The wonderful taste of Salvavida

After spending 4 nights in the beautiful rainforest of Honduras we have made it to the island of Utila. While in the jungle we spent our time swimming, sunning, hiking, reading, and just relaxing at an amazing place of what I would like to call "off the grid." Nothing surrounded us besides the beautiful color of green. Most of the employees of the hostel were people who had traveled to Honduras and just decided not to leave....I understand why. There's nothing like just sitting around with the sounds of a rainforest everywhere. Some of my favorite sounds; like a musical healing through nature, the sounds of bliss. It was hard to say goodbye to the awesome people we met and the beautiful nature around us, but now as I sit here at a picnic table over looking the Gulf, I'm glad we did.

Now that we have reached Utila, all that surrounds us, instead of jungle, is the beautiful water. Blue everywhere. Crystal blue. This island is supposed to be one of the best places to scuba dive in the world, and one of the cheapest to become open water scuba certified. Getting certified was not in the plans originally, but the longer I am here, the longer the atmosphere of these people is convincing me that it is something I wouldn’t regret.

Once checking into our hostel, we ventured out to find our friend Dan, who I mentioned in a previous blog we met in the bus station on our way to La Cieba. He speaks very little Spanish so at the snack bar he thought Elizabeth and I could help him. He guessed wrong, but we introduced him to Alisha. He stuck by us until we arrived in La Cieba, where we departed, until today at lunch in Utila. Dan is also getting certified, but it is for advanced diving, so he wouldn’t be taking the class with us. At lunch we convinced ourselves in the opposite direction, that we didn’t want to spend the money and have to waste our sunny days in the classroom. However, this decision didn’t last long. By 5:00pm we were talking to Brian (our potential instructor) who may I say is very amazing at his job. We again we enlightened about everything we needed to know about why we DEFINITELY SHOULD get certified. This time we couldn’t say no, and I think it’s safe to say Elizabeth and I will be starting our class with everyone else, tomorrow night.

During the rest of the day today we spent our time snorkeling. Something that I believe I have only ever done before in a pool. We started just right outside our hostel. Where we are staying has a private beach with free snorkeling, and kayaking, and keep in mind for only 10 dollars a night (now free with purchasing a scuba certification). Most of the hostels down here that are on the coast are made for divers, so what they do is accommodate your room stay if you plan on diving with them. It’s quite an amazing package deal. Something I would suggest adding to your bucket list if you enjoy being in the water like we do.

Spending time under the water, with your eyes open, WHILE being able to breathe, is like experiencing a whole new world. We made the short 20-minute walk down the road to Coral View, a place that apparently is the place to snorkel here in Utila. Everyone seemed to be there, and as soon as I was in the water myself I understood exactly why. I felt like I was in a scene straight out of the movie Finding Nemo. But seriously, there were little Doris swimming everywhere. Now if you haven’t seen this movie, I would also highly, highly recommend putting this on your bucket list, maybe before you book a flight to Honduras, and come snorkel in Utila. The coral reefs we were swimming right next to were the biggest live rocks I have ever seen in my life, so much that at first I thought I was going to crash right into them from the force of the waves. It was pretty choppy when we went out, and I’m assuming it would be much better in the morning. And we plan to be back here, maybe even tomorrow. Until next time….

#honduras