Scuba Diving from our fantasy island

It took us a almost a full day of riding to reach the port town of La Ceiba, where we would take a ferry to the Islas de la Bahia. We arrived shortly before the last ferry of the day left but we needed to sort out a few things before leaving. First, which island to go to? Either smaller and cheaper Utila or more expensive Roatan, which in addition to awesome diving sites has beautiful beaches... We decided to splurge and got to Roatan, that way we could alternate scuba diving, beach time and snorkeling. Second, what to do with the bikes while on the island? We scoped out multiple options since the port is 20 minutes from downtown but not really a safe area. We ended up leaving them at the hotel where we stayed at in La Ceiba. The next morning, we took the bus to the ferry terminal and at 9am, we were sailing towards Roatan.

Adventure thrills on a night dive

The island was as beautiful as promised, and even better since we were supposed to be in the rainy season: a blue sky welcomed us, above crystal clear blue water and palm trees lined up along the shore. We took a cab to West End, a small town at the end of the island, where we were determined to find our dream dive shop. The first one we scoped out ended up being our choice: Coconut Tree Divers. The staff was super friendly and they hooked us up with cheap accommodation, which is a rare find on Roatan, and told us that we could each day either join the morning dive at 9am for a two-tank dive or/and the afternoon single dives at 1pm or 2:30pm. At $25 a dive, boat trip and equipment rental included, looks like we were going to take quite a few boat trips in the upcoming days.
The next morning we started with Jose, our Salvadorian Dive Master, and went to the Blue Channel. The remarkable thing about Roatan is that it is directly on the reef and the closest dive sites are less than a minute boat ride away. Actually, the Islas de la Bahia are on the second largest reef in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The boat ride was a little choppy but as soon as we got into the water, it did not matter anymore: the sea was inviting us to explore its magic underwater kingdom. As we descended to a depth of 100 feet (33m), we were amazed by the clarity of the water and the brightness and diversity of the coral reef. A few minutes into the dive, we saw a stingray swimming along the sandy bottom. Shortly after, a turtle swam right by Caroline who started to follow it. It is such a graceful animal underwater, moving like it is flying in slow motion. It was hard to let it go and continue the dive. We saw so many tropical fish, lobsters, sea urchins that it was tough to go back to the surface. During the dive, we also went into underwater caves, which were wide at first but then narrowed quite a lot. Luckily, all the divers were pretty skinny:) We just scratched a little bit our tanks but overall, we were able to navigate the turns and tunnels pretty well. The second dive was equally nice as we followed the contours of the reef wall, while looking into the infinite blue of the ocean on the other side of the wall.

We loved it so much we needed two more dives the next day and were able to convince the shop, thanks to the support of a German couple we dove with, to do a wreck dive. El Aguila was a big ship purposefully sunk for the enjoyment of divers. Getting closer to the 110 feet (38m) bottom, the ship finally emerged from the water. It was a phantom of steel lying on the white sand and waiting to be explored. We swam into the wreck, entering the command room and exiting it by a small deck trap. It was a lot of fun to “visit” the big ship underwater. We met huge barracudas that sure looked like they would make a great dinner. The next dive site “Moonlight” was in such clear water that when we anchored the boat, our Dive Master told us “The pool is open for you guys...” and indeed, the water was even more turquoise and clear than a swimming pool would be.
After two days, we were still hungry for more diving and decided to step it up a notch by going for our first night dive. We had apparently chosen the best time to do it as there was no moon tonight, which would allow us to see better incredible little bio luminescent creatures under the water. Cool... but it also means it will be very very dark down there. We watched a little video about what you need to know for night diving and once our gear ready, left on the boat right after sunset. Everyone was a little anxious on the boat as it was for most of us our first night dive. Each of us had two flashlights, thicker dive suits to resist the cold and a lot of courage to jump into the water. It had to be fast because the boat was lit, which would attract the jelly fish. All of us jumped into the water, turned our flashlights on and went to the dark underworld. During the dive, we would follow each other in the line so that none of us would get lost. It was really dark down there and we were both grateful to have the lights. The water was warm, like during the daytime, so we were all good and comfortable down there. As we started swimming and observe the reef, there were very few fish to see and once they were into our light, they would just swim away fast. We did see other creatures though like coral pearls, octopus and little blood warms attracted by our torches. It was a completely different world in the night and we were admiring our glowing air bubbles going to the surfaces. Marco, the Dive Master of the day, signaled us to stop and kneel down on the sandy bottom. All in a circle, it was time for us to turn off all our flashlights. Sitting in the complete dark but still able to see each other a little bit, we finally saw them all around us: the little blue glowing creatures. One of the Dive Master swam around us in circles to activate the luminescence and now, we were all surrounded by miniscule blue lights. It was like having our Xmas lights under the water, our hearts filled with joy and amazement. We were really like little kids on the first Xmas and unfortunately, it was already time to go back to the real world up there.

Soaking the sun on the beach
Since we stayed on Roatan for four days, we also had time to enjoy the beach and put our scuba diving gear to good use and snorkel close to the shore since the reef is just right there. We had a really nice beach right in front of the dive shop but the best one was in West Bay. We walked an hour along the shore rather than to take the water taxi to the beach. After a fun walk that allowed us to explore the island, we reached the perfect beach. It was a replica of these screen savers that you put on your desktop in the cold and long months of winter, for instance like now:) Well, we were there, on paradise-like beach: the transparent clam water, taking you through a gentle slope towards the reef, where it was easy to swim and observe the fish, the soft white sand that caresses your feet when you walk on it, the warm temperature only freshened up by a little breeze and finally, the shade of the green palm trees so that you could read your book without sweating in the sun.

Every moment we spend on the beach was perfection and the hours were passing by so fast. Between reading, soaking the sun (while taking naps:) and snorkeling, time was just flying by on the island. And except for some clouds with a few rain drops one day, we did not really experience the rainy season as we were told. It was really the perfect island, or almost if it wasn't for the nasty sand flies that kept on biting us in certain locations and the mosquitoes chasing us. Seems a small price to pay for a visit to paradise island, especially in the middle of winter. Really, we are two weeks away from Xmas?

The “Coconut Tree Divers” dive shop was the most unexpected part of our trip to the island. We did all our dives with the same shop and after the first two dives, we were part of the “family”. All the Dive Masters were super friendly and were mixing and socializing with all the divers. We had every evening, after the last divers came back, a social happy hour on their deck and they even invited us to a party at one of the Dive Master's house. It was a super cool place to hang out at there was always some fun activity you could join, like learning how to play Backgammon. These guys know their job and do it well; in addition, they make it fun for you while making you part of the family. If you ever go to Roatan, go and dive with these guys: they have the best Dive Masters we ever had and a fun laid back atmosphere where it feels more like diving with friends than a dive shop. And they even have great coffee in the morning and beer for Happy Hour, all this at the best price on the island for fun dives. We also saw a lot of people there doing their open water certification or getting their advanced or dive master certificate. All of these students, like us, had only praises to share about the Coconut Tree Divers. We will miss you guys and thanks for the warm welcome and fun time over the last four days.