Utila March 2014

[tormat]

I am new to diving and want to get as much diving as I can in; trouble is I live 3 hours from the closest ocean. But I got my cert because I had the opportunity to go to Roatan in March.

Since I am new to diving I wanted any tips anyone can give me to both prepare before the trip and things I need to do while I am there. So please pass on as much as you can!

 

[victorzamora]

Welcome to the board! Congrats on your cert and your trip to Roatan (my favorite vacation spot), and for planning a trip back! One quick note: Where do you live? There's a lot of inland diving to be done, even if it's not as spectacular as Roatan. I use inland diving to practice skills and stay "current" so I can enjoy the expensive dive trips more. The more you practice at "home" the more fun you can have because your trim, buoyancy, and skills have been properly practiced. The harder you work at scuba, the more fun you have in scuba....just like any other hobby. Don't waste your trip to Roatan on remembering proper mask-clearing procedures or on how to set up your gear. Do cheap dives close by so you can work on the boring stuff, so when you go do your expensive dives you get to enjoy the fun stuff. That's my opinion, but I doubt many people here would disagree with me.

Where are you planning on staying? That makes a HUGE difference in terms of costs and availability of activities (including but not limited to diving). Are you trying to keep it more budget-friendly, or do you want the full-blown pampered experience? Are you travelling with other divers, non-divers, alone?

 

[tormat]

This trip is budget! We have a buddy that is going down there for 2-3 months and we are planning on crashing at the place he rents.

Oh my I was watching a video on Roatan and I am going to Utila!

We will be diving with the Utila Dive Centre on Utila.

I really want to do a bunch of diving but the cash for gear or rentals is being spent on this trip. We have 2 dives planned before we go just to keep our skills on the fresh side. We live in Northern Cali about 45 mins from Tahoe.

 

[victorzamora]

45 minutes is actually pretty close if Tahoe is divable (I have no idea). However, NoCal seems like maybe drysuits are VERY MUCH recommended this late in the season? If there's a dive shop anywhere close to you, I would call up and see if you could swim around while they're doing a pool session of some sort. Normally, these are done almost weekly and joining up is cheap ($25 per person, or so?).

So, you've gotten a place and a dive shop picked out, and you're already trying to dive to practice. It seems like you're well on your way. What other help do you need?

FYI, Utila is a much smaller island with a lot less "attractions" than Roatan. The diving is great, but there's not as much non-diving on the island (as far as I'm aware).

 

[Lorenzoid]

Utila Dive Centre is great. You'll have lots of fun. I dove with them for a couple of months some years ago.

 

[tormat]

Tahoe is mostly an underwater beach. We dove there a few weeks ago, it was 56 or so in the water (the above water temps are falling fast now that the seasons are really changing). There was 1 log and 3 crawfish, not much else to look at.

I am asking because I don't know what might make the trip more
Figured I would put out a nice generic note. Right now sitting in my office is the last place i want to be, unless i could put it under water

My wife is a major planner and would love for the entire trip to be planned. We have our eyes out for doing some night dives, drift dives, and anything else we can get. I guess some of the advice I am looking for is stuff like, "You must get Nitrox certs before you go", or "you should really buy this camera". I just dont want to get there and be all "I wish i had asked someone who had been here before so i knew to ask to go to this old dive spot"

 

[diversteve]

There's a couple of drift dives on the north side. Most of the operators ride out there regularly. (town and all the resorts are on the south side)

Maybe the best dive on the south side is Black Hills. It's a pinnacle that rises to within about 40-50' of the surface. We saw more schools of large things (barracuda, oceanic triggers, grouper) on one dive there than anywhere else. Review - Black Hills, Utila Island

There's about 3-4 wrecks off Utila, the Halliburton is the signature wreck - Review - Halliburton Wreck, Utila Island We dove Ron's Wreck, I wouldn't do it again. It's just a small sailboat on it's side. Did find a few big grouper hiding in the coral nearby.

Labrynth is a good dive also. We dove it at night since it's just off the south side. Near our resort - several nights boats from town dove there.

On the north side, Duppy Waters was good, Pinnacles also but it's just about past rec depths if you do the swim thru - you come out around 122' IIRC. We saws several sharks there. Blackish Point is another good dive - often done as a 2nd dive since it's shallower. Review - Blackish Point, Utila Island The West End is supposed to have several good drift dives, we only were out there once and it was too calm..

Depending on when in March, you might see Whale Sharks. So plan some (non-dive) excursions. I don't know how that works from town but from Deep Blue we went looking early afternoon after doing our 2-3 dives. There were several boats nearby from town every time anyone spotted one. The captains cooperate since they're each only allowed limited drops per sighting. It's snorkel only. If you're looking to buy a camera - the sharks we saw were typically in the 12-18' range - one closer to 30'. Something wide-angle might work better as you'll be fairly close - several of ours went right under the boat. We were there the very end of March/early April.