The bus dropped us into a completely random place in Tegucigalpa (still not sure how you pronounce that) and we had no one sea where to go as there were no hotels around what so ever. We asked the taxi driver just to take us to one after much difficulty. We went to a place that was a little bit expensive but really nice, which was unfortunate as we checked in really late and had to check out at 5.30 so we didn't get to appreciate it. We did however get a hot shower which was a luxury! The same taxi driver picked us up in the morning and went to the airport where we checked in and got a McDonalds breakfast. We waited in the departure area until 10 minutes before our flight which said all flights were cancelled because of smoke in the city and there would be an update in another 2 hours! We were really annoyed especially since we could have slept for another two hours. After about an hour there was an announcement which was calling our names to go to a gate so we quickly went and were told we would need to run to the plane so it could take off while there is a chance to take off. It turns out we had been switched to a different flight where we could still connect to Utila, but it meant being on a tiny plane. It was a 7 or 8 seated plane, the seats were tiny and we sat at the back. You could see a couple of gaps around the door next to the s which you could see straight through to the outside, not so comfortable when taking off from one of the worlds most dangerous airports.
The flight was turbulent and the plane dropped and lifted and wobbled and shook with every bit, it was a scary flight which lasted 40 minutes. We landed in San Pedro Sula for our connection but that just meant stepping off the plane to let the others out then getting straight back on. We sat on the front row this time and my head was practically in between the two pilots it was that small. There was only us two and another two people on the flight, but this flight was a lot less turbulent and a bit shorter.
We landed in Utila and got a tuk tuk to a dive centre where we signed up to do our advanced open water course and checked into a cheap hotel that was nice for the cost. We also spotted some big iguanas out of the window. We got some text books and some homework to do for the next day. They had good places to eat in Utila but it was quite expensive everywhere, and everyone spoke English which was great if you could understand them. They speak criol which sounds similar to Jamaican but a lot harsher and has a lot of slang which you can't understand. It is really bizarre to see an old grey haired white man with a big belly sit there and listen to him speak like that because it looks like that voice shouldn't be coming out of their mouths. A lot of the time we didn't even realise they were speaking English until you caught a couple of words.
On the second day we met with our dive instructor Monica who was Spanish but spoke very good English and was very nice. We went over our homework and then went for our first dive which worryingly was going to be the deep dive. We were nervous setting up our equipment ourselves but luckily it was a small boat and there was only us two and our instructor in our course. We went down to 30m but because the water was so clear we couldn't even notice any difference to 18m. Monica brought down a secret object which we had to guess what it was. When she got it out of her bag it looked like a really dark coloured kiwi but we soon guessed correctly that it was a tomato. She shone her torch on it and immediately turned bright red again. It was cool to see how much the colours fade underwater. On our way back to the surface we passed a small shipwreck which was pretty cool, we also got to see a lot of coral but it was a short dive as you use a lot more air on deep dives.
On our surface interval we were given our fish I'd for the next dive and a pencil to circle what we see. We moved to a different spot with more amazing coral, we swam along the wall and then turned around to go back to the boat when we just saw a huge eagle ray elegantly swim right past us, then after a minute three swam back past us which was really really cool.
We found a really good restaurant on the island, an Italian that did amazing seafood with really good sauces and was the same price as everywhere else but much better quality. We ended up eating dinner here 3 times and 1 lunch.
Our next dives were a shipwreck, which was also a deep dive and navigation. The shipwreck was a massive cargo ship which was really bizarre to swim around, we also got to swim in a little bit of the cargo hold. This also didn't last too long as it was deep but we saw some cool oysters and some big fish.
On the navigation dive we had to measure distance underwater and use a compass to find a small shipwreck. Gráinne had the compass to find the boat but we were way off and Monica kept putting us on the right course but we kept going in the totally wrong direction. She eventually just gave up and showed us. We then had to swim for a bit and lead us back the the boat, which was fine, then it was my turn to get us back to the boat with the compass which we got dead on so hopefully redeemed ourselves.
That night we went out for a night dive which we were nervous for, we went out and got in the water just before sunset which was OK because we could see around us still. It eventually got dark to the point where you could only ever see what was in the beam of the torch which was a little strange not being able to see if anything was near. We got to see some cool rays on the bottom and a lot of fish asleep on the coral. During the dive we stopped on the sand and turned all the lights off, then Monica started moving the water causing a cloud of bioluminescent algae to glow green in front of us which was awesome to see. On our way up to the surface we saw a squid swimming, we didn't know what it was at first because it looked so strange, it had shimmering neon blue patterns on its side and swam very funny. On the surface it was pitch black and we had to find the boat and swim to it, it was very strange to be in the sea at this time.
With our course finished it was time for a couple of fun dives, our first on we went to a reef wall and saw some big fish but not any different to what we had already seen. We did have a couple of Japanese people that were really pathetic and couldn't seem to do anything, the girl would just drift off and tech out for the guy to stop her from drifting away even though she wasn't even swimming. On our second dive we got so see a huge barracuda swim right up close to us checking us out and we could see its huge teeth poking out.
We were disappointed because we half expected to see a whale shark as we went to different dive sights where there was a chance of seeing them.
When we got back on the island we inquired about going on a whale shark snorkelling trip to try and see one but it was not going for another three days so were really disappointed. We were really gutted when later that night we read online that Utila was the best place in the world to see whale sharks, and also the cheapest by a long way.
We bought our tickets for the ferry for the following morning, but when we got up at 6 to get the ferry we decided that we should stay a few more days to have another shot at seeing one. We also thought we should stay for the diving as it was cheaper on Utila than most other places in the world.
We got booked on for 4 dives with a different dive company that goes to the northern side of the island where you have a chance of seeing a whale shark. We than also had to figure out whether we would be able to fit in the 5 day hike we had planned in Guatemala now that we were a few days behind. We even inquired about chartering a helicopter to get us there but we decided if we did miss out on the hike we will be doing diving instead which we prefer to do anyway.
Our first dive with the dive shop went to the north side, it was a pretty uneventful dive, we didn't see much different to what we had seen before, we did see lionfish although it was dead on the end of the dive masters spear. On our surface interval we went looking for whale sharks and got our briefing on how to swim with it. We waited nervously before the captain shook his head and gave up, we were really disappointed! The second dive was as equally uneventful as the first but we still had two more dives the next day to catch a whale shark. We also found out why the lionfish had been speared, it was because they were an invasive species that had no predators in Utila and reproduced at an enormous rate because of the warm temperature, meaning it was the only fish that you can kill in order to protect the other fish.
On our dives the following day we asked the dive master about spotting a whale shark and he said they saw a couple on yesterdays afternoon dives as well as a hammerhead shark! We were unbelievably annoyed by this as we could have done that easily and it seemed like they were just been spotted whenever we weren't there. We were gutted by this and went to ask about a whale shark tour that afternoon as a last chance of seeing them as we couldn't stay any longer. The boat trip however, was not going today or for another 3 days. Gutted as we were we had to face the fact we were leaving the best place in the world to see whale sharks, without seeing a whale shark despite our 11 dives there!
We went to the dive shop to pay for our dives but needed a bit more so said we would be back in 5, On our way to the ATM to get money to pay for our dives we ran into Craig and Audrey, a couple from our Colombia to panama sailing trip. This was a massive coincidence as panama was so long ago. We spoke to them for a minute and it turned out they were on there way to a whale shark research centre for a snorkelling trip and it was 60 dollars. Without hesitation we said we'd join them and followed them to the centre and signed up even though it was quite expensive. We thought it was strange we hadn't heard of this place before, but it turns out that it had been shut until that day. Within an hour we were on our boat with about 10 other passengers, two captains and three researchers. We sailed out for ages before we saw a boil. A boil is where a load of fish are driven to the surface to feed, which also attracts birds and this is where a whale shark is present so this is what the captains look for. The captain could see them from miles away and no one else could, he was good at it. We were split into two groups as only 8 were allowed in at one time and we were in the second group while the first waited at the back of the boat ready for captains signal to jump in. This is where we saw our first whale shark from the surface, feeding vertically we could see its spotted back through the water. The group jumped in but it swam away straight away. Next was our turn but it was about 20 minutes before we found another, the captain was unsure but he told us to swim and try anyway, we were the first off and swam like crazy when a huge blue whale shark tail came into sight swimming ahead of us, we caught it up and were able to swim beside it for a couple of minutes, our masks were leaking and we were breathing in water but that couldn't take our eyes away. After our steam ran out and we couldn't keep up we stopped and the two researchers could not believe that had just happened and it was the best sighting they had ever had of a whale shark, everyone was ecstatic at what we just saw. We got back on the boat and could not believe our luck, not only of the amazing sighting but also the massive coincidence of running into Craig and Audrey in the street while they were on their way to the research centre. We cruised for about another hour before the other group got to go in a second time but unfortunately didn't get a good viewing again. Next was our turn, and we were first in when the captain said go and we swam furiously for about 3 seconds before we realised it was swimming against us about 6 metres below us, this gave us a great view of it from above and an appreciation of the size, which was bigger than the first. We couldn't believe our luck, neither could the other group who were eager to get in again. We searched some more but didn't spot anything so headed back to shore. We watched the videos at the office which came out really well and they used the video to identify the whale shark and track its movements.
After finally being satisfied and thanking the gods, Neptune and Poseidon we went to our favourite restaurant for the last time then met Craig and Audrey for a couple of drinks. We didn't stay late as we both needed to be up early. We got the ferry the next day, after queuing for about half an hour in a huge queue which was being served by one woman, we got the boat which was pretty smooth and got a bus then to San Pedro Sula (the most murderous city in the world) for our transfer to Copan. On arriving in Copan we went with a guy to a great hostel for a really good price and were happy that the day actually went quite smoothly.