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I'm currently on a bit of a world tour to learn about other cultures and ecosystems... Feel free to leave a comment or recommendation or say hello

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Honduran Bay Islands

Howdy mon! I be livin in dee bay Islands mon! On the northern end of Hinduras there are 3 islands famous for some of the best and cheapest diving in the world....what i did not expect is that people speak the bob marley talk! At first I thought it was heavily accented spanish but alas it was english!!

From Flores I took a bus starting at 6am towards Honduras and arrived at La Ceiba at 6pm, which is the city from where you can take a ferry to the islands. It was a crazy journey but quite easy by central american standards.... I had met some people on the bus going to the same place the next day so we all went to a hostel together...In La Ceiba I was surprised by the amount of crappy american cuisine! Everywhere you look is a burger king or wendys or pizza hut.... we ended up at some kind of high end italian place with a rude waiter and delicious food! It took 10 minutes to explain that I didnt want anchovies in my pasta but i got a garlic party in my mouth that is still keeping the bugs off me!!

The fairy took an hour to get to the isands and was quite boring compared to the roller coaster ride we had getting back.... The island had a couple streets and tons of dive centers...It was nice but unfortunately I was not to impressed, the food was mediocre at best and people were not upset to see you but maybe not happy either.... The diving was fun and when i went for a night dive we were floating in the ocean dong buddy checks watching a thunderstorm! I have never been swimming and watching lightning before...and I don't plan on doing it again! But aparently it is safe in the ocean.... felt as safe as dipping myself in honey and walking into a bear den right at the end of the longest winter on record....but here I am to tell the tale...to bad about Christina though! (just kidding there is no christina)
Diving at night is super! All the corals change as the polyps come out...coral looks like plants or some weird growth in the day but at night hairlike tendrils come out all over so they can feed, that is when you see that they are indeed animals...although it was hard to get any info on them more than the simple identification books yielded. Also different fish are out and there is abundant phosphorescence (sp?)

After the diving I spent a couple days at a much smaller island and went on kayak and snoreling trips fom there....I finally got to the white sandy beaches a bit as Utilla (the big island) had docks and boats all around.... I will admit it for the very first time here..I like snorkelling more than diving! You have more control over what yo want to do, and if the reef is not too deep you can see just as much! And even more because there is no group hurrying you along! I saw some more turtles and a friend showed me that yo can hold certain jellyfish if you turn them upside down! And they actually feel like jelly!!

One of the highlights of Utila was getting to see the stanley cup be won! Too bad it was the wrong team though!

Getting back fom the little island was an insane adventure, only to be topper by the fairy back to La Ceiba. We were in a noarrow and long boat, maybe 8meters long, and the otboard 80 horspower on back...the ocean was very windy, huge waves and we kept ridig up one and slamming back down with such force as would put your boys in your throat. There were many times we thoght the boat was gong to split in 2. It was a rocking seasick motion, just a gong up and slamming down....we had to sit as far back as possible to limit the pounding or asses took with each descent.... we felt like chapions when we arrived! We had a couple hours before the next boat which is a catamarang ferry back to the main land...this was the seasick ride! The atendants were very busy handingo t plastic bags and paper towels....and one mother was just clamly breastfeeding the whole time! Here we were gong up down and side to side in sickening turns, and I bet some people would pay good money for such a ride, but you would normally find them on things called stomach twister and death coaster.....It was close but the veggie sub I had for lunch behaved as all enemy subs should and kept sinking, never to come back up.....

One more island thoght...peple just never get sick of Bob Marley! While I was exposed to some new reggae, just about every place is playing Bob Marley...and it is the locals who are bobbing along with the music! Even as I sit now I am hearing...get up stand up, stand up for your rights.... It seems like they are stuck not jsut on one artist but one album...for 30 years! I guess that is the island life....it also smelled like Otto's jacket

cheers

1 comment:

Jessica said...

Yay! I love Bob Marley! Reminds me of beach vacation! (like where we were in playa!)

Haha you like snorkeling better. Cant wait to go again with you.
and don't swim with lightning