Friday, 22 February 2013
Ryan's 100th (naked) dive and general dive banter. Just another day in paradise....
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Super Diving
February 20th 2013
Literally
had THE best dive ever today. Myself, Ryan and Alex went off on our own fun
dive with hopes of going deep but found as we dropped down we were literally
right over two massive spotted eagle rays which we proceeded to follow, GoPro’s
in tow. As it seemed as if they were swimming that bit to fast to keep up with
a rather generously proportioned Hawksbill turtle appeared as if by magic, then
another one…and a third! I had my new GoPro with me but as a complete novice
and lacking a screen to view what I’m actually recording I had it off for many
of the times I thought it was on and vice versa. Still got some pretty sick
footage of one of the turtles though. We were literally mesmirised by turtle
number two and he was proper chilled out to hang with us. He came right up to
us eying us up and down, ensuring we were no threat and just kept on riding the
current, nibbling on food as he went along. A truly magical thing to watch.
Apart from the turtles and the eagle rays we also saw some pretty massive
crabs, a giant grouper and had some fun with cleaner shrimp who were happy to
groom my cuticles for me! GoPro footage to follow soon!
I started my
job in Mainstreet which has turned out to be a pretty awesome place to work.
Very very laid back. So much so that when it’s quiet you can just sit on one of
the couches and read a book or check emails. Not only that but the deal is that
I eat free there but can also bring five of my friends to eat for free too. I
can drink as much as I like for free when I’m working and get a free meal.
Sweet deal! Not only that but now that folk know I’m there they’ve started to
slowly trickle in more and more to say hi! Couldn’t ask for a better job….well
I could but on Utila scale it’s pretty awesome. Oh how I don’t want to leave!
More Utila Antics
February 18th 2013
Once again,
Utila has been tempting the inner study nerd out of studius divemaster focus
and has been luring us fellow divemasters into the depths of TreeTanic and
Tranquila. However, the resulting effects have ended up in quite a lot of fun
and mischief! I have a few photos to reflect!
Too many
late and rum filled nights I think caught up on me there the other day when I
had to miss two days of DM dive workshops which was a bit pants but luckily I
have time on my side and a flexible timetable with how UDC works which is nice.
Luckily, the
wonderful and beautiful Annita took a big group of us (boys included) for a
relaxing and detoxifying yoga session in the Monkey Tail Inn on Monday. Despite
the roar of tuk tuks and motorbikes screaming outside from time to time it felt
good to take some time out for reflection and to spend some time with new
friends in compromising positions…nothing sexual of course!
We have our
second exam next Saturday so I’m going to be on my game and ace it. It’s mostly
going to be on the physiological effects of diving on the body, etc which is
actually really interesting but quite a bit to remember. Brings me back to 6th
year biology ….. but it’s nice to be finally doing a part (emphasis on PART of a course – there is a
lot of brand marketing in every other part of the course!!) of a dive course
that isn’t simply for the promotion and benefit of the PADI brand!
Last night
saw the Pub Quiz night again in UDC. Myself, Ryan, Krystle and Sam joined to
make would ultimately potentially be a force to be reckoned with. Seeing as it
was 2 Canadians, a Brit and an Irish we called ourselves Loonies, Toonies,
Punts and Pounds (copyright Sam). But yea, without any cheating (they turned of
the Wifi for it!) we actually won and
got 200limpira each, which out here will buy you a really plush meal(about €7).
So happy days!
I start my
new job tonight in Mainstreet Bar and Restaurant. My hourly wage will be a
grand total of 50 limpira an hour (approx. $2.50) so gonna have to work for my
tips. But I do get free meals if I’m working or not and get to bring 5 friends
in with me to eat for free too which is sweet! We’ll see how it goes!
Definitely a plummet down from the hospitality wages in Australia. Long gone
are the $20 an hour wages we had there. But this place has a lot more to offer
me thinks!
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Utila
February 1st 2013
Today went
by like a New York minute in New York.
After nearly
three years of travelling….or at least being out of Ireland for extended
periods of time, I have decided to actually put pen to paper (or fingers to
keys) and record my adventures as I encounter them and explore the personally unknown realm of internet
blogging.
I’ve been
slack to say the least in keeping up with friends in the past so this is my way
of letting folk know what I actually get up to when I sporadically run away
from home! While I may have missed out on detailed stories of what I
encountered over the last few years I hope to get myself into lots more trouble
and adventure in order to bring grit
into my new blog. Hopefully my constant updates of life overseas will not bring
the reader a sense of boredom but will infact intermittently render a mild
chuckle or stimulate a mild note of interest.
Meanwhile…in
the Big Apple….
I boarded my
plane in Dublin with first stop New Jersey.
As I took my window seat a couple sat down next to me. I took no notice
until the constant shower of affection from the manpartnerhusband started
encroaching on my cocoon of personal space. I had no choice but to throw a
questioning glare that went utterly unnoticed but what I then observed was a
very AMEERICAAN balding man, who bore exceedingly similar physical and mental
(that I would discover when asking him to move from his aisle seat to let me
pass and go to the toilet) characteristics to that of Tobias in Arrested
Development. He was there with his obviously new Thai bride who squirmed in her
seat as her manhusbandman showed her with moustache covered kisses and double
hand holding. Now if I was a very sheltered person who had never watched any
media I would could say without a doubt that I may have felt as if I was
watching soft porn the way he fondled her hands.
Finally the
flight took off and at altitude, our ‘flight attendant’ as United Airlines call
them, delivered pretzels to break up the action and ManhusbandTobiasman chilled
helped ease the level of groping, much to my delight.
The flight
took just under 8 hours to Newark Airport, NJ, which ended up in 4 toilet
breaks for me as I was determined not to get dehydrated and proceeded to
consume vast volumes of the clear stuff (not Vodka by the way!). By toilet
break number three I was getting eye daggers and by toilet break number four he
didn’t even move. He just made a fake effort to tuck his legs in against his
seat. How and ever I finally made it to Newark after flying over lots of frozen
lakes and white capped hills, with the famous Manhattan skyline gleaming in the
distance.
I’ve only
been in New York once before in Uni with DCU Drama. I wasn’t so big on the
tourist trail back then, I was more focused on the enticing lights of Time
Square’s endless stream of mindblowing shops and taking advantage of the
lock-in a friend of a friend of a friend’s Irish bar for us under-21’s! I had
always regretted not seeing the iconic statue of liberty and so thought that
might be a potential one for the one day stop-over itinerary.
But first a
bikini wax! I asked the receptionist in my hotel (yep, flashpacker in my old
age staying in a hotel for my stopover) and she sent me in the direction of
possibly one of the dodgiest neighbourhoods I think I have ever been. Episodes
of The Wire kept taking over my thoughts. Every time I saw a car with tinted windows
stop anywhere near me I thought I’d hear the sound of a gun. There are a lot of
Mafioso looking cars around there. Anyways, I found this salon where the latina
lady was down the back of the shop with what seemed like friends and she asked
me what I wanted done. I looked at the guys, looking at me and I guess somewhat
meekly, replied, ‘I’d like a bikini wax please’ and she repeated ‘a whaaat?’
and I looked again at the guys in their baggy pants and hoodies, looking at me
clearly interested in what I was going to have done. So I just said it a loud
for all to hear and she said ‘no problem. You can get yo Brazillian in 5 mins.
The gurl is just in wit anotha client’. So I waited and got flashed a golden
smile from one of the guys as he walked out of the shop. Fantastic.
So, in I
went with the girl to get my wax done. All dignity and modesty gone as I took
of my knickers and lied on the table like a baby waiting to get its nappy
changed. Then I saw the wax. Double dipping was apparently acceptable here and
all I wanted to do was say can you use a different stick and a different wax
and wash your hands please but the wimp in me kept schum and just let her away
with it. If I end up with some kind of infection let it be known that that was
the most likely of causes and nothing more sinister! In fairness, she did a
pretty good job in the end.
Contrary to
my usual prepared and organized approach
to things *cough* I made my way,
post-wax to Penn Station, Newark. I had no idea what went where as there was no
maps to be found anywhere which was handy….in no way! So I asked this guy how
to get to Times Square and he helped me and soon we became short term buddies.
He was there with his nephew, who was clearly very shy and from Atlanta so also
new to the city. He was such a character and a super interesting guy. His
immediate appearance may suggest different if one was to take one at face
value. He donned a rather generous sized gold ring on his hand with a massive
ruby in the middle but he spoke so softly and lyrically when he described the
beauty of New York and was eager to show me what has been done in place of the
twin towers of the World Trade Centre. I got a great photo with my 2 new
transient friends. We exchanged emails so he could very well end up reading
this and if he does I’d like to say a massive thank you for being so helpful
and friendly to a lost Irish girl in New York.
L-R: Lawrence
On the train home I met another New Yorker woman, just a little older
than me that I opened up to about my whole life pretty much in the matter of
just a few stops. She did the same. It was unusual but felt good. She worked in
advertising and worked crazy hours from 6:30am – 11pm sometimes with extra time
in the office the odd Sunday. For her, work is her life. For me, work funds my life and I’m okay with that I
think.
So as quickly as I arrived I soon left and made my way for San Pedro
Sula, Honduras.
February
2nd 2013
The humid heat was instantly
welcomed as I stepped off the plane and on to wait for my connection. And what
a connection it was. A number of us – 15 maybe, walked towards what initially I
thought was the smallest plane I’d ever been on (apart from the time I went sky
diving in NZ). It was treated like a bus of sorts and dropped us 40mins away in
the coastal city of La Ceiba. From there we all got off, each of us going to
different Bay Islands. I was part of a small group that were going to Utila and
our group were directed towards literally, the smallest passenger plane I’ve
ever been in. Men were directed up front and women down the back as we were
that bit smaller. So I hopped into the back seat along with a few of our bags
but suddenly was told to move up the front and got co-pilot seat up the front.
It was incredible! I was terrified I’d touch a control by accident and send our
little plane into the tropical depths below. Luckily my clumsiness that day did
not prevail and we made a majestic and incredibly scenic flight to the Utila
landing strip. This was my first indicator of how immensely laid back and
chilled out this part of the world is. I knew I had come to the right place.
Monday 10th
Feb 2013
Utila is possibly one of the friendliest and most relaxed place I have
ever been. There is virtually no crime rate and the majority of people walk
around with smiles on their faces. After just one day diving with Utila Dive
Centre I had already made a plethora of friends and found myself chatting to a
huge range of new friends as I would walk down the road. After being here just
over a week now I have discovered that it is officially impossible to not see
someone you know walking down to UDC (Utila Dive Centre). It’s such a lovely
feeling and acts as a constant reminder why I chose to come here.
I initially thought of Utila island and doing my Divemaster with UDC from
a friend I worked with on my first boat – Thanks Rian!! He couldn’t have been
more right about this place. UDC so far have been nothing but professional and
are pretty reasonably priced. In order
to start your Divemaster course you need a minimum of 40 dives…which I was far
from…so UDC allow you to do what is commonly known as round here as your
‘pre-week’ which means you do an intensive week of dives and get to know the
local dive sites free of charge!! I am just finishing my pre-week tomorrow –
last 3 dives!!
During the pre-week dives, I’ve been lucky enough to work with some
top-notch instructors. Being completely
blasé and with little ground for the confidence in my diving ability, my
weaknesses were soon pointed out by some of the highly trained instructors like
Clive and Zoni and from their critique I am already feeling like a better and
more established diver. I have learnt a lot in really a very short space of
time.
Besides diving 3 times a day for the last week, I have also been
introduced to island life which involves much time sampling the local food and
very tasty but dangerous Caribbean rum. It seems to go hand in hand here. At
least for pre-week. Game face starts today! The island has a party somewhere
every night. It does tend to change from bar to bar but there’s always
something going on.
It has been a crazy week. I arrived on Saturday and checked into my dorm
in the Mango Bay Inn (which is free of charge with UDC for the first 4 nights
with a DMC). Met a wonderful Canadian gurl called Krystle who immediately
informed me of a beach party that night for the full moon. 3 hours later I was
drinking rum and fresca (grapefruit lemonade that is actually yummy) with about
10 new friends! We then headed on up to the party and things got even crazier.
What a night of excess….but lets just leave it at that. It was an incredible
introduction to island life in Utila.
Sunday was, as you would imagine pretty chilled out and luckily I wasn’t
starting my pre-week until Monday so had time to recover. But nearly every
night there has been some kind of fiesta and the Utilians and divers alike know
how to party party! Getting up in the morning has definitely been harder to
accomplish.
Wednesday 13th February
2013
Yesterday
was potentially one of the best days in my life. I had my last day of pre-week
dives and on the first dive had a very chilled out time, checking out the sea life along just one of
the beautiful reef sites around here.
And as I was buddy’s with my good friend and house mate, "Krystle" we also
had a bit of a play around with buoyancy and doing summersaults in the water
and being generally silly. Good dive but the best was yet to come.
We got back
on the boat after out 40minute dive and as the boat made its way back to the
dive center Captain Ryan (one of the boat drivers) spotted a huge pod of
dolphins off the starboard bow. To say there was a level of excitement would be
an understatement. As soon as Marc, one of the instructors told us all to
quickly get a mask and fins to get ready to jump in dolphin fever took over and
a mild panic ensued to grab things as quick as possible so as not to miss this
incredible opportunity to swim with dolphins.
My heart was racing and finally we got the go ahead to jump into the
water.
Within
seconds I was swimming…no joke….eye to eye with three dolphins, so close I
could have touched them. At one point the three of them were circling me and
genuinely interacting with me. I was almost expecting them to go under me and
lift me up like you see in those marine parks. It was just mind blowing. My
three dolphin buddies then swam on and I looked down only to spot a line of five more just below me. It was simply
magical as I watched them majestically streamline through the water. After a
few minutes it looked as if they had moved on so we were called back to the
boat. We got back on and no sooner had we taken our gear off that the dolphins
were spotted back again and we were back in the water. This time, Andy (head of
UDC) very generously and trustingly gave me the lend of his GoPro. It allowed me to capture just a glimpse of
the incredible experience I encountered.
On the
second swim I found myself surrounded again by a small group of dolphins who
would copy me as I ducked down under water and again as I jumped up. If I did a
spin, they would do a spin and vice versa. It was literally like a scene out of
Free Willy, where I’m the kid and the dolphins are my Orca but in this case,
the dolphins were genuinely having fun in their natural environment and blatantly
exhibiting signs of high intelligence and social interaction with humans.
I will never
forget this experience….ever!
And just to
top all this, on the next dive we saw some awesome stuff including a green sea
turtle and a scorpion fish, sitting in wait camouflaged in the coral. That
could have ended differently if I hadn’t noticed its eyes suddenly dart at me
with evils as I searched that piece of coral for some cleaner shrimp.
Literally,
this has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I have UDC
and Captain Ryan to thank!!! C’mon whale sharks!!!
February 13th 2013
Had my boat
workshop today and went on a rather chilled out dive and practiced some
buoyancy skills. I think I’ve finally mastered the upside down, remaining still
pose which I am personally very excited about.
As a mark
(excuse to drink) I decided to celebrate the end of my pre-week dives by having
some fiesta with friends. The night started with a wonderful dinner that we
call a ‘pot luck dinner’ that involves
everyone making some kind of dish and sharing it with friends. Krysle cooked a
yummy shrimp pasta, Sam made some uber tasty meatballs (Yes, we all liked the
taste of Sam’s balls. Especially when dipped in his special sauce). I
pathetically made some garlic bread but things were most definitely topped off
by Lauren’s homemade (from scratch –w hat a woman) cheesecake, Ryan was chief food taster! It has been a
long time since my tastebuds quivered with such joy. A very civilized evening
that was topped off with a lot of rum, dancing and ridiculousness in TreeTanic
and Tranquilo bars. Great night! And so good not to have to get up at 6am!
(Though I did wake at 7!) But I have realized since being here that I have met
a whole host of amazing and wonderful people who, in the short space so far,
have educated me and brought many smiles and laughter to my life. Life is good!
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