Feeshin' nawght cawchtin'

During our first days in Utila it was rainy and overcast, which greatly limited our outdoor activities. But since we were staying at a gorgeous house right on the beach, the uncooperative weather did not ruin our vacation. We played endless games of Scrabble, Risk, and cards. We watched TV and read books. We had family style dinners each night.

When the sun came out for the second half of the trip, we had our days scheduled with outdoor activities.

The house came with a set of horseshoes and bocce balls. Bocce is a game in which you throw shot put sized balls at a smaller ball. Points are awarded to the team whose balls are the closest. We had a Peace Corps (Kelly, Mosiah, and I) versus Corporate Scum (Drew, Dave, and Sean) match. It came down to the last throw in a best 2 out of 3 series, but good triumphed over evil, and we won.

One day we hiked around the island to find some caves. For some reason we assumed these caves would have light filtering in, and we brought two flashlights (Kelly’s headlamp that’s batteries hadn’t been changed for a long time and a small flashlight that was found a hostel) “just in case.” There were two weak flashlights between the six of us, and it was a real cave with no natural light that apparently people die in every year. Despite being ill-prepared, we crawled through the tight spaces until reaching the bottom where the cave opened up enough to be able to stand. Kelly made it through the toughest part, but then claustrophobia and the fear that the battery on the headlamp would run out hit, and she left in a panic (I am proud you made it as far as you did, Kelly). Mosiah went back out with Kelly, and the rest of us stayed to explore the river flowing through the bottom of the cave. Fortunately the only causality of our spelunking adventure was Drew’s camera.

Another day we hired a guy to take us out in a boat to one of the numerous cays off the coast of Utila. Almost all of the cays around Utila are privately owned, but one, Water Cay, is open to visitors. There is not a single building on this minuscule island, just coconut trees and white sands. Our water taxi dropped us off in the morning and then came back to get us in the afternoon. We were the only people on the island for the day, and we spent it snorkeling around the nearby reef and relaxing on the beach. I again tried to fulfill my lifetime goal of being able to climb a coconut tree, and I again failed. Someday.

It came down to our last day on Utila, and I had the opportunity to either go scuba diving or fishing. I love both, but I had a very strong desire to fish, so I went with that option. Mosiah, Sean, and Drew all went scuba diving while Kelly, Dave, and I went fishing. We chose poorly. Capitan Hal warned us before going out that, “De cawl it feeshin’ nawght cawchtin’,” and he was certainly correct with his maxim. We spent four hours fishing, and zero seconds catching. The experience would not have been so miserable had it not been windy, overcast, and cold. Since we were trolling, we drove around in circles for hours shivering while getting hit with waves and holding huge fishing poles. To add insult to injury, we when finally called it quits and headed back to shore, we reeled in one of the lines only to find that the lure had been bitten off. I suppose it greatly reduces your chances of catching anything when there is nothing on the end of the line. But we did see a sea turtle and a group of American helicopters patrolling for drugs, although I would have much rather have caught a fish.