UTILA

I woke up feeling like crap. Pure, unadulterated, crappy crap. That’s the best way I can describe it really. I was meant to be on the morning boat, but I could barely muster enough energy to make it to the door, let alone go for a dive. I was a febrile mess.

I waited in front of my room, looking out at the terrace, hoping to spot Catherine (who’d be running the Open Water course I was meant to assist with). The second she showed up, I crawled up to her with my tail between my legs and explained that I could potentially go on the dive… but also potentially drown myself. I didn’t wanna disappoint – especially after the whole lionfish hunting mishap – but I figured it’d be irresponsible to join them, even if I did somehow make it to the boat. She was very gracious about it and let me off the hook immediately.

I kinda knew it’d be my turn to get sick at some point. Ever since coming to Underwater Vision, there were always at least three people sick at any given moment. I was pretty sure there was a COVID outbreak, although the rapidly changing weather – flipping between hot and sunny and cold and stormy – might explain all the fevers and coughs. To be honest, I was surprised I got sick so late in my trip. I’d been very lucky so far: no food poisoning, no colds, no nothing. I honestly have no idea how I didn’t catch something from my travel pillow, which I occasionally left lying around on the ground in random places (since it’s always strapped to my backpack), including some highly questionable bathroom stalls.