Three days, multiple chicken buses, combis, taxis and a boatride later, we were finally on Utila... This small Caribbean island is famous for its cheap diving, and there certainly isn´t a lack of schools to choose between. Every other building seems to harbour a dive shop, and half of them come to meet the boat to mob new arrivals with leaflets and special offers...

We had been recommended Gunther´s Dive Shop by a Divemaster at the Iguana, and fate seemed determined to bring us there. Walking cluelessly around looking for either Gunther´s or any open restaurant, a friendly group of people stopped us in the street. "You guys seem lost... Are you looking for a place to stay? Can we help you? Welcome to Utila!" As it turned out, they were all either working or diving at Gunther´s, they were all lovely, and one of them was Norwegian... We didn´t need any further "signs" to scrap all our leaflets and head to Gunther´s as intended.

Having somewhat of a fear of water, I was quite nervous about getting my diver´s certification. Having heard first-hand "horror-stories" about nearly drowning when clearing the mask underwater didn´t help either... but I was determined to try, and determined to make it! Silje and I started our classes two days after arriving, a course that was supposed to take three days but that ended up taking five...

The first morning, after filling out our health statements, Silje was promptly sent to the doctor to check out her ears. The island´s hippy doctor took his sweet time revealing various intimate details about other patients, and Silje came back hours later cleared for diving but with a warning to stop if her ears started hurting (although they already hurt from all the gossiping, I assume). In the meantime, I was working on my tan and nervously contemplating what could go wrong underwater... Our Irish coursemate was staring into space, a sign of things to come...

We had a busy next couple of days, with theory, videos, quizzes and various underwater exercises. Nights were spent studying and doing homework, for the first time in years...

Our first few "dives" were in confined (shallow) water, where we practised basic skills such as removing and replacing the regulator (the mouthpiece you breathe through), filling the mask with water and clearing it with our noses, swimming without a mask, swimming without breathing, removing and replacing the gear, various hand signals and so on. I soon realized that all my worrying was for nothing, as it was all really easy... I also realized that my fear of water for some reason doesn´t exist underwater... Doh!

I couldn´t wait to start our "real" open water dives, and to see something other than seaweed and the occasional fish. This was when things started getting interesting... On the afternoon of our second day, we finally got into the water, and I was the first to descend to 12 meters. WOW, it was like sitting inside an aquarium! Huge corals were surrounding me on all sides, with colorful fish swimming all around. Unfortunately, I was the only one who descended that day as the others had problems equalizing the pressure in their ears. The dive was aborted and instead of diving, we were all sent home to study...

Day three brought the part I had worried about the most... the dreaded swim test. It is really nothing major, just swimming 200m plus floating for 10 minutes, but I have always hated swimming. That over and a big weight off my shoulders, our instructor Danito, the spacy Irishman and I headed out for another try at diving. Silje stayed ashore, hoping that her ears would be OK with a day´s rest. Left with the First Irishman in Space as a diving buddy, I really hoped that Silje would be able to dive again... It´s not cool being dependent on someone you wouldn´t trust to know the difference between the hand signals for "HELP! I am out of air!" and "Hey, look at that cool fish, dude!"...

Of course, he very nearly failed our ridiculously easy multiple-choice exam the next day...

On Day four, Silje passed her first two Open Water dives, and was all set for completing the course. I politely asked if I could wait until the next day to do my last OW dives, as I wanted to do them with Silje, my future dive buddy. The real reason was that I didn´t want to dive with the Irish Space Cadet - and I hope my real intentions were well hidden...

On our fifth and last day (of a course that normally lasts three days), we were all proudly certified by our lovely young instructor Danito. A local islander, Danito has been diving since he was big enough to fit into scuba gear. At 23, he has the confidence of a pro and the patience of a saint. When we made the same mistake for the n´th time in a row, we could see him giggling into his regulator, wink, and have us try again. I am pretty sure that my newfound underwater confidence came at least partly due to Danito´s calm and patient demeanor. I don´t know how confident I would feel wiht an instructor who just started diving two years ago...

I wonder what life is like for the diving instructors on the island... They seem to work long hours, day after day, and I wonder if they are paid a decent wage. I hope Danito didn´t get financially "punished" for the fact that our course went far on overtime.

The next day, I went on two fun dives while Silje worked on her tan. What a different experience from course dives! All our time was spent exploring instead of practising skills, and the dive sites were much more exciting. The major "events" of the day were seeing a huge (at least 2m long) Southern Stingray, several Barracudas and a Green Moray (20cm wide and 1.5m long?), a massive green eel-like creature slipping in and out of its coral home. The reef is a relaxing and fascinating place, full of colorful fish and other sea creatures as well as gorgeous corals in different sizes, colors and shapes. I wish I had had more time to explore the underwater world on Utila, but we were on our way to Costa Rica... Hopefully for more diving, and definitely to hook up with my good friend Karol who I hadn´t seen in five years.