The Snorks

If you don't remember The Snorks Saturday morning cartoon from the 80s, you aren't missing much. As one fan put it, "Take a Smurf, stick a snorkel on his head, put him underwater and force him to replace the word “Smurf” with the word “Snork” when he speaks, and you'’ve got the basis for The Snorks." One of the reasons we chose Utila is because of the abundant snorkeling to be had. My first time snorkeling was in Baja on our last big trip a couple of years ago, so I was pretty blown away with what there was to see just off shore. Jenny has had a lot more water adventures than I have (maybe with the exception of hot-springing), but even she was impressed. I bought a waterproof camera case specifically for this trip, so I'll just let the pictures tell about the seascapes that we saw on an almost daily basis. Unfortunately, some of the more impressive sea-life eluded photo capture, such as the spotted eagle-ray, barracuda and green moray eel that defended itself from me.

Grande Azul and Azulita

Getting away from it all is nice, but it also requires the means to transport yourself back to it all for supplies like food and beer. This is when a trip to the local rental agency comes in handy. When we got off the ferry, we serendipitously ran into our landlord and she piled our bags on her scooter to take them to the house. We then rented bikes for the remainder of our time on the island. Spanish definitely came in handy for renting from a 12 year old boy. We found out later that his mom, the owner, happened to be out when we picked up the bikes and he never charged us a deposit, never wrote down where we were staying, and gave us cheap locks. In his defense, he told his mom that we had honest faces. When she saw us riding down the street the next day, she knew that her bikes were in good hands.

Grande Azul (Big Blue) on the left and Jenny's Azulita (Little Blue) on the right.

They always waited patiently for us whenever we were out eating or drinking.

Cruising the local roads in style.

Bikes are the best way to explore the island for beaches and caves, and we ran into this trio of guys looking for a beach near the airport. How could you not be having fun riding down the runway pretending that you're a plane? The guy in the middle was probably even making airplane noises.