Utila – Week 2, Day 1: Welcome to the Staff
UTILA
Week 2
Day 1: Welcome to the Team!
November 20, 2022
Waking up to a double rainbow… not a bad start to the day. I was officially done with my Rescue course and had no big plans. I had a couple of fun dives scheduled for the afternoon and spent the morning running between the bank and the ATM, trying to scrounge up enough money to pay for my extended stay.
Given that I’d be diving almost every day for the better part of a month, I also had to invest in special insurance and pay an extra fee that goes towards maintaining the only hyperbaric chamber on the island. Turns out, diving is a pretty costly hobby! Having scrapped a few days off my Costa Rica itinerary (a country that is renowned to be super expensive amongst backpackers) and shaved a few hundreds of dollars off by planning to stay in dorms instead of single rooms, I was surprised to find out I actually had a positive balance by the time I had finished my budgeting.
Given that I’m usually a spendthrift – or, as I like to call myself, a hedonist – I usually don’t mind splurging a bit if it means I can be more comfortable and enjoy myself a bit more. That said, by being more of an adult and budgeting along my trip, I managed to add more stops and activities to my already-chock-full itinerary. My extra month of diving in Utila was simply a bonus I had not accounted for!
The Maze and the Alley
After spending my morning fighting against my Excel sheet trying to make sense of my finances and life choices, it was finally time for some more underwater adventures!
Our first dive of the day was at Labyrinth – a massive coral wall with recesses and passageways that make it look like a literal underwater maze. With my buoyancy still a work in progress, I struggled a bit passing through some of the narrower swim-throughs without brushing the coral walls – letting out a whimper and feeling my heart breaking every time I’d hit something. Despite that, it was a great experience. Plus, I was really excited to keep practising and improving so I’d be allowed to access the more advanced parts of the site.
For the second dive, Captain Hoover took us to Eagle Ray Alley. While the site isn’t anything too special in and of itself, we did see a huge variety of fish – with the highlight being two pufferfish mating! Speaking of which, Dr Marius , much to our horror, explained that when overly stressed, pufferfish might actually die from exhaustion when they blow up. It’s even worse near the surface, where they risk ingesting air rather than water. Another cool-but-disconcerting fact? Dolphins are known to play with puffed up puffers as the tetrodotoxin they release can get them high. Wild, right?
Apart from that, we saw things we would have otherwise probably missed – like the upside-down jellyfish, which we initially thought was a starfish until he flipped it over and it started pulsating in midwater. Also a seahorse, which is usually a tough find. So, so cool!
Welcome to the Team
That evening marked a special occasion – my very first staff meeting as part of the Underwater Vision family! As a divemaster trainee, I wasn’t just doing an internship – I was now officially considered part of the staff.
It was weird but kind of thrilling to go from guest to insider overnight. What that meant, though, I had no clue until the meeting itself. Tammy, Underwater Vision’s manager (after whom the boat Miss Tamara is named) led the whole thing, starting off with giving us newcomers – Amelia, Omar (an Israeli guy that had just joined us for the training programme), and me – a warm welcome. Everyone else, especially Liam, were thrilled to have us on board.
After, they discussed the week’s agenda, important updates, and the workload distribution. The meeting only lasted about ten minutes and, as I figured, was mostly an excuse for everyone to catch up, though we did take a group photo to mark the occasion. Once the group disbanded, the three of us were taken to the side and explained what was expected of us. We’d be starting our orientation the next day and then move on to a round of mandatory skill circuits that we had to pass before kicking off the real training programme.
As I stood in the office, along with another twenty or so staff member, I realised diving wasn’t just about having fun and seeing all kind of cool things. It was a friggin’ honest to God profession that required as much hard work and dedication as any other job. Maybe, just maybe, I didn’t exactly know what I was signing up for. Maybe, that’s exactly why I usually think things through instead of being so impulsive.
Stay wild,
Marius
Post-Scriptum
Utila’s ATM is the most unreliable piece of crap you’ll ever come across. One minute it’s out of money, the next it’s out of service. They’ll refill or fix it when needed – as long as it’s not the weekend. In that case, you’re screwed. Residents are pretty much used to lending each other a few Lempiras when that happens.