A Few Perfect Days At Sea

After a few hour bus trip / another 4 hours of lunch and lazing around in La Ceiba we were sitting on the Utila Princess, the ferry to the Bay Islands diving capitol of Honduras, Isla Utila. We arrived at sundown and headed to Alton's Dive Center, to whom I'd been talking via e-mail for a few days. They gave us a splendid deal, 265$/10 dives, including accommodation in a private room. And the best thing is that their housing is right on the pier; less than 30 meters to walk to reach the dive boat from our door. Not to mention the awesome bar & hammocks facing the direction of the sunsets!



They advertise trips to Cayos Cochinos - or the Hog Islands - and we're lucky enough to join a boat going over already on our first day. The islands are slightly remote bunch of sand and rock with a few Garifuna people inhabiting them. The trip included two dives on a pristine reef 1.5 hrs away from Utila, meaning we were the only divers present and the reef was pretty much undamaged and teeming with marine life. After the dives we'd open a few cold beers and head to the shore where we had a fish & gallo pinto lunch and enjoyed rum from coconuts right on the beautiful white sand beach. The trip ended with a whale shark hunting session, but no luck that time. On the trip we had two fun guys filming Adrenaline Movement, some kind of a Madventures style travel show.

Diving has been seriously nice. The diveboats of Alton's are top notch with dedicated water tanks for cameras, a marine toilet where you can stand up (!) and floor material that prevents slipping. The sites on the north side of the island are amazing and closer sites on the south side are not too shabby either. While the amount of fish is not on par with Indian ocean and the water temperature is only 26-28C, the crazy visibility of 30-40 meters or more on almost every site makes up for it rather nicely. On the dives we've encountered a spotted eagle ray, stingrays, hermit crabs, a baby nurse shark, countless angelfish, lobsters and other crustaceans and seen two wrecks - and that's in 5 days of diving. And at the time of the writing we have 4 more days to go before having to leave for the mainland.

And then on to the whale sharks. The largest (known) fish on our planet is somewhat sacred here on Utila, and they are easier to spot here than almost anywhere else, and they're seen on a regular basis. And since you already looked at the picture, you might have guessed right: yes, we did see one. What they do here is during the surface interval of the north side dives they look for signs of a whale shark, which means looking for the surface "boiling", ie. tunas jumping on the surface. And thanks to our keen eyed captain, we did get to swim with a 7-8 meter shark for almost a good minute. And, last but not least, we got to take a picture most divers will never get to take in their lives.

Sleeping it off in Tela

So it's back to Honduras then. After some busy nights in Placencia - there was a Garifuna festival going on in Belize - with people we got to know from the sailboat and out on the town, we decided it best to stop in Tela to rest. Glad I didn't stay all the way till the morning, when they had a re-enactment of the Garifuna arriving on the beach on their boats, already felt rather unsteady as it was :p The 3-4 hour powerboat ride over to Puerto Cortes was a rollercoaster, with very rough seas after a few days of rowdy weather. The trip over also included a few very interesting border procedures, eg. the Belizean side immigration took place over the hood of a Toyota pickup truck, and in Cortes our passports were taken some 5km away from the harbor to the immigration office downtown and we had to go after them.

After arriving in Cortes, a horde of taxi drivers started to hustle people to go to the usual spots - La Ceiba for most people, and we hopped on as well. Getting off in halfway in Tela was a relief since it was already getting dark after a good 8 hours of travel and all the others still had a good 2 hours to reach La Ceiba where they'd have to stay overnight since the last boat to Utila had already gone.

After a week of staying in quite low key accommodation, we splurged a bit and grabbed a upmarket hotel at 30ish USD a night with cable tv and hot showers, and just spent a few days napping and watching movies and CNN. Tela is supposed to have a Garifuna Museum, and while we looked for it for a while, we couldn't locate it anywhere. Oh well. There was a few national parks around, too, but the weather was quite uncertain with occasional heavy showers and we didn't feel like risking getting soaked in the middle of nowhere. So for the most part of our waking hours we'd just walk the town and climb up on a small hilltop to watch the view over the bay. A relaxed beach destination, Tela seems to be mostly favored by the domestic tourists, and this seems to be a real quiet time to be here.

On the latter night we splurged a tad more and hit the town's fanciest restaurant Ceasar's Mariscos for some fresh local fish dinner. Not too bad at 10 USD a pop. Budgetwise it's nice to be out of Belize again. Been talking to a few dive shops on Utila through email, trying to work out a nice deal on dive packages and accommodation that they often bundle in the price. Looking good so far, and tomorrow we're going over.

Belize - A Small Slice of Heaven

Our story with Belize started with a 6 hour bus ride from Guatemala to Belize City harbor. Once again, the border crossing was rainy, with big puddles of crap to slosh through wearing flip-flops of course. The weather improved rapidly when getting closer to the coast, and by the time we were sitting on the speedboat to the small island of Caye Caulker, the sunshine was upon us from between the cloud cover. And come the next day, the clouds were long gone and now, almost a week later, we haven't seen any since..

Caye Caulker is a somewhat popular yet low-key tourist destination, not in the least because of its location only 1 hour by boat from Belize City, as well as the world class diving provided by the three main atolls on the barrier reef, Turneffe, Lighthouse and Glover's. The largest coral reef on the northern hemisphere and only second to the Great Barrier Reef planetwide, the Belizean reef is a great spot to come face to face with large marine life; sharks and big rays are abundant here, with the seasonal chances of seeing dolphins, whales and manatees. The only problem here is the cost of the sport - a two-tank dive would cost 100 USD. Whoa! We did one day trip, saw some nurse sharks, were amazed, but sadly couldn't afford more. Too bad, but then again it won't be long till we're on the Honduras Bay Islands doing the same thing for 1/3 the price.

After a cozy warm day of doing absolutely nothing beyond exploring the town and the occasional dip in the sea, we came into contact with the brilliant local company Raggamuffin who organize snorkeling trips on sailboats, and after a lengthy discussion ended up booking a 3-day sailing trip down south towards Placencia.  Talk about ex tempore! Till the last minute there was a bit of excitement about whether the trip would happen or not since the company needed 8 people to go and only 6 had signed up, but when we went back to their office at the deadline hour, they informed us the trip was a go. Super! At 300 USD the price of the trip was somewhat steep, but now having experienced it all I would be as bold to say it was worth the money.

The next morning we boarded the vessel Ragga Gal and headed out to sea. The breeze was very calm and we'd run on the engines the whole day, occasionally zigzagging small mangrove islands inside the reef and running fishing lines continuously. The first catch of the trip was by an English gent called Rob, and he got a pretty big one quite quickly. Go Rob! Before leaving they'd brief us about the trip and the fishing opportunities, but I'd definitely not expected we'd really catch anything worth mentioning. Oh man was I wrong about that! The total score was something like 2 big barracudas, a trevally, several red snappers, a grouper, 5-6 lobsters and a few other fishes whose species didn't reach my ears. Our diet consisted almost totally of the stuff we caught ourselves, cooked by our brilliant captain Patrick, while our tour guide/deckhand Shane was keeping people on board entertained with his reggae sing-along. What he lacked in singing voice was well compensated by the quantity of effort!

Our first overnight stay was on Rendezvous Caye, a tiny 15-by-50 meter strip of sand and palm trees close to the rim of the reef. We'd eat another serving of fresh seafood, including a lobster ceviche with nachos, and help ourselves to a gigantic amount of rum punch by a bonfire and fry marshmallows and play funny drinking games.

And the sunset on the island.. just purely unbelievable. Our 5 tents barely fit on the island, and being in the middle of nowhere under the stars was pretty wonderful.

The second day started with some more snorkeling and speargun action, looking for some lunch from the reef fish population. And the result: several lobsters and a load of red snappers. Later, some hours into the sailing southwards, our boat suddenly stopped with a thump, the hull trembling: we had rammed the reef on a shallow part and our vessel was stuck on it. With the slightly embarrassed Mr. Shane at the helm, us passengers hopped into the sea to lighten the load and after some time gunning the engine, the guys managed to back the boat off the reef and off we'd go again.

The second night we'd set our tents on Tobacco Caye, an island just slightly bigger than the first one but with some settlements, AND most importantly, a thatched-roof bar with ice cold beers to keep us oiled through the early night. Enjoying the general chatter among our group and watching a local Garifuna style drumming group play their music, we really enjoyed ourselves on that small island on the Caribbeans. This certainly is what life should always be about.. good times with nice people, good climate, unhurried pace with no deadlines. Go Slow! like they say on Caulker.

The third day started again with bit of snorkeling on the local stretch of reef. Before we set sail, we had an hour or so to play in the water, and it was worth it: I came face to face with a large spotted eagle ray swimming in the shallows. I dove after and followed it till my lungs were bursting, and it disappeared into the blue. Afterwards we just sat on the deck, talking about traveling and life with the fine people we'd come to know and like in the past few days on the boat. In the evening we arrived into Placencia, a midsized beach town in the southern Belize where a lot of north Americans are enjoying their retirement. While nothing spectacular, this place is great for sipping some cold drinks at the beach and thinking about the awesome past three days on the boat. A cool Irish couple from the boat are staying here with us for a few nights, while the others went their separate ways already. We're leaving for Honduras in 2 days as well.

Belize recap

Belize is quite different from the other central American countries. For one, it is a proper Caribbean country with the culture that comes with it. Out with the Spanish; English/Creole are the languages here. The backpackers are nowhere to be seen - people arrive here pulling  Samsonite bags after them. The prices are through the roof - roughly double compared to the most expensive counterpart in the area. But all in all, it would be impossible not to like the life here. The seas are turquoise and warm, beaches are white and the rum is relatively cheap and good.

And everyone you meet is smiling.

Edit November 20th: See all the Belize pictures here!

The Maya Experience

Right now we were supposed to be enjoying the surf in sunny El Salvador. But fate had a different plan for us.. in Guatemala's Antigua where we would enjoy the scenery for a day or two and then catch a tourist shuttle to the Salvadorean coast, our transportation ended up being in an accident and never showed up to pick us up that morning. The driver had been hospitalized and the owner later greeted us with a limp. Lucky for us we were not on board yet. Meanwhile I kept thinking we had been had by a good old scam; paid for tickets and the ride never showed and the "travel agent" was nowhere to be found. In the end we got fully refunded, and offered a ride the next day but had already made up our mind of heading to Tikal instead of the coast.

When traveling, you tend to sit on a bus a lot. And the trip over to the lovely island of Flores - the gateway town to Tikal's Mayan ruins - was just that, some 8 hours on a shady bus way too chilled by the AC overnight. On the roadside toilet stops there always seemed to be a guard waving an assault rifle at us yawning passengers. Perhaps he was making sure nobody misses the urinal OR ELSE! Ole! Night buses are great as a concept, you travel all night and when the sun comes up you're in a whole new place having saved the price of a hostel room. But in practice you're totally exhausted from the lack of sleep and when you do arrive, you're hungry as hell but nothing is open for breakfast yet because its 0530 o'clock..

Arriving to Flores was awesome despite the tiresome trip. The island is compact and pleasant, we found a perfect place to stay in the center of it all and the day is turning great, 18C at 8am and going up, blue skies and all. In the afternoon we crossed the lake with a boat and walked across the peninsula of San Miguel to a local "beach" by the lake. Was amazed by how clear the water was. Never seen a turquoise lake with palm trees growing on the shores. There we enjoyed a relaxing swim with crowds of small black fish.

The next day it was wakeup call at 0400 and off towards Tikal, where we'd arrive shortly after sunrise and enter the park precisely at 6am, when it opens, as the first minivan. The group size of our guided tour (4-5 hrs, 7-8$) was way too big (20 pax or so) but other than that our day at the site was nothing short of fantastic.  I didn't expect for the ruins to be so awesome, but they're certainly up there with The Lost City of the Inca/Macchu Picchu as well as Angkor Wat. Nor was I expecting to encounter so plentiful flora & fauna - from the gigantic hardwood trees to tarantulas and crocodiles, not to mention the abundant bird life all around. Howler / spider monkeys constantly around in the canopy too!


 The weather was in our favor too, mostly sunny and not too hot, with the temperature hanging around 28-29C at noon. All in all a wonderful experience and well worth the 20$ park fee. From here we're heading to Belize to enjoy the caribbean coast for some marine sports. After a week of historical and archaeological sightseeing, some splashing around in the warm waters shall be very welcome.


Guatemala recap

Out of the countries of the region we've been to so far, Guatemala has the strongest tourist infrastructure by far. Shuttle buses connect all the major destinations, and the prices are quite high accordingly. Beyond that, the country is very pleasant to travel in, with overly friendly and helpful people and so much to gawk at. And yet so much remains to be seen; El Mirador ruins hike for example.. but that's for the next trip.


See all the Guatemala photos here!

Exploring the Copan Ruinas

Having kicked off the Honduras leg of the trip by overnighting in the capital Tegucigalpa, we hastily moved on from the city hustle (and what a dull city it was) to see the Mayan ruins at Copan Ruinas, a small town 12km off the Guatemalan border. I find it worth mentioning that the accommodation here has a hot water shower :) It's been almost 3 weeks since our last (in San Jose, CR) and man it's been way overdue. As for the dengue, the fever seems long gone now after a week of misery, what remains is a almost full-body rash which is starting to fade away as well. Good riddance.

20 minutes by foot from the town, the Mayan ruins cost 15$ to see but are worth it. Then again why would one be here if not for the ruins? We were the first ones to arrive that day and thus had the whole site all for ourselves for the 2 hours we spent there in the morning. Due to the somewhat overcast weather the pictures didn't turn out as good as I was hoping.. the primary group isn't exactly The Lost City of the Inca or Angkor Wat, but it makes quite a nice sight nonetheless. The total lack of crowds made it much better. In the evening there was some kind of a biker party in town, as lots of HD folks had come down for a meeting. Live bands on the streets and such, and we enjoyed our first night out since my getting sick over a week ago.

The next day we rode a mototaxi up to the Macaw Mountain, a bird sanctuary set up some 4km outside of town. They boast dozens of bird species, rescued from illegal animal traders around the country. Most were caged since they had never known any other kind of life and would not survive in the wild. The birds were very lively and colorful - and talkative - especially the the macaws, parrots and tucans that you could approach and even hold if that was your game. We just admired them from a distance.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Guatemala and El Salvador, with a plan of returning to Honduras in the end of the Central American leg of the trip to dive on the Bay Islands.

Isla de Ometepe

Isla de Ometepe is an island on Lago Nicaragua, central americas biggest fresh water body as well as home to a freshwater shark, originally thought to be endemic but later discovered to have migrated from the Atlantic. And lo, it is the bull shark. The island itself consists of two volcanoes having grown together, and now supports a tropical ecosystem and sandy beaches on it's shores. Our plan was to climb the Madera peak, which is the easier one, while the effort needed to reach the summit of Conception rivals that of running a marathon. And for someone who cannot even run 10 km let alone 42, this was a nobrainer choice. Plus on Madera there is a nice crater lake.

However due to me being sick, no climbing would be happening. And as fate would have it, the lake's water level was so high that all the beaches were under the waves completely. And since the local bus traffic is only a few per day, doing sightseeing proved difficult. We stayed the first night on the Madera side, mostly sleeping and talking to a parrot outside the room. For the second night we returned to the Conception side and didn't do much more. Small amount of walking around in shade was all I could muster. For the evening we got a lucky deal on a room with a cable TV which was just perfect for recovering. We'd order a pizza and eat it in bed while watching Halloween I-IV in a row (happy happy Halloween).

After the short island tour we moved on to Leon, the country's former capitol, on our way north to Honduras. Booked 2 nights at the local backpacker haunt Via Via to hopefully finish off the fever (going down already) to face the new challenges in a new country. Simple restocking such as replacing broken sunglasses and looking for new pair of Converse sneakers (pair of converses here 20$; they didn't have my size. crap.), beyond that just cooling off in the garden pub of the hostel reading books and paying bills.

It's now been a month since we left Helsinki.


See all the pictures from Nicaragua here!



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