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A week in the life of a diver

Day 34 - Utila

The three lies of Utila are:
1, I'm not drinking tonight
2, I love you
3, I'm leaving tomorrow
The last had proved especially apposite as we stood atop a water tower on a hill overlooking a more than familiar island where a 2 day jaunt had become a residency. Now of course we had to stay for New Year, where else would we want to bring in 2012? And since we were here we might as well dive eh? Dive we did, in torrential rain and with the Divemaster's cheery "you're gonna get wet anyway!" not entirely comforting despite its indisputable logic. Still, the view from below was an intriguing reflection, a bit like being in a big glass box during a storm. Diving in the morning, night swimming at...er...night, water bookended our days and filled our thoughts. Tania attempted an escape from this amenable Alcatraz post New Year, her trip to nearby Roatan Island lasting a few hours and costing more than a few dollars. As she strode back into Alton's warmly knowing smiles greeted her. Our own planned departure early on the 3rd was thwarted by lashing storms and dangerous tides. Perhaps Poseidon himself held dominion over the place? Deciding it was now or never the two of us and Tony chartered a plane so small you could fit it into a Kinder Egg. The airport was nothing more than a concrete strip and as our little craft heaved up uncertainly into the buffeting winds I wondered if the price of escape would be our lives. Rain coated the windows and leaked through the door as our rattling rescuer fought the turbulence and skirted the foreboding clouds. The pilot affected a demeanor no more perturbed than that of a taxi driver which I chose to take as reassurance. As the three escapees walked across the tarmac and out through the airport excitement at what lay ahead was tinged with sadness at what we had left behind, at a chapter in this story that had come to an end. A chapter filled with new, otherworldly experiences that will be etched into my memory for all time. I feel the 10 days on Utila were worthy of greater poetry than hath sprung from this pen, as if only an opus could do them justice. But it was a time more than a place I was describing and time is a most ethereal thing to capture in words. We shared a first kiss that island and I. So...to Tan and Nic, Tony and Team Japan, bearded Jim and unbearded Jim, Erin, Arjen, Alan and Tom, to Rob and Yarl, Wendy and Joe, Sally, Nicole, Lucy and Leroy - my fond regards, it was famous
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Location: Utila, Honduras

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