Diving Utila
After Guatemala, due to my extended stay there, once crossing the border into Honduras I pretty much headed straight up north to the Bay Islands - Utila to be specific.
The Bay Islands are known as one of the world's best and cheapest dive spots. And from my experiences, Utila at least definitely lived up to that reputation. It was amazing. So many awesome dive spots, many based around beautiful reefs, are within a 30min tops boat ride from the island.
After being sweet talked by this charming American dive instructor who accosted me at the ferry dock, I decided to go ahead with the full-on PADI Advanced Scuba Diver course (I already have my 'open water' certification). The dive shop she worked for, Utila Dive Centre (UDC), is known as the largest and most lively dive shop on the island - something which I think must put off a lot of newbies. All the instructors are relatively young (not inexperienced though) and there's always a lot going on - it's a very cool atmosphere but I could see how it could make first timers anxious - there's enough to worry about when starting diving as it is. For me though, it was all good.
So after going over a quick refresh of diving lingo and safety signals etc. I was straight into the advanced course, with a night dive that night. Night diving is really something special. Although the moon was quite full that night, we were still able to have near pitch black conditions at sufficient (around 20m) depth. There are all sorts of different species which come alive at night - from eels to crays to strange fish which rush towards underwater flash lights. If diving is entering a 'whole new world'...night diving is another world again. I wouldn't recommend it for the claustrophobic - often the torch light is your only window to the world down there. I loved it though - some minor difficulties with equalising aside, it was one of the best experiences I've ever had.
I spent most of the next few days either on a dive boat or underwater. It was tiring but we did some really amazing dives from technical skill dives like drift and navigation to deep diving and underwater photography.
Deep diving is fairly intense. The limit for recreational divers is commonly agreed as 40m. That is real deep. We went down to 30m which is the point where the majority of people start to feel the effects of what is known as nitrogen narcosis - described by Jacques Cousteau as the "rapture of the deep" - and commonly referred to as being 'narked' in diving slang. Wikipedia goes into more detail, but it's basically thought to be caused by nitrogen dissolving and interrupting nerve transmissions in the brain. It is relatively safe and only a temporary condition which abates once depth/pressure is reduced. It feels like, for me anyway, being mildly drunk and not really caring about anything - a general malaise, although mixed with a bit of frustration at not being able to do things quickly. For example, as a test we were to point to the numbers 1 to 20 in order on a board with the numbers placed randomly. This took me 37 seconds at 30m but only about 15 seconds at sea level. Needless to say it's important to realise the effects of nitrogen narcosis on oneself personally so one allows more time, or just doesn't attempt, complex motor or cognitive tasks when narked at those depths and below!
The night before my last day of diving I must have eaten something a bit dodgy as I ended up with some moderate diarrhoea that night and in the morning. I was feeling a bit off so I was tossing up whether to postpone my dives. However I would have had to wait another two days for another instructor and group/course to become available and I wouldn't be able to finish up with my current instructor and group who were all awesome. So after some deliberation I thought "screw it" and dived anyway - taking the risk of some diarrhoea-related embarrassment. My instructor was kind enough to lend me his 'hood suit' which is just the top half of a wet suit, without the bottom/leg coverings but with a hood. This was so if I needed to, when in the water, I could just yank down my board shorts and let loose in the ocean. The ocean cleans all! 
Those dives, one in particular, turned out to be the best dives of my life so I was stoked I didn't chicken out. And I've discovered that the water pressure from diving seems to cure diarrhoea - I had no problems at all!
It was a bit of mad rush to finish up the administration for the PADI course and then catch the ferry back to the mainland. From there I pretty much headed straight back down Honduras towards the capital, spent a night, and then went onwards into Nicaragua...
More photos are in my Utila Set on my flickr site. Sadly they accidently gave me someone else's underwater camera pictures (SD card confusion). So I don't have the cool ones I took, but luckily the guy's I got aren't too shabby. I'll email them to try and get my actual ones.