Guanaja or Utilla or Roatán

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rbahr

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Hi All,

My wife and I are trying to plan a trip for this March timeframe and are seriously considering off of Honduras

We have been to Utilla and liked it, just wondering what folks would recommend between Guanaja or Utilla or Roatán. My wife and I are fit and like to be off the beaten path - just basic comforts, good food and lots of diving?

Thanks

Ray
 
Never been to Guanaja or Utila, but I'm sure they're lovely.

I was in Roatan at Bananarama in December, and it rocked. Fantastic diving, great food.
 
Give all three Bay Islands a Go!
 
There is very little that is more off the beaten path than Guanaja.

Have a look at Dunbar Rock. It has no path whatsoever.
 
Hi All,

So what is the difference (if any) in diving between these three spots? ANy on significantly better than the other?

Thanks

Ray
 
Your initial post was pretty vague and open ended.

So what is the difference (if any) in diving between these three spots? ANy on significantly better than the other?

What did you like about Utila, what are you really looking for?

"off the beaten path", that means two things to me in the Bay Islands.... Guanaja or Cayos Cochinos.

"Lots of diving" in the Bay islands, the standout is CocoView.... Hardly off the beaten path~ nor is anything else on Roatan in comparison to the other islands I mention.

What are you really wanting?
 
Sorry about being vague.

Just read your blog entry - one in any case - We are looking for a dive vacation. We will likely dive 3x a day ocassionally more if we do a night or dawn dive. We really do not drink, we like everything from muck diving to big honking sharks.

We went to Utila hoping to see whale sharks and did not, other than that the diving was good lots of sea horses and a good variety of other stuff - only time I have seen a 'herd of free range sea horses :). We liked the environment. Our favorite Caribbean places are Saba and Bonaire, which generally provide good diversity, and a mix of diving. We also liked Little Cayman and Cayman Brac... Is the diving experience in Guanaja worth the hassle factor of getting there? What is the sea life like there?...

Thanks

Ray
 
Hey Ray, I've lived on Utila since Sept 2011 and have dove Roatan a few times but never Guanaja. For your particular situation, having been to Utila already, I would recommend Guanaja. Guanaja is as pristine as you're going to get anywhere near here. From what my buddy says, it's like diving Roatan and Utila 50 years ago. It's much less impacted by people.

Coincidentally, my buddy and I were working on putting together a package deal, before he left for Isreal, for people exactly like you've described yourselves...adventurous backpacker diver types who are used to camping and looking for an unforgettable experience. Guanaja used to be a thriving place built for mainly rich drug dealers, so the story goes, until a storm destroyed the resorts. Aftr that nobody went back to rebuild and Guanaja is now a very pristine ecosystem.

One of my good friends' father, who is also a friend of mine, owns and operates Island Air here in the Bay Islands. His son, Angelo Lagonia Jr, and I came up with an idea to offer he most unique, once in a lifetime type dive experiences. Since Guanaja is as gorgeous as it is and their family used to own property on Guanaja and still have good connections out there, we decided to figure out how to create this service. We got so far as to designing a website and woring out most of the costs to do different custom package deals.

Our idea was to fly one of us, as Divemaster and liaison, along with the clients out to Guanaja, meet up with one of the local guides who are old friends of the family, so trustworthy, ride horses up to the big mountain to a campsite where we would do hikes, when not diving, to see the local points of interest, then down to the dive shop via horse for some diving (Camping Package). Food could be brought to the campsite every day and even have it prepared for you at the campsite if you like. We would be very flexible and work 100% for you to leave this vacation feeling you just robbed us in the deal, lol. Whatever you want in a dive vacation is what we will work towards. If you wanted a roof over your head (House Package) there is a house we could stay in near the dive shop. If you needed dive gear we could rent it from one of the dives shops I work with for better than average prices around here. If you wanted to go along on a lionfish hunt, we can do that and you can enjoy the meat over a campfire or served to you at a table. The idea was to tailor the best, most unique experience possible with the unique connections we have there.

We didn't move forward with the idea because, Angelo Jr moved to Isreal on fairly short notice and we never made it over there for me to meet the locals that are friends of the family and would be the local guides. I do have pictures and an almost complete price list that could offer us a fair idea of how much a package deal like that would run you.

One thing is for sure, with these unique connections, I can offer you the best Guanaja dive vacation possible. Bar none! If tht sounds like something you would be interested in, drop me a PM or message me on FB and we can work something out for you. I'm KellyThe LionfishHunter on FB and cofounder of World Lionfish Hunters Association. Either one of those would work just fine.
 
I have been diving on all three of the main Bay Islands, and lived for several years on the Honduran mainland. IMHO, Guanaja is most like how diving used to be throughout the islands: great corals, good fish life, very few divers. Your problem may be one of finding a suitable base of operations for the diving in Guanaja as Hurricane Mitch pretty much ended resorts like the Bayman Bay Club and Posada Del Sol back in 1998, and rebuilding of their diving industry has been very slow to non-existent.

Cayos Cochinos is a place that I would recommend as well. Utila and Roatan are so much more developed than they were 25 - 30 years ago, I hardly recognize them anymore. That being said, both Utila and Roatan offer many more diving operations and much more luxury today than before, although CCV and AKR are still around for us old mossbacks who remember them from back in the day.
 
how about your own deserted island? little cay and sandy cay off of the southwest end of utila can be rented for $100 a night with basic accommodation and you get the island all to yourself. add in that a new dive op called utila cays diving is now serving the area and will pick you up from your island and bring you back after, plus great snorkeling from the beach, romantic evenings alone on an island and it could be a perfect choice?
 
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