One night in Roatan?

[SaltyKSue]

So I came down to Utila with my Daughter and her boyfriend as she is moving here for 5 months to do her Advanced to MSDT internship with Utila Dive Center and I wanted to make sure they made it here and got settled in ok.
It was a 1and a half day long trip from Ottawa to get there, but worth every minute of it!
I was diving with Utila Dive Center every morning and helping the kids sort out finance, rent, grocery and cell phone issues every afternoon, so I never saw any more of the island than the main strip between the Mango Inn and Bando Beach.
UDC was exceptional to Dive with, on day one the captain spotted a feeding whale shark and dropped us next to it for a snorkel, unbelievable! None of the 11 dives I did this week were disappointing in any way.
Now I am checking out West End with a view of possibly snow-birding down here in retirement, sort of a reconisance mission. Flying out this afternoon.
The weather wasn't too bad, some heavy rain during a couple of the mornings, light rain the rest of the mornings but by the time the boat was back at the dock it had always broken out to sun and cloud.

graham p-
I have 2 weeks vacation time in Oct. 2023 and have been considering about 4 days in Utila and then about 8 days in Roatan (West End) How did you get from Utila to Roatan? Is there a boat service or ferry? Or did you have to fly?
I see you liked diving with the Utila Dive Center - and from your post, it looks like you stayed at the Mango Inn? If so, would you recommend staying there?
Since you were just there..... do you happen to know if there a dive op in the West End of Roatan that also offers rooms along with diving - a package deal kind of thing? I know you were there for only one day so you may not be the right person to be asking ...... but thought I'd start to try to get a few ideas here!
Thanks for any info you could give me!

 

[graham p]

Hi @SaltyKSue.
Utila is a different Part of the world! Well worth visiting at least once. I think four days there will give you a good feeling for whether it's your kind of place or not.

There is a ferry from Roatan to Utila once a day at 2pm and from Utila to Roatan once a day at 10am, I can't remember the price but it is quite reasonable. Probably much less than an airplane charter.
My flight getting there arrived early enough to catch the ferry the same day, but if yours doesn't, you'll have to factor in an overnight in Roatan.

I did stay at the Mango inn.
I believe it is only a 2 star hotel and is affiliated with UDC, they use it as a dorm for their students. I booked through PADI travel and with what I payed could consider either my diving was free or my accommodation was free!
The room was ok however the hot water was questionable and I didn't use any. Only luke warm showers for the duration of the stay.
The restaurant at the hotel was quite good. I didn't have a bad meal while I was there and the Beer is very cheap.
I don't mind roughing it a little bit on dive trips, but if you are used to a certain standard of living you should look for an air bnb or a higher star rated hotel.

UDC was a great dive operator in that they are very professional and attentive to their guests. All my dives (11 of them) were to open water standards at 60 feet for 45-65 minutes. I don't know if you can book onto any more advances dives than that, I never asked and was content doing the dives I did.
The boat captains actively seek out Whalesharks and Dolphins for you to snorkel with while underway, however if you decide to jump in when they find one there is a 15USD "tip" owed to the captain back at the dock. Be prepared to pay before you go as it is worth it!

Utila is a very small island and I walked everywhere I wanted to go, it takes 10 or so minutes from the Mango to UDC. The beach is another 5 minuts past UDC.
There are what seems like hundreds of tutk tuks running around, so getting a ride anywhere is easy.

As far as money goes, I found USD was almost worthless, it has to be in perfect condition, and they charge a higher exchange rate when using it. I found using a credit card in the few places I could and withdrawing limpera at a bank machine much more convenient. There is a bank across the street from the ferry terminal in Utila that is your best bet to get cash. Even in Roatan I found cash is king with the taxi's and even the hotel I stayed at requested it ( I pushed back and they let me pay with credit).

I don't know much about the dive operators in West End other than to say there is an abundance of them. I did only spend one day there and couldn't go diving.

I hope all this helps you plan your trip. Like I said every diver should visit Utila once in their life. I liked it there, however it took a couple of days to adjust to the pace of living and the craziness of walking the main street.

All the best on your travels.

 

[laurenceh]

Consider looking at the south shore of Utila for a place to stay, town is noisy and certainly the least attractive part of the island but most people that visit Utila never even see the south shore. They walk around Utila town and think thats the whole island, when in fact Utila town is only about 20% of the island. The south shore has 5 miles of continuous beach with the reef running parallel to it the whole way. U-dive and Utila Cays Diving service the rental homes on the south shore and are both excellent small dive outfits. The south shore is also closer to the Northside where the deep walls are and where the whale sharks feed. Here are some shots of the south shore and the rental homes at our place, Treasure Beach. And for the very adventurous there's even a private cay you can rent, it has a small, off the grid house and is beautiful, Its called Sandy Cay.

 

[SaltyKSue]

Hi @SaltyKSue.
Utila is a different Part of the world! Well worth visiting at least once. I think four days there will give you a good feeling for whether it's your kind of place or not.

There is a ferry from Roatan to Utila once a day at 2pm and from Utila to Roatan once a day at 10am, I can't remember the price but it is quite reasonable. Probably much less than an airplane charter.
My flight getting there arrived early enough to catch the ferry the same day, but if yours doesn't, you'll have to factor in an overnight in Roatan.

I did stay at the Mango inn.
I believe it is only a 2 star hotel and is affiliated with UDC, they use it as a dorm for their students. I booked through PADI travel and with what I payed could consider either my diving was free or my accommodation was free!
The room was ok however the hot water was questionable and I didn't use any. Only luke warm showers for the duration of the stay.
The restaurant at the hotel was quite good. I didn't have a bad meal while I was there and the Beer is very cheap.
I don't mind roughing it a little bit on dive trips, but if you are used to a certain standard of living you should look for an air bnb or a higher star rated hotel.

UDC was a great dive operator in that they are very professional and attentive to their guests. All my dives (11 of them) were to open water standards at 60 feet for 45-65 minutes. I don't know if you can book onto any more advances dives than that, I never asked and was content doing the dives I did.
The boat captains actively seek out Whalesharks and Dolphins for you to snorkel with while underway, however if you decide to jump in when they find one there is a 15USD "tip" owed to the captain back at the dock. Be prepared to pay before you go as it is worth it!

Utila is a very small island and I walked everywhere I wanted to go, it takes 10 or so minutes from the Mango to UDC. The beach is another 5 minuts past UDC.
There are what seems like hundreds of tutk tuks running around, so getting a ride anywhere is easy.

As far as money goes, I found USD was almost worthless, it has to be in perfect condition, and they charge a higher exchange rate when using it. I found using a credit card in the few places I could and withdrawing limpera at a bank machine much more convenient. There is a bank across the street from the ferry terminal in Utila that is your best bet to get cash. Even in Roatan I found cash is king with the taxi's and even the hotel I stayed at requested it ( I pushed back and they let me pay with credit).

I don't know much about the dive operators in West End other than to say there is an abundance of them. I did only spend one day there and couldn't go diving.

I hope all this helps you plan your trip. Like I said every diver should visit Utila once in their life. I liked it there, however it took a couple of days to adjust to the pace of living and the craziness of walking the main street.

All the best on your travels.

This helps tremendously- Thanks a bunch!

 

[SaltyKSue]

Consider looking at the south shore of Utila for a place to stay, town is noisy and certainly the least attractive part of the island but most people that visit Utila never even see the south shore. They walk around Utila town and think thats the whole island, when in fact Utila town is only about 20% of the island. The south shore has 5 miles of continuous beach with the reef running parallel to it the whole way. U-dive and Utila Cays Diving service the rental homes on the south shore and are both excellent small dive outfits. The south shore is also closer to the Northside where the deep walls are and where the whale sharks feed. Here are some shots of the south shore and the rental homes at our place, Treasure Beach. And for the very adventurous there's even a private cay you can rent, it has a small, off the grid house and is beautiful, Its called Sandy Cay.

AWESOME- thanks for this info! I might be checking out one of your rental homes- I'm not really interested in an "off the grid" place. I prefer being closer to restaurants, bars, shops, - I want to see the culture of where I am visiting!

 

[SaltyKSue]

AWESOME- thanks for this info! I might be checking out one of your rental homes- I'm not really interested in an "off the grid" place. I prefer being closer to restaurants, bars, shops, - I want to see the culture of where I am visiting!

Also..... seeing that you have properties there- I'm guessing you are there fairly often?
Another question, is Oct. a good time to go to Roatan and Utila? That is when I have vacation time so THAT I can't change- but if that is not a good time to go I may need to look for other travel destinations!

 

[Doc]

Annual weather stats at Coxen Hole Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Honduras) - Weather Spark

The Bay Islands suffer fall rains, the entire rest of the Caribbean is subject much more-so to Hurricane and Tropical Storm risk. Honduras is still your best shot at that time of year.

 

[SaltyKSue]

Annual weather stats at Coxen Hole Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Honduras) - Weather Spark

View attachment 766711

The Bay Islands suffer fall rains, the entire rest of the Caribbean is subject much more-so to Hurricane and Tropical Storm risk. Honduras is still your best shot at that time of year.

Thank you for this DOC!

 

[laurenceh]

October has historically been the beginning of the rainy season and most charts/graphs will show it as the wettest month of the year, along with November. After spending 5 years on Utila (2008-2012), I swore I would never be there during rainy again, the weather was absolutely monsoon like every year, so I started leaving at the beginning of October until mid January.
However for the last 3-4 years I have stayed until late October because rainy season seems to be starting later nowadays. The last few years early October has been lovely but I wouldn't risk going later in the month, you could end up with rain every day.
We now leave the island around October 20th and return early February

 

[SaltyKSue]

October has historically been the beginning of the rainy season and most charts/graphs will show it as the wettest month of the year, along with November. After spending 5 years on Utila (2008-2012), I swore I would never be there during rainy again, the weather was absolutely monsoon like every year, so I started leaving at the beginning of October until mid January.
However for the last 3-4 years I have stayed until late October because rainy season seems to be starting later nowadays. The last few years early October has been lovely but I wouldn't risk going later in the month, you could end up with rain every day.
We now leave the island around October 20th and return early February

Fantastic~ we just booked our flights and will be there from Oct 7- Oct 20
Now we need to contact the dive ops you recommended in Utila to get diving and a room-
Then figure out the same for the days in Roatan - Most likely staying in the West End.