Utila

Brian is a cave diver, and he shares his exciting journey from open water diving to the more challenging world of cave diving.

Brian became captivated by diving after exploring the island of Utila in El Salvador, where he discovered the thrill and comfort of underwater exploration.

His upbringing, which emphasized exploration and a free-spirited lifestyle, influenced his decision to pursue cave diving.

So Brian, welcome to the program.

So tell us what motivated you to become a cave diver and get involved with caving in the first place.

So before becoming a cave diver, I first had to become an open water diver, and that was a pretty cool happenstance.

A friend of mine and I were traveling around Central America, and we were surfing on the West Coast in El Salvador, and he went go- up to Alaska to go fishing and left me by myself, and I didn't wanna go home and didn't really know what to do, and I heard about this magical island called Utila.

It's on the other side of Central America, and if we made it there, it was just me at the time, I could try this thing called diving.

It's all there.

We got merch over at McElroyMerch.com. We've got a new Utila drink tumbler inspired by the My Brother, My Brother and Me all-in-one Uber beverage that's got everything you need in it.

And there's a few other items new and, you know, a bunch of other merch for all the shows.

McElroyMerch.com. 10% of all merch proceeds this month will also be donated to the Midwest Food Bank's Disaster Relief Fund.

Being in direct opposition to the spirit and meaning of the Clayton and Bulwer Treaty as understood in the United States, the Senate rejected the entire clause and substituted in its stead a simple recognition of the sovereign right of Honduras to these islands in the following language.

The two contracting parties do hereby mutually engage to recognize and respect the islands of Roatán, Bonaco, Utila, Barbarita, Helena, and Moral, situate in the Bay of Honduras off the coast of the Republic of Honduras, as under the sovereignty and as part of the said Republic of Honduras.

Great Britain rejected this amendment, assigning as the only reason that the ratifications of the convention of the twenty-seventh August eighteen fifty-six between her and Honduras had not been, quote, exchanged owing to the hesitation of that government, end quote.

Had this been done, it is stated that, quote, Her Majesty's government would have had little difficulty in agreeing to the modifications proposed by the Senate, which then would have had in effect the same significance as the original wording, end quote.

With nicer properties near the beach, costing a bit more.

Then there's Utila.

Utila is smaller, more laid back, and considerably funkier.

You have little waterfront restaurants, dive shops, boats along the docks, and an international community centered around island life and scuba diving.

And Utila is actually where I became PADI certified, which basically means I became a certified scuba diver.

And it was a truly spectacular experience.

And the beauty of Honduras doesn't stop with Roatan and Utila.

Just off the Caribbean coast, you have Cayos Cochinos.

So it was really hard to find a first home that would take the chance on us.

And ultimately, the island of Utila, which is a Honduran island in the Honduran Caribbean, stepped up, stood up to the press, kind of gave us that ability to put us in the game and release it behind us, which is great.

But so much of making these first couple events happen was just proving we could do it.

And a lot of it was like reassuring vendors, reassuring host countries, and so much that we shouldn't have to have to worry about.

For folks that don't know what that is, tell them a little bit about how that started and what your plans are for it.

The reason why for Magnesis is I was thinking about the best moments over the past three or four years, and every single one of them was a result of somehow bringing people from different worlds together.

Whether it was a rally moment, whether it was an island festival with a reggae star in Utila, whether it was an event in Turks and Caicos in tourism.

All these great moments happened because two people who would never have even thought to meet came together somewhat due to our action, right? And I think Magnesis, which started in 2013 in New York as a way to connect young people from different industries, like that theme still rings true to me.

When the Secretary of State teamed up with J.P. Morgan and the Honduran government in a way contrary to Zamuri's interests, he simply changed the Honduran government.

When United Fruit drew a line at the Utila River and said, you shall not cross, he crossed anyway.

When he was forbidden to build a bridge, he built a bridge but called it something else.

For every move, there is a counter move.

So Victor Carter is leading the way for United Fruit.

And here's how this kind of comes about.

In 1915, Samuel Zamuri redeemed that promised land claim to a vast tract of territory on the Utila, jungle land that United Fruit considered a buffer between the companies.

And that was the 24,700 acres that he was promised back in 1912.

Thank you.

Uh, some Utila-specific ones, and then some more general swimrun ones.

So-

Yeah

... come through for some free stickers and whatever other stuff that we can bring over and- and, uh, share with you all, we will, we will do.

Yeah.

Uh, any- any worthy training updates? I know we're about two weeks out from Utila.

I think we have our last kinda big to-do swimrun.

Being in direct opposition to the spirit and meaning of the Clayton and Bulwer Treaty as understood in the United States, the Senate rejected the entire clause and substituted in its stead a simple recognition of the sovereign right of Honduras to these islands in the following language.

The two contracting parties do hereby mutually engage to recognize and respect the islands of Roatan, Bonaco, Utila, Barbereta, Helena, and Morale, situate in the Bay of Honduras off the coast of the Republic of Honduras, as under the sovereignty and as part of the said Republic of Honduras.

Great Britain rejected this amendment, assigning as the only reason that the ratifications of the convention of the 27th August 1856 between her and Honduras had not been, quote, exchanged, owing to the hesitation of that government, end quote.

Had this been done, it is stated that, quote, Her Majesty's government would have had little difficulty in agreeing to the modifications proposed by the Senate, which then would have had in effect the same significance as the original wording, end quote.