The Perfect Day in Honduras

 You'll never guess what we did today.... we went scuba diving!!!

First, a little backstory because we have been waiting to dive for awhile. Since being in Honduras and on Cayo Mayor, we have learned very extensively the meaning of "island time". This means something will be done, just not today. Because of this, we have learned to be patient. We had been hoping to dive on Sunday, then Monday, however because of island time we were able to dive today!!

We woke up same as usual and ate some delicious baleadas and orange juice for breakfast. Then, Katie, Erika and I suited up and got ready. We went out with Henry, a dive master from Utila. On our first dive we jumped straight off the dock and explored the reef near the resort. The first thing we found was a starfish!! Unfortunately this dive I did have a leaky BCD, so I was emptying a lot of air in order to stay at depth. Other than that however it was a relatively short and very pleasant dive. Once we surfaced and made plans for our second dive, Katie and I did our laundry. 

Laundry was its own adventure and in my opinion quite fun. After we had chosen what most needed cleaning, we turned the shower on and proceeded to soak the clothes. Once thoroughly rinsed, we hand scrubbed them together before rinsing them and hanging them out to dry in the sun. Though they are not as soft as clothing from a drier, they are clean and dry :)

After our brief clothing stint we got on the boat with our gear (and a new BCD for me) and drove to Lion's Head, a huge mountain of coral. This was my first boat dive and it went extremely well. The water was crystalline blue - like the dyed blue water in a mini golf course. Once everyone was ready we descended into the beautiful mountains of coral. We slowly made our way through, eventually going down to 55 feet. The water was so clear we could see all the way up to the surface and everything around us, even so deep. Our dive-lights that we brought proved useless. After turning around and making our way back, we were continually amazed by the diversity and bounty of coral, fish and sponges. We saw a lionfish - impressive but very invasive. We also saw some very large lobsters as well as a big school of some sort of Caribbean blue fish. After our safety stop we climbed back into the boat - made easier by a ladder and enjoyed the ride back to the island. We had a quick debrief before eating lunch. 

In the afternoon, Katie and I laid transects for her project, spending another two hours in the water! Dinner was some scrumptious empanadas that hit everyone's spot. Please look at Katie's imminent post for lots of photos.

Joke: Why do scuba divers fall backwards when the fall from the boat?

Answer: Because if they fell forward the would still be in the boat :)