Decompression Redemption: The Day I Died in a Volcano

Diving in Laguna de Apoyo

I became a certified open water diver over ten years ago. I completed my two open water dives between the Santa Barbara coastline and the Channel Islands after I relocated to California for a new job. My final certification dive was highlighted by an adult harbor seal who swam around me as I ascended the rope back to the boat at the end of the dive.

A look back at the Santa Barbara Coastline

The seal circled around my legs, then once more around my waist before stopping directly in front of me - her head only a few inches from the front of my mask. She hovered in front of my body for what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes were dark in color, but maintained a tone of softness as if she was just as curious about me as I was of her - which I can only imagine was the case.

Humpback whales surfacing in the waters near the Channel Islands

My arms instinctively went around her waist but I was still a bit cautious to pull her any closer than the few inches currently separating her blubbery skin and the soft material of my wetsuit. However, she then leaned in and kissed the tempered glass of my black framed dive mask. Clearly embarrassed, she turned and escaped into the shallow waters surrounding the island of Santa Cruz.

As the weeks turned to months and the months turned to years, I slowly watched the time pass since my certification dive and the stolen kiss from my aquatic mistress. Ten years would pass before I would once again do a safety check with a dive buddy, and it would take place on the small Caribbean island of Utila off the east coast of Honduras. I was a bit scared when I began my first descent into the warm tropical waters to begin my refresher course. I bobbled around a bit until I gained control of my buoyancy and slowly began to re-learn what it's like to live underwater.

A sunset on the island of Utila

Squirrels, angels, and spotted drums would be just a few of the many types of colorful fish that would scurry around as bubbles would escape my mask. Giant crabs and black colored coral would pass by my field of vision as I swam through rock caves and over small shipwrecks during my six dives on the island. Rays of sun piercing the shallow waters and clouds of sand after an eel would scurry past - these are the scenes that can make up the underwater world. I was glad to be back.

The balcony of The Peace Project Hostel on Laguna de Apoyo

Once I left the island, I assumed it would be a while until I would strap on an aluminum dive tank again. Although I had redeemed my ego by literally diving back into this hobby, I wasn't sure when I would plan to take that giant step again. So when I arrived at the edge of Laguna de Apoyo - a twenty-two thousand year old dormant volcano in the middle of Nicaragua - and learned that my hostel shared a building with a dive shop. It was an easy decision to schedule a day of diving in a volcano.

My tent site while staying near the dive shop

My dive master, Elois, gave me and my dive buddy, Braedon, a brief introduction to the unique wildlife that exists inside of the ancient crater that has been filled with water since its last eruption. Cichlids, lizard fish, sardines, and enormous schools of freshwater fish engulfed us as we traversed the steep rock walls of the inclined slopes of the ancient caldera. As the tiger fish parents protected their babies from predators, we found exposed vents where warm water and gaseous bubbles were still escaping from the grasps of the underlying, albeit dormant, magma chamber deep below bottom of the lake.

Schools of dish swarm near the dive site

Our second dive was more pragmatic. We stayed in the shallows and used our increased allowable bottom time to pick up trash that had accumulated in the soft bottom algae that covers most of the lake bottom. In a relatively short period of time, trash can be consumed by the algae and almost disappear from sight, with the top of a bottle or the strings of a forgotten shoe as the only evidence of the foreign object stuck in the muck.

Thankfully Braedon had a camera with him!

My lips were smiling and my soul was happy when we returned to the dive center to clean our gear and sip some coffee with my new friends. As the afternoon continued, however, I would get one more opportunity to strap on my tank and go underwater. Another instructor, Michaela, was finishing a Rescue course for a local diver, and they were in need of some help. They needed someone to rescue.

At the bottom of Laguna de Opoyo

Now on my third dive of the day, I found it quite comical that someone would find themselves in my position - one that requires me to pretend to be unconscious, while breathing compressed air at the bottom of a lake in a twenty-two thousand year old volcano crater. The trainee finally reached the point of his checklist to bring me back up. Once at the surface, he inflated my BCD and continued his checklist of items to "save me" properly. 

I hope it's not another ten years before my next dive. I'll make sure that's not the case.

The entryway to The Peace Project Hostel

A big thank you to The Peace Project Hostel and Volcano Divers for allowing me the unique opportunity of diving in a volcano, and making this part of my trip in Central America even better. The Peace Project is a NGO that fosters community development and educational opportunities. I was fortunate enough to spend a day in one of their classroom with the students, not too mention all the workers are just great people with whom to spend a few days. If you don't mind waking up to monkey's throwing mangoes onto the top of the metal roofed buildings, then I highly suggest planning to stay here for a few nights and supporting the organization.You can check out their website thepeaceprojectnicaragua.org for more information. 

Volcano Divers is located in the same building and is the only Padi Certified dive shop for Laguna de Apoyo. The underwater photo credits go to my dive buddy, Braedon, who was there for his honeymoon. 

Cheers!
Dustin

Me and my pink fins

Utila: Not Exactly Central America

I deboarded the Utila Dream ferry and I immediately felt a culture shock when I arrived on the island. Not the type of shock stemming from merely being an American visiting an island that is part of a Central American country, but the shock that this island is supposedly part of a Central American country. My immediate thought: "There's a lot of white folk running around here..."

To be clear, Utila is one of those dive mecca locations to which members of the ever growing diving community flock for inexpensive boat trips and advanced diving courses. With beautiful reefs surrounding the relatively small island, it is also located on a migratory path of Whale Sharks thus solidifying it's place as a possible recurring column in Sport Diver's magazine (I'm assuming they have recurring columns. I wouldn't know as I usually delete their weekly emails). If you desire to plan a trip to the island, I'm sure you'll find accommodations and dive boats available at any one of the 13 dive shops, and the going rate for two dives while I was there was a mere $35.

As a PADI Open Water Diver I am on the lowest rung of the diver certification totem pole.  Before arriving in Utila, my last dive had been over ten years ago in California, my hiatus stemming from a mix of terrible sinus issues and the usual high costs of this hobby - my Midwest mindset prioritized student loans before dive trips for the better part of the last decade. However, by the time I would leave Utila I would have another six dives under my belt (still paltry numbers in the diving community, but I was satisfied).

Although I am appreciative of my renewed interest in diving, my intention of coming to the island had nothing to do with breathing compressed gases under water. My decision was driven by a desire to continue a writing project I had started earlier in the year while I was working a temporary job near the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. Utila was rumored to have cheap accommodations, cheaper than the mainland of Honduras, and those rumors turned out to be true. I was able to procure a one bedroom apartment from a wonderful woman named Vanessa for $300 a month. Although nothing spectacular, it did sport a view of an ocean inlet from the two bedroom windows, and the small front porch steps were where I would find a local dog waiting for me almost every morning.

While on Utila I developed a good routine of writing, diving, snorkeling, exploring, eating, volunteering with a food program, and, perhaps the most rewarding part of my routine, helping out at a school library three days a week. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays were my time to maneuver around a small one room library with a lot of children, reading with some, doing puzzles with others, and just spending time encouraging them to use their minds in a positive way. A big thanks to Jeannie, Hannah, and Alison for allowing me to help and to further practice my princess reading voice. However, the consistency of my voice for Blanca Nieves (Snow White) varied drastically and will require some attention for future readings.

For an island that can be walked from one side to the other in about an hour, it surprisingly has a lot of opportunities to have a diverse travel experience. Whether it was spending time swimming in freshwater caves, checking out one of the many educational centers, or a hike up Pumpkin Hill - a dormant volcano and the highest point on the island - which also happens to be the namesake of Vanessa's cat and coincidentally her WiFi password (however I won't give you the exact word play she uses) - there are plenty of activities to keep a traveler busy out of the ocean too. 

I should probably let you in another bit of information that further makes my subjective experience on the island possibly qualify as an outlier - I'm sober.  For personal and health reasons I had my last alcoholic beverage prior to the start of the new year and, with a handful of exceptions, I have not regretted the decision to hop back on the wagon.  That being said, outside of diving the other most advertised reason to visit the island is the partying.  Drink specials and shot challenges are abundant along the main road that is usually filled with pedestrians, golf carts, and ATVs.  Don't worry though, you're sure to get a "free" t-shirt after you spent $20 USD for four shots of liquor that only cost the bar about $2.

Although it may seem I'm presenting a judgmental tone towards the visitors who flock to this small rock in the Caribbean solely for the purpose of diving and drinking, I am merely hoping to highlight some of the other activities for which this island has to offer. In fact, one of those shot challenges I mentioned takes place at a healthy fruit bar operated by two expat Canadian women. Right before I left, a few artists opened a small art gallery for the sole purpose of promoting art education to local elementary students and Utila made products (Instead of the other "souvenirs" one might expect to find at another shop, like a key chain with your name on it or a shirt that has an outline of the island with the word "Native" embedded within it's borders).

Every travel adventure begins with managing your expectations and your intentions.  So if what you wanted was a week of diving and drinking then by all means enjoy every drink challenge on the island and have a blast, but also don't be as arrogant to say "You don't drink? Then why did you come here?" A phrase I heard on more than a few occasions.

The most surprising aspect of my time spent on the island was the expediency with which I finished my writing project, a manuscript for a non fiction novel about my experience hiking the Appalachian Trail.  It turns out that when you set aside 4-5 hours each day to write you can actually get a lot done. In my past life this would have been the perfect time for a celebratory beer, but I thoroughly enjoyed a mango smoothie instead (however, there is still a steep learning curve ahead in order to get this edited and published). The completion of this part of the project was met with both extreme self satisfaction but also a bit of confusion. I thought this would keep me busy until the end of my travel visa, in fact, I thought finishing an initial draft was not even in the realm of possibility before my friend's wedding in July, but now here I was with the most drastic of first world problems - How do I spend four more weeks in a tropical climate?

As the blog title may infer, the island didn't convince me at all times that I was getting an authentic Central American experience, and I wanted to see some different places before heading back to the States. I mean no disrespect to the locals or capitalism, but anytime a lot of outside money has been introduced to an indigenous area it absolutely changes the atmosphere (I believe history overwhelmingly supports this claim). Even locals would admit on occasion that Utila "wasn't really Honduras," which would be obvious to anyone who has spent time in one of the larger inland cities such as San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa. Also, what little gains I had made with my Spanish before coming to the island had most definitely been lost. There wasn't a single moment where I felt obligated to know Spanish for my entire six weeks on the island.

I decided to take a shuttle to Leon, Nicaragua.  It was farthest distance away I could make in one leg of travel by bus, and I figured I would just work my way back north for my flight out of San Pedro Sula on June 2nd.  As I left the island it was bitter sweet as I had built relationships with friends that would now be left to the digital world in order for us to keep in touch. As I sent off copies of the manuscript to some beta readers (fancy writer talk for friends who agreed to read a few sections) I also began researching what I could expect from Nicaragua. I was about to spend a month in a country for a vacation I had literally just planned a week prior - so I was sort of going in blind - but I had the confidence that good plans would present themselves, and they have. But those will wait for another day.

-Dustin

Travel Notes:  Although "Free WiFi" is advertised abundantly across hostels and businesses on the island, I wouldn't count on the reliability of these networks. That combined with frequent power outages - both planned and unplanned - might not make the island the ideal spot for the digital nomad community. However, if you feel compelled to live and work on Utila, Buccaneer's and Neptune's seemed to have the most reliable WiFi networks. Both places also accept credit cards albeit with an additional usage charge, and Neptune's has an excellent and inexpensive panini. But I would be dismissed to not encourage you to visit the small crepe place right next to Buccaneers. It is operated by a lovely French gentleman and you will not be disappointed.

Enjoy a few video clips from my time on the island!
Rooftop Sunset
Leaf Cutter Ants
Pumpkin Hill Beach Trash
Utopia Village Resort