Utila

We've been in Utila just 5 days now and it feels like it's been months. We spend our first night at a really nice place a bit outside of the main strip and decided to move in. The dive shop we're diving with offers free accommodations to divers so we figured we'd save a few bucks and stay there. Needless to say, there's a reason why the accommodations were free. After Will and I started describing it as a meth lab regularly, we decided we had it within the budget to stay somewhere nicer. For $20 a night we have an amazing, clean (and quiet) room down the street. It overlooks the ocean, has a private dock and the owners are lovely. If you find yourself here, we highly recommend Rubi's, they folded my pile of dirty laundry when they cleaned this morning for Christ sake.

I had my first dive on the island a few days ago, waking up at sunrise, and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw rays, turtles, millions of fish, and apparently just missed a whale shark. Will is in class underwater at this moment and should be certified by noon today. I don't think either of us realized just how much work dive school is, and although I'm so happy he's doing it, and so excited to dive with him tomorrow, it's been a bit odd being in school on vacation. It'll all pay off though when we're diving tomorrow, and next week in Belize.

Our first day here we rented a golf cart (one way most people get around, aside from scooters) and cruised the island. The guy who rented it to us made clear that "a few beers while driving ok" so we grabbed a few and went exploring. The main hub of the island is tiny compared to the whole thing, which stretches on and on with both beautiful coastal homes and properties, and in land to farms and homes on the hill. There's even a small airport on the island, if the ferry, (locally know as the vomit comet) doesn't appeal to you. My mind has been racing with ideas of how to buy a house and work down here after seeing how cheap a home on the water is.

There are several deserted islands I hope we can make it to before we ship off, where a fisherman will drop you and a cooler on a deserted island at 11 or so and pick you up and sunset. It's sounds pretty awesome, and I hope we have time to squeeze it in. That all depends of course, on how we get to Belize, which we're still figuring out. I'm remembering now how there is a long cheap way to get around, and a short expensive way, and when you're on a 3 week holiday it's probably best to fork over the cash. On that note, I'm off to look up flights to Belize and will most likely report back once we've made it there. Cheers!