Scuba Diving Honduras: Utila is where the backpackers go

I had first heard about the islands of Roatan and Utila back in 2003 when a former boss and Dive enthusiast told me how close they were to the United States. Great reefs, affordable accommodations, and cheap dives.

Since getting my dive master certification in Thailand a couple years back, I needed to make sure that I was diving about every 6 months or so in order to keep my skills up to date. I did some research on flights and figured it would be really easy to take off for a week dive trip to Roatan and Utila. Continental Airlines flies direct to the island of Roatan several days a week, and also to San Pedro Sula on the mainland of Honduras.

A couple of friends have made the trek via San Pedro Sula. A good cheap option is to catch a morning bus from the Central Terminal in San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba on the coast. It takes about three and a half hours on the direct and private Hedman Alas bus (approx $23 USD). You can also take a local Directo bus for about $5 that is a little slower. From La Ceiba, you can catch ferry aboard the Utila Princess which takes about an hour to get to Utila (two departures daily and approx $21 USD).

I decided to fly direct from Houston to Roatan, so that I could dive both islands. The only problem with this option is that you can't get to Utila directly from Roatan. I needed to take the Galaxy Wave ferry from Roatan to La Ceiba (two departures daily and approx $21 USD), and then change to the Utila Princess. It adds an hour and fifteen minutes to the trip (plus transfer/wait time), but it's not that bad.

In Roatan I spent a night and a day in the area of West End, not to be confused with the more upscale West Bay. This is where the more affordable housing is located, everything is walkable, and there are a good number of dive shops and restaurants to choose from. Most of the dive shops on Roatan and Utila offer accommodation for divers and this is usually the best and cheapest option. I chose Native Sons for two morning dives (about $25 a dive) and got a nice private room for $20 USD for a night. Both Roatan and Utila's reefs are protected as marine parks where a small daily fee must be paid for diving. Roatan is supposed to have the better preserved dive sites. I enjoyed both islands and found the reefs to be in decent shape, but lacking an abundance of marine life (although the area is famous for its whale sharks). Then again, I've been spoiled by diving Sipidan. I think this is due to overfishing in the area, even if the reefs are supposed to be protected. Unfortunately it's something I've encountered all over the world. Fishermen have been fishing these reefs for generations and it's their livelihood.

After two morning ferries from Roatan, I made it to Utila in the afternoon. Utila is a perfect backpacker town. No cars are allowed on the island, and you can walk/bike everywhere with ease. Accommodations, food, and drinks are cheap, and the diving is probably the best value in the Eastern Hemisphere, comparable to Koh Tao in Thailand. Some might call the island a scuba factory, but my feeling is that it offers travelers a chance to become certified divers without breaking the bank. You can get your PADI or NAUI open water certification plus four nights accommodation in the dorms for under $300 USD. A steal if you ask me.



It can be a little overwhelming when first getting to Utila. There are tons of dive operators and accommodations to choose from. My friend Alex from Spain recommended Alton's Dive Center. Alex trained me as a dive master and I trusted his judgement since he worked for Alton's as a DM the previous year. Other options on the island include Utila Dive Center and Cross Creek Dive Center (awesome lodging across the creek!). From the moment I got to Alton's I knew I would have a great week. The owner Mitch was extremely welcoming and generous. I signed up for a week of fun dives mixed with my wreck specialty certification. I paid about $25 or so for fun dives, and a little more to get my wreck specialty, which included two days of learning how to navigate around sunken ships safely. My private room (although sparse with a shared bathroom) was as whopping $10 USD per night ($5 if I wanted a dorm bed). Except for having about 3 different instructors take me through my wreck certification, I had a great time diving with Alton's. All the instructors and dive masters were friendly and I was able to get visit some good sites for the week.



If you're looking for beaches, these are not the islands for you. Actually, if you're not really into diving at all, I might steer clear of Utila. There aren't really any beaches for laying around, and most dive centers have docks set up with hammocks and areas for chilling out, reading, and sun bathing. Aside from diving and relaxing, there isn't much else to do on the island itself. If you do find yourself visiting, then definitely take four days to get your open water certification. Two other must do's while visiting is a fish dinner at RJ's (across from Alton's) and drinks at Treetanic, a bar that is perched up in the canopy of several massive trees. It's like drinking in a huge outdoor tree house, and definitely one of the coolest bars I've visited on my travels. Ah, I wish I was there right now.

Here is a link to my photos of Diving Utila and Roatan.

Eat, Sleep, Breathe, Live...Diving.

I can't really remember when I first fell in love with water. My parents told me I fell in a pool and almost drowned as a baby, so I should have had a fear of water, but I guess learning to swim when I was six years old, helped me to overcome this potential phobia. Not long after this, I started swimming competitively, and I guess the rest is history. I still feel a sense of joy whenever I am on a coast by an ocean. It was only a matter of time before I got my scuba diving certification, and for the last nine years, I've been fortunate to travel the world and dive in some pretty amazing places. When I got to Railay beach, near Krabi in Southwest Thailand, an opportunity arose where I could work in exchange for diving. Sweet deal right? I am now doing my dive master certification course with Railay Divers, until the end of December.

What is a dive master you ask? Basically, by the end of the course, I will be certified by PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors...or "Put Another Dollar In" as the people in the industry like to say) to guide other divers. To give you a quick summary of diving certification, it goes: Open Water (beginner certified diver), Advanced Open Water (can dive deeper than 18 meters, and at night), Rescue Diver (first-aid and rescue training), Dive Master (to guide), Instructor (to certify divers), and Master Instructor (to certify Instructors). Let me just say that I have no desire at the moment to work as a dive master, but like many others, the course is a great way to pack in a ton of dives for the price, and become very skilled at the same time. Plus, who wouldn't want to live on the beach in Thailand for six weeks. The people that choose to be professional dive masters and instructors do it for the love of diving and the pace of life, because they sure don't make very much money doing it.

I'm now living in the town of Ao Nang, which is right next door to the beaches of Railay and Tonsai where our offices are located. I decided to exchange my jungle bungalow on Tonsai for a nice studio apartment with cable TV, for the whopping price of $150 US a month. I have a nice little set up, living in a place called Leela Valley with all the other ex-pats and divers. Here is a typical day for me:

6:30 am - Wake up

7:00 am - Get on my scooter and ride 5 kilometers to the neighboring town of Ao Nmao where our equipment office is located and where our boats leave from. Get tea, and some sticky rice with chicken for breakfast (I should note that Thais seem to eat rice and meat for all meals...I miss bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon).

7:30 am - Load gear onto long-tail boats and head to our main office on Railay.

8:30 am - Head out for two morning dives, where I assist instructors on their courses and learn the ropes of being a diving professional. Aside from being the "boat bitch" where I move tanks and set up gear, I am also helping first-time divers with skills. This has been the most rewarding for me. I'd like to note that diving isn't really as scary or dangerous as some people think. Even if you've tried it once and had a bad experience, give it a shot again. I've helped a bunch of new divers get over their fears, and the look of joy and accomplishment in their eyes is the best feeling. There is a whole different underwater world waiting to be discovered.

2:30 pm - Back to the office on Railay and either work in the shop during the afternoon, or go diving again.

9:00 pm - Shop closes and we head back to Ao Nmao with all the gear. Unload gear, and put back equipment in the office.

10:00 pm - Drive back to Ao Nang on my scooter.

10:30 pm - After a much needed hot shower (I only had cold water on Tonsai, so this is a luxury), I grab dinner and drinks with the other dive instructors who live in Leela Valley. Sometimes guitars are pulled out for a little jam session.

12:30 am - Go to sleep, and get ready to repeat the next day.

It really is a lot of work, but I am getting a pretty sweet deal. Most places in the world will charge you between $600-$1000 to do your dive master course, plus they see it as free labor, so they'll work you to the bone carrying scuba tanks, even if you are paying. Considering I only have to tip my instructor and pay my PADI fees, I can't really complain about the long hours. Even when I'm working, I'm usually reading the manuals I need for my exams (there are eight exams in case you are wondering). I am studying chemistry, physics, and physiology, so it's not as easy as one might think.

As for the Railay Divers shop and crew, it's a little bit of a love/hate relationship. The dive instructors and dive masters are great. There is Sam from Australia (he is my official mentor for the course), Jon from England, Rob from Canada, Alex from Spain, Jan from Germany, Peow and Ran who are local Thais, Peter, Jessica, and Katie, all from the US. Katie is the other DMT (dive master trainee) with me. The shop on the other hand is probably the most hectic and disorganized dive center I have ever seen. It is Thai owned (which is standard), and run by Chris who is English. Basically, the place is running on the tightest of tight budgets, and Chris sometimes has a few too many beers during the day...or the previous night. Unfortunately, it makes for some questionable equipment and some disgruntled employees, but I guess you get what you pay for. I could have stayed in Ko Phi Phi and payed a thousand dollars to take my course, but cheap can be a good trade-off. Let's see how I'm doing towards the end of December.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving dinner and holiday weekend. Last year I celebrated Thanksgiving on a Peruvian bus, playing bingo on Cruz Del Sur, while traveling between Lima and Arequipa. This time around the whole dive crew congregated at Peter and Jessica's house to eat a vegan Thanksgiving dinner that they seem to cook every year. To be honest (and to quote my sister Rachel), I really loved the vegan food. Instead of turkey we had deep fried tofu, smothered in the most amazing gravy. Peter is a former chef, and I swear it tasted like a normal turkey gravy which I grew up with (but not as good as my mother's of course). Unfortunately, Peter and Jess just left Railay (disgruntled), to take jobs diving in Oman. I'll miss them both, especially Peter's cooking, but Thanksgiving was a good send off.

When I'm not diving or working, which is rare, I've been relaxing on the beach in Ao Nang, getting Thai massages for $6 US an hour, climbing a bit in Tonsai, and last Wednesday I had to do a visa run down to the Malaysian border to get another 30 day tourist visa. The trip is so popular among backpackers that they run it every day from most travel agencies. It's a ten hour day, with about an hour needed to walk across the border and back again. The Thais haven't really learned how to efficiently process passports. It took me fifty minutes to go out and back into Thailand, and only ten minutes to go in and out of Malaysia. Go figure. My next visa run is at the end of December, but I might try the trip to Myanmar (Burma) instead.

Here are my photos of life at Railay Divers, and of Thanksgiving.

You can't be crabby in Krabi

Krabi, it's a pretty funny name, come on, laugh with me. Where is Krabi you say? It's on the Andaman coast of Thailand, not that far from Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta where I previously visited. The town of Krabi is not the main the tourist destination, but it's the surrounding beaches that draw sun seekers, and rock climbers to its world class walls (see map here).

Tonsai and Railay beaches are the main places to stay in the area. Both require a traditional Thai long-tail boat to get there. Since there are no motorized vehicles on these beaches, it's more relaxing than words can describe.

I opted to stay on Tonsai, since it's more of an alternative, hippie, rock climbing village. There is one U-shaped road with a series restaurants, climbing shops, bars, and bamboo bungalows. People come here to spend several weeks to several months climbing, as opposed to Railay Beach, which gets your week long holiday makers. Because of this, you get a nice little community of people. Everyone seems to hang out at the same places, and it's a very chill vibe. Since most people are up early to climb, the bars and restaurants are filled with people reading or playing chess in the evening-time.

I think that Tonsai is another place you either love or hate. Accommodation is really basic, and there is only generator powered electricity from about 6 pm until 2 am. If you don't rock climb, you might feel a little left out, but the beaches in the area are great for reading and swimming, and hey, you can always take a class with climbing school. I met tons of backpackers that tried climbing for the first time while in Tonsai. And if you're the type that wants to stay up late and party, there are beach bars that rock out until the early morning. I actually just saw the most amazing Thai acoustic band that played only Spanish music. Manu Chao, Gypsy Kings, etc. They could have fooled me as the real deal.

I fell in love with Tonsai, and decided to stay there a little longer than planned. I found a great jungle hut at Banyan Tree Bungalows (Andaman Bungalows is another good option), and for $10 a night, I fell asleep in my comfy bed with mosquito net, to the sound of crickets, and woke up to cheeky monkeys jumping on my roof. Relaxing, right?

I actually didn't get much sleep while in Tonsai, since I was up early everyday for either climbing or scuba diving. I made friends with Ta and Dee, two Thai climbing instructors that run the Tonsai Rock school right next to my bungalow, and Dee took me out on my first day of climbing in years. I was a little nervous, considering I inherited my father's fear of heights, but I fell back into the swing of climbing, and in no time was doing challenging routes such as 6A and 6B (climbing grades 5.10 a and b+), which are tough for the non-climber or old-climber like myself. The next day I met Dore, a really cool mountain guide from Iceland who was on holiday. The two of us rented gear and had another fantastic day of climbing on Railay. All I can say is that the views of the surrounding cliffs and beaches, while dangling at about 100 feet, is breathtaking.

After two days of climbing I found a nice dive shop in Railay beach called Railay Divers, and signed up to do my Rescue Diver course for several days. It basically trains you to handle any rescue or first-aid scenario that can arise while diving. It's rare when something goes wrong, but it's good to know just in case. It reminds me of my pool lifeguard training years ago, and it's kind of empowering to feel like you can do something in an emergency.

As for Railay beach, I'll give you a quick overview. It's a great place to stay if you want a little more luxury than Tonsai. Railay West has a much nicer beach than Tonsai and Railay East, but it is much more expensive to stay and eat, with its posh resorts. Railay East has a mix of backpackers and older holiday makers that want more value for their buck or baht (Thai currency). Also, from Railay East, you can walk to the amazing beach of Ao Phranang.

I've decided to stay put for a little while, and get both physically and mentally fit, before coming home to face work and a crumbling economy. So, i'll keep you updated on my adventures in and around Krabi.

Here are my photos of Krabi's Ton Sai and Railay Beaches.

Sipadan, a divers dream come true

The island of Sipadan is located in the Celebes Sea, off the Southeastern side of Malaysian Borneo. For years, divers have been coming to the island for the pristine coral reefs and abundance of marine life. Formed on top of an extinct volcano, the walls drop down to 600 meters on all sides. In 2004, the government kicked out the island resorts and limited the daily divers. Two months ago the government limited the daily numbers again to one hundred and twenty people, so I was lucky, and thankful to get a permit.

After meeting tons of travelers who recommended Sea Ventures, I booked a three night, two day package on their live aboard oil rig, off the coast of Mabul island. The rig was set up as a housing station for oil drillers, but the project never took off, and so it became a live aboard for dive enthusiasts. The rig is located less than a kilometer off the shore from Mabul island, which is now the closest island with resorts to Sipadan. For about $350 USD, I had a private room with amazing meals, and unlimited diving of local reefs.

I was only able to get a one day permit for Sipadan, but I squeezed in three morning dives to the sites of Barracuda Point, Coral Gardens, and Hanging Gardens. The first dive we did to Barracuda Point literally blew my mind. This is what diving was made for. We dropped down between a school of jack fish, with hundreds of them swimming around us in a circle. Below us were four white tip reef sharks, and in the distance I saw 2 sea turtles. All this within the first thirty seconds of the dive. After descending we quickly made our way to see the famous barracuda that are found early in the morning. Before we knew it, we were looking up to see about a thousand barracuda circling around us. I was in heaven. Not since I learned to dive in the Red Sea did I feel so alive and privileged to witness this underwater world. I've been let down too many times by over hyped dive sites that claim to be world class. The blue hole in Belize, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, just to name a few. But this place lived up to the hype. I literally lost count of the number of sea turtles and sharks I saw on each dive. The coral was better than Fiji, so vibrant and alive, with tons of fish. More fish than I've ever seen in one area. This is what a healthy reef is supposed to look like. The difference is night and day when you dive Sipadan, then dive around Mabul with it's dead coral. I'm happy the government has limited the number of daily divers, it's the only way to protect the reefs.

Between each dive we relaxed on the shores of Sipadan. The island is tiny and the former resorts have been turned into army barracks, for the soldiers stationed there to protect it and the tourists. If I could live on an island, this is where I would go. Beautiful white sand, turquoise water, palm trees, and silence.

Seriously, if you can take a week off of work and don't mind a little jet lag. Fly to Kuala Lumpur, then catch a cheap flight on Air Asia to Tawau. From there it's a two hour drive to Semporna where the speed boats will take you to resorts on Mabul or Sea Ventures oil rig. Once you are here you can relax, dive, and repeat. After working on the live aboard in Australia, it was actually nice to be a customer for once.

Take my advice, and book well in advance to ensure more than a day of diving at Sipadan. I did several dives around Mabul Island and Kapalai on the days I couldn't get a permit, and it wasn't the same. I had Sipadan envy. These sites do have some cool artificial reefs with decent marine life, and wrecks, but the corals are mostly dead, and I felt like I was just killing time with these dives.

Here are my photos of diving Sipadan and Mabul. The underwater photos are courtesy of Susan an instructor at Sea Ventures.

Some other dive operators that visit Sipadan are Scuba Junkie, and Sipadan Scuba. If you want ultra luxurious, try staying at the Sipadan Water Village, or the Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART).

The beauty that is Bali

The island of Bali is beautiful in so many ways. From it's tropical beaches, and surf, to stunning temples, and friendly people. You could easily spend months lazing away and enjoying life to its fullest, but alas, I only had several weeks.


We flew to the capital city of Denpasar with the somewhat sketchy Indonesian airline Lion Air. Once we touched down in one piece, we headed straight for Kuta beach, the backpacker mecca of Bali. We were excited to see Tal, our good friend from New York, who we hadn't seen in about six months. He arrived the day before and got us a private room at the Beneyasa Beach Inn with a pool for about ten dollars a night (although I liked the Suka Beach Inn next door much better). Now can you see why we liked Bali. You can live pretty well on fifteen dollars a day. Kind of makes you think about your stressful day job, and the coming winter in North America, right?


Kuta beach reminded me of a cross between Bangkok and Koh Samui in Thailand. There are little alleyways, and a million vendors selling everything from tee shirts, to massages, to paintings, jewelery, and obscene stickers. For the first two days I couldn't stay focused. My eyes would wander around from one thing to the next, back to Julie and Tal looking a little annoyed. I couldn't help it, there was just so much to see, smell, and taste. Speaking of which, the food stalls down on the main beach were great. You could get fried rice (nasi goreng) or noodles (mie goreng) with meat and vegetables for about a dollar.


You only need a couple nights in Kuta to get adjusted to Bali. Unless of course you're there to party. It's noisy and dirty, but has good restaurants and clubs. I highly recommend the Ocean Beach club which brings in Australian DJ's. It was hard not to think about the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings when we were there, but I still felt safe. The main beach of Kuta wasn't that great, but it was a good place to unwind after a long flight, and also a great place to learn to surf and get a massage. Tal rented a surfboard and gave it a shot, and Julie was in heaven with her first massage in ages. The one big nuisance of Kuta beach were all the hawkers, but even they had a smile after you told them you weren't interested for the fifteenth time. Julie left after two nights and headed to Ubud. Tal and I stayed for another couple days, then rented motorbikes for a little road trip.




Our first stop was to see the peninsula with the famous surf breaks of Dreamland, Padang Padang, and Uluwatu. Dreamland was kind of a dive, although the beach was nice, but we only stayed several hours. Padang Padang was a perfect place to spend a couple nights. We actually only planned to spend one night there, but I crashed my motorbike and after a quick visit to the local medical clinic to get sand and gravel removed from my leg and arm, we figured it would be better to stay another night and rest. Word of advice, don't ride a bike in flip flops, surf shorts and a tee shirt. They really don't protect you if you fall.




When we arrived at Padang Padang, we were lucky enough to see a Hindu ceremony taking place on the beach. Then we drove to the Uluwatu temple for sunset, where we were surrounded by monkeys. The monkeys were amazing and provided a good hour of entertainment. They certainly are curious animals, snatching anything they could find, and jumping on my head and back. We caught one trying to open the zipper of my day bag, and a girl lost her sunglasses to some quick primate hands.




After two of nights in the quaint surf town, we drove a couple of hours to the mountain town of Ubud where Julie had spent most of her week. I had high expectations of Ubud after reading about it in the novel Eat, Pray, Love, and my friend Leigh loved the place when she visited almost ten years ago. I think that was the problem, Ubud had become pretty touristy. A little too touristy for me, and two nights were more than enough. I does have great a great art and cultural scene, and some fantastic restaurants. The temples on the outskirts of town are definitely worth the visit, and Ubud is a great place to relax. We got a nice bungalow that was surrounded by a rice paddy, and it was a perfect place to watch the ducks at sunset. You can also take yoga and cooking classes if you're staying there for a little while. Julie and I visited the Monkey Forrest on one end of town, that is a little sanctuary for monkeys and has a nice temple. We also got to see a cremation ceremony taking place in the forest, and it was nice to see families gathering without grief, just accepting the circle of life. Tal and I also rode a little out of town, past all the lush rice paddies, to see the Ganung Kawi and Goa Gajah temples, which were a highlight for me.




After about ten days, Tal and Julie headed back to to the US, and I traveled to the Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok. It was an all day affair with a bus and boat ride, just to get to Gili Trawangan, also known as Gili T. When I boarded the boat in Padang Bay in Bali, I had no idea which Gili island I would visit, but I'm glad I chose Gili T. It gets a bad reputation as a backpacker party island, but I think this is misleading. There are bars, and a nightlife scene, but there are families, great restaurants, and quiet parts of the island. You can choose from basic bungalows, to private suites with your own jacuzzi. It's also a scuba diving haven and there are numerous operators on the island. I managed to get in one dive with Blue Marlin to see a WWII Japanese wreck at 40 meters, even though I wasn't supposed to be in the water due to the bandages from the bike accident. Can you picture this, I spent a week on Gili T, not being able to snorkel or swim, and everyone around me were couples cuddling all the time. Here I was solo with a bandaged leg! But I did meet some great Aussies that were staying next to me and I spent a week hanging out with their friends and eating very, very well.




The Gili Islands are comprised of Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. I managed to do a day trip to the super quiet Gili Meno, but that was enough for me. The place is perfect for honeymooners, but there isn't much to do aside from laying on the beach and reading. There is a bird sanctuary on the island that I missed, but I did get to see a sea turtle sanctuary, which was basically a bunch of turtles in several bathtubs. But hey, at least some locals were doing their part to help restore the turtle population. I didn't make it to Gili Air, but I heard that it was somewhere between Gili T and Gili Meno, with a little more to do, but not really a nightlife.


Once I got tired of the tiny island life, I took a boat to the mainland island of Lombok. I wasn't in the best condition to climb the volcanic peak of Mt. Rinjani, so I headed to the original tourist town of Senggigi. Now I'm usually a pretty optimistic person, who likes most places, but my one night spent in Senggigi was too much. The town center is run down, dirty, and noisy. I only spotted a handful of tourists, and the area is really spread over about 10 kilometers with several beaches, so it wasn't too easy to get around. I did however enjoy the bike ride from Bangsal harbor Senggigi, which was over hills and next to some beautiful coastline. It was also the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, and so many Indonesians were in town on vacation. It was kind of nice to visit Lombok and see the difference between the Hindu Balinese and Muslim Indonesians.


Instead of the all day boat and bus trip with Perama that I took to get here, I chose to fly back to Bali with Merpati. It's funny how sometimes you can get into the backpacker mode of pinching every penny. Back home I wouldn't think twice about spending fifteen dollars on a movie, or a couple of beers, but in Indonesia, I actually debated taking a 10 hour journey by bus and boat, over a forty-five minute flight that cost only fifteen dollars more. I'm glad I chose the flight on the way back, although I have the memory of a rickety old boat crossing the sea at sunset to get there.


Here are my photos of Bali and of Lombok and the Gili Islands. There are a lot of them, but if you're bored at work, then hopefully they will keep you entertained.


I am currently in Malaysian Borneo, trying to tackle the jungle island, but more on that later.

Diving the Great Barrier Reef for Free!

Long before I came to Australia, the Great Barrier Reef was a must-see destination. I learned to scuba dive in Egypt's Red Sea, also considered one of the best places in the world, and I've also been fortunate enough to dive all over the world, including Thailand, Belize, Mexico, and Fiji. Every time I went diving in one of these places, there was always someone who told me I had to visit the Great Barrier Reef, so my expecations were very high to say the least.

One down side to the weak US dollar is that Australia is now one of the most expensive places to scuba dive. A day on the reef with two dives costs around $150-175, and the three day/two night live aboard dive trip that I was looking at doing costs around $600! Much too steep for a backpacker's budget.

But, I was lucky enough to hear through the grapevine that some of the dive operators will take on volunteer crew to work in exchange for food, accommodation, and of course some dives. Deep Sea Divers Den, who operate the Ocean Quest and Taka boats, came highly recommended. The Taka boat is a minimum of seven days and it visits the well known Osprey Reef and Cod Hole. Since I couldn't commit to this much time, my other option was a three to six day trip on Ocean Quest, in which I chose the three day/two night cruise to give me a taste. The Ocean Quest vessel visits Norman and Saxon Reefs which are about an hour and a half from the mainland, and are better preserved sections of the reef compared to the areas close to Cairns that get too many day-trippers.

All in all, the trip was great. I wasn't prepared for the amount of work I would need to do on board, and I didn't have a moment to rest, but it was well worth it. There are two volunteer "Hosties" as they called us, and our duties included setting up and washing dishes for four meals, cleaning rooms, making beds, and odd job here and there. We were on a luxury boat, so it was basically a floating hotel that just moved between the two reefs to whichever spot was best to dive at that time. I should start off by saying that the food was fantastic. There was a big dining area, a bar and lounge, plus some sun decks. The rooms were a good size with their own bathrooms that weren't that much smaller than a normal hotel. There was room for 48 guests and 12 crew, and I was lucky enough that there was only 40 people in total during my trip, since that was enough. It was a good mix of people as well, mostly couples in their twenties and thirties. We worked hard, but played even harder.

Here is how a typical day was structured:

- wake at 6 am for a 6:30 dive

- back by 7:20 to set up for breakfast and eat quickly

- clean breakfast dishes and get ready for a 9 am dive

- back by 10 am to clean rooms, bathrooms, and make new beds for arriving guests

- set up lunch at 11:30, eat quickly

- clean lunch dishes

- break for 30 minutes

- at 2 pm, get ready for passenger transfer boat that shuttles people between Cairns and the reef

- break for 30 minutes

- dive at 4 pm

- back by 5 pm to set up for dinner and eat quickly

- clean dinner dishes and get ready for 7:30 pm night dive

- back by 8:30 to set up for dessert

- clean dessert dishes

-10pm, PASS OUT, and repeat the next day.

Even with all this work, I managed to get in eight dives. My favorite place had to be Saxon Reef, and some highlights included seeing blue spotted stingrays, white tipped reef sharks, and some big sea turtles. The areas of the reef that I saw were spectacular, but there was a lot of dead coral too, and I think the Great Barrier Reef is a little over-hyped compared to other dive spots around the world. I'm glad I had the experience so I can cross it off my list, but my favorite is still the Red Sea. Maybe because it was my first dive experience, who knows.

If you come to Cairns, and you want to dive the Great Barrier Reef, I highly recommend this unique experience. I heard that Mike Ball is another great operator where you can work for dives, and our friend Eduardo from Spain signed up with the Cairns Dive Centre (CDC) to work in exchange for a dive master's license, but I also heard that there are numerous operators that still make you pay a little, so avoid them.

Scuba diving is something you can't really explain, but hopefully my photos of the Great Barrier Reef can help a little.

Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo

Julie and I are back in Buenos Aires after a grueling 40 hour bus ride from Rio. We had a great 4 days in Rio, but that will be another post altogether. Let me first fill you in on our week after Paraty.

After about a week in the Costa Verde (green coast) of Paraty, we headed four hours north to Rio de Janeiro, where we changed buses and went another 2-3 hours further north along the Costa do Sol (sun coast), to the tiny beach towns of Saquarema, and Arraial do Cabo. The drive from Paraty to Rio was one of the most scenic drives I have ever done, and around every bend there was a picture perfect postcard view. Too bad I didn´t take pictures.

Both Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo get little mention in the Lonely Planet guidebook, and because of this, we were finally able to get away from the backpackers and foreign travelers in Brazil.

The little resort area of Saquarema is the surfing capital of Rio state, and it reminded me a lot of a California beach town like Long Beach. The place gets a little crowded on weekends with Brazilian tourists, but never gets too busy. We stayed in an amazing beachfront pousada/guesthouse called Canto do Vila, with a pool and views of the ocean and sunset. It´s a strange feeling to witness the sun setting over the Atlantic ocean when you´ve spent your whole life on the East Coast. The land curved and faced west in case you are wondering.

I was so pumped up to finally go surfing, but of course it didn´t happen. The water was so cold, colder than New York in summer, and I could rent a board, but not a wetsuit. I lasted 10 minutes in the water until my lips went blue, then I turned around. Just a side note here, if you ever come to Brazil to surf, bring a board and wetsuit with you. My experience has been that if there are waves, there are either no boards to rent, or if you can find boards the water is cold and there are no wetsuits to be found. It´s a catch 22. Damn you Brazil. If you do make it to Saquarema, go to Itauna beach where there are huge waves (a left point break, and beach breaks further down).

Anyways, back to Saquarema. We had about 2 full days and 3 nights in the town over the weekend. The town square in the centro area where we were staying was bustling with street vendors at night, and they had a live cover band playing to the restaurant tables. It was actually pretty funny since the singer played all classic rock songs in English, but I don´t think many Brazilians really understood the songs. No one speaks English or Spanish in this country, but we´ll write more about that later.

After a couple days in Saquarema, we traveled an hour north to Arraial do Cabo. The town is a cape that shoots out into the ocean, and is surrounded on all sides by beautiful beaches. I have to say that these beaches were probably better than Paraty, although they had more people. The sand was the finest I`ve felt and the water crystal clear. Arraial is famous for scuba diving which is why we made a stop here. On our second day in town, I did two reef dives off of two different islands. The visibility was amazing, and I got to see about 4 sea turtles which are my favorite. I forgot how much I love to scuba dive, but I don´t think we will have another opportunity until we get to Australia in a couple months. The place we stayed in Arraial was so homely. The Hostel Villa Boas had a huge kitchen and pool, and we actually spent a lot of time relaxing and cooking at the hostel. We met some great couples from Argentina and Chile, and I can tell you, it was so great to hear Spanish again. With the rest of our free time we went to the best beach in the area, praia do Forno. The rest of the beaches were too crowded.

So, after about a week split between Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo, we headed back to Rio to meet our friend Maria, and had an amazing 4 days. More to come on Rio shortly. Click here for my photos of Saquarema and Arraial do Cabo.