Come to the Carribbean....!

[Utila Simon]

Have just been reading some of the posts in this section and am confused as to why there is so little in the way of opinions on the Bay Islands of Honduras....!

Is it that people haven't heard of it, not interested, too far, heard bad things... am interested.

I live and work on Utila and love it, we have year round whale sharks, turtles, a healthy reef system and the cheapest diving west of Thailand!

Opinions please!

Am off to catch the sunset with a ....

Simon

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by Utila Simon

Have just been reading some of the posts in this section and am confused as to why there is so little in the way of opinions on the Bay Islands of Honduras....!

Is it that people haven't heard of it, not interested, too far, heard bad things... am interested.

Probably/possibly a mixture of all the above mate.

Why don't you do us a full trip report-cum-write-up and correct/dispell any potential misgivings folks might about the gaff?

The floor's yours mate - go large!

[rooster]

Hi Simon

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I spent 3 months on Utila and Roatan and loved every minute of it.

Great weather, cheap living and some of the best diving in the Caribbean in my opinion. Personally, from a marine life perspective I thought it was the best I had dived in this area (it's up against the Bahamas, British and US Virgin Islands, Cozumel and the Keys)

I have to give a balanced view though - how about those sandflies?!! Utila remains my favourite airport in the world though.....

My chosen recommendation would be to fly into Miami, dive the Spiegel Grove in the Keys, then head down to Honduras.

Which dive school do you work for?

[Silkie]

I had never heard of it til now. But I would be there if I could. Unfortunately I am tied here at present so have to make do with Stoney cove (Doh)

[Corky]

Hi Simon,

Is there much to do for non diving partners?

Cheers
Corks

[Hoppy]

Simon,

Tell us more please ?

[Narked@50]

Sounds like the "2006 YD goes west" trip in the making, Air assisted could do the T shirts?


James

[onthetrain]

Originally Posted by Utila Simon

Is it that people haven't heard of it, ... am interested.


Simon

Yup, that would be it. Why don't you tell us more. Give us something to tempt us..... Me I'm on my countdown to my Peter Hughes Tobago live aboard in few weeks time

[Utila Simon]

So, you asked for it!!!!

Utila is the second biggest of three Bay Islands located 18 miles off the Carribbean coast of Honduras at the bottom tip of the Meso American Barrier reef, the second largest barrier reef in the world.

The town is growing rapidly but still only boasts 6,000 locals (it was 3000 when I first came here in 2000) and accomodation ranges from Resort hotels ($800 per week all inclusive) through to $2 per night shared bathroom type and it has a really nice feel to it. A double room with a fan usually comes in at $15 per night and with aircon $30. Many have heard of Roatan, the larger island but most of the visitors that drop by here from Roatan tend to stay rather than go back to the very-American environment over the water.

The diving here is great, its not the GBR of Australia but we do have the second largest bio-diversity of fish in the Carribbean, second only to Bonaire, and this is largely due to the drop off on the north side of the island (6m straight down to 350m or more in places). We also dive sea mounts and the shallower, but equally beautiful, Southside, with its large sand patches for Eagle Rays and Turtles to feed. We also have a wreck at 30m (a 40m oil rig supply vessel sunk as an artificial reef 7 years ago) called the Haliburton.

What is lacking here is big fish. The Sharks, big Groupers, barracudas etc have been largely fished out but there are plenty of reef fish and the coral is in good shape. (My job here is to teach about fish, corals and the coral reef eco-system so I should know!). That said we get plenty of sightings of large pelagics, especially Atlantic Mantas and the biggest fish in the sea, Whale Sharks (in fact we have the only reliable year-round population).

Utila has its own Hyperbaric Chamber, it is located at the Bay Islands College of Diving (www.dive-utila.com if you want to see pics) this is a DAN preferred chamber. It also has a very successful mooring buoy project that has been working well for over 7 years.

Diving is all from boats and there are 10 shops on the island that can take you out. Typically the cost is $17.50 (US Dollars) per tank including kit if you buy 10 dives. The only extra is a $3 reef fee paid daily that is split between the Municipality, the Hyperbaric Chamber and the Mooring Buoy project.

For those of you with clubs then getting a whole boat to yourselves with a divemaster/local guide is more than possible. I can only speak for the College of Diving here, cos thats where I work, but we have 20 and 15 diver boats all equipped with DAN O2 and plenty of drinking water.

Getting here is the hardest bit. Transatlantic to Miami or Houston then connect to San Pedro Sula in Honduras. Stay the night there and get a connecting flight to the island on local airlines (about $50 for this part of the trip) the next morning. You can avoid gateway-ing through the USA by going through Madrid on Iberia (any reason to avoid US Customs and Immigration) via Guatemala.

So thats it, hope you are still reading! I guess I should plug my organisation here, we are the Whale Shark and Oceanic Research Center, brand new and open for business! We are in to teaching Fish and Coral Identification, coral reef eco-systems, coral disease and pratical survey techniques. My colleague is a Marine Biologist and teaches a Whale Shark specialty. we tag local Whale Sharks and teach alot about their biology and behaviour as part of this.

I would strongly recommend Utila for some different and very reasonably priced (dare I say Cheap???) diving.

Take it, am off to hit the water!

Simon

[Utila Simon]

Originally Posted by Corky

Hi Simon,

Is there much to do for non diving partners?

Cheers
Corks

Corks,

Horse Riding, snorkelling, Spanish Schools, Beaches, chilling!

alll best

Simon