Utila – Week 7, Day 3: A Stormy Retreat
UTILA
Week 7
Day 3: A Stormy Retreat
December 27, 2022
The storm, much like in Frozen, raged on. Utila – a tropical heaven – was now a grey, stormy, dystopian, post-apocalyptic mess. It’s true, you should’ve seen Underwater vision’s terrace: the sunbeds all blown away by the wind, the sand piled up in the middle, and the surge as high as I’d ever seen it.
My highlight of the day was my first post-tattoo shower. With it being my first tattoo, me being a doctor, and Utila’s lackluster healthcare, I wanted to do everything in my power to take really good care of it and prevent an infection. In fact, my leg became a sacrosanct part of my temple that I had to protect at all costs. And let’s just say the showering process was unflattering to say the least. Standing on one leg with the tattooed one held above the handrail, I carefully let some cool water run over the tattoo. Then I pat it dry with gauze, applied the protective gel, and then covered it right up to protect it from the elements (and the sand flies). This was a ritual that became part of my daily routine at least three times a day (and a super annoying one at that!).
As proud as I was of my new tat, I gotta admit it kinda paled in comparison to the one Clive had just gotten. Covering his entire back was now a massive pirate ship he called “The Utilan Nightmare”. My teeny, tiny pirate ship was thereon aptly names… Cutila.
Rubber Chickens and Regret
I spent the afternoon writing and, at the rest of the gang’s insistence, was dragged out of my asocial haven to join the fun at the office.
Darcy, for some reason I’ll never understand, had bought a 1000-piece puzzle featuring hundreds of rubber chickens all piled on top of each other. She’s one of the most professional and serious people I know, which made this all the more antithetical. Levi and Catherine had started it the day before while I was getting all tatted up, and by this point they’d already formed the entire border.
Now they were on the seemingly impossible quest of piecing together all those chickens – a chaotic mess of yellow, beaks, feathers, and feet. I had no other plans, and with the storm wreaking havoc outside, this seemed like the only thing to do. Wrong choice. A few minutes in, I was already damning and cursing the evil genius who came up with the puzzle – and Darcy for buying it and inflicting this nightmare upon us.
By around 9 PM, everyone but Levi and I had given up, with people joining briefly only to quit in frustration. With bloodshot eyes and exhausted minds, the two of us finally decided to call it a night.
Stay wild,
Marius
Post-Scriptum
All throughout my divemaster training programme, I had helped dozens of other trainees with their e-Learning exams. Word had spread about my academic prowess and I was the go-to-guy for a quick and easy pass. Having finished by training, I thought I could bid farewell to this part of my life. Well, given that all the new trainees had nothing to do while stuck in the storm, my special gift was once again in use.