halocline
Contributor
If you only have 5 days and you're coming from CA, I'd go to Cozumel/playa instead of Utila. The main reason for this is that it will be much quicker to get there. To get to Utila, it's probably best to fly to Roatan and then take Vern's cat from CTD pier. So it's two days unless you get very lucky. If I'm wrong about this someone will chime in I'm sure. OTOH, you can probably find a nonstop from LA to Cancun, then you're only a 45 minute bus ride to the cenote areas, and another 45 minute ferry to Coz.
A nice, relatively inexpensive quiet place to stay on Cozumel is Village Tankah, and the the dive op is blue bubble divers, AKA Roberta's Eco-dive cozumel. It's a good deal if you combine a dive package with staying at the village tankah. An excellent guide for the cenotes is German Yanez, and Roberta can set up the cenote dives for you if you want.
If you want to go for the bay islands, I'd consider staying on Roatan for the 5 days you have, and let your buddy head off to Utila for his second week. It's easy getting to Roatan if you can take the nonstop from Houston on Continental. Last time I checked it's only Saturday/Sunday. A good, fun place on Roatan is coconut tree divers, and they have a $5/night dorm if you're diving with them. There are lots of fairly cheap places to stay in the west end.
It's hard to compare the two places (Coz/cenotes and Roatan) in a few words, but here goes...overall, I find the diving conditions better in Cozumel, although there is more variance between the sites themselves in what I would consider 'quality' than there is between Coz and Roatan. (I've never dived in Utila) Cozumel is more advanced diving; it's deeper and there's more current. This is probably not a problem for you, but it has been a little problematic for me in the past with regards to other divers on the boat. Roberta's DMs have been good to me allowing me to stay down when some divers are hoovering through their air in 20 minutes. Diving with coconut tree in Roatan is really fun, the profiles are terrific (the last third of the dive is often at 20/25 feet on a brilliant shallow reef), and almost everybody likes the people there. (disclosure, I did my DM there) The cenotes are a world of their own; I totally love them, others are underwhelmed. It's a personal taste issue.
Topside, Cozumel is much more touristy, but it's also Mexico, which is great IMO. For your friend, there are some mayan ruins on the yucatan that are amazing if you're into that sort of thing. He could visit them easily on his second week. On Roatan, I like the west end, it's kind of a quasi-funky village with some decent restaurants and a good assortment of people, lots of backpackers from Europe.
Either way you'll have a great time.
A nice, relatively inexpensive quiet place to stay on Cozumel is Village Tankah, and the the dive op is blue bubble divers, AKA Roberta's Eco-dive cozumel. It's a good deal if you combine a dive package with staying at the village tankah. An excellent guide for the cenotes is German Yanez, and Roberta can set up the cenote dives for you if you want.
If you want to go for the bay islands, I'd consider staying on Roatan for the 5 days you have, and let your buddy head off to Utila for his second week. It's easy getting to Roatan if you can take the nonstop from Houston on Continental. Last time I checked it's only Saturday/Sunday. A good, fun place on Roatan is coconut tree divers, and they have a $5/night dorm if you're diving with them. There are lots of fairly cheap places to stay in the west end.
It's hard to compare the two places (Coz/cenotes and Roatan) in a few words, but here goes...overall, I find the diving conditions better in Cozumel, although there is more variance between the sites themselves in what I would consider 'quality' than there is between Coz and Roatan. (I've never dived in Utila) Cozumel is more advanced diving; it's deeper and there's more current. This is probably not a problem for you, but it has been a little problematic for me in the past with regards to other divers on the boat. Roberta's DMs have been good to me allowing me to stay down when some divers are hoovering through their air in 20 minutes. Diving with coconut tree in Roatan is really fun, the profiles are terrific (the last third of the dive is often at 20/25 feet on a brilliant shallow reef), and almost everybody likes the people there. (disclosure, I did my DM there) The cenotes are a world of their own; I totally love them, others are underwhelmed. It's a personal taste issue.
Topside, Cozumel is much more touristy, but it's also Mexico, which is great IMO. For your friend, there are some mayan ruins on the yucatan that are amazing if you're into that sort of thing. He could visit them easily on his second week. On Roatan, I like the west end, it's kind of a quasi-funky village with some decent restaurants and a good assortment of people, lots of backpackers from Europe.
Either way you'll have a great time.
