shuttles, a ferry and a border crossing later we arrived in Utila. Staying true to form I got seasick on the ferry over, so despite offers of free beers at a bar overlooking the water we crashed out early.

The next day we went to look around and after a bit of umming and ahhing (and some serious negotiating) decided to do our PADI open water course. A week's free accommodation and some of the cheapest rates in the world sealed the deal. We headed out to do a bit of snorkelling, having a great time checking out the coral and fish just off the shore and then knuckled down for our first theory session. The next day (after video 3) we were in the water for our confined water skills session: losing and replacing the regulator, getting water out of your mask, sharing air etc. The next day we did some more theory and had the afternoon to ourselves, so we chilled out and went swimming off the dock and generally just relaxed. Day 4 was our first open water dive. We finished the theory and did our final exams (94% and 96%) then headed out to the reef. Our first two dives were only 12m and I think I spent most of the time trying to keep an eye on where Matt (my buddy) was, and trying to figure out my buoyancy. Matt discovered equalising was a bit tricky for him. Between us I think we barely registered the dives, though we did see some beautiful fish.

Our next two dives were the following morning, and feeling a bit more comfortable, we both loved them! We saw a hawksbill turtle, eating and just chilling out and then two eagle rays putting on a bit of a show for us. Not to mention all the fish. I love the parrot fish!

After the last two dives we were certified!

Our final morning we went out for our two free fun dives. These were our first dives where we didn't have to do any skills and both felt pretty comfortable with the whole routine. We were very relaxed and got to really appreciate the scenery, it was beautiful. So many colourful fish, fan coral, colourful sea slug things and a couple if really big barracuda. Very cool!

We spent our afternoon relaxing at the beach again and treated ourselves to a delicious seafood platter (fish, lobster, conch, prawns, mmmm mmm).