The Bay Islands lay 50km off the Caribbean coast of Honduras along the second largest barrier reef in the world. Utila, the most affordable of the three islands, is one of the least expensive places in the world to learn to dive. Amy and Turgay decided to do their PADI open water certification here and took their course from the
Bay Island College of Diving. We stayed at the Seaside Inn for three nights and thankfully that was all (it had a few cleanliness issues but a very nice staff). We moved on to Rubi’s Inn which is the cleanest hotel yet run by absolutely the friendliest and most helpful couple.
Amy and Turgay seemed to be hooked on diving now especially after their first dive in the open water.
With all the time they had on the Island they had a chance to get to know the local restaurants very well.
First among their favorites was Skid Row for lunch where they had only Chicken or Veggie wraps or burritos or two kinds of sandwiches. Sometimes a limited menu is the best, do what you do best. Another favorite was Evelyn's a grill and barbeque restaurant with tables arranged on the veranda. Everything they tried there was delicious. The best pizza was to be found at PizzaNut in part of the CocoNut restaurant and bar. Turgay really liked RJ's grill but Amy didn't eat there beacause she was ill. Amy finally went to the doctor on Monday morning after trying to get it out of her system for four days. Dr. John the recommended doctor on Utila, seemed to be a legend in his own mind. Amy and the other patients waited outside on the front porch of his clinic for 5 hours while he was two and a half hours late arriving, though in all fairness there is a sign posted stating “I’m not late your early” and he proceeded to take 40 minutes with each patient. Amy is all for thoroughness, but to a point. When she finally got into see him he mostly talked about himself and then prescribed the same antibiotics that we already had in our medicine bag. To see some pictures of
Dr. John from the about Utila website click this link.
On Wednesday, Amy finally recovered enough to feel up to the ferry ride back to the mainland. After checking out of the hotel and almost taking the room key with them, the owner was kind enough to rush them down to the dock on his golf cart; only to find out the ferry was out of commission. At first the ferry was going to be late, then it would probably be repaired by the afternoon and finally it wasn’t today and maybe not tomorrow. (Island time) We had checked out so we decided to look for another hotel for a change of scenery and since the next day was Turgay's birthday. We choose the Jade Sea Horse, this hotel is a collection of cabins set in a garden. The garden is a work of art, a compilation of mosaics, found objects, glass walls and wooden pagodas. Each cabin is unique in structure and décor all with interesting details and quirky originality. And if that wasn’t enough the hotel is also home to the very popular Treetanic bar, built near the entrance to the hotel in a tree offering views over the whole garden. This is a must see if you ever find yourself in Utila. The following morning well mid-morning another ferry was pulled into service from a different island ferry route and we finally made it off of Utila and back to La Ceiba.
