Utila Cays and moving on

From Utila I went to a tiny island, or more like a giant flat stone in the ocean, called Pigeon Cay. I went there with Capitain Morgans diving schools boat out there to learn how to dive. The only way to get there is by boat, it takes about 20 min. from Utila. A tiny, tiny cay with less than a 100 houses clung together. It is so flat that just half a meter waterrise will cause flooding, and indeed all the houses are on stilts. I guess they are used to flooding during the rainyseason. The people on the cay live from fishing on the coral reefs, and are, in that sense, totally dependent on the health of the coral reefs that are teeming with interesting life; beautiful seacreatures. An underwaterworld of colours and varaity. I did not know if I wanted a diving license, and because of limited time after the robbery, I just did a day of discovery dive. In Utila there are several options for diving and snorkeling. I got to see a lot of underwater life anyway; rays, parrotfish, squids, small eels and snakes and a lot more. My big wish is to see the whaleshark, but I never saw one. Some day I will see them, and snorkle with them!

Since I am heading for Nicaragua it was time to move on after a few days as an islander. I took the passengerferry Utila Princess II at 06:20 in the morning, thinking that the sea would be calm at that time, like it was when I went to Utila. But in the line in front of me I heard people asking for seasickness pills, so I thought that maybe it would be a "bumby ride". Since I am not traveling by boat a lot, I am never sure how seasick I will be. I thought that they are Honduran landcrabs and maybe they just want to be sure that they did not get sick. The sea was really rough on the way to Ceiba, but I sat outside on the back of the boat. I am glad I did that, inside is just a big room for the passengers. The "capitan" and his co-workers are standing in the front, and it smells of oil and engine. The waves were big, but kind of gentle, so even though it would be hard walking around, I did not have the feeling that the boat was beeing tossed around. Sitting in the back I did not see much, just a narrow oceanview to were we came from. It was not possible to see what was going on in the front of the boat. I figured that was just as good, but I had confidence in the "capitan" and the ferry, I knew that if it is too rough the ferry would not leave the dock. Sitting here by Lago de Yojoa, I meet people, that just came from Utila, telling me about a lot of people getting so seasick that they were throwing up. I do not know if there was anyone throwing up when I did the trip, but I saw some people looking a bit pale. I was even more happy that I sat outside, even if I got splashed.

When I got back to La Ceiba I took a taxi (50 lempiras = 15-20 Nkr.) directly to the busstation where I bought a ticked with Diana Express to Tela. Tela is supposedly a very nice city, it is famous for its Carrebian beaches, but to me it was a bit waste to go there, I had had enough of beaches, and it was so hot and humid that I felt totally knoked out. There are two big national parks there to visit. But one thing about Honduras; it is difficult to travel alone. Not because it is difficult to get around, but everything gets more expencive, and not possible to do. All tours need a minimum of people, and Honduras is still an untouched and pristine country. It has not been taken over by mass tourism yet, there are national parks on every corner, and I have to say that naturewise Honduras is more green and beautiful than Guatemala. Traveling in Guatemala you see scars in the nature everywhere. It feels very populated and the nature is interruptet by buildings and villages everywhere, except in the national park of Peten. If you travel in Guatemala, thinking the nature is beautiful, and love it, you will LOVE Honduras. Now during the rainyseason it is so lush and green, and the hills and mountains are stunning. Going by boat out of La Ceiba you even see the slopes of the hills and mountains ending in the sea.



Pigeon Cay, part of Utila Cays by Utila Island outside Honduras. See map by clicking location under keywords.



Anyway, I spent 2 nights in Tela feeling like I was in a detoxprogram. And my skin is indeed softer. And in a bit of agony since I had been in the water and on boats so much on the cay that I was a bit sunburned. I left Tela for Lago de Yojoa, where I am sitting now at D&D bed and Breakfast and Brewery, 3 km from Peña Blanca. Here there are, of course, 3 eco /archeological /natureparks pluss the lake. The biggest body of water in Honduras. Yesterday I walked my feet of in the Eco Finca, a Eco-park with eco-coffeplantation, I saw a lot of birds (this is one of the places birdwatchers should visit), even tucans, and there are beautiful flowers, small creeks and rivers that I could have swam in, but I did not know.  I also visited a waterfall. More in the next blog.