"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." James 4:8

I don't think that waking up to the beauty of the Carribean could ever possibly get old. God did magical things to this place when He created the world, because the view I have right now is beyond anything you can describe in words. It makes sense now how people can come here for a week long vacation, and decide to not take their flight home, but instead just stay, with no plans to leave. Half of the people at our hostel seem to be in this boat. They come to dive, or get certified, and end up staying to get their dive master, work here, and then potentially never leave. The longer I am here the more I want to stay, and the less good reasons I can think of to leave. Elizabeth and Sarah have flights back to the States at the end of this week, so Alisha and I are strongly thinking about canceling our reservation in the city of La Ceiba so that we can stay here a little longer. However, you shouldn't be worried (especially Mom and Dad), Alisha and I don't plan to "miss" our flight home just for another month in Utila...even though the thought of that right now sounds better than anything else. The mix of clear blue water and blazing hot sunshine is enough of a reason to stay for me.

We were up this morning by 6:00am, the start to a very productive morning. Like I said before it's impossible to sleep in here (even after a night out in Utila) when you know what the day has waiting for you. Dan serenated us to bed last night with his guitar. I think you could say everyone enjoyed that. For having a congestion problem and not currently being able to hear out of one ear he sounded pretty freaken good. In my opinion people never give themselves enough credit when it comes to making music because they know there is always someone better out there. Yes this is most likely true (if you've ever listened to someone who's really really good on guitar you understand what I mean), however, when someone has the guts to play and sing in front of a crowd I don't think they understand the appreciation I have for them. It's a talent to be able to do that, and on top of sounding awesome it's inspiring, and makes me want to continue to learn more songs on my ukulele!

Anyways.....up at 6:00am, to the view of the beautiful blue water. It was nice to be awake at this time because no one else really was, so I was able to have some alone time. By 11:00 I had already read the chapters I wanted to read in Matthew in the Bible, journaled, kayaked to Coral View, snorkled for about an hour, and kayaked back to our beach. Being in the water here is amazing (like I'm sure I've said a million times haha), but it's the true. And I don't think it's a bad thing to emphasis on that. Snorkling around we were able to see angel fish, a barracuda, more Doris, tons of coral and reefs, etc, etc.

Well, it's time to go start our first class for open water certification. Until next time....

#honduras