Planning a dive trip to Utila

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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.
Thank you much for this note! I’m sure it will make him feel even better!
 
I also vote for Altons....UDC is a little more party lol. Also, check out Tank'd, right by Altons.
Thank you! I was tempted by the slightly cheaper prices and the pool but the pool also means people will gather!
 
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!
Hello.
I live on Utila 4-5 months a year and have done since 2007, so lot's of experience and opinions !

I like to say that "Utila is a tale of two islands", because there's the Utila Town experience, which is what 90% of visitors get (especially first time visitors). And then there's the south shore/rest of the island experience, that those "in the know" get.

One - Utila Town and the surrounding area:-
The only part of the island with roads, many people will say I went to Utila and you can walk/ride around it in a couple of hours, what they really mean is that they saw the area around town and completely missed the other 70% of the island (the beautiful part).
Lots of bars and restaurants, tons of dive operations.
The least attractive part of the island (noisy, hot and only two small beaches).
Ideal for people who want to dive all day and rub shoulders with other tourists at night. Some good restaurants and lots of boom boom music into the early hours every night.
My favorite hotels are Manurri Boutique Hotel and The Lighthouse.

Two - the rest of Utila; the south, west and north sides and the Utila Cays.
No roads, all transportation by water taxi.
Only a couple of bars and restaurants and only one dive op (Utila Cays Diving - they serve the rental homes on the south shore). No hotels, only rental homes.
The most beautiful parts of the island - miles of virtually deserted beaches with the reef never more than 50' from shore. These areas have perhaps 12-15 homes per mile of beach. This is where the expats living in town go for a break.
Ideal for people who want to dive, snorkel in front of their rental home. Not for people who want to party every night and hang out with other tourists, it's for those who seek peace and privacy.
My favorite rentals are The Coral House and The Pineapple House on Treasure Beach or for a real Robinson Crusoe experience the private rental island called Sandy Cay.
 
lot's of experience and opinions
Thank you! This is possibly the best overall description of Utila that I have ever read. My wife and I (and my dive buddies from out of country) need to get back there some day soon - I haven't been on Utila in many, many years (I think the last time may have been the same year you started living there) so most things I remember are probably no longer true
 
Excellent write up! We always stayed down near Coral View in the Round House or the one 2 doors down. It's so quiet down there but you can walk to town easily. We snorkeled off of Coral View's dock and then had 'snorkel beers' afterward. It was so great but I'd love to stay on the other side of the channel. Thanks for write up - maybe I can talk my sister in to it.
 
Hello.
I live on Utila 4-5 months a year and have done since 2007, so lot's of experience and opinions !

I like to say that "Utila is a tale of two islands", because there's the Utila Town experience, which is what 90% of visitors get (especially first time visitors). And then there's the south shore/rest of the island experience, that those "in the know" get.

One - Utila Town and the surrounding area:-
The only part of the island with roads, many people will say I went to Utila and you can walk/ride around it in a couple of hours, what they really mean is that they saw the area around town and completely missed the other 70% of the island (the beautiful part).
Lots of bars and restaurants, tons of dive operations.
The least attractive part of the island (noisy, hot and only two small beaches).
Ideal for people who want to dive all day and rub shoulders with other tourists at night. Some good restaurants and lots of boom boom music into the early hours every night.
My favorite hotels are Manurri Boutique Hotel and The Lighthouse.

Two - the rest of Utila; the south, west and north sides and the Utila Cays.
No roads, all transportation by water taxi.
Only a couple of bars and restaurants and only one dive op (Utila Cays Diving - they serve the rental homes on the south shore). No hotels, only rental homes.
The most beautiful parts of the island - miles of virtually deserted beaches with the reef never more than 50' from shore. These areas have perhaps 12-15 homes per mile of beach. This is where the expats living in town go for a break.
Ideal for people who want to dive, snorkel in front of their rental home. Not for people who want to party every night and hang out with other tourists, it's for those who seek peace and privacy.
My favorite rentals are The Coral House and The Pineapple House on Treasure Beach or for a real Robinson Crusoe experience the private rental island called Sandy Cay.
Wow, thank you for this insight!
Hello.
I live on Utila 4-5 months a year and have done since 2007, so lot's of experience and opinions !

I like to say that "Utila is a tale of two islands", because there's the Utila Town experience, which is what 90% of visitors get (especially first time visitors). And then there's the south shore/rest of the island experience, that those "in the know" get.

One - Utila Town and the surrounding area:-
The only part of the island with roads, many people will say I went to Utila and you can walk/ride around it in a couple of hours, what they really mean is that they saw the area around town and completely missed the other 70% of the island (the beautiful part).
Lots of bars and restaurants, tons of dive operations.
The least attractive part of the island (noisy, hot and only two small beaches).
Ideal for people who want to dive all day and rub shoulders with other tourists at night. Some good restaurants and lots of boom boom music into the early hours every night.
My favorite hotels are Manurri Boutique Hotel and The Lighthouse.

Two - the rest of Utila; the south, west and north sides and the Utila Cays.
No roads, all transportation by water taxi.
Only a couple of bars and restaurants and only one dive op (Utila Cays Diving - they serve the rental homes on the south shore). No hotels, only rental homes.
The most beautiful parts of the island - miles of virtually deserted beaches with the reef never more than 50' from shore. These areas have perhaps 12-15 homes per mile of beach. This is where the expats living in town go for a break.
Ideal for people who want to dive, snorkel in front of their rental home. Not for people who want to party every night and hang out with other tourists, it's for those who seek peace and privacy.
My favorite rentals are The Coral House and The Pineapple House on Treasure Beach or for a real Robinson Crusoe experience the private rental island called Sandy Cay.
Wow thank you for the detailed information! It looks like that dive shop might be permanently closed though? I will look into this area!
 
Wow, thank you for this insight!

Wow thank you for the detailed information! It looks like that dive shop might be permanently closed though? I will look into this area!
Sorry my mistake, I gave the old dive shop name. The Dive Co that takes care of the South Shore is "We-Dive Utila". A great small op based on the Cays with a nice big boat, they rarely dive with more than half a dozen divers. It's run by Anke who used to run the diving at Utopia Resort, she has been working on Utila for 15 +yrs and often takes us to unmarked dive sites that the operations in town never visit. Highly recommended !!
 
Another vote for Alton's and yes, take the AOW while you are there. I got my rescue certification there in 2010, and then came back in 2018 to get my kids their (jr) OW and AOW for my wife. I like staying just off their property (Lazy days on the Bay for example) just to have a little bit of separation between diving and the rest of my day. The houses accessible by water taxi only would be too remote for me. I love my travel partners, but need a little bit more stimulus than just seeing them all week. The island vibe is really chill and if you go to sleep at a decent hour you will miss the whole night life aspect. It's not an issue for me at all. I also like the beach by the split as another place to hang out when not diving. One thing to note though, is that you kind of have to push the dive ops to go to the north side. Boats with students tend to stay closer, but imo, the reefs on the north side are the better ones.
 

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