The next morning we continued our backtracking into Honduras to the city of La Ceiba and from there took a ferry to our final destination, the island of Utila. Utila is part of the Bay Islands and is famous for its cheap diving schools. We ran into a Canadian diving instructor on the ferry over and decided to stay and take a course at the school where he works. I planned to take a 4 day Open Water Course and Greg, who already had his, was going to take the Advanced Open Water Course. The first day of the course involved watching 3 hours of boring videos and some homework however it gave me some time to explore the town. Every other place seems to be a diving school but there are also lots of restaurants and hotels. There is one place where they built an entire bar up a tree.
The second day of the course was the first day in the water. We just went out to the dock at the hotel in about 2-3 metres of water where we practiced some different scuba diving skills such as taking the mask off underwater and practicing breathing properly. It was really cool breathing underwater and it was hypnotizing watching the bubbles rise to the surface of the water. I learned that my breathing is very inefficient because I ran out of air at the end of the lesson and had to ascend early. The next day was our first open water experience and we took the boat in the early morning out to the nearby reefs. We descended to a sandy area in the reefs and practiced a few skills before we headed out to explore the reef. I experienced my first problem with my ears when we descended to 12 metres. I was unable to equalize my ears properly and had to hang out above everybody at a shallower depth. The reef was pretty cool. It was a little bit dead because the areas was used by a lot of beginner divers who would bump into the coral but there were fish of every color and many different types of coral. We got out of the water and went to a different location where we dove in again and did some more skills. In the afternoon we did our 50 question final exam for the course and I passed with 50 out of 50. The next day was the final dives for the course. We did two more dives which were more skill-intensive but we got to see some cool creatures such as a stingray and a bunch of squid. After the day was over we could celebrate obtaining our open water certification. It's a lifetime certification and it means that I can dive to 18 metres without an instructor.
The next day I went out on two more complementary dives. I really enjoyed myself and was able to overcome the problems with my ears. I saw a huge spotted eagle ray and a seahorse and really started to feel comfortable diving. It's fun when you are able to control yourself underwater. A deep breath in and you float up and over the reef, exhaling and you sink back down to the floor. I had so much fun that I decided to take my Advanced Open Water course as well. The Advanced course consisted of 5 'adventure' dives. The next day we took the morning boat out and the first dive was the Deep Dive. We went down to 30 metres where it started to get quite dark. We did some experiments with eggs and air bottles seeing the effect of the water pressure. At that level the pressure is 4 times that of air and your body starts to build up nitrogen bubbles so you can't stay down for too long. You also use up your air 4 times as fast and I didn't do a good job of conserving my air and I had to share my instructor's air when I ran out. For deep dives there is a spare tank hanging under the boat and I was able to use that while we waited at 5 metres for the nitrogen to dissipate. The next day we did a navigation dive and used compasses to navigate underwater. Later that day we did a night dive which we explored the underwater only using flashlight. There were lots of fish with really big eyes and I saw a blue Moray Eel as well. The next day I did the last two dives and I was alone in the class because the others had done their dives earlier. The fourth dive was a Wreck Dive and we went down to 30 metres again to explore a sunken wreck. It was a cargo ship that was sunk to create a reef and it was pretty big. It was already almost completely covered in coral and there were a number of big fish hanging out in the boat. The last dive I did for the advanced course was the Buoyancy Dive. This was my choice because I wanted to practice floating correctly so I could move through the water with ease. After this dive I had finished my Advanced course and I now can dive to 30 metres and have much more freedom where I can dive.
The next day I got two more complimentary dives and this time we saw a sea turtle. It was just a small turtle but we got to follow it for about 15 minutes as it swam through the coral and nibbled on little bits of food here and there. The second dive we saw a big barracuda and another spotted eagle ray. After finishing these dives I had done 13 dives in 6 days and my ears were glad for a rest. Coincidentally, that night the dive center was having a party for two recently graduated divemasters and I could pretend they were celebrating my achievement as well. Everybody staying there got on the boat and we cruised around the bay for a sunset tour. When we got back they had prepared a huge pot of the local fish soup which was excellent and there was night beach volleyball and plenty of music for the rest of the night.
The next morning we continued our backtracking into Honduras to the city of La Ceiba and from there took a ferry to our final destination, the island of Utila. Utila is part of the Bay Islands and is famous for its cheap diving schools. We ran into a Canadian diving instructor on the ferry over and decided to stay and take a course at the school where he works. I planned to take a 4 day Open Water Course and Greg, who already had his, was going to take the Advanced Open Water Course. The first day of the course involved watching 3 hours of boring videos and some homework however it gave me some time to explore the town. Every other place seems to be a diving school but there are also lots of restaurants and hotels. There is one place where they built an entire bar up a tree.
The second day of the course was the first day in the water. We just went out to the dock at the hotel in about 2-3 metres of water where we practiced some different scuba diving skills such as taking the mask off underwater and practicing breathing properly. It was really cool breathing underwater and it was hypnotizing watching the bubbles rise to the surface of the water. I learned that my breathing is very inefficient because I ran out of air at the end of the lesson and had to ascend early. The next day was our first open water experience and we took the boat in the early morning out to the nearby reefs. We descended to a sandy area in the reefs and practiced a few skills before we headed out to explore the reef. I experienced my first problem with my ears when we descended to 12 metres. I was unable to equalize my ears properly and had to hang out above everybody at a shallower depth. The reef was pretty cool. It was a little bit dead because the areas was used by a lot of beginner divers who would bump into the coral but there were fish of every color and many different types of coral. We got out of the water and went to a different location where we dove in again and did some more skills. In the afternoon we did our 50 question final exam for the course and I passed with 50 out of 50. The next day was the final dives for the course. We did two more dives which were more skill-intensive but we got to see some cool creatures such as a stingray and a bunch of squid. After the day was over we could celebrate obtaining our open water certification. It's a lifetime certification and it means that I can dive to 18 metres without an instructor.
The next day I went out on two more complementary dives. I really enjoyed myself and was able to overcome the problems with my ears. I saw a huge spotted eagle ray and a seahorse and really started to feel comfortable diving. It's fun when you are able to control yourself underwater. A deep breath in and you float up and over the reef, exhaling and you sink back down to the floor. I had so much fun that I decided to take my Advanced Open Water course as well. The Advanced course consisted of 5 'adventure' dives. The next day we took the morning boat out and the first dive was the Deep Dive. We went down to 30 metres where it started to get quite dark. We did some experiments with eggs and air bottles seeing the effect of the water pressure. At that level the pressure is 4 times that of air and your body starts to build up nitrogen bubbles so you can't stay down for too long. You also use up your air 4 times as fast and I didn't do a good job of conserving my air and I had to share my instructor's air when I ran out. For deep dives there is a spare tank hanging under the boat and I was able to use that while we waited at 5 metres for the nitrogen to dissipate. The next day we did a navigation dive and used compasses to navigate underwater. Later that day we did a night dive which we explored the underwater only using flashlight. There were lots of fish with really big eyes and I saw a blue Moray Eel as well. The next day I did the last two dives and I was alone in the class because the others had done their dives earlier. The fourth dive was a Wreck Dive and we went down to 30 metres again to explore a sunken wreck. It was a cargo ship that was sunk to create a reef and it was pretty big. It was already almost completely covered in coral and there were a number of big fish hanging out in the boat. The last dive I did for the advanced course was the Buoyancy Dive. This was my choice because I wanted to practice floating correctly so I could move through the water with ease. After this dive I had finished my Advanced course and I now can dive to 30 metres and have much more freedom where I can dive.
The next day I got two more complimentary dives and this time we saw a sea turtle. It was just a small turtle but we got to follow it for about 15 minutes as it swam through the coral and nibbled on little bits of food here and there. The second dive we saw a big barracuda and another spotted eagle ray. After finishing these dives I had done 13 dives in 6 days and my ears were glad for a rest. Coincidentally, that night the dive center was having a party for two recently graduated divemasters and I could pretend they were celebrating my achievement as well. Everybody staying there got on the boat and we cruised around the bay for a sunset tour. When we got back they had prepared a huge pot of the local fish soup which was excellent and there was night beach volleyball and plenty of music for the rest of the night.
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