Has anyone been to Captn Morgans in Utila?

[kathydee]

Hi,

It sounds nice, but wonder if anyone has been there or knows anything about it?

Thanks

 

[sebach]

I spent more than one week with them last February.
The usual things to do is to stay in jewel cay, but if you prefer you can stay in utila (but you'll still go to the cays before going to the dive sites).
If of course stayed on the Cay, as it is one of the strong advantage of captain Morgan.
You stay at a calm and relaxed place. I enjoyed it a lot.
But there are not a lot of things to do there after the dive, and there is often only 2 dives per day. There's a house reef which is quite OK (lots of fishes,some lobsters, some tortoises) for free diving. They also loan some sea kayaks. Not a lot of bars and restaurants, but more authentic.
So it depends on what you are looking for.
The dives tend to be in the south west and north side of the island, where the others dive operators appears be go less, and which are to my mind better than those close to Utila.

Here are some picture from there (well mostly underwater):
http://sebach11.free.fr/honduras/selection_utila/index.html
http://sebach11.free.fr/honduras/plus_utila/index.html

 

[kathydee]

I spent more than one week with them last February.
The usual things to do is to stay in jewel cay, but if you prefer you can stay in utila (but you'll still go to the cays before going to the dive sites).
If of course stayed on the Cay, as it is one of the strong advantage of captain Morgan.
You stay at a calm and relaxed place. I enjoyed it a lot.
But there are not a lot of things to do there after the dive, and there is often only 2 dives per day. QUOTE]

It sounds fantastic! Can you walk around the island - are there local villagers?

 

[jwoiton]

Capt. Morgan's is as good as any, I suppose. They are centrally located (can't miss when coming of the ferry). Me belief about Utila is that it's the cheapest place in the world to learn to dive, because there's not much else to do on Utila but do some spectacular diving during the day and go out at night. Because of this, all the dive shops keep their prices low and their gear in good shape, because with such competition on a small island, one slip and they're out of biz.

We had four people in one class, which was good because we didn't get lost in a huge crowd of budding divers. They have their own boat and take you from Utila Bay to Jewel Cay to pick up the mochileros, then out to whatever site they decide is best - you really can't go wrong wherever they take you. We got six dives for <US$300, including books etc., and the last two were "fun dives," not instructional dives. I believe their rate for two fun dives is like US$55.

I recommend CM, but just about any place on Utila that passes the same sniff test should be fine.

 

[sebach]

It sounds fantastic! Can you walk around the island - are there local villagers?

Not really around (lots of houses), but rather inside it, and to several piers.
utila honduras - Google Maps

You shouldn't forgot to go to the restaurant that has it's own pier, at least for a drink.
At nightfall you'll probably see some rays swimming just under the pier.

There are definitively local villagers, and the place is not crowded by tourists (only a few hotel/hostels). If you're lucky, you might even get with capt Morgan a single room, for 5$ a night, in their hostel Keyla. And then you'll have a window directly above the sea. If full, you'll probably find one in one of the few hostels nearby, at quite a decent rate (10-15$).

And if you want to enjoy some nice beaches, just take a kayak (if there's not no much wind), and go to one of the inhabited islands nearby.
And there is also a taxi-boat.