I want to be a fish!!! Utila is amazing. I think I have worn that word out by now, but I can’t think of any other way to describe it. Hang on, I’ll use a thesaurus. Utila is astonishing, astounding, remarkable, wonderful, startling, miraculous, and marvelous. Better? Let me see if I can draw this little island in words. The entire island is crescent shaped, and along the inside of the crescent is the main road (the only road that is two slabs of concrete wide instead of one or less), which one could walk from end to end in less than two hours. During that walk, if you started at Blue Bayou (on the east side of the island), you would pass a few houses and resorts, then white sand beaches surrounded by perfect blue water on one side and palm trees on the other. Past the beach, you begin to head into town. The road through town is lined with dive shops, restaurants, and pulperias (markets). Once you get onto the paved road, you will have to watch out for bicycles, motorcycles, and all terrain vehicles (four wheelers), which are the choice modes of transportation here. There is no room for cars. The colors in town are vibrant and as loud as the Garifunas, who are yelling to each other in a language you know you should understand (it is an adaptation of English) but you can’t make out at all. Have you ever tried to understand a Cajun when he’s really ticked off? That’s about how easy it is to catch what the Garifuna are saying. Strolling through town, you will see the same faces every day and a few bright eager new ones with packs on their backs and maps in hand, looking for their lodging after the trip across the sea on the Utila Princess. At the end of the main drag, of sorts, there is a bridge and past the bridge, the west end of the island, with another beach and the old airport. As I said before, this walk takes a total of about an hour and a half, and I try to do it daily, just to see the island one more time.
Now, on to my new mission in life: to be a fish. Yesterday I got my first taste of Caribbean waters (literally and figuratively) when I went snorkeling. Having only been snorkeling in La Jolla Cove, I was excited by the muddy waters close to shore with a slew of reef squid and little coral formations. What I was not ready for was the breathtaking sights once the waters opened up and the real reef began. I could have stayed in that water for the rest of my life. There were more fish than I ever imagined, let alone had seen before. The colors were beyond belief, the sizes ranged from half an inch to bigger than my head, and the numbers, the sheer numbers kept me gawking. There was a school of damselfish that was feeding along the reef so I dove down with them and swam alongside. There were a couple of times when I was down with the fish, swimming with them or just taking a closer look, when I felt like I had grown gills myself and could stay underwater forever. As for the fish, they didn’t even flinch.
Last night, due to a blackout on the entire island (which, apparently, happens every few weeks or so), my plans changed from going to the movies to going to the only bar in town that still had electricity (thank you, generators). At said bar, the Bar Acuda, the Bay Islands College of Diving was giving a presentation on Whale Sharks and fish identification, so I got to learn a little more about the different types of fish I discovered earlier in the day. It was exciting. The college offers an Advanced Naturalist diving course, which I am going to look into taking. Five days ago, I wanted to join the Peace Corps, now, I think I want to be a marine biologist. This place is making me schizophrenic, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.