Near where we are anchored is a lagoon. An interesting back door peek at local life, mixed with a few dive hostels.
This is what happens when there are no longer tacos on every street corner. Ali is forced back in to mixing up her own taco seasoning.
Platano y Melon Licuado con leche. Banana, melon, milk, ice, and sugar. A Bumfuzzle favorite since Lowe was born. Ouest and I used to take a walk each afternoon in Puerto Vallarta that ended with us sharing one of these and a smile.
We’ve had pretty nice weather, for the most part, but we are in the islands, where nasty stuff does tend to blow through now and then.
Just 100 yards from the boat is a nice snorkeling spot. The coral seems to be in pretty good shape, though there isn’t much color. Fish remain few and far between. We managed to find some, but the reef certainly isn’t spilling over with life. I’m trying to keep in mind that we’re just snorkelers and the diving here in deeper spots must be far superior—and I hope the fish are more plentiful there as well. I looked into taking dive classes with the kids, but it sounds like ten is the cutoff age, so we’ll have to wait a little longer.
We lost Lowe’s mask, so he’s just Mr. Free Diver out here.
5 Comments on “Utila Activity”
Fascinating!!!!
Once again, unbelievable pictures!!!!! I can only imagine seeing the things you do, Thanks for sharing your talent with the world!
I learned freediving right there on Utila, at Apnea Total. If you’re interested at all I’d highly recommend it. I didn’t get to meet the owner when I was there, but he sounded like a cool guy. The instructors I had were really good.
Idk if Ouest and Lowe are old enough to really soak up the info., but the physiology that allows humans to dive and thrive in the ocean is truly amazing. I learned that with a simple relaxation technique I could lower my heart rate and comfortably hold my breath for over 5 minutes.
Actually, I learned some really important things in that class. I’m not a safety-obsessed person by any means- I’m usually pretty flippant. I was already a beach lifeguard, very competitive college swimmer, and scuba diver, I still found it fascinating, informative and useful.
Stuff like the dangers of hyperventilating before snorkeling, and shallow water blackout. Both are super easy to learn about, identify, and avoid. Both are also super easy to drown from. The kicker with this stuff is that it’s usually the strongest, most confident and water-adapted people who succumb to drowning because of these things. Your confidence lets you push it just a little too far.
One more thing: When you’re underwater, it’s not wise to leave the snorkel in your mouth. Freedivers always remove the snorkel before diving. It over-rides your body’s survival instinct to keep your mouth shut when your face is submerged. Your mouth and throat are wedged open from the mouth piece, and there’s a clear pathway for seawater to rush into your lungs from any sort of mishap. And there’s really not much benefit to keeping the snorkel in your mouth underwater anyway.
If you’re interested at all, check out the book Deep by James Nestor, it’s truly awesome. Buen viaje 🙂
Not sure if you asked the dive shops cause the big thing was how comfortable the kids are in the water. Ouest certainly is, grin Lowe is too but he his younger…water is much clearer than the southern Chesapeake grin…
Awesome lifestyle you guys have there. If you haven’t already, you may want to look into Lowe diving deeper and deeper with just swimming goggles. I assume it’s not a problem now but definitely would be when getting into free diving.