Arrival

On Friday, September 30, 2016, after a relaxed breakfast with Speedy and Jannik, we went to the airport, checked in quickly, and bought the latest issue of Diving - a must. Not much later - because I was once again running late - the plane took off and we headed to Oslo, where you can neither smoke nor eat cheaply. Those Norwegians are crazy: they wanted 18 euros for half a liter of Carlsberg!!!

My stay in Oslo was also relatively short, and I flew further towards Fort Lauderdale. After endless immigration, customs, and other checkpoints, I finally arrived at the baggage claim, where the first setback of the trip awaited me - my backpack was not there, but at least my diving equipment was - think positive. After a funny Black guy had taken the baggage claim, I had to go through more checks until I finally made it to America. Quickly check in again and fly with the budget airline for another 2.5 hours to San Pedro Sula. Arrived shortly after midnight local time (shortly after 08:00 in Germany) I learned that no taxis would run until 04:00/04:30 so I had to wait again. At this point, I had been traveling for 22 hours. It was quickly arranged to share a taxi with 4 people to save some money, then into a bus and 3.5 hours later arrival in La Ceiba at the ferry terminal. Finally, it looked a bit like paradise and not like a palm tree in a garbage pile. I bought some lychees, a coffee, and went on board. There, I met some super eco-Canadians who only talked about plastic in the ocean and came up with the wildest theories, including that the plastic islands no longer exist, they have all been 'dissolved' in the sea, and the sea is now made up of almost 60% plastic. Yeah right.

On the island, I got to know the other Utila Dive Centre DiveMaster candidates, including Jeremiah, a laid-back guy from Maui, Hawaii. The island is about living in slow motion and without stress, everyone in shorts and barefoot, and if something doesn't work out today, well tough luck, maybe tomorrow. Every day there are thunderstorms, the dive school has had no power for a few days, and the accommodation has no phone, but it's also the weekend - nothing happens here before Monday. Jeremiah and I both lost our luggage, so we went shopping first. At the pool, we met an Englishman who had been smoking and drinking beer in abundance since our arrival. It quickly became clear that he is my new squad. After taking care of the most important things, we went to the dive school, filled out registration forms, bought cigarettes, took a shower, and then had a boozy evening with the dive school. The new DiveMasters were asked to pass the snorkel test. Pouring two rum colas and a beer into the snorkel with a diving mask on. The instructors thought it was great to add a bottle of Tabasco. Haha, one girl sprayed a few meters when she just couldn't take it anymore. We continued to the local 'clubs' - Tranquilo and Vinyl. They're fun and a real gathering of dive students. At midnight, I decided to go to bed, as I had been awake for 48 hours, except for a few short naps. Sunday was still free, and the only thing we managed to do was organize an apartment and watch a rescue video and answer a few questions. Off to bed at 21:15 - woke up and wrote the first entry at 05:03! I haven't arrived yet, but even the early darkness at 18:00 is driving me crazy.

Today is the start of the Rescue Divers...