Rusty's Sailing Tours Utila
- Thread starter roatanjan
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I don't know that one but I did an amazing trip to Cayos with Vernon Fine email him at vfine@hotmail.com with any questions.
James Bond boat entry
Contributor
I've met Rusty and dealt with him over a period of time, if I had a choice between Vern and Rusty I would choose Vern; better personality.
SoSiouxme
Contributor
This is from a trip report I did recently - I heartily endorse Capt. Fine.
Tuesday, four of us, plus a divemaster (Scuba Steve from CTD) were in for an adventure. We chartered a catamaran, the Nina Elisabeth, captained by Vernon Fine (vfine@hotmail.com) for a couple of days. It was awesome!!!! The plan was to leave from West End, dive at Marys Place, head to Hole in the Wall restaurant where we were meeting our two non-diving friends for lunch, then head to Cayos Cochinos for an overnight and then get fills and do a dive at Cayos, then head home. All we had to do is bring some beer and soda and Vernon took care of the rest.
On Tuesday morning, we left West End at about 8:30 a.m. for Marys Place. The boat was the perfect size for us and it was so nice to be doing our thing. We found Marys Place after a little snafu and had a great dive at Marys Place. It was so nice to do that dive with just the five of us. The boat was surprisingly easy to dive off of and Steve and Vernon were very helpful getting us all in the water.
After getting back on the boat, we got out of our suits and got changed for lunch at Hole in the Wall. Vernon called ahead to the restaurant and called Enrique who was taking our non-diving friends on an island tour that day. Enrique and Vernon coordinated the group for lunch. The weather started acting up, but Hole in the Wall is right on the water and we were able to dock up at the restaurant. If youve never been to Hole in the Wall, you shouldnt miss it. Its quite a treat. On Sundays, they have an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the food is good all the time. We feasted on French fries until our friends showed up in a boat. By this time it was raining buckets but we didnt care. We were drinking beer and enjoying each others company. For lunch, I would heartily recommend the lobster sandwich. We ate up all the potatoes in the restaurant, but when we asked for more fries, Vernon motored over to a store and brought back potatoes and candy bars. What a guy! After a great lunch, our two non-diving friends left us to finish off their island tour with Enrique and we stayed on at Hole in the Wall, playing board games and generally relaxing. We decided to stay the night at Hole in the Wall because the weather was on the miserable side and nobody wanted to try to find a mooring at Cayos Cochinos at night in the dark. That night, Vernon cooked up spaghetti that was nothing short of amazing. The guys at the Hole at the Wall were so friendly and accommodating it was a great night.
We went to sleep that night on the catamaran with full bellies and had a restful night of sleep. I woke up at around 4:00 a.m. when we were motoring out of Jonestown en route to Cayos Cochinos. I fell back to sleep and woke up around 6:30 in time to see the last bit of the sunrise. It was a gorgeous day! One by one, we all woke up and took a seat on the hammock (trampoline?) in front of the catamaran to enjoy the sun. About an hour before arriving in Cayos Cochinos, we had breakfast beer batter pancakes, bacon and eggs. De-licious! Magic comes from that galley.
Upon arrival in Cayos Cochinos, we were told it would be about an hour before we could get fills so Vernon took us to place to do some snorkeling. While snorkeling, we found a huge stingray just hanging out in about 15 feet of water. Scuba Steve was able to get a picture.
After snorkeling for bit, Vernon radioed the dive shop and we found out our tanks were almost ready so we headed back to the resort on Cayos Cochinos. We looked around while waiting for tanks and it looks really nice.
Our dive at Cayos Cochinos was good. On one hand, the coral is so healthy and vibrant compared to Roatan. This is not surprising since it gets a fraction of the human interaction as the dive sites in Roatan. The visibility was not as good. Im told thats because of the run-off from mainland Honduras.
I would definitely go back to Cayos just to check it out. After our dive, we had to head back to West End because we had to drop the tanks off before 5:00. We had a great sail back to West End highlighted by a pod of about 18 dolphins accompanying us for about 20 minutes. It was fantastic.
We were so pleased with our two days at sea with Captain Vernon. It was the highlight of the trip for me and we so enjoyed his company, his food and how flexible and helpful he was. If you are looking to do something a little different, I suggest you contact him. He also makes runs to Utila and maybe Belize.
Tuesday, four of us, plus a divemaster (Scuba Steve from CTD) were in for an adventure. We chartered a catamaran, the Nina Elisabeth, captained by Vernon Fine (vfine@hotmail.com) for a couple of days. It was awesome!!!! The plan was to leave from West End, dive at Marys Place, head to Hole in the Wall restaurant where we were meeting our two non-diving friends for lunch, then head to Cayos Cochinos for an overnight and then get fills and do a dive at Cayos, then head home. All we had to do is bring some beer and soda and Vernon took care of the rest.
On Tuesday morning, we left West End at about 8:30 a.m. for Marys Place. The boat was the perfect size for us and it was so nice to be doing our thing. We found Marys Place after a little snafu and had a great dive at Marys Place. It was so nice to do that dive with just the five of us. The boat was surprisingly easy to dive off of and Steve and Vernon were very helpful getting us all in the water.
After getting back on the boat, we got out of our suits and got changed for lunch at Hole in the Wall. Vernon called ahead to the restaurant and called Enrique who was taking our non-diving friends on an island tour that day. Enrique and Vernon coordinated the group for lunch. The weather started acting up, but Hole in the Wall is right on the water and we were able to dock up at the restaurant. If youve never been to Hole in the Wall, you shouldnt miss it. Its quite a treat. On Sundays, they have an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the food is good all the time. We feasted on French fries until our friends showed up in a boat. By this time it was raining buckets but we didnt care. We were drinking beer and enjoying each others company. For lunch, I would heartily recommend the lobster sandwich. We ate up all the potatoes in the restaurant, but when we asked for more fries, Vernon motored over to a store and brought back potatoes and candy bars. What a guy! After a great lunch, our two non-diving friends left us to finish off their island tour with Enrique and we stayed on at Hole in the Wall, playing board games and generally relaxing. We decided to stay the night at Hole in the Wall because the weather was on the miserable side and nobody wanted to try to find a mooring at Cayos Cochinos at night in the dark. That night, Vernon cooked up spaghetti that was nothing short of amazing. The guys at the Hole at the Wall were so friendly and accommodating it was a great night.
We went to sleep that night on the catamaran with full bellies and had a restful night of sleep. I woke up at around 4:00 a.m. when we were motoring out of Jonestown en route to Cayos Cochinos. I fell back to sleep and woke up around 6:30 in time to see the last bit of the sunrise. It was a gorgeous day! One by one, we all woke up and took a seat on the hammock (trampoline?) in front of the catamaran to enjoy the sun. About an hour before arriving in Cayos Cochinos, we had breakfast beer batter pancakes, bacon and eggs. De-licious! Magic comes from that galley.
Upon arrival in Cayos Cochinos, we were told it would be about an hour before we could get fills so Vernon took us to place to do some snorkeling. While snorkeling, we found a huge stingray just hanging out in about 15 feet of water. Scuba Steve was able to get a picture.
After snorkeling for bit, Vernon radioed the dive shop and we found out our tanks were almost ready so we headed back to the resort on Cayos Cochinos. We looked around while waiting for tanks and it looks really nice.
Our dive at Cayos Cochinos was good. On one hand, the coral is so healthy and vibrant compared to Roatan. This is not surprising since it gets a fraction of the human interaction as the dive sites in Roatan. The visibility was not as good. Im told thats because of the run-off from mainland Honduras.
I would definitely go back to Cayos just to check it out. After our dive, we had to head back to West End because we had to drop the tanks off before 5:00. We had a great sail back to West End highlighted by a pod of about 18 dolphins accompanying us for about 20 minutes. It was fantastic.
We were so pleased with our two days at sea with Captain Vernon. It was the highlight of the trip for me and we so enjoyed his company, his food and how flexible and helpful he was. If you are looking to do something a little different, I suggest you contact him. He also makes runs to Utila and maybe Belize.
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