Utila - Kathy's visit

"I need help calming down." Jenn scribbled on an underwater sketch board to our instructor Dave. We were about 5 meters under water, on our first open water dive off the Caribbean island of Utila. She had already surfaced once and Dave was determined to keep her calm and underwater, taking deep, slow breaths through the respirator. Dave was able to calm Jenn's nerves, and after a few minutes, my friend Kathy, me, Jenn, Dave and another instructor Amanda were off, swimming around the world's second largest coral reef. We saw heaps of cool underwater creatures; crabs, flounder, and an array of beautiful and colorful fish. Our tanks lasted 45 minutes. We surfaced, got back in the boat and went to another point of interest in the reef for a second dive. This dive went much better, as our nerves had calmed and we knew what to expect. We dove to a depth of 12 meters, and got to see the shelf of the reef sloping down behind us, to its seemingly endless depths. 

After our day SCUBA diving we spent the rest our time on the island snorkeling and kayaking. The island is primarily a mangrove forest. Only 15% is developable, buildable land. The rest is a sea filtering, mysterious forest of mangroves. The island was an awesome experience, and a nice break between working in farms. Super fun for us to have a visitor. Kathy was an awesome travel partner for the week! 

Kathy flew home yesterday from San Pedro Sula, and Jenn and I hopped on yet another bus 3 1/2 hours south to Comayagua. We met up with a CouchSurfer named Josue and his uncle Nahúm. Two extremely generous souls. They picked us up from the bus stop, gave us a tour of their city and even took us out for a delicious meal last night.  Try CouchSurfing if you can. It will restore your faith in humanity. 

We are off this morning to work on another farm. We won't have Internet for two or three weeks. ¡Adios!