Living on a Sailboat exploring the world
I came to Utila to get away from the cold in Canada, but mainly to do professional PADI scuba training. Here’s what it’s like for me training to be a divemaster in Utila, Honduras.
Since Monday, February 26th I have been enrolled in the Divemaster training program at Utila Dive Center. It has been time consuming, educational, entertaining and tiring! I love it!
A little over 2 weeks ago, I embarked on my latest adventure: Professional Scuba training in Utila. These first two weeks have been exhilarating and overwhelming, but now I have more time to post about the experience of living in Utila.
I flew Toronto to Belize City to Roatan (that leg in a small 12 seater plane), spent one night in Roatan, and ferried to Utila the next day. It was a pretty uneventful trip, despite a slight delay due to torrential rains at the Belize City airport. I even met a kind Canadian who spends his winters in Roatan whose friends were picking him up at the airport and offered to drop me at my hotel since it was on their way. Gotta like friendly travelers.
You can also travel to Utila from the mainland. Many people fly into San Pedro Sula and then take the bus to La Ceiba, a coastal city which has ferries to the Bay Islands. Sometimes you can catch a plane direct to La Ceiba and then the ferry, which would be preferable. Transport within the country is cheap, but the buses are not always fast or comfortable, as is common in Central America.
One of our favorite experiences of our time in South Africa was this educational and inspirational Alexandra Township bike tour from Alexandra Tours. I learned about the opportunity to cycle through one of Johannesburg’s original townships from a web search and was drawn by the fact it was owned and led by locals. At the very least, it sounded better than the “Hop on- Hop off” bus tour of Soweto. Well, it exceeded our expectations and we can’t stop talking about it!
We were picked up and delivered to the bike tours HQ where we met the founder of the operation, Jeffrey, and his right hand man, Papi. These two twenty-somethings have been running tours of their neighborhood since 2010. And they do a great job! We bicycled around with Papi on the 4 hour tour and enjoyed every minute. We learned a lot and were inspired by the people we met.
Papi took us through this crowded township of 6.9 km square, in which, they tell us, over a million people reside. We biked around different sections of the township, stopping to visit people, see historic sites and try the local food.
Continue reading “Alexandra Township Bike Tour”
