Utila Bay Islands, Honduras

see all photos »

We jumped on one of the local buses and headed to La Ceiba on the coast, and the gateway to the Bay Islands. The 2.5 hour bus ride there was the most scenic I've done yet - rolling hills, lots of green, palm trees, bananna trees, locals working in the forest, all from the very hot comfort of the bus. I really enjoyed it. At La Ceiba we got on a one hour ferry that took us to Utila - one of the two main islands famous for its diving (the Bay Islands have the second biggest barrier reef in the world). Utila was more the backpackers, back to nature island, while Roatan is also famous for its white sand, palm fringed beaches, and the expense! So in hope of finding another Koh Tao, instead of a Koh Samui, we chose Utila. We are glad we made that choice, it is so chilled here and there are beaches not the sort like home but it is so great here that it hardly matters.

see all photos »

There is really only one main street here and you can walk end to end in 10 minutes. We are staying in a great little place which is right on the water, so each morning we can have our breakfast overlooking the sea and the boats coming in. There is also great food here - they have many BBQ seafood places and it is also inexpensive and yummy!

Nath and I went out to do a couple of dives yesterday. We were a little disappointed in truth, the marine life was not even comparable to that on Koh Tao and we were out of the shark season - the main attraction here. I had troubles with my mask and because of my massive phobia of water being around my nose and particularly my eyes, I freaked. It was dangerous because we were 18 metres below the surface and you shouldnt ascend quickly like I did, but for me I just had to get the top before I completely freaked out and drowned. I was so petrified that while I continued the first dive, I was under so much stress that it was not enjoyable and I skipped the second one completely. I've learnt that I really need to overcome my phobia before I go diving again, it was too dangerous for me as well as Nath and the instructor who surfaced with me.

see all photos »

Today we went snorkelling, which was so much better. We saw stacks of beautiful fish and it was an awsome day. Tomorrow, we are leaving this little island paradise to head to the capital, where we will change buses to go into Nicaragua - a full day of travel ahead!