keyshunter
Contributor
Very good reporting Citydiver. I hope Steve comped your stay, since your reports are worth a fortune in advertising to Deep Blue. I presume that Shirley handled your travel situations, she is GREAT.
Live from Deep Blue Utila
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OP
citydiver
Contributor
Yeah I WISH!!!! Shirley is great...however I had to call continental as Deep Blue doesn't have a land line phone there, you would have to go into town, and of course all the ticketing offices and everything is closed on the weekends in Honduras. We opened a Skype account so we could call Continental in the states...That part of the trip was not pretty, but I am trying to stay focused on the whale sharks and great diving, so that my blood does not start to boil thinking of what a pain continental was...grrr!
hopefulist
Contributor
Wow - thanks so much for sharing. Sigh....
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Citydivder.
LaCuda and I enjoyed the diving with ya'll the day we came over from town. We are partial to Deep Blue for reasons (detailed very well in your report) other than the family are great friends of ours. The jumps with the whale sharks were fantastic! It was absolutely hilarious to see Mr Big sneak up on a gaggle of snorklers!! He was certainly a big one! By the way we were on another boat and swam with the dolphins also. Your trip report was very interesting and right on!! After more than a month on Utila, it was good to see you guys in the airport and share the same plane as far as Houston. Hope to see ya'll again soon!
Regards.
LaCuda and I enjoyed the diving with ya'll the day we came over from town. We are partial to Deep Blue for reasons (detailed very well in your report) other than the family are great friends of ours. The jumps with the whale sharks were fantastic! It was absolutely hilarious to see Mr Big sneak up on a gaggle of snorklers!! He was certainly a big one! By the way we were on another boat and swam with the dolphins also. Your trip report was very interesting and right on!! After more than a month on Utila, it was good to see you guys in the airport and share the same plane as far as Houston. Hope to see ya'll again soon!
Regards.
OP
citydiver
Contributor
Hey Cuda!!
We had a great time diving with you guys as well! That big fish sure did sneak up on us!! It was great to see you all in the airport on the way home. Now that we are home again, we can't wait to go on our next dive trip! We are hoping to put together a trip to the flower gardens...we would love to see you guys down there. Maybe we can meet on the Spree!!
Hope you and LaCuda are doing well and readjusting to life away from paradise!
We had a great time diving with you guys as well! That big fish sure did sneak up on us!! It was great to see you all in the airport on the way home. Now that we are home again, we can't wait to go on our next dive trip! We are hoping to put together a trip to the flower gardens...we would love to see you guys down there. Maybe we can meet on the Spree!!
Hope you and LaCuda are doing well and readjusting to life away from paradise!
Citydiver, good to hear you had a great time. I too just spent a week on Utila and will agree with you on a couple of points. The whale sharks are great, the dolphins are also. Continental sucks big time, nothing good to say about them, they have left us missing our flights in Houston two years in a row now.
We spent a week at CoCoView this year as we always do, absolutely amazing as always! We went to Utila next to see the difference, disapointing to say the least. You were smart to get away from the town as it is filled with smelly, rude backpacking hippie type from various parts of europe. The whole town stinks and is filled with garbage.
The diving on Utila was poor in my opinion. Too much sand and sparse, beaten down coral. We did dive the sites in front of the resort you stayed at and I found them to be almost void of life compared to that we experienced at CoCoView. There were the bigger items such as turtles, dolphins, etc.,but there was no where near the full compliment of small life, fish and otherwise, found on the fully grown reefs in Roatan.
I guess different people like different things. I was so glad when our week on Utila ended. I will not go back there, but do have our next trip to CoCoView allready booked for this December. I can't wait!
Later, Hawk.
We spent a week at CoCoView this year as we always do, absolutely amazing as always! We went to Utila next to see the difference, disapointing to say the least. You were smart to get away from the town as it is filled with smelly, rude backpacking hippie type from various parts of europe. The whole town stinks and is filled with garbage.
The diving on Utila was poor in my opinion. Too much sand and sparse, beaten down coral. We did dive the sites in front of the resort you stayed at and I found them to be almost void of life compared to that we experienced at CoCoView. There were the bigger items such as turtles, dolphins, etc.,but there was no where near the full compliment of small life, fish and otherwise, found on the fully grown reefs in Roatan.
I guess different people like different things. I was so glad when our week on Utila ended. I will not go back there, but do have our next trip to CoCoView allready booked for this December. I can't wait!
Later, Hawk.
Hawk:
Hey Hawk,
Nice to see a neighbor on the board. I live in Bend.
Anyway, I always find it interesting to read others perceptions of dive sites. I go to Utila a couple of times a year and would never bother with Roatan again. After several trips to Roatan I just got tired of the pollution and the crowds and quite honestly I don't think the fish life there even compares to that of Utila.
As far as the sand and beaton down coral, sounds like the dive op that you were with took you to the sights they use for teaching. I think that I have been to every dive site on Utila at least 3 or 4 times and although there are certainly some sites that fit your description there are many many more that are some of the best that I have been to in the Carib.
Can't argue much about the town, but I like to absorb the local flavor and Utila town very much reminds me of the old carib before all of the commercialism started to ruin the islands. I would much rather sit at the beach bar and have a beer than worry about getting mugged on some of the more westernized islands.
At any rate, that's what these boards are all about. Different opinions. But hey, if everybody liked Utila it would turn into another Roatan... then I would have to find another place to go..
Parrotman
OP
citydiver
Contributor
Its nice to see that so many people are reading my little post!! I have to say that we are also CCV lovers, and have been there twice and go every year now. I do love CCV and the diving there, however I really thought the actual diving itself is better in Utila. I don't know what dive spots they took you to, but the ones we were at were so full of life and beautiful coral. There was one dive site that had a large broken off fan coral that some dumb *** diver had obviousley broken...
But the dive sites we went to were really amazing, tons of beautiful coral, pinnacles and the sand...the sand..no one told you the secret! There is so much stuff in the sand if you look, and being a CCV lover it is a macro lovers dream! I can't tell you how much stuff we found..well Matt the DM found...he he in the sand. We saw flounder, rays, schools of squid and then the jawfish with mouths full of eggs. That was something! You have to be able to wait for them to come out though they are very skittish..very quietly wait away from their hole..I can't even remember all of the other stuff, some of those things I have never seen in Roatan.
I think our resort has two different moorings but the one we did was really nice! There is a great frog fish that lives there and lots of other cool stuff. One night one of the other couples went out for a night dive..of course I opted out stupid stupid...and they saw and video taped 6 different octopus, an eagle ray and I think they saw a toad fish..It was an amazing video. That was all at that site! We also saw a nurse shark!
I am so surprised to hear that you thought the fish life was lacking, because I think it was much more plentiful, but just like parrothead said everyone has a different experience somewhere and that is what is great about these boards, we can all share what we like and dislike.
It was nice to be out of the town, but I know some people love Utila and would never dream of staying on a secluded inlet like where we were. We loved the peace and quiet and I think they took us to really great dive sites, and maybe the op you were with didn't want to go to them. Every morning we were going to the North side of the island and then dove the south side in the afternoon..
But the dive sites we went to were really amazing, tons of beautiful coral, pinnacles and the sand...the sand..no one told you the secret! There is so much stuff in the sand if you look, and being a CCV lover it is a macro lovers dream! I can't tell you how much stuff we found..well Matt the DM found...he he in the sand. We saw flounder, rays, schools of squid and then the jawfish with mouths full of eggs. That was something! You have to be able to wait for them to come out though they are very skittish..very quietly wait away from their hole..I can't even remember all of the other stuff, some of those things I have never seen in Roatan.
I think our resort has two different moorings but the one we did was really nice! There is a great frog fish that lives there and lots of other cool stuff. One night one of the other couples went out for a night dive..of course I opted out stupid stupid...and they saw and video taped 6 different octopus, an eagle ray and I think they saw a toad fish..It was an amazing video. That was all at that site! We also saw a nurse shark!
I am so surprised to hear that you thought the fish life was lacking, because I think it was much more plentiful, but just like parrothead said everyone has a different experience somewhere and that is what is great about these boards, we can all share what we like and dislike.
It was nice to be out of the town, but I know some people love Utila and would never dream of staying on a secluded inlet like where we were. We loved the peace and quiet and I think they took us to really great dive sites, and maybe the op you were with didn't want to go to them. Every morning we were going to the North side of the island and then dove the south side in the afternoon..
jessejean
Guest
Do you have any photos posted on the board of your trip? Thanks!
OP
citydiver
Contributor
Ok..so I tried to upload some pics and a couple of the movies, but the movies look like they are pics and now I can't find the pics. It showed me a page telling me upload succesfull, but now the pics aren't in my gallery! I will keep trying...
