Scuba Diving off the Island of Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

Poor fish - hope we don`t scare them off!
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

Esteban and I are now qualified as advanced scuba divers with NAUI!!

We arrived on the island of Utila with the intention of doing only the Open Water Diver course, one of the cheapest places in the world to do it, but this qualification only allows you to go to 18m. Most of the best diving in the world is at greater depths and having learnt about the additional dangers at depth (nitrogen narcosis, etc.) we wanted to be better prepared. The NAUI Advanced course includes diving to 40m, wreck diving and diving at night and was definitely the most exciting course of the two, especially given that we had more dives off the island.

So, about the course: in contrast to Esteban (who took to diving like a `crab´ to water) it was a hairy start for me, as I discovered I had problems breathing solely with my mouth through the regulator - I had the tendency to also breathe in and out through my nose. It caused a great deal of concern at first, not least because if I had not overcome the problem I could never have completed the course, but also it was causing me to panic under water, especially when we had to perform skills like taking off the mask and replacing it under water. (Our instructors at Altons Dive School, Rob and Chris, were very professional and helped me through my little problem. I can only sing the praises of the school and courses.) But my first dive away from the shallows of the school dock proved that the breathing was no longer a problem: on seeing the beauty of the reef, the abundance of weird and wonderful marine life, thousands of pretty fish, turtles, eagle rays - and YES, we saw a 11m whale shark! – I was cured! Wow, what an experience. And I did get narcked (nitrogen narcosis) on my first deeper dive (30m) during our wreck dive, where I had to draw plans of 2 floors of the wrecked boat. This was very funny afterwards, as I had been so intoxicated (like being drunk) that I couldn´t draw a thing – on viewing my plans later our instructor just looked puzzled! Thankfully it gets better the more often you dive at depth, so the next day when we had to do the deep dive, to 40m, I was a little anxious, but all was fine, not the slightest sign of narcosis this time! The other great dive was the night dive, where we all felt like detectives with our torches trying to discover the nocturnal life. We spotted some lobsters, strange starfish and lots of red shrimps.

The island itself warrants a mention. The two languages of the locals are Spanish and a strange sounding Caribbean English (sounded to me like a mix of Jamaican, Irish and Texan!). It was fascinating to hear them speak and to learn about their history. There are three main cultures living together; the Hondurans, black Caribbs (originally from the Island of San Vicent) and the white descendents of the British colonies. Most of the Hondurans speak some English, but the later two cultures are bilingual. Food shopping in Utila was like a nostalgia trip for me, discovering pork and beans (baked beans), peanut butter, macaroni cheese, all things that I had not seen for a long time! The only negative about the island was the constant attack from sandflies, tiny flies that you can barely see that would find the one place you had forgotten to put repellent and bite you there 5 times!

I hope you enjoy these photos. We hired an digital camera with 40m-depth waterproof casing, so there are lots of diving photos, but we obviously still have a lot to learn about underwater photography! Enjoy.

DISTANCE TRAVELLED (OVERLAND) SINCE USHUAIA: 31,770 KM

Caribbean Seaside Village of Omoa

Beach of Omoa
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

Finally we arrived at the Caribbean, and the very familiar Latino and indigenous cultures were now coloured with a vivid Caribbean hue. A new experience of Latin America for both Esteban and me. We whiled away the days on the beach, relaxing in the beautiful gardens of our hostel, watching the iguanas, geckos, beautiful tropical birds and butterflies go about their business. We also visited Fort San Fernando, built by the Spaniards in 1759 to protect their cargo boats laden with silver from the British pirates.

Here are the photos.

DISTANCE TRAVELLED (OVERLAND) SINCE USHUAIA: 31,500 KM

Mayan Ruins of Copan, Honduras

Grand staircase under restoration
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

Finishing in Mexico we headed back to Guatemala, spent a couple of days relaxing in Xela before another long journey on to Honduras. Although covering smaller distances than in Argentina or Chile, travelling in Guatemala seems so much more of an effort. The chicken busses (ex-US school busses) are uncomfortable and packed, the road conditions poor and there are few long distance busses. So we set off towards the border with Honduras, our journey taking us via dangerous Guatemala City (with a quick-as-possible connection) and with a couple of days in the Guatemalan town of Chiquimula, using the hotel pool to cool down from the intense heat of this region. We then crossed over the border into Honduras and quickly discovered a country that was relatively more developed than Guatemala (Guatemala being definitely the most underdeveloped of Latin American countries), despite having the same serious crime problems caused principally by the Mara (mafia style gangs). Police, security guards and the army are all employed to protect banks, shops, petrol stations, etc., and all of whom wield M-16s or sub-machine guns!! It certainly made us more aware of the crime problems in this part of Central America.

We arrived into the pretty little village of Copan Ruinas and spent a lovely afternoon visiting the ruins, which, although not as architecturally interesting or well preserved as other big sites, offered great examples of Mayan architectural decoration and stelae.

Take a look at the pictures, here.

DISTANCE TRAVELLED (OVERLAND) SINCE USHUAIA: 31,250 KM