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You are here: Home / Archives for Destinations / Caribbean

Review: Underwater Vision, Utila, Honduras

June 1, 2009 By Danny

We earned our PADI Open Water Certifications through Underwater Vision in Utila, Honduras. Recommended by friends of ours, Underwater Vision was a great place to learn to dive or just dive in general. At the time we were certified (May 2009) PADI Open Water Certification was $250 including accommodation, equipment, certification classes and dives, and two fun dives. In total we had 7 dives for that price, which we thought was pretty good!

A laid back atmosphere, Underwater Vision has a comfortable feel in the classroom and in the living area, but a professional feel out on the boat and while diving. We felt that it was the [ad#reviews] right balance of island laid back and professional. Our instructor, Dave, was great about taking care of people in the class, splitting us into small groups to lessen the impact on the reef, as well as provide personal attention to each student. We really enjoyed our classes and felt like safety was a big priority for the dive shop. On our dives we were accompanied by divemaster’s and divemaster’s in training, adding to our level of comfort underwater. Beyond open water certifications, Underwater Vision offers PADI certifications through Divemaster.

Accommodations at the dive center ranged from backpacker dorms (with the most comfortable beds in Central America) to private rooms with and without air conditioning, and suites with kitchenettes. A small on site kitchen provides a cheap place for meals and cold water. 🙂

Overall we would definitely return and highly recommend Underwater Vision for fun dives and PADI certifications.e

Filed Under: Caribbean, Dive & Snorkel, Honduras, Operators, Reviews

Sharing is Caring….

May 28, 2009 By Jillian

**This post was created prior to the earthquake of 5/28/09– We are NO longer in Utila.**

Let’s face it, we do a lot of what most people would call “extreme” sports.  We mountain bike, whitewater kayak, compete in off road triathlons and do as many adventure races as possible.  Generally if there is an adventure sport/activity out there we want to try it.  For one reason or another, neither of us had ever tried SCUBA diving.  Not exactly a sport, but certainly an adventure.  I have a hard time snorkeling, really who likes to breath through a straw,  so when we inquired about taking classes in DC last fall I was needless to say, thrilled when it turned out to be too expensive.  However that was not the case in Honduras and after almost every traveler we met moving north or south was going or had been to the Bay Islands we felt compelled to include it in our journey.

I’ll be completely honest with you, we only learned how to SCUBA dive because we were in Honduras and it is the cheapest place in the world to become certified.  We figured that since we’re traveling around the world, we might as well get certified since showing up at the Great Barrier Reef and not being able to dive would just be lame.  (Although I later found out that Australia is full of sharks.) Plus, this trip is all about new experiences.  Therefore, we headed off to the Bay Islands of Honduras for a PADI Open Water Course.

At the recommendation of our friends Tracy and David (two years around the world themselves!) we signed up for PADI Open Water Certification at Underwater Vision on the island of Utila.  Thrown into the reading right away, we read the part about sharing air with your diving buddy and well, we were glad to have each other as buddies.  Admittedly I did not share well in Kindergarten, or in 4th grade, especially when it came to Barbies, but its been a long time since then and I can safely say I would share my air with Danny, even if he never shares his ice cream with me!

An hour into our confined water dive I was shivering 3m down practicing how to clear my mask and share my air.   Needless to say the heavy equipment and dry air, coupled with the temperature underwater and extremely low visibility made for a lousy first diving experience. The next day, 30 minutes into my first open water dive I was 12m down staring into the home of a lobster surrounded by coral and big tropical fish.  It was about 180 degrees away from the confined water dive and I felt like I was in a deep sea aquarium.  The feeling of breathing underwater was surreal, I didn’t even notice how deep I was until I looked to the surface.

Over the next five dives (we did a few fun dives as well after our certification), we swam in what seemed like an endless aquarium of tropical fish, coral and even some wrecks. We learned the unofficial rule of wetsuits, “don’t pee in a wetsuit, especially one that isn’t yours” and how to gracefully, if somewhat awkwardly get in and out of a tight wetsuit.

Although I have nothing to compare it to, the diving around Utila was incredible.  Excellent visibility (except for the first day) and nothing but beautiful coral reefs, blue water and thousands of marine creatures.  We saw entire schools of fish and even swam with a sea turtle!  Unfortunately our timing did not coincide with Utila’s famous whale sharks and there were no sightings of manta rays or other large marine animals. Swimming underwater with all the marine life I felt a little like Ariel (sans the red hair, but with the sidekick) from the Little Mermaid and I’ll admit that I sang “Under the sea” into my regulator more than a few times.  Maybe that’s why I was having buoyancy issues!

So now that we’re certified to dive, who is coming with us under the sea?  I hear you can dive with Penguins in South America….

Filed Under: Caribbean, Central America, Dive & Snorkel, Honduras Tagged With: tours

Jamaica: Rum, Family, Thanksgiving

December 1, 2008 By Jillian

We’re back in the cold northeast. Just in time for a little snow later this week. Yay! (can you sense the sarcasm!)

Jamaica was a very necessary vacation. Ever have those days when it feels like you’re always running around and never get anything done? Well that’s been the last two months for me. Life has been chaotic with work, traveling and planning, so going to Jamaica was a light at the end of the tunnel!

Although getting there was less than stellar (air jamaica felt that by posting a 3:25 departure time that meant that they could show up at 3:15 to board the plane and the not take off until 4:30), there was free champagne on the flight!

checking in
checking in

We stayed at the Iberostar Rose Hall outside of Montego Bay. It’s your typical all-inclusive resort: beach chairs, fruity drinks, buffet food, etc.. A great type of resort if you have 15 people ages 18-88 with you, but probably not the best place for a romantic honeymoon or couples vacation. They only had two of the hotels open when we were there- the third is going to be couples only, or as we heard through the grapevine a “nudist” resort. Hm… that might not mesh well with the family vibe they have going there. Anyway, not too much adventure at the resort- they limit the amount of time you have to sail and snorkel, but we got in what we could. We went sailing twice and snorkeled, although there wasn’t much to see at the man-made reef.

standing on our sandcastle
standing on our sandcastle
we jammin' mon!
we jammin

With all of the family we didn’t get off the resort much. And by much I mean once.. and yes, I admit it- it was to the rastafarian craft village next door. In addition to certain substances which are not legal here in the US, but are definitely plentiful in Jamaica, they also sold lots of wood carvings and t-shirts. Most of it was hand made and they were certainly willing to bargain. Since we live in less than 600 sq. feet and are trying to get RID of stuff not ADD new stuff we didn’t buy anything.

Not much else to report on- it was your average Carribean vacation. Here’s a cute picture to finish with though!

the sea is so beautiful it looks fake!

Filed Under: Jamaica Tagged With: family, holidays, Jamaica, travel

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