Planning a dive trip to Utila

[Morning-sea-star]

Hi there. This is my first post but I have been a long-time lurker. I’m early 30s planning a dive trip to Honduras with the husband. We are OW but think it would be cool to do AOW there as well as get a ton of dives in. We live in Florida so we do the keys, blue heron bridge, springs a lot. This would be our first international dive trip outside of the Bahamas (Bimini). Are the bay islands better than the keys?

There aren't a lot of posts that are very recent about Utila. We like to dive and we also like a more low key, character-y kind of travel, in other words, we’re not resort people and don’t really like luxury or big buildings, crowds. Utila seems like it would be cool, plus would love the chance to snorkel with whale sharks, dolphins, or pilot whales if we are lucky. We aren’t into partying tho, will we hate this island? We like a drink or two but we don’t drink really when we dive, I guess we are sticklers like that, but just want to make sure that the island won’t be disappointing vibe-wise.

Also— for dives and vibes— Alton’s dive school or Utila dive center? Worried UDC hotel (Mango) will be a loud party. Quiet beers and a bit of weed is no bother to us, just loud partying.

Thank you!

 

[theDrExplorer]

We were at Alton's Dive School in March/April a few years back for about a week (we were in our 30s), and Utila generally matches the kind of vibe that you're describing. There's basically one main street that you can easily walk on, buildings are small (no resorts or large hotels), and drinking is not a thing during the dive day, but plenty of chill beers at night. We stayed in an AC room in Alton's, and it was very quiet at night, and we could just walk to the restaurants and parties if we wanted to. There are events and parties sometimes at UDC, but when we walked past, it didn't seem all that crazy or loud. There are tons of cute little restaurants along the water too.

Can't help with a comparison to the Keys since I've not been there. Doing AOW would be nice I think, although we didn't get any certifications there.

 

[therookie]

Welcome to ScubaBoard! Membership, that is, since like me you were a lurker for a while before joining.

I'm going to tag @laurenceh here (although he'll probably find this post on his own) - he knows Utila very, very well

 

[Morning-sea-star]

Welcome to ScubaBoard! Membership, that is, since like me you were a lurker for a while before joining.

I'm going to tag @laurenceh here (although he'll probably find this post on his own) - he knows Utila very, very well

Thank you! I appreciate the help

 

[Morning-sea-star]

We were at Alton's Dive School in March/April a few years back for about a week (we were in our 30s), and Utila generally matches the kind of vibe that you're describing. There's basically one main street that you can easily walk on, buildings are small (no resorts or large hotels), and drinking is not a thing during the dive day, but plenty of chill beers at night. We stayed in an AC room in Alton's, and it was very quiet at night, and we could just walk to the restaurants and parties if we wanted to. There are events and parties sometimes at UDC, but when we walked past, it didn't seem all that crazy or loud. There are tons of cute little restaurants along the water too.

Can't help with a comparison to the Keys since I've not been there. Doing AOW would be nice I think, although we didn't get any certifications there.

Thank you so much for the info on your experience! I was leaning toward Alton’s due to being right at the scuba boat and perhaps a bit quieter (since there is not a pool and restaurant on property). I do love the idea of having the pool there for surface time, but also wonder how was it walking the streets at night on the island (such as to and from night dives)? My husband is a little nervous about Honduras as a destination, but I have told him it seems the Bay islands are pretty safe and not comparable to the mainland. The level 3 travel advisory the US has for the country has him spooked a bit, but I also tell him that we don’t walk around our own neighborhood here in the U.S. at night and there are definitely high crime rates in our town.

 

[PamelaH]

Thank you so much for the info on your experience! I was leaning toward Alton’s due to being right at the scuba boat and perhaps a bit quieter (since there is not a pool and restaurant on property). I do love the idea of having the pool there for surface time, but also wonder how was it walking the streets at night on the island (such as to and from night dives)? My husband is a little nervous about Honduras as a destination, but I have told him it seems the Bay islands are pretty safe and not comparable to the mainland. The level 3 travel advisory the US has for the country has him spooked a bit, but I also tell him that we don’t walk around our own neighborhood here in the U.S. at night and there are definitely high crime rates in our town.

I've been to Utila many times. We usually rented a house down at the other end of the island from Altons and walked into town every night. It's a very safe place due to being a small island. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide ;-) I love Utila. I did my diving with Captain Morgan but it's a very youth oriented place (shared hostel rooms for the most part) but I had fun - the kids were great (I was over 60 when I dove with them). I've dived the BHB which is it's own amazing place and I would say Utila is comparable but deeper and has more stuff to see. You'll have a great time.

 

[Morning-sea-star]

I've been to Utila many times. We usually rented a house down at the other end of the island from Altons and walked into town every night. It's a very safe place due to being a small island. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide ;-) I love Utila. I did my diving with Captain Morgan but it's a very youth oriented place (shared hostel rooms for the most part) but I had fun - the kids were great (I was over 60 when I dove with them). I've dived the BHB which is it's own amazing place and I would say Utila is comparable but deeper and has more stuff to see. You'll have a great time.

Thank you!

 

[PamelaH]

Thank you!

One more note. There's a place called Neptunes on the other side of the channel and they run a boat too and from the side you are on to the resort all day long. The launch is near Coral View. If you have a few hours to kill it's a fun place to grab a beach chair and have a drink and some snacks.

 

[therookie]

The level 3 travel advisory the US has for the country has him spooked a bit

Understandable. But let him know that in the opinion of this person from North America who has lived on the Honduran mainland for nearly twenty years and visited the Bay Islands frequently over the years, they are indeed absolutely nothing like the mainland. And also, as mentioned above, Utila is even safer than Roatan (where we usually visit). The advisory itself seems to make a tacit exception for the Bay Islands - it's a completely different world, not just in terms of crime etc but in many other ways as well.

 

[Gdog]

I also vote for Altons....UDC is a little more party lol. Also, check out Tank'd, right by Altons.