keesmon
Contributor
We just returned from our first trip to Utila and thought I would post some notes from our experiences.
Getting there:
Flew into San Pedro on the TACA red eye from JFK on good Friday by 6.30AM. Cost was $240 round trip.
The original thought had been to take a bus to La Ceiba and catch the afternoon ferry to Utila. A few days before our departure we found out that due to Good Friday there would be no direct bus services and no ferry. A private car was arranged by Julie from Alton's ($130), to take us from San Pedro to La Ceiba, and we decided to wing the trip over to Utila from there. Due to light traffic, we got to La Ceiba by around 9.30AM. Harbor gates were indeed closed, but our driver drove us around the back and we spotted a skiff that seemed ready to leave. We asked if it was bound for Utila and whether we could get a ride. When told yes we hopped on and were told we just had to make a stop to pick up another boat deeper in the harbor. 30 minutes later we were off. Passage to Utila took 45 minutes on a very fast but bouncy boat ride. Turned out our boat captain lives on Utila and was just picking up a friend for the big wedding that weekend. When we got to his house just west of the municipal dock he refused to take any $$$, just told us to have a nice day!
Got to Alton's dive shop just after 11AM. Not bad for a trip that started at 4AM in New York! Since we got there so early we managed to get our gear set up and made the afternoon trip, which happened to be a somewhat rare Northside afternoon trip. Bonus day of diving and great karma all the way around.
Diving:
Dove with Alton's for 8 days straight and couldn't have picked a better place. From the original contact 6 months ago straight through our trip Rob, Julie, Mitch and the rest of the gang got us exactly what we wanted. We did 3 days of fun dives, 3 days of PADI rescue certification, and 2 more days of fun dives. We also did a night dive on the Halliburton, which was pretty cool, considering that a deep wreck night dive is obviously not on the standard menu!
The rescue course was tough as it should be, though the 2 Norwegian girls who played our "victims" most certainly made it more fun than should be allowed
Our instructor was thorough and it's clear why so many people consider this to be the most rewarding course to take.
We dove the Northside every day except for our rescue days and pretty much got to see all the dive sites we were hoping for. Upon request, we got to do a drift dive at Blackish Point with a good Nitrox profile. Rob just made sure we had a DM for us with the same mix and off we went. We got to dive 1 hour dives on our first dives almost every day, and had no problem with the second dives coming in around 50 minutes. A point was made to have us in the water first, so that we could get to the 1 hour limit, while the newly minted open water divers got off the boat after us and got back on before we did. Perfect arrangement.
Reefs are in good shape, though the fish life seems to have been fished away for the most part. Whale sharks were not around, though they were just starting to see decent sized boils on our last day of diving
Guess we'll have to return to see those creatures in action. Water temperatures were 77-78 every day according to my computer, and I dove in a rash guard all week without getting cold.
Accommodations and night life:
We stayed at Lazy Dayz on the bay, 2 docks over from Alton's after our original reservation at Rubi's was lost, my guess due to us arriving on Good Friday. Lazy Dayz was perfectly fine, good AC, fridge TV all for $40 a night. Being 30 seconds from the dive shop was fantastic, so that we could both be there when we wanted, and could get away from the younger crowd as well. After the holiday weekend, we had the place to ourselves. Food and drinks were fantastic and cheap all over the island, and after Henderson's delivered a case of Salva to our room, we were all set. Our grandiose plans of being out late never materialized, so even though we saw plenty of night life building up, we never saw the flip side of midnight at any of the bars around. Guess that is the tough part of being 40! I'm not sure I would have traded away feeling decent for every morning dives, and the rescue course really kicked our butts for a few days.
Getting away:
Completely uneventful. 6.20AM ferry. Taxi to La Ceiba airport and 3 connecting flights through San Pedro and San Salvador back to NY. got there by 9.30PM. Overall a fantastic trip, that worked out better than we originally planned. It most certainly helps to be flexible, since pretty much all our pre planned transportation and accommodation had to go to plan B, but with the help of a great dive operator staff and an open mind, this was truly a great long week.
Getting there:
Flew into San Pedro on the TACA red eye from JFK on good Friday by 6.30AM. Cost was $240 round trip.
The original thought had been to take a bus to La Ceiba and catch the afternoon ferry to Utila. A few days before our departure we found out that due to Good Friday there would be no direct bus services and no ferry. A private car was arranged by Julie from Alton's ($130), to take us from San Pedro to La Ceiba, and we decided to wing the trip over to Utila from there. Due to light traffic, we got to La Ceiba by around 9.30AM. Harbor gates were indeed closed, but our driver drove us around the back and we spotted a skiff that seemed ready to leave. We asked if it was bound for Utila and whether we could get a ride. When told yes we hopped on and were told we just had to make a stop to pick up another boat deeper in the harbor. 30 minutes later we were off. Passage to Utila took 45 minutes on a very fast but bouncy boat ride. Turned out our boat captain lives on Utila and was just picking up a friend for the big wedding that weekend. When we got to his house just west of the municipal dock he refused to take any $$$, just told us to have a nice day!
Got to Alton's dive shop just after 11AM. Not bad for a trip that started at 4AM in New York! Since we got there so early we managed to get our gear set up and made the afternoon trip, which happened to be a somewhat rare Northside afternoon trip. Bonus day of diving and great karma all the way around.
Diving:
Dove with Alton's for 8 days straight and couldn't have picked a better place. From the original contact 6 months ago straight through our trip Rob, Julie, Mitch and the rest of the gang got us exactly what we wanted. We did 3 days of fun dives, 3 days of PADI rescue certification, and 2 more days of fun dives. We also did a night dive on the Halliburton, which was pretty cool, considering that a deep wreck night dive is obviously not on the standard menu!
The rescue course was tough as it should be, though the 2 Norwegian girls who played our "victims" most certainly made it more fun than should be allowed
Our instructor was thorough and it's clear why so many people consider this to be the most rewarding course to take.We dove the Northside every day except for our rescue days and pretty much got to see all the dive sites we were hoping for. Upon request, we got to do a drift dive at Blackish Point with a good Nitrox profile. Rob just made sure we had a DM for us with the same mix and off we went. We got to dive 1 hour dives on our first dives almost every day, and had no problem with the second dives coming in around 50 minutes. A point was made to have us in the water first, so that we could get to the 1 hour limit, while the newly minted open water divers got off the boat after us and got back on before we did. Perfect arrangement.
Reefs are in good shape, though the fish life seems to have been fished away for the most part. Whale sharks were not around, though they were just starting to see decent sized boils on our last day of diving
Guess we'll have to return to see those creatures in action. Water temperatures were 77-78 every day according to my computer, and I dove in a rash guard all week without getting cold.Accommodations and night life:
We stayed at Lazy Dayz on the bay, 2 docks over from Alton's after our original reservation at Rubi's was lost, my guess due to us arriving on Good Friday. Lazy Dayz was perfectly fine, good AC, fridge TV all for $40 a night. Being 30 seconds from the dive shop was fantastic, so that we could both be there when we wanted, and could get away from the younger crowd as well. After the holiday weekend, we had the place to ourselves. Food and drinks were fantastic and cheap all over the island, and after Henderson's delivered a case of Salva to our room, we were all set. Our grandiose plans of being out late never materialized, so even though we saw plenty of night life building up, we never saw the flip side of midnight at any of the bars around. Guess that is the tough part of being 40! I'm not sure I would have traded away feeling decent for every morning dives, and the rescue course really kicked our butts for a few days.
Getting away:
Completely uneventful. 6.20AM ferry. Taxi to La Ceiba airport and 3 connecting flights through San Pedro and San Salvador back to NY. got there by 9.30PM. Overall a fantastic trip, that worked out better than we originally planned. It most certainly helps to be flexible, since pretty much all our pre planned transportation and accommodation had to go to plan B, but with the help of a great dive operator staff and an open mind, this was truly a great long week.
