Great diving, sad to say goodbye

After saying goodbye to Sara I bus thru to Trujillio. This takes all day and is damn boring. Especialy after La Ceiba, when i get on a chicken bus.. which takes 3 hours to travel 120km. Not good.

My main aim in Trujilio is to catch a ferry out to the island of Guaranja. If it even goes.. nobody seems sure if it does or not... By the time i arrive its 9.30pm and hosing with rain. I am exhausted after getting up at 3.30 this morning, and crash hard in the first place i see.

Next morning... its still raining. Hard. Real hard. I have a TV in my room for a change so i watch some Hollywood nonsense till it settles. The town itself is much smaller than i expected. After a look around, and a walk on the supposedly perfect beach.. which seems pretty average.. I decide to walk out to the Casa Kiwi, a backpackers lodge. I figure the owner is from home and might offer some insights to living here.

As it turns out she is away for the day, but a couple around my age from Queenstown are doing some work there for free board. We spend most of the day chatting, which is nice.

By evening I decide I am actualy more interested in returning to Utila for more diving, than going to Guaranja. This is pushed on by the revelatin that the next ferry isnt for 3 more days.

So the next day I am away (in the rain again) by a direct bus this time, and onto the ferry for Utila in the late arvo.

Returning to Paradise Divers feels ike coming home. Sandra and Tullio (DMs), Jason from Canada, Dave from Wales all greet me enthusisticly which is very warming.

Jason has been thinking about doing the rescue diver course, so I agree to do it with him. At $199US, and $60US for the first aid course, it wont get any cheaper anywhere else, and I still think of going thru Dive Master at some stage.

The course is run by Tullio. I like the guys cos hes laid back and fun etc, but i do question his teaching ability a bit. His explanations are a bit flakey sometimes, and most questions I have get answered with "dont worry about it" ... But as it turns out it is pretty straight forward and I do get some benefit, thinking about what to do in a bad situation.

After seven nights on the island the day finaly comes to leave. I genuinely dont want to go. I have felt more at home here, than anywhere else we went on the trip. Staying around and doing the DM exam is pretty tempting. But I have flights paid for and people to meet in Europe before returning to South America. So with almost a small tear in my eye I get on the 2pm ferry, then catch the boring bus back to San Pedro Sula.

On Sunday the 1st of April, I write this blog, then go to the airport, a bit bemused that I am returnign to the "civilized world" again... I really hoipe it wont be too bloody cold ! (and expensive!!).. fingers crossed..