Robertcrockett
Contributor
Im home and not loving it at all (stepped of the plane in Columbus into weather in the 60's and froze my ass off) but I thought I would reminisce a little and write a final trip report.
Arrival to Utila by air is accomplished on a rough asphalt landing strip and the flight from San Pedro Sula is approx' 30 minutes over some gorgeous scenery. I flew in on Air SOSA and they were on time with no problems but it is an older czech republic prop plane that seats 16...the pilots had their windows cracked open on the flight...so if small planes scare the bejesus outta you then better fly to Roatan and take the ferry over.
Taxis are waiting...(or on their way) at the airport for arriving flights..count on about 5 bucks per person for the trip into town..the taxis are usually small unmarked motorized carts though some do have "taxi" written on them. They will quickly take you into town (about an 8-10 minute ride) and to your destination. If you are going to wait until you arrive to scope out a hotel and dive outfits then simply tell them to take you to Captain Morgan's Dive Center, across from the ferry dock. It is in the center of town and they dont mind if you drop of your luggage in the shop while you check out lodging or other dive outfits. I know them well and your stuff will be secure there while you wander about.
Wandering about Utila... consists of basically 2 streets. Its hot...96-98 degrees while i was there for August but its the humidity that is the beast and makes it feel like 150 degrees at times. the streets are narrow with bike and pedestrian travel and lots of scooters, ATV's etc...(very few actual vehicles). Lots of small shops line the streets, some are very small some like Bushes are much larger and offer about everything you could need in the line of toiletries and food etc...(maybe not the brand that you are used to but passable alternatives if they dont have "your" brand.) Restaurants consist of street vendors and some homestyle restaurants ran out of local homes. The food is great and I never feared eating from street vendors or any of the "front porch" restaurants...in fact that is where u will find some of the best food! Some restaurants i can recommend are dave's, munchies, bundu, seven seas (ask for the Super baleada) and RJ's...Mermaid's foods isnt that great but they do have good wifi...by a bottle of water and use thier electricity and internet all night. As I mentioned before utila does have some problem with trash. They do an excellant job trying to clean it up every morning but you dont have to look that hard to find it.
The people are friendly and nice and very accomodating as soon as they realize that you see them as people and not a novelty. Treat them nicely and with respect and they will go out of their way to help you with anything. I was invited into several homes whiles I was their and was treated like a favorite relative everytime. There are a few drug dealers on the streets, about 5 that you will see again and again. They will offer drugs to you every time you pass unless you explain it simply that you do NOT DO drugs....dont just say you DONT WANT them because that just implies that you MAY want them later. I explained to them that I was a nurse and did not do drugs of any type. They respected this and usually would yell out my name from from across the street and always had a hand slap and a hug for me but they didnt harrass me for drugs. Night life consists of lots of little bars, La pirata, traquilla, CoCo LoCo, Treetanic (at the Jade Sea Horse) and Bar in the Bush (open till 5-6am on wed and fridays) If you want a cool breeze hit the docks at tranquilla or CoCo's then head to Treetanic. I never, ever feared for my safety despite some late night walks home. Of course crime exists (though i didnt see any except the drugs) but use some common sense and you will be fine.
The dive shops are easily located on the main streets and all typically offer the same class of service it seems. If you are diving from Utila town I recommend Cross Creek, UDC, Deep Blue and Bay Island College of Diving. If you are the all inclusive type I recommend Laguna Beach whole heartedly as a top notch resort and also Utopia Dive Village. I didnt stay at utopia but I got to know their Dive manager Juan Carlos Molina quite well and dive with him when he worked at Cross Creek a bit during a slow stint at Utopia...his friends call him ju-ca..(ooo cah) and well... ju-ca is friends with everyone. He is a great diver...a pleasure to be around and he knows his sites and creatures. While other dive masters are showing off spotted moray...ju-ca is showing batfish, gurnards, seahorses etc...i never stayed at Utopia ( only Laguna) but any place that is smart enough to employ ju-ca must be A#1.\
To dive outside of Utila town (but not in one of the all-inclusives) your only choice is really Captain Morgan's...Thier main office is in town but they dive from their center on Pigeon Cay. If you stay in town they will pick you up and take you to pigeon first to get your gear and those divers staying in their free hotel and then usually head out to the North Side as it is literally 5 minutes away. If diving with Captain Morgan's I would suggest that you simply stay at the hotel on the cays. There is no real "nite life" but plenty of good restaurants and people there and it is a nice laid back atmosphere. The hotels by other dive shop standards is one of the better ones with basic rooms/ private bathrooms and a common area. If you need anything from fresh fish to charters to transportation to to utila while on the Cays...ask for Carey Bush...he is a local and is one of the nicest friends that I have ever made and his mother bakes things that will have your eyes rolling back in your head...Tell him Rob from WV sent ya) Carey was my transportation from Little Cay to Captain Morgan's for my last week in Utila and quite possibly the person that I miss the most.
Little Cay is a private island a few miles off of pigeon cay that is available for rent for 100 USD a night...it sleeps 12 (has 5 bathrooms) with 3 bedrooms in the main house and a guest cabin beside the house. The house is 2 story, very large with a huge living room and dining room. It sits on about an acre and a half of island which is perfect even for large groups..( had a party one nite so I know lol) You are responsible for your own transportation to Captain Morgan's if you are staying on one of the private islands. Its about a 10-15 minute skiff trip to Pigeon. Ask for Carey again for this transportation...i paid him 30 USD a day for it but he was sooo much more then transportation,he picked us up whenever i needed...returned us whenever we wanted to go and was also basically a guide and information expert and anything else i needed and available at a moments notice(Carey also happens to be the Charter Fishing Captain for Laguna Beach Resort and if fishing is your thing Carey is your man). ( Carey came to my party and brought and cooked the most amazing crabs and fish...FOR EVERYONE) (hint) bust open a coconut and toss it out the kitchen window just before dark and go check it out in a couple of hours...Thousands of hermit crabs come out at night and they love sweet things like coconut....u'll be amazed. The island was the most beautiful location i had seen...glorious sunsets a small reef system right off the docks...a great breeze, it was perfect. Power is supplied by solar lights and a large diesel generator. There is a cooler there and it is best to keep beer or things u want really cold in there with some ice..otherwise there are two adequate fridges in the house (just dont expect things to get very cold unless you put them in the freezer).
Fish on Pigeon Cay is the best ever..i would get it straight from the boat..snapper, cuda, mackeral...anything you wanted...I bought an entire huge snapper there one day for example...had it filleted and bagged and it cost less than 5 dollars...hint buy from the boats rather than the stores so you get the fish before mark up. Carey always let me know when a dory came in with fish, crabs, lobster..whatever.
The diving is great...if you dont mind students on ur boat the any of the above sites are just fine...want a more diver oriented experience...then dont look any father than the all-inclusives like Laguna Beach, Utopia, Deep Blue etc. Coral was in decent condition and although mass areas of dead coral have been reported I really didnt see anything that IMHO was MASS areas...some dead coral sure...but the majority seemed healthy, ( i did notice a good bit of algae at some spots ). The water is usually very calm and makes for easy entry and exits, though it gets a little choppy occasionally. Dove the North, South and east sides..logging 52 dives. with some days off.
critters included nudies, turtles, nurse sharks, bottlenose dolphin (snorkeled with 16 of them coming back from north side dives) Tons of large Green Moray, tarpon, tuna, trunk fish, cowfish, angels, trumpet fish, upside down jellys, sea horses (try little bight usually around 70 feet or so) Barracuda, batfish, flying gurnard, octopus, large schools of squid, eagle rays, sting rays, parrotfish and tons of other local reef fish... swam through what i can only call a jellycline...where literally thousands and thousands of walnut jellys were hanging out just above a little thermal cline at about 80 feet near Duppy waters. swam through them forever it seemed...so close they touched each other and limited vis to around 10-15 feet till we cleared them. Normal vis was 100+ feet on almost any given day and bottom temp was an average of 81 degrees even below 100 feet. you definately dont need a wet suit..even for deep dives but I wore my 3 mm full anyway and was never uncomfortable and it protected me when we encountered some small schools of "stinging" jellys" on ascents back to the boat ladder etc..
Noseeums...the sand flys ate some people alive and barely touched others..I had a few bites, nothing too major and i only used deet maybe 6 times in the month i was there. Other people looked like they had chicken pox from all the bites...the bites really dont give u much trouble till around day three when they itch like hell...if u get bit..using some calamine or straight alcohol seemed to help with the itch but the best itch cure is simply diving...never itched once on a dive so go get wet.
Politics....forget about it.....local Honduran going ons are an after thought at best on Utila. Problems on the mainland do not carry over to the islands...in fact the islands are like a completely different country. A lot of locals that I talked to did mention that they would love their independence from Honduras but knew that the country would never let the cash cows of Utila and Roatan go.
I did get some news...flying from La Ceiba to Sula I was on the plane with some workers from the states who had been staying in Roatan building 2 new Carnivale docks each capable of holding 2 ships..so room for 4 new ships total...Roatan is gonna get very crowded in the future.
All i can say is GO GO GO GO....its a wonderful experience and except for dive packages its damn hard to spend money.....want to cheaply dive in a beautiful place..head to Utila...want to get a few more certs for dirt cheap prices but excellant instruction...head to Utila...want beautiful weather, colorful locals and a chance to live and dive around people from all over the world...head to Utila. You will enjoy yourself, you will make some wonderful dives and wonderful friends and find just about whatever level of accomodation that you are comfortable with ...if you do a little homework.
PS
I have one of the treasured Utila Maps that shows the locations of dive shops, restaurants, bars etc..in a few days im going to scan it in and see if we cant get it made a sticky post because it would help put some things in perspective as far as where this and that is located.
To sum it all up I was pleasantly shocked. I had been a victim of the american news media and fear mongering in general about the area. I almost didnt go...but i did go and in a way it has changed my life. It put things in perspective for me. In this country we have so many advantages that we take for granted yet on so many levels the Utilian people are happier and much more content then we seem to be here at home. It made me re-examine some prioritys and goals and question whether alot of the so called advantages that we enjoy dont simply "silt" up the water of our lives... ruining our day to day vis. Things are so simple there, not too many rules or encumbrances...people care for and look out for one another. the community operates like a large extended family. The second day home i had to go to walmart and i was astounded by the scope and complexity of the place...very quickly i found myself longing for Bushes, another shirtless day and a Baleada off the corner.
Will i go back.....U BETTER BELIEVE IT! and soon and i may tailor my major so i could offer some real semblance of heathcare on the island because i really believe that i only have a few more trips to the bay islands in me before one fateful day... i simply refuse to leave it.
BTW i need to start a petition for mandatory importation of Salva Vida in the US...I am soooo missing my beer.
try to get a bunch of pics posted
sorry for the mis-spellings and errors but its late and ive only had about 4 hours sleep a night since ive been home due to catching up on the classes i missed
Arrival to Utila by air is accomplished on a rough asphalt landing strip and the flight from San Pedro Sula is approx' 30 minutes over some gorgeous scenery. I flew in on Air SOSA and they were on time with no problems but it is an older czech republic prop plane that seats 16...the pilots had their windows cracked open on the flight...so if small planes scare the bejesus outta you then better fly to Roatan and take the ferry over.
Taxis are waiting...(or on their way) at the airport for arriving flights..count on about 5 bucks per person for the trip into town..the taxis are usually small unmarked motorized carts though some do have "taxi" written on them. They will quickly take you into town (about an 8-10 minute ride) and to your destination. If you are going to wait until you arrive to scope out a hotel and dive outfits then simply tell them to take you to Captain Morgan's Dive Center, across from the ferry dock. It is in the center of town and they dont mind if you drop of your luggage in the shop while you check out lodging or other dive outfits. I know them well and your stuff will be secure there while you wander about.
Wandering about Utila... consists of basically 2 streets. Its hot...96-98 degrees while i was there for August but its the humidity that is the beast and makes it feel like 150 degrees at times. the streets are narrow with bike and pedestrian travel and lots of scooters, ATV's etc...(very few actual vehicles). Lots of small shops line the streets, some are very small some like Bushes are much larger and offer about everything you could need in the line of toiletries and food etc...(maybe not the brand that you are used to but passable alternatives if they dont have "your" brand.) Restaurants consist of street vendors and some homestyle restaurants ran out of local homes. The food is great and I never feared eating from street vendors or any of the "front porch" restaurants...in fact that is where u will find some of the best food! Some restaurants i can recommend are dave's, munchies, bundu, seven seas (ask for the Super baleada) and RJ's...Mermaid's foods isnt that great but they do have good wifi...by a bottle of water and use thier electricity and internet all night. As I mentioned before utila does have some problem with trash. They do an excellant job trying to clean it up every morning but you dont have to look that hard to find it.
The people are friendly and nice and very accomodating as soon as they realize that you see them as people and not a novelty. Treat them nicely and with respect and they will go out of their way to help you with anything. I was invited into several homes whiles I was their and was treated like a favorite relative everytime. There are a few drug dealers on the streets, about 5 that you will see again and again. They will offer drugs to you every time you pass unless you explain it simply that you do NOT DO drugs....dont just say you DONT WANT them because that just implies that you MAY want them later. I explained to them that I was a nurse and did not do drugs of any type. They respected this and usually would yell out my name from from across the street and always had a hand slap and a hug for me but they didnt harrass me for drugs. Night life consists of lots of little bars, La pirata, traquilla, CoCo LoCo, Treetanic (at the Jade Sea Horse) and Bar in the Bush (open till 5-6am on wed and fridays) If you want a cool breeze hit the docks at tranquilla or CoCo's then head to Treetanic. I never, ever feared for my safety despite some late night walks home. Of course crime exists (though i didnt see any except the drugs) but use some common sense and you will be fine.
The dive shops are easily located on the main streets and all typically offer the same class of service it seems. If you are diving from Utila town I recommend Cross Creek, UDC, Deep Blue and Bay Island College of Diving. If you are the all inclusive type I recommend Laguna Beach whole heartedly as a top notch resort and also Utopia Dive Village. I didnt stay at utopia but I got to know their Dive manager Juan Carlos Molina quite well and dive with him when he worked at Cross Creek a bit during a slow stint at Utopia...his friends call him ju-ca..(ooo cah) and well... ju-ca is friends with everyone. He is a great diver...a pleasure to be around and he knows his sites and creatures. While other dive masters are showing off spotted moray...ju-ca is showing batfish, gurnards, seahorses etc...i never stayed at Utopia ( only Laguna) but any place that is smart enough to employ ju-ca must be A#1.\
To dive outside of Utila town (but not in one of the all-inclusives) your only choice is really Captain Morgan's...Thier main office is in town but they dive from their center on Pigeon Cay. If you stay in town they will pick you up and take you to pigeon first to get your gear and those divers staying in their free hotel and then usually head out to the North Side as it is literally 5 minutes away. If diving with Captain Morgan's I would suggest that you simply stay at the hotel on the cays. There is no real "nite life" but plenty of good restaurants and people there and it is a nice laid back atmosphere. The hotels by other dive shop standards is one of the better ones with basic rooms/ private bathrooms and a common area. If you need anything from fresh fish to charters to transportation to to utila while on the Cays...ask for Carey Bush...he is a local and is one of the nicest friends that I have ever made and his mother bakes things that will have your eyes rolling back in your head...Tell him Rob from WV sent ya) Carey was my transportation from Little Cay to Captain Morgan's for my last week in Utila and quite possibly the person that I miss the most.
Little Cay is a private island a few miles off of pigeon cay that is available for rent for 100 USD a night...it sleeps 12 (has 5 bathrooms) with 3 bedrooms in the main house and a guest cabin beside the house. The house is 2 story, very large with a huge living room and dining room. It sits on about an acre and a half of island which is perfect even for large groups..( had a party one nite so I know lol) You are responsible for your own transportation to Captain Morgan's if you are staying on one of the private islands. Its about a 10-15 minute skiff trip to Pigeon. Ask for Carey again for this transportation...i paid him 30 USD a day for it but he was sooo much more then transportation,he picked us up whenever i needed...returned us whenever we wanted to go and was also basically a guide and information expert and anything else i needed and available at a moments notice(Carey also happens to be the Charter Fishing Captain for Laguna Beach Resort and if fishing is your thing Carey is your man). ( Carey came to my party and brought and cooked the most amazing crabs and fish...FOR EVERYONE) (hint) bust open a coconut and toss it out the kitchen window just before dark and go check it out in a couple of hours...Thousands of hermit crabs come out at night and they love sweet things like coconut....u'll be amazed. The island was the most beautiful location i had seen...glorious sunsets a small reef system right off the docks...a great breeze, it was perfect. Power is supplied by solar lights and a large diesel generator. There is a cooler there and it is best to keep beer or things u want really cold in there with some ice..otherwise there are two adequate fridges in the house (just dont expect things to get very cold unless you put them in the freezer).
Fish on Pigeon Cay is the best ever..i would get it straight from the boat..snapper, cuda, mackeral...anything you wanted...I bought an entire huge snapper there one day for example...had it filleted and bagged and it cost less than 5 dollars...hint buy from the boats rather than the stores so you get the fish before mark up. Carey always let me know when a dory came in with fish, crabs, lobster..whatever.
The diving is great...if you dont mind students on ur boat the any of the above sites are just fine...want a more diver oriented experience...then dont look any father than the all-inclusives like Laguna Beach, Utopia, Deep Blue etc. Coral was in decent condition and although mass areas of dead coral have been reported I really didnt see anything that IMHO was MASS areas...some dead coral sure...but the majority seemed healthy, ( i did notice a good bit of algae at some spots ). The water is usually very calm and makes for easy entry and exits, though it gets a little choppy occasionally. Dove the North, South and east sides..logging 52 dives. with some days off.
critters included nudies, turtles, nurse sharks, bottlenose dolphin (snorkeled with 16 of them coming back from north side dives) Tons of large Green Moray, tarpon, tuna, trunk fish, cowfish, angels, trumpet fish, upside down jellys, sea horses (try little bight usually around 70 feet or so) Barracuda, batfish, flying gurnard, octopus, large schools of squid, eagle rays, sting rays, parrotfish and tons of other local reef fish... swam through what i can only call a jellycline...where literally thousands and thousands of walnut jellys were hanging out just above a little thermal cline at about 80 feet near Duppy waters. swam through them forever it seemed...so close they touched each other and limited vis to around 10-15 feet till we cleared them. Normal vis was 100+ feet on almost any given day and bottom temp was an average of 81 degrees even below 100 feet. you definately dont need a wet suit..even for deep dives but I wore my 3 mm full anyway and was never uncomfortable and it protected me when we encountered some small schools of "stinging" jellys" on ascents back to the boat ladder etc..
Noseeums...the sand flys ate some people alive and barely touched others..I had a few bites, nothing too major and i only used deet maybe 6 times in the month i was there. Other people looked like they had chicken pox from all the bites...the bites really dont give u much trouble till around day three when they itch like hell...if u get bit..using some calamine or straight alcohol seemed to help with the itch but the best itch cure is simply diving...never itched once on a dive so go get wet.
Politics....forget about it.....local Honduran going ons are an after thought at best on Utila. Problems on the mainland do not carry over to the islands...in fact the islands are like a completely different country. A lot of locals that I talked to did mention that they would love their independence from Honduras but knew that the country would never let the cash cows of Utila and Roatan go.
I did get some news...flying from La Ceiba to Sula I was on the plane with some workers from the states who had been staying in Roatan building 2 new Carnivale docks each capable of holding 2 ships..so room for 4 new ships total...Roatan is gonna get very crowded in the future.
All i can say is GO GO GO GO....its a wonderful experience and except for dive packages its damn hard to spend money.....want to cheaply dive in a beautiful place..head to Utila...want to get a few more certs for dirt cheap prices but excellant instruction...head to Utila...want beautiful weather, colorful locals and a chance to live and dive around people from all over the world...head to Utila. You will enjoy yourself, you will make some wonderful dives and wonderful friends and find just about whatever level of accomodation that you are comfortable with ...if you do a little homework.
PS
I have one of the treasured Utila Maps that shows the locations of dive shops, restaurants, bars etc..in a few days im going to scan it in and see if we cant get it made a sticky post because it would help put some things in perspective as far as where this and that is located.
To sum it all up I was pleasantly shocked. I had been a victim of the american news media and fear mongering in general about the area. I almost didnt go...but i did go and in a way it has changed my life. It put things in perspective for me. In this country we have so many advantages that we take for granted yet on so many levels the Utilian people are happier and much more content then we seem to be here at home. It made me re-examine some prioritys and goals and question whether alot of the so called advantages that we enjoy dont simply "silt" up the water of our lives... ruining our day to day vis. Things are so simple there, not too many rules or encumbrances...people care for and look out for one another. the community operates like a large extended family. The second day home i had to go to walmart and i was astounded by the scope and complexity of the place...very quickly i found myself longing for Bushes, another shirtless day and a Baleada off the corner.
Will i go back.....U BETTER BELIEVE IT! and soon and i may tailor my major so i could offer some real semblance of heathcare on the island because i really believe that i only have a few more trips to the bay islands in me before one fateful day... i simply refuse to leave it.
BTW i need to start a petition for mandatory importation of Salva Vida in the US...I am soooo missing my beer.
try to get a bunch of pics posted
sorry for the mis-spellings and errors but its late and ive only had about 4 hours sleep a night since ive been home due to catching up on the classes i missed
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