I often wonder when I write these blogs if I come across a bit of a wimp. I read things back and think ‘was it REALLY that scary in that waterfall?’ or ‘why couldn’t I go under water with no breath in my lungs?’ but then I think, well, these aren’t really things we are faced with on a daily basis and maybe its ok to be a bit of a wimp sometimes…and at least I DO these things, I don’t just say NO, I’m not doing it…and THEN I go and get on a ferry! Something I am not scared of at all and it turns into my worst nightmare and I think Oh my God…I really AM a drama Queen! Here’s the story!
After rushing like loons to get the tickets, fill in the parking forms, pack our backpacks, park Peggy safely and get to the ferry, the adrenalin was running high as we approached the dock. We also hadn’t eaten and so had a slice of cold pizza in one hand and a beer in the other (we we’re on ‘holiday’ after all) as we waited to board the ‘ferry’. We handed over our bags and watched them disappear into what can only be described as a trailer. A floating trailer…with windows near the cieling. Our bags were thrown in to the belly of this floating beast and we stood choosing our seats on the roof of the beautiful ferry in front of the trailer that must pull along behind.
Then I watched with a slack jaw as people started to get into the TRAILER! They climbed onto the front of the thing and bobbed down as they climbed down steps into the belly of the ugly trailer beast! Typical me thinks they must have different tickets to us…until we were ushered in behind them! We climbed in and found a seat. The windows were above our heads so we couldnt see outside and there were bars all over to hold onto. It all happened so fast, we were in, the lid was put onto the trailer and then we moved…not attached to the other beautiful ferry with seats in the breeze…THIS WAS the ferry!
Instant MINOR panic. Theres no breeze, there are 50 people all around us and I can’t get out.
As we started to move it became apparent that this was NOT going to be a smooth crossing. We jumped up and down on the water at speed all the while rocking side to side, each time we crashed down it was like landing on glass. The recently ingested (certainly not yet digested) pizza sloshed about in a river of beer making me feel soooo sick…
MAJOR panic! One of my biggest fears is being sick in public. There is no rhyme or reason to this and I can’t explain it, it just is. So I’m trapped in a tin can with no windows, bouncing on the waves, no breeze and a belly full of things that do not mix well with rough seas, in a crowd of people with no escape! Alex tried to calm me down as the colour drained from his face too and we realised it was going to be a long hour!
I tried sitting, laying, standing, facing forwards, backwards, sideways. I tried looking at the floor, at Alex, at the bin, at the captain. I tried talking, listening, sitting in silence…nothing could stop me feeling like I would be sick any minute! I made Alex ask for a sick bag (of which they had plenty) and they happily obliged…it was obviously a regular occurance. Then one gentleman piped up and said there are toilets out the back with the engine so thats where we headed. We spent the last half of the jouney sat with the smelly noisy engine with a sick bag for comfort until finally, after the longest hour of my life, we arrived on Utila.
As soon as I was on dry land I felt fine and we loaded up our packs and set off to find our accomodation. A lovely bungalow overlooking the crystal clear Caribbean sea.
Settled in we went to explore and found that there is one road the full length of the island and one that runs the width. Impossible to get lost or to miss anything we wandered aimlessly and happened upon a little Italian restaurant where we spent our first evening relaxing!

Find out what happens next on our travelling wedding adventure!