Utila Topside/San Pedro

[bluedog67]

Hello All - long time lurker, first time poster!

About to pull the trigger on a week in Utila in late April. Final question - can't dive the last day, so should we spend the Friday traveling by ferry, etc back to San Pedro, or a land based day on Utila and a 6 am flight back to SAP? Our SAP flight leaves at 1 pm on Saturday.

We are flying direct from SAP to Utila the prior Saturday, so won't have seen anything else of Honduras. Is it worth spending time in La Ceiba or San Pedro for a little culture? Torn between the convenience of the saturday flight and leaving a country without having seen any of it!

Thanks for your help!

 

[JJJason]

I see your dilemma. On a previous trip, we had driven the country and saw pineapple and banana plantations, green mountains and farms which were all cool. Our trip a week ago, we took the 6 am from Utila to SAP. Worked out well except for a long boring morning at the SAP airport waiting for our 1 pm flight. Thank goodness for expresso americana.

We did dive in the morning the previous day, finishing up about 1 pm. Some will argue the safety of it, but both of our computers cleared us by flight time. I don't know if the island hopper goes high enough to cause a problem so we were mostly concerned about our 1 pm flight.

After the dives, we hung out on the beach while the gear was drying, packed some, and celebrated the sunset one last time on the water. Great last night dinner and the adios the next morning.

Not sure if you really have enough time to check out the culture while worrying about the ride to san pedro and staying in a new place etc. Definitely more relaxing to do last day in Utila in my opinion. But on the other hand, it is always cool to explore new things, especially if you have some specific ideas on what you want to check out.

just my 2 cents, either way would work.

 

[ncchuck]

Spend the day on Utila. You don't have enough time on the mainland anyway. Relax and explore some more Utila. I would probably dive (shallow dives) in the AM on Friday since many people now feel it is perfectly safe to fly after 18 hours. If your concerned, check out a whale shark trip.

 

[itsjustme0770]

I'd agree. Stay on Utila. If you decide to head to the mainland, you might check out Pico Bonito and the Lodge there. Its beautiful. You could go over, enjoy the evening and catch a taxi early am back to SAP to see some of the countryside or fly out of La Ceiba.

If you stay on Utila, you might do a horseback ride, check out the freshwater caves or do a trip to water caye (or just hang out on the Tranquilla dock and watch the world go by).

Have a great trip.

 

[kathydee]

You can rent bikes and check out Utillia, beautiful undeveloped coast up towards the NE coast near the airport. It's also nice to hike up pumpkin hill or go to the beach or even join the shark whale watching institute if whale sharks are around (only snorkeling). Plenty to do - I just came back form a month on Utilia & miss it

 

[leadweight]

I don't think its possible to take the ferry from Utila to the mainland and get to the airport in San Pedro Sula for a 1 PM flight the same day. You would probably wind up blowing a night at a hotel near the airport to be on the safe side.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi

Yes you can get to the airport, the ferry from Utila leaves at 6.20am and will arrive in time for you to get a flight from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula and you will be in San Pedro by 10.30am

 

[bluedog67]

SOSA has a 6 am flight on Saturdays, so would get to SAP by 8:30. I think we will take everyone's advice and stay on Friday. We are staying at Utopia, so we will be more remotely than most lodges. A day to play around the island might be nice, and seems if we leave on Friday, we will spend most of our time en route, and won't really see much anyway.

Thanks everyone!