DAY 49: Caye Caulker – Utila: Snorkelling and diving in Belize and Honduras

Belizean Azure Water

After Mexico we headed south to this unknown Caribbean country called Belize. Pretty sure you’ve never read something about Belize in the newspaper, nor seen any news about it on TV, right? You’d think nothing goes on in there, that there’s not much to see... Well, you´re mistaken. Sure, mainland Belize is not very interesting and quite a dodgy place. But the islands (called “cayes”) are surprisingly interesting, and their marine life is the most amazing thing we’ve ever seen.


Because of its British colonial history (British Honduras), Belizeans speak English. Well, more like of a Caribbean Creole version of it, but still, English. It is actually the only Central American country in which English is the official language. And their ethnic background has nothing to do with the Mayans anymore, because almost all Belizeans today are African-American and Caribbean (Creole and Garifuna). That is why being in Belize feels like being in Jamaica. You don’t really feel like in Latin America.

Caye Caulker

Since life in Belize is very expensive, we only visited one island, called Caye Caulker. We got there by ferry from Belize City (one of the last places you want to be at night by the way). 

But Caye Caulker, located one mile west of Belize Barrier Reef, has a safe and laid back atmosphere with white sand streets and clear azure waters. The three main activities there are chilling, daytime drinking and snorkelling. 

The Lazy Lizard Water Bar in Caye Caulker

So after a couple of days of chilling and daytime drinking, we decided it was time to do something productive, and went on a sailing trip to the locally famous Hol Chan, a Marine Reserve located on the Barrier Reef (the second biggest Barrier in the world).

Our sailing boat crew

There, we swam with nurse sharks, huge stingrays, and many other huge fishes. All those creatures are now used to snorkelers and are therefore harmless, but the sensation of swimming and touching sharks and stingrays is difficult to explain. We also spotted some amazing eagle rays, turtles and green moray eels. Unfortunately we haven’t developed the underwater pics yet, but here are some of the pics we took from the boat before jumping into the water:

That sailing trip and all we saw underwater made us want even more to learn diving. That is why we chose Utila, one of Honduras’ Bay Islands, as our next destination. We left Caye Caulker after 5 days and undertook a really long journey, involving several sketchy chicken buses, an overnight stay in a ghost town called Dangriga, and a dangerous 4 hours fast boat trip to Puerto Cortés (Honduras). That boat was so dodgy that we felt like illegal immigrants. We finally arrived in Utila after almost 72 hours. 

Joana on the dodgy fast boat to Honduras

Dangriga is a shithole. Period.

Like Belize, Honduras’ crime stats are off the charts, and one can feel how dangerous cities are. We even heard gunshots several times during our stay in the country, and learned afterwards about all the people getting murdered near our hostel... But fortunately, the Bay Islands are very safe and a perfect spot to learn diving. Utila is probably the cheapest place in the world to dive, and one of the safest for beginners. Like Caye Caulker, Utila is a small tropical island surrounded by vast coral reefs with incredible undersea life, and breathtaking sunsets. 

Alton's Dive Centre in Utila

Rubi's Inn's dock

After negotiating with several dive shops, we decided to do the advanced diving course with Alton’s dive centre, one of the most professional shops on the island. The instructors were great and all the divemasters were cool, but the accomodation they offered was a bit rustic, so we decided to stay at Rubi’s Inn, one of the best local cheap Hotels, just a few blocks away from our diving shop.

The Open Water Course (for beginners) and the Advanced Course lasted 7 days and included 13 dives. Our instructor Arjent, a really professional and nice dutch guy, taught us diving theory during the first two days. The second day, we did our first scuba dive, which involved being kicked into a swimming pool with all the diving equipment in order to test and learn how to use it. Honestly, breathing through a regulator underwater wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. Not difficult, but uncomfortable at first. But when we finally got into the open water the next day, we all easily managed to breathe and go deep. Diving is like being an astronaut in the water because of the neutral buoyancy, like gravity zero. It is an incredible experience because it allows you to float around the coral, go through caves and get much closer to the fishes. The course included many exercises such as solving underwater problems (out of air, etc), buoyancy control, as well as two fun dives.

Warming up

Testing the gear

Fun diving with our travel buddy Pej

The Advanced course was much more entertaining and involved only an hour of theory on deep diving and night diving. An Open Water Certified diver can only go 18 meters deep. However, the Advanced PADI allows you to dive 30 meters deep. We first thought that we would have problems with our ears that deep, but you only have to equalize your ears every meter or so as you go down. Piece of cake. We did a deep dive, a drift dive, and a night dive. 

The deep dive was amazing as we dove the Haliburton, a cargo ship wreck just off Utila´s coast. We went around the wreck and swam through the captain´s cabin, which is usually inhabited by a green moray eel. The night dive was also cool: the coral lightened in beautiful colours, we spotted sleeping fish and experienced bioluminescence for the first time (living organisms that emit light for themselves).

 

Utila is a very famous backpacker spot and therefore partying is guaranteed. We met a lot of backpackers, went on booze cruises drinking rhum on our diving boat at sunset and got wasted at Tequila Tuesdays at the Tranquila Bar. Also, a very special place was the Treetanic bar and hotel, a real work of art. The owner, a British guy, built this place on his own during 30 years, using colourful stones, glasses, dead corals and all other kind of stuff that people would usually throw away. Poeple who don´t like animals with eight legs (ja Mama, du wärst gestorben und hättest direkt die Insel verlassen J) would have freaked out as the garden is inhabited by thousands of big yellow banana spiders. Spooky but harmless.

Treetanic!

 

We planned to leave Utila after a week, but stayed a few more days, mainly because we couldn’t leave without a last Tequila Tuesday (había que quedarse un par de días más para dejar bien alto el pabellón del Tequila Team chavales!).  

Locals joke about how the most frequent lie heard in Utila is, “I'm leaving tomorrow”. They are definitely right!


Staying for a last party had its consequences though... We got back to mainland with a ferry called Utila Princess, also known as The Vomit Comet because open sea can get choppy at times. The combination of hangover and the boat’s motion killed us, but we got safe and sound to La Ceiba.

In our next post we will tell you about our trip from La Ceiba to Nicaragua, with a lovely glance at the world’s murder capital: Tegucigalpa.

Merry Xmas to all of you!

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