Utila Reef Condition

[gypsyjim]

I am curious about the weather/dive conditions that we could expect in Feb. We are pretty sure Utila is our destination for 2014, and Feb is my only available choice for time off to do the trip.

 

[farsidefan1]

Good luck. I don't know that I'd repeat a trip to the bay islands from November through early March. But I have become very spoiled and picky over the years .

 

[gypsyjim]

Since Feb is a set vacation slot for my job, and my summer slot is committed to travel to Alaska to visit my son, Feb is when we will be visiting Utila.

My gf won an aution at Beneath the Sea for a week at Laguna Beach on Utila, so I am collecting as much info as I can find on what to expect, and what to look for. It sounds like Utila has similar issues in the winter as FL, in that weather can be a problem, depending on what our Canadian friends send south

 

[Stout]

Aye...I've got to say that in 13 years ( and about 250 dives in 5 trips ) I've never seen a shark save nurse sharks. And, yes I've watched them be harassed by divers. This year, I watched someone swim down to a nurse shark because they just had to touch it and the nurse shark, of course, took off with it's rest period being interrupted.

IMO "don't mess with the wildlife" should be included in every dive briefing. I mean if Utila is going to requite a certification of divemaster and above to hunt lionfish due to fears about damaging the reef, this topic is at least worthy of discussion among the dive op owners.

Any groupers I saw on the reef were pretty small and the only good sized one I saw was on a trip to Roatan Banks. One, that's it just one but it was friendly, friendly enough that I could have poled it several times had I felt the desire.
Ah heck, who am I kidding, I was thinking about grabbing it's tail and using it as a scooter.

Dozens of lionfish out there on that site,yet the reef was healthy with lots of the typical fish, hummmmm.

It's also interesting to note the amount of fish eaten by divers.

Anyways.

This year I saw plenty of turtles and many many barracudas. Individual barracudas, or in pairs, never a school of them like we see on TV.

I was never bored on a dive except in the Spotted Bay area. For some reason that area seemed rather desolate this year but the north, south and east sides all payed off well if I kept my eyes open.

February can be hit or miss when it comes to weather. Technically it's still "winter" but this year, in five weeks, Jan/Feb I only experienced one day when the boat didn't go out and one dive where conditions absolutely sucked. North side, big breakers dragging crap off the upland and making visibility about three feet. A couple of sites over, conditions were great. Found a palometa that wanted to be my buddy and together we poking around looking for goldentail morays.

I'll keep diving Utila until they screw it up and judging by the way they're going, overfishing is the only way that will happen.

 

[Doc]

Aye...I've got to say that in 13 years ( and about 250 dives in 5 trips ) I've never seen a shark save nurse sharks.

I am always looking at the walls. My friends usually just tag along and wait for me to tap my faceplate and they come over and look. They have often told me that they have seen Sharks ghost by in the blue, quite often at the 100fsw+ range. Kind of hard to see when you're at my usual 50', even if you should stare seaward. The environs of the Bay Islands are unusual in that you can be over 3000' on a shore dive (if you are lost and/or a complete idiot).

They're out there. I often muse that for every one that I have glimpsed, 300 have likely sensed me and decided that I should be avoided. Wary creatures. They are regularly seen at the primary group tour exit of Mary's Place, out a bit, along the Eastern wall.

I'll keep diving Utila until they screw it up and judging by the way they're going, overfishing is the only way that will happen.

What? They have no plans for a golf course yet? Sedimentation, as you allude in your post, is the real killer of reefs and all life. Fishing, divers and cruise ships are really minor by comparison. It's all the earth that is disturbed to build dwellings and roads for us bipeds. You're right, though, due to any number of factors, not the least of which is a sputtering world economy, development for Utila is a far-off dream... or a nightmare.

 

[Stout]

Every once in a while I hear a shark story about Utila, so yes, they are out there and no doubt giving those loud bubble blowers a wide berth. There was the tiger shark story last year, the one out at black hills that, yep, you guessed it, got finned and last week I was reading on Alton's facebook page that they didn't want to put snorkelers in the water with a whale shark because there were makos feeding on the bonita.

I'm not up on the habits of groupers but I haven't seen one on Utila's reefs that I'd judge to be larger than two feet. Maybe I'm just unlucky as I'm one of those glued to the wall in shallow waters type myself and I mostly glimpse them taking off up the sand channels.

Personally, I can't see development on Utila being an issue in the near future. Over the past two years I've watched real estate prices decline sharply, for those who are really wanting to sell, not those who are "playing the game" but yes, sedimentation is a real enemy of the reef.

One thing that's curious about Utila, and no doubt Roatan too, is the occasional presence of this weird brown snotty algae that sporadically shows up. In past years I've seen this stuff bloom and make a healthy dive site undiveable as everything is covered in the stuff, the colour is gone and the fish have left. Nobody seems to know much about it as in what it is and what drives these blooms but upon returning to the site the following year, everything looks healthy and there's no evidence this stuff was ever there.

This year I only saw sporadic patches of the algae, usually in about 40 feet of water. I've heard a few theories, water temperature, sewage, speculation on currents coming up from South America bringing nutrients, but damn, that stuff is ugly.

Even without the huge schools of fish, like the ones you see on TV ( bar jacks and yellowtail snappers ) Utila's reefs served well to keep me entertained and hey ! black capped basslets were out in force this year. ( I like purple fish ) as well as what I think I've identified as sunshine fish ( look like chromis, act like territorial damslefish ) as well as an upsurge in greater soapfish. A lot more clown wrasse this year as well as those trumpetfish with the blue heads.

I did suck at finding slender filefish this year and I didn't see to much in the way of spotted eagle rays or atlantic spadefish. Porcupine fish appeared to be down, as well as French Angles but all in all the reefs looked damn good to me.:cool2:

 

[Dave C]

I am a mere snorkeler (although an extremely avid one), and I was in Utila earlier this month for 10 days. (I just made a separate post on this board with a link to my photos.) I have been to a bunch of places in the Caribbean, and I did not find the marine life in Utila to be that bad. Right off the place we stayed (Slumberland Villas close to Utila town), I saw a nurse shark, eagle rays, barracudas, and great coral and sponge formations in excellent health. Yes, I wish there were more fish and I didn't see any big groupers, but I say the same thing for just about anywhere I go. I agree that Belize is better; although it has been 10 years since I have been to Belize, I found Belize to be the "fishiest" place I have experienced in the Caribbean. When you look at the geography of Belize, you see there is a huge area of estuaries and shallow water habitat for production of juvenile fish, not to the mention all the additional habitat in the so-called offshore "atolls". Fish I observed to be more abundant in Utila than elsewhere in the Caribbean included queen angels, indigo hamlet, and trumpetfish. I remember these also being especially abundant in Rotatan when I was there in 2006. Although I have not been to Jamaica, nor do I ever intend to, I think comparing the sparseness of underwater life in Utila to that in Jamaica to be a huge overstretch. Based on what I have read about Jamaica, I expect someone there is presently eating a damselfish at the very moment I am typing this post.

 

[laurenceh]

not to sound snarky but do you think that snorkeling in front of your accommodation in utila town gives you enough experience of the island to say that belize is better (10 years ago, utila was better as well)?
perhaps you should have ventured a mile or two west to see the marine life on the south shore or around the cays, or walked to the old airport or gone to the north side for a more balanced opinion? sadly you missed 95% of the great snorkeling spots.

 

[Dave C]

The internet is an interesting place. I write a post defending Utila and someone criticizes me for not defending it more. Jeesh! Perhaps you have a personal agenda. By the way, we did go to Water Cay and Rock Harbour. Rock Harbour had some very clear water and would be a preferred place to snorkel if it were more accessible.

 

[gypsyjim]

You will never please everyone, and the internet has a lot more of every type of everyone.
Post your observations, and your opinions. It is up to the readers to sort, and and choose who's take they wish to value