If You Come to Utila, You Will Never, Ever Leave [CAT2016: Honduras]

The Bay Islands and I just aren't meant to be friends. Sarah and I planned this really great trip to Roatan during my second year and, unfortunately, all of our plans were thwarted by both rain and stomach illnesses. We were ready to give the Bay Islands another try this time by heading to Utila. Snorkeling, boat rides, beachside bars-- what could possibly go wrong? More stomach illnesses. That's what could go wrong.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to "live it up" in Utila like we were supposed. But we really tried our best despite our diet of Cheerios and sips of water.

Our first day was great. We arrived on the early ferry and got settled in to our apartment before heading down to the public beach. After hanging out there for awhile, we headed over to Rehab, which is a bar overlooking the ocean. I was able to lay in my hammock, chow down on some bangin' chicken wings and sip my strawberry daiquiri. Really? Could anything be wrong with that? (The answer is no, in case you are wondering.) We enjoyed Rehab so much that we even returned there for dinner that night.

The first night was when disaster struck and we spent the rest of our time in Utila functioning at about 50%.

Since walking was out of the question, we rented a golf cart and drove around the island. While driving around, we came across the private beach, which is located at the opposite end of the island as the public beach. We paid a few lempiras to have the beach (almost) entirely to ourselves and we spent the rest of the afternoon laying on the beach or in the water. Our first day in Utila was very low-key despite the party reputation that the island has.

Our first night wasn't any better as we had a wonderful Cheerio dinner. I slept on the wooden floor, sweat off at least five pounds, and honestly believed that I was going to die. By the time morning rolled around, I was covered in mosquito bites which, honestly, rarely ever happens to me. And they itched like crazy. I almost wished that God would just take me then because between the stomach issues, the heat, and the bug bites, I was miserable. Sarah wasn't any better, so  you can imagine how much of a joy we were.

While we really wanted to just lay around in close proximity to a bathroom, we also really wanted to take advantage of the beautiful island. So for the next two days we took our golf cart past the public beach and boarded a little boat to Neptune's Coral Beach Village. It had a restaurant, a bathroom, a dock, and hammocks in the shade. Basically, paradise. Even for a couple of people plagued with a stomach virus.

After three days in Utila, we were finally starting to feel better and it was time to leave the island. I'm going to give the Bay Islands one more chance, because, as they say, "third time's the charm". I've really got my fingers crossed.

Let The Waves Hit Your Feet...

...and the sand be your seat.

I don't know what it is, but you can ask anyone and they will tell you that it's true. I LOVE the beach. Not love as in I enjoy spending time there once in awhile, but love as in I actually can't live without it. CEE is the only school I applied to teach at that isn't within thirty minutes of a beach-- figures, right?

I need the beach. I need to be there. I need to feel the sand between my toes and hear the waves crashing on the shore line. I need to walk through the water (however frigid it may be) and have my biggest worry be whether or not I'm going to drop my sandals in the water. Regardless of weather and duration of time spent at the beach, I leave the beach a better, happier, more rejuvenated person than when I arrived. I need it, I crave it. I physically, mentally, and emotionally cannot live without it.

That being said, it comes as no surprise that I started counting down the days until we left as soon as Sarah and I started to walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it came to planning a trip to Roatan.

We'd been talking about it for almost as long as we've been together in this country. We just never had enough time. Any time that we had a long enough break, we were required to leave the country (tragic, I know) and the time that we had previously planned to go got botched when Sarah was told she had to go to the Grade 11 graduation. But this year we were determined to make it happen.

We both spent a short amount of time in North America before returning to Honduras for New Years Eve and then our long anticipated trip. It was a whirlwind week of airport travel, a late night ringing in the new year, and early mornings to catch ferries and make the drive to La Ceiba. Which resulted in a decline of proper/ adequate sleep while also showing an incline in an incredibly erratic pattern of sleeping in cars/ buses/ other modes of transportation and an overcompensation of lack of sleep at odd times of the day. Needless to say, we were so ready to be in Roatan.

The original plan was to wake up early the morning of the 1st, drive to La Ceiba, catch the 4:30pm ferry, spend the 2-3 in Roatan, and then take the ferry home on the 4th. Did that happen? Of course not. Were we surprised? No. We ended up staying a night in La Ceiba due to the ferry not running on the 1st since it was a holiday. But ironically enough, we stayed in the EXACT SAME ROOM that we stayed in almost exactly a year ago when we went to La Ceiba. I'm sensing an annual anniversary trip in the works here.

We finally make it to Roatan and its fantastic. Everything I could have ever hoped for in a vacation on a tropical island with some of my best friends. It happened to rain the ENTIRE day we were there, so we didn't get to actually do many beach-y things, but it was so. nice. to be forced to relax. We napped, we hung out, we read books, we watched TV, we laid in the hammock. We didn't have a choice. And it was wonderful.

The rain let up for a couple hours in the afternoon, so Cristian and I took a lancha to West Bay. Where we snorkeled. At sunset. With fish. But not sharks. That I know of.  The water was so blue, I couldn't get over it. Nor could I get past my fear that I was going to snorkel over some coral, slash my leg open, and die right in the Caribbean. I didn't, obviously.

Sadly we had to take the 7am ferry back to the mainland the next day, so we didn't really get to experience too much of Roatan. Which, tragically, means that we'll just have to go back sometime. Where snorkeling, the underwater museum, a dolphin tour/ boat ride to Cayos Cochinos, and a glass bottom boat tour are all in order.

It might not have been the trip to Roatan that we expected. (And really, you'd think we would stop expecting anything on any of our vacations because something seems to go awry every. single. time.) But it ended up being the exact trip to Roatan that we needed.