Utila Reef Condition

[georgem1960]

Just got back from a week of diving Utila. Stayed at Laguna Beach Resort. Was very excited to see the condition of the reef, which is the largest in the Carribean. Was diving in Belize last year and saw large Pelagics and abundant coral. Also had heard Roatan fish life is very good depsite the fact it is a tourist desintation.

I am very sorry to report the conditions in Utila are abysmal. Serioulsy , among the worst I have ever seen. To be specific, the condition of the reef itself is pretty good- Fan corals are in tact, and the micro life is in "pretty good" shape. But in a week of diving , we didn't see a single turtle, shark, grouper or barracuda. The reef, simply put ,has been fished out- it is a desert. Froget the much touted Whale Shark. The locals, iif pushed will acknowledge it is a "real problem". The irony is that although smaller and much more rural than Roatan, Utila operates on a fishing economy. There are several thriving fishing communities on the island, and while we were there there was a large fishing tournament to support the family of a local who'd been killed in a motorcucle acccident on the island the previous week. A local fisherman pulled up his boat and proudly showed us a freshly killed sailfish and barracuda. Bigger than any of the fish I had seen in the previous three days.

The locals are very nice, and the staff of the resort was really nice. This is a muich bigger problem. Save your money and your expectations. Heopfully they will get their house in order.

 

[Doc]

It's called "the Caribbean".

What you saw (or didn't see) is a factor of over-fishing that is everywhere, worldwide. In Jamaica, over the last 25 years, the Chefs have adopted the phrase, "Jamaicans like de tasty leetle feesh". Bull roar. That's all they have left.

Lets throw in the ongoing crappy weather, pretty typical of March.

Nobody guarantees Whale Sharks (except me), certainly not in March.

After you've seen all those rare Turles, Sharks, Grouper and Baracuda... Go on back and follow your DM very closely. He will point out the Bay Island's truly cool stuff - the little macro critters that most miss while they're looking a for their Page One lifetime checklist Lobster or Shark.

There's lots left in the Bay Islands, but it's not stuff they eat or things divers harass (Nurse sharks specifically)... This unfortunately is widespread in the Caribbean. For those still in search of the exotic Baracuda and Parrot fish, maybe have a dip somewhere in the Marine Park Zone of Roatan. If you're ready to see Pipe fish, Sea horses, Cryptic crabs and the elusive stuff, beyond the rare Squirrelfish, you might want to come back again for a second look.

The Caribbean? You're looking at it from your very valid but extremely short historical perspective. Cayman, Nassau, and Jamaica were as good as it could be in 1970. Go to places like Utila, Roatan and a very small list of others before they become what the early popular islands have devolved into.

See it now.

 

[georgem1960]

Thanks for the corrrection on the spelling... Been diving in South Pacific, Cayman etc. I am well aware the Caribbean has problems . What I was trying convey was the complete absence of significant fauna there. This was not a fluke. I had been diving three hundred miles north in Belize and it was worlds different. I saw seven enormous reef sharks in the Blue Hole. Turneffe was amazing. This was more than failed expectations, and I did follow my DM. It was he who told me what the probem was.

 

[Doc]

I wasn't correcting spelling, it was just a general reference to the Caribbean Sea as a whole, and in general, all our Oceans. (It took me years to learn how to spell it, no easier than the "Philippines".)

Did your DM show you Pipefish & Seahorses? If not, you had brutal weather (which did suck there for the period you infer) or your DM was not doing you any favors.

And yes, many people find great interest in Roatan's Mary's Place dive site just as you found wonder In the Blue Hole of Belize. I understand the attraction.

I posit that you had one bad trip to an otherwise interesting place (by Caribbean standards). Belize and the Bay Islands are 90 miles apart (i will offer a correction on that, though) and are on the same reef line. Divers have been coming to Belize for 30 years (in volume) and Utila for 12 years.

Luckily for them, they are still fooling most people into thinking it doesn't suck all that much- and in that regard, I refer to both Belize and Utila. Nothing is perfect all the time, nothing always suits all levels of divers, no one place is going to always "be better", not even when they're these two very proximate neighbors.

We are using up the Oceans at a startlingly accelerating pace.

 

[diversteve]

we didn't see a single turtle, [-]shark[/-], grouper or barracuda.

We did - at Black Hills. 6 or 7 3-4' grouper, several turtles, more cuda than I could easily count (100+) and about 7-8 3'+ Oceanic Triggers. On one 40' dive. We liked it so much we went back later that week and saw almost the same things again.

No reef sharks though, we only saw those deeper on the north side - Pinnacle and Duppy Waters.

<- 8 Whale Sharks over 2 days further offshore on the north side. But we went looking for them for about an hour+ after our dives daily. Almost exactly 3 years ago this week.

 

[Damselfish]

We had a similar experience in Utila. Beautiful corals, few fish of any sort, and few macro critters - and we're pretty good at finding the little stuff. But conditions sucked when we were there, and the DM we had was less than worthless - ditched her after some dives where she literally did not find the reef until near the end of the dive, never mind critters. (Only 2 DMs where we stayed, the other was supposedly good, but we never dove with him the whole week, long story.) But I will probably give the place another chance sometime.

 

[Lorenzoid]

So it seems Utila hasn't changed in the 10 years since I spent some time there. Ten years ago Utila's reef seemed a bit barren to me in comparison to, say, Belize. Question: Is Utila's reef in even WORSE shape than was 10 years ago?

 

[georgem1960]

So Doc, are you saying I should give the place another chance? If so when is the best time of year. Not doing March again...

 

[laurenceh]

get serious, i live on the south/southwest side of utila right across from the fishermen on pigeon cay. if i want to see barracuda or turtles i just have to snorkel off of my beach (although there are generally several barras under the dock because the shade attracts clouds of bait fish) and if i want to see anything else its a tank and a 10 minute boat ride away.
sharks although not common seem by my observations to actually be making a small come back since their fishing was banned three year ago.
sure its not darwin arch or rangiroa and over fishing is an on going problem but utila has a much healthier reef/fish stock than most places in the caribbean, comparing it to jamaica is farcical.
you just had a bad week.

 

[Doc]

So Doc, are you saying I should give the place another chance? If so when is the best time of year. Not doing March again...

In the Caribbean, I like the months of April>August the best, for a couple of reasons.

Look at the weather conditions of the Caribbean as a whole, look specifically at the Bay Islands. Throughout the "official" tropical storm season, Aug>Nov, the Bay Islands lie South of the line that storms are supposed to take. Rare storms do hit the Bay Islands, but those that make it that far into the Mar Caribe before they are pushed "up and to the right" (clockwise), they usually make land fall from Belize to Cozumel, Cancun, and beyond to Texas. Even the occasional ones that do center-up on Belize can cause considerable wind and wave (and rain) in the Bay Islands. This is a distinct argument for considering the South side. This area will still be diveable in those conditions, but obviously critter behaviors will be altered and they will be decidedly less observable. This is because of the very minor temperature change and salinity variance due to rain water run-off.

The Western Caribbean (Bay Islands, Belize, Coz, Cancun, etc) are also susceptible to "Northers", which occur after the Hurricane/Tropical Storm Season and can push well into March. If there is a cold Canadian blast that pushes South into the US, it will likely turn to doog poop in the Western Caribe. The further South you select in the aforementioned group, the less the effect. Roatan in particular has a unique buffer in the form of it's actual shape. 17 miles long, it presents a natural barrier to "Northers", at least along the South side.

Another great reason to dive (anywhere in the Caribbean) during these months is that the water column is predictably full of critters eating or being eaten. Night dives which are well led can be spectacular, even to the noob diver. Once again, you understand by now that I concentrate on the little stuff, but as observation skill improve or with the point of a finger, newer divers begin to notice Squid hovering above, Corals actively involved in gorging themselves on the barely discernible, almost clear larval stage bugs that will grow to be Lobsters... or just tonight's snack. Did you ever watch a Coral feed? It's the source-stuff of SciFi nightmares.

Sitting in 20fsw, I set the light in the sand, pointed straight up, sat back, and watched....

The water column is alive with life.