Learning to Dive

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There was no way we were not going to come here to learn to dive. It is one, if not the, cheapest places in the world to learn to dive. Utila is more orientated to the backpacker, with less big resorts and more hostels.

First impressions were: wow, this place is stunning. We checked into an apartment recommended in the guide book. It was a great place, although in hindsight pretty expensive compared to what you can get on the island. What we didn't realize at the time was that when you sign up with a dive school for courses (or even fun dives) you can get very cheap accommodation with them.

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We spent the first afternoon checking out the different dive schools, of which there are many. They all seemed great and very professional. We decided to do our courses with Ecomarine, or Gunter's as it is sometimes called. It is hard to describe why, as the other schools had better accommodation, newer equipment and more travelers diving with them, however when we met the instructors we just knew this was the school for us.

Having sorted out the courses and our accommodation for tomorrow (hint: we managed to get it for free with the course as another school had offered us free accommodation!), we decided to make the most of luxurious little pad and had some relaxing beers on the balcony. We also had a coffee machine so we were able to sample some of the coffee we bought in Guatemala.

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Next morning it was an early start for me, as I had my refresher course. Having not dived for almost 8 years I had a lot to catch up on. Gini had a more relaxed start (she was doing an open water course, me an advanced) so she had a lie in. Grrrr. By 7.30am I was blowing bubbles with the fishes again. Great fun, and such amazing reefs. I can't remember reefs like this in Oz or Malaysia. But then I do have doubts over my memory at times. Spent most of the dive trying to get to grips with my buoyancy and therefore missed a lot of the fishes!

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I (Gini) spent the mornings watching the compulsory videos and then going out in the water in the afternoons. There are lots of skills you have to master before you can properly go out diving. By the end of the second day we went out for my first open water dive. It was amazing. I didn't realise how much I would enjoy diving. the fish are so cool and there are so many different sorts that I had no idea even existed. On my second dive a Giant Moray Eel swam right underneath me!

There are so many different dive sites around the islands, all of which have different things to see. Some are better for coral, like silver gardens, where the coral is, well, silver - which was beautiful. Other sites, like Black Hills, as well as having beautiful coral also have an amazing array of fish life. Ben says this is the best dive site he has ever been to. Basically there is something for everyone.

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Utila is a great place. As well as the diving there are many nice bars (lots of which have views out to sea). A bar we particularly liked was the one at the Jade SeaHorse hotel. The decor was fantastic and really quirky. It must have taken ages to do. the atmosphere there was good too as were the cocktails!

There are lots of restaurants on the island catering for all tastes and budgets. You don't have to go to the more expensive ones to get to try the seafood here as there are lots of BBQ style places along the road.

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We were actually quite tempted to stay in utila for another 3 months and learn to be dive instructors, thats how much we liked it. However, we decided to stick to our original plan and move on.....i'm sure we'll be back again sometime.