From the moment I donned a mask, fins, and oxygen tank, I knew that diving would become a big part of my life. Once you get your feet wet, the ocean becomes a part of you and it’s tough to want to return to life on terra firma. I have always felt extremely comfortable in and around water. Growing up, whenever I was in a pool I would head to the deep end and see how long I could hold my breath at the bottom. I learned to find a certain comfort in not breathing and to this day, it is where I feel most relaxed. For me it a form of meditation. Adding oxygen and more time underwater seemed the next logical step.

Growing up I had wanted to be an astronaut. I thought it would be amazing to be weightless and explore unknown regions of space. In hindsight, I think diving fulfills everything I had dreamed of and more. It also doesn’t take a genius mind (which I don’t have) and years of hard work (which I am averse to) to go diving. So, it seemed a perfect fit. The abundant life found underwater is far more interesting than that which can be found in space (so far). Exploring the seas is tantamount to seeing an entirely different world where the laws of land no longer exist. Weightlessness is the norm and exotic wild animals are more pervasive than the best African safari. This is the world I want to live in, and thus would be mine for the first 6 weeks of 2015.

Utila is a beautiful wasteland of lost souls, losing days to booze, drugs, sun, sand, and most addictive of all, the ocean. Days start early and end late with nothing but hedonism in between. Whatever your vice is, you can find it in excess in Utila. With a few exceptions, I was able to avoid much of the depravity and focused on spending as much time beneath the waves and out of harms way. Most days consisted of waking up early to dive on the first boat, get home around mid day, then spend the rest of the day lounging in hammocks, reading, socializing, and studying for my Dive Master, the first professional level of diving.

In those 6 weeks I squeezed in a little over 60 dives, many of them purely for pleasure. One of the advantages of the Dive Master program is that once it is paid for, you get free dives for life. This was a perk of which I took full advantage, and plan on continuing to do so in the future. Even after diving almost every day for 6 weeks, I never came close to getting sick of it. Every dive offered something new to see. Utila is host to shipwrecks, countless caves to navigate, an abundance of tropical fish, timid garden eels, the occasional aggressive moray eel, relaxed sea turtles, harmless nurse sharks, and I was even fortunate enough to swim with a massive passing whale shark, which was undoubtedly the highlight of my underwater adventures.

They say the Dive Master course can be done in as quickly as 2 weeks, but I took my sweet time and stretched it to 6. For Utila, that is lightning fast. There was a guy at my dive shop that had been “working” on it for well over a year. If I didn’t have a deadline for the end of my trip, there is a chance that could have been me. It’s easy to get sucked into to the island lifestyle. Believe it or not, when not kicking it with Ariel and Sebastian, there is plenty to do on a tropical island paradise.

One rainy day we rented four wheelers and navigated flooded roads through the jungle to explore the far reaches of the island. Along the way several of the quads got flooded or stuck, and one even had to be abandoned. Other days we did the same thing, but on bikes. But truth be told, most days and nights not spent diving were spent with new and future friends, drinks in hand, on or in proximity to white sand and water. Aside from the diving, this is what I will remember most of Utila. This place attracts some of the most friendly, interesting, and fun loving people from all reaches of the globe, which is a significant reason I love traveling so much. Utila embodies the best of backpacking, which is why it is easy to understand how people get stuck there for so long.

However, it was not always sunshine and rainbows. I managed to get as sick as I have ever been, twice, on Utila. Once was immediately after the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl. I wish I could blame it on alcohol, but I only had 2 or 3 beers. The rest of the night I spent on or in front of my very own super bowl. Once I even fainted after concluding a fit of vomitting. Luckily Marlene was visiting for the week to nurse me back to health. She definitely saw and heard more than one should in a burgeoning relationship. The second time came on the day before I was to leave Utila. In order to become a dive master, one must get clearance from a doctor. Thus, I had to pretend to be healthy enough to get the local doctor’s stamp of approval. There is no way I looked healthy with my dead, sunken eyes, racing heart, and a soaked through T-Shirt, but on Utila, land of debauchery, I am sure she had seen far worse, so I was incorrectly granted a clean bill of health.

I will always have fond memories of Utila and it will forever hold a place close to my heart. I was able to fulfill a dream of becoming a Dive Master and make incredible memories with wonderful people I am now fortunate enough to call friends. I was very sad to say farewell to a place that truly felt like home for those short six weeks, but as much as I love diving, I was off to meet up with someone for whom I held an even greater passion.