A Day in the Life

A typical day for us at Parrots Dive Shop on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras where we have been the past 7 weeks:
Wake up 6am, make a delicious breakfast that is generally some version of rice and beans (we are on a budget after all). 6:30, start assembling gear for the morning divers, carry the tanks, load up the boat. 7:00, divers arrive. Help everyone get their kits together, load all equipment in the boat, give the briefings and by 7:30 you’re taking off.
We get to the dive site and start getting everyone in the water. When you hop into that crystal clear blue, the refreshing cool of the water pulls you out of that last bit of sleepiness still lingering. Once all buddy checks are done it is time to descend. It’s an Open Water Course you’re assisting on this morning which means brand new divers, their first time in the open water seeing the fish and the corals. Through the obstruction of their half water filled masks, you can still see the excitement in the eyes, yet some apprehension as well as they struggle to attain "neutral buoyancy." Kneel on the sand to do some skills, then the real excitement begins. It is time to explore the reef. Picture holding on to someone’s fin to keep them from making a rapid assent to the surface after dropping their weight belt, while with your other hand you’re holding on to another student’s tank valve telling them to put air into the BCD. Your broken strapless mask that you exchanged a student for is rapidly filling full of water and is in danger of falling off if you stop sucking in the air and now salt water with your nose. The fins, that because of equipment shortages are two sizes two big, are also coming lose while your two students that can swim are wondering off chasing a butterfly fish. But amazingly enough you some how gain control, start your slow breathing again and say to yourself, just another crazy day at the office. The students eventually start to get it and you surprisingly find yourself smiling as you see all your class gliding through the water. When the dive is done and you get to the surface, everyone is excitedly talking at once about all they saw and how they felt and no one seems to remember the chaos and the near hart attack they almost gave their divemaster.
Now on to the boat, pulling up gear and students like Jaws is on the way. Change out all the tanks, it is time to dive again! Same routine, but this time a little smoother and you can see the students’ comfort level in the water rising. Once dive 2 is done we reach back to the dock at Parrots, unload all the gear, wash it, put it away. We’re on an afternoon boat so no need to take off all the other equipment just yet.
About an hour and a half before we need to start preparing the gear for the afternoon fun divers. Time to get in some (never ending) reading of our Dive Master book so we can prepare for our class and exam this evening, this time it’s on the physics of diving. Need some lunch as well so we go out and get baleadas, the local fare of a flour tortilla with refried beans, cheese and onions- delicious and about US$0.50.
The afternoon boat goes just about the same way, gear on, take off, everyone in the water and go down. But this time it’s certified advanced divers, which means we get to make deeper dives and we’re visiting a wreck. No skills to do so we are just searching for creatures- and we see a lot! A huge green moray eel, schools of colorful fish, lobsters trying to hide but their antennae sticking out from the rocks give them away. Topping it all off on the second dive we see two spotted eagle rays. Everyone on the boat ride back is excited and we still have a few hours of sunlight left to enjoy over the water.
After cooking up some fresh (like caught that day fresh from a crazy local named Zorro out of his wooden canoe) fish for dinner and eating as the sun goes down with new friends that are here for diving and some "old" friends that are fellow DMs here at Parrots, it is time to finish getting ready for class. Finish the homework and our mentor goes through the highlights of the chapters. Check our answers, take the exam and whew, we pass (actually we aced it because we are by far the biggest non partying nerds here). Another thing checked off and we are that much closer to becoming actual DMs.
To finish off the night we go for a beer at Tranquila. Having a bar right next door with good music, you don’t have to go far to go out. It’s been a long day though, so fairly early to bed as we have another dive in the morning. So we walk the 50 feet back to our door, that of the Dive Master room and pass out.
So that’s basically how it’s been going. Except now there’s been none of the studying and exams as we are official Dive Masters and actually working now! Many days it’s not so many dives, or maybe we’re in "confined water" right off the dock with new students. Some days we see only the fish we are very used to everyday, though they still are spectacular. Other days we get treats from the huge to the tiny like a manta ray, a nurse shark, rays, a nudibranch, octopi. Days with less diving, sometimes we get to explore the island, like the bat caves, or hike up Pumpkin Hill. Life is good and we have enjoyed our time on Utila, but now it is time to move on- an occasion both happy and sad. It’s on to El Salvador next, so stay tuned!
(and as always, check out our Picasa Web Albums, pictures tell it better than our blog ever does!)