Deep Blue Utila March 1-8 Report

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We stayed at Deep Blue March 8-15, the week after Rick did.

I'd second most of what Rick said about Deep Blue and the staff. Steve and Shirley in particular were great, and the dive staff does a pretty good job as well. We also had Albert as our skipper most of the week, but Swin was back on Friday for our last dives. We had high hopes his famous whale-shark-spotting abilities would come through on our last day, but the conditions just weren't perfect, so no whale shark sightings for us either.

When their dive boat nears capacity, as it did our week, it does start to feel a bit on the cramped side, most notably on the first night dive of the week, when the entire large group stayed together. Just too many people on top one another at night for my tastes. Those used to smaller boats and/or less crowds might feel a bit closed in on with Deep Blue's operation. It's not bad by any stretch, but it's worth noting nonetheless. If you're going to do just one night dive during the week, you might consider the second one. In hindsight, we wish we'd done that one instead, as there were only about five people on the boat that time.

They do a good job of taking care of your gear between dives and at the end of the day too. If you choose, you pretty much don't have to touch anything, except to put it on and take it off.

It's also worth doing the house shore dive, Labyrinth, at least once while you're there. The entry is fairly easy, and the staff hauls all your gear to and from the beach.

Accommodations, for this type of resort, were very good to excellent. Our room was plenty big enough, air conditioned and well maintained, and had an ocean-view deck with chairs and a hammock.

The one area I'd disagree on a bit would be the food. While I certainly couldn't call it excellent, it was mostly okay, some things were quite good (the Tres Leche for dessert!) and there was always plenty of it. I'm not in the least high maintenance about food, and meals at Deep Blue were generally similar to some other similar inclusive dive resorts I've been at. However, I've also had much better food in more remote locations -- Mantangi Island, Fiji and Manta Resort at Glover's Atoll, Belize, come to mind. Here, the low point was canned beans and boiled hot dogs for breakfast, and even then, to be fair, there were other options -- rolls, toast, fresh fruit and cereal.

After dinner, Steve and Shirley will keep you up way past you bedtime if you let them, as each night they amicably chat with guests, tell tales and pour interesting concoctions of liquor. They also have a pretty nice selection of red wines, and all at very reasonable prices.

As far as getting there, which can be a challenge on Utila, we had good luck with the newer airline, Central American Airways, flying from Roatan. They fly the same type of 19-seater planes the others do, but things went much more smoothly than they did several years ago when we flew on Atlantic.

In summary, Deep Blue is most certainly worthy of your consideration if you're looking at Utila. We also stayed at the nearby Laguna Beach Resort in 2003, and had a favorably impression of their operation as well. Deep Blue is a smaller and more friendly and personable operation, and after a short time, you'll feel more like a resident than a visiting guest.

Just got back from Utila last nite. We stayed at Deep Blue Resort. I must say it was very pleasant with Steve, Shirley and Jasmine being wonderful hosts. Jasmines cooking is excellant and they go out of there way to please. Nice and quiet operation as opposed to the operations in town. thats just my preference though. The Dive operation was very attentive and first rate....Boat was a bit slow but the personalities of the crew,
Captain albert, Chris, Matt, and ZAB certainly made up for the older boat. They were very professional but yet lots of fun and made the diving a real treat. We didnt see any Whale Sharks but did get to play with some spinner dolphins for a while.......We chartered Capt Vern and his catamaran for the trip over from Roatan. It was fun and took about 3.5 hours. I wanted to get on the water asap he was great. On the way back though we ran into some nasty weather and had to turn back...I appreciated Verns attention to safety. Hooray for Shirley who was able to arrange for a plane to Roatan even as many others were not even landing in Utila....We got out in time for our flight to the states........All in all a great trip....Good diving...Did a wall night dive that was fabulous....North side is better with great visibility and walls. Deep Blue went there every day for1st dive then tooled around for Whale Sharksduring your surface interval....I reccomend Deep Blue!!!!!
 
Are night dives allowed on the house reef? I would like to get in more than 2 night dives the week I'm there (arriving April 5th).

Thanks!

Ben

Steve mentioned having guests in the past who did a dive before breakfast, all the boat dives, the night boat dive at dusk, have dinner and then did a night shore dive.

If you want to dive like you're on a liveaboard, they'll try to accommodate you. Drop them a note if you have a question. In my experience, Jasmine was very quick to answer any email question posed. They also went out of their way for us, dropping us off and picking us up at a nearby dock so we could stay with a friend who has a place on the island one night.
 
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