UTILA Trip Report (April 20 - 26)

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Is Angelo still flying that "vintage" Britten-Norman Islander? Oog, that's about the only airplane in the world I'd probably refuse to fly in, and I've been in a lot of aircraft. I literally can't believe how much gear and humans he packed into that plane one day years ago. It was so tail-heavy that it almost seemed he couldn't get the nose gear down on landing. When I asked him about it, he admitted that was intentional as his nose gear was cracked and he was going to fly over to Belize--sometime, I guess--to get it repaired. That was my second and last time flying with him.

Yes he flies the Britten-Norman Islander. He has had it fitted with some new gizmos and I took a plane part for him when I went. It appears to be a good plane for what it does. Utila has a really rough runway so you are landing on loose gravel. Other planes that land there are also not exactly Bentley class you know.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Oh it was fine! Not nearly as rough as the Beaver we took in Ottawa that was 20 years older than I am.

 

[Oldbear]

I did my DM in Utila...what a great learning experience in an equally great location.

 

[Earl Grey]

I would note that one can get to Utila on regularly scheduled flights from both Roatan and San Pedro Sula via CM Airlines and SOSA Airlines but the schedules are limited. Captain Angelo and other charter operators are more flexible assuming you are willing to pay or enough people are going the same place. I flew CM from SAP to Utila on an old Let 410 aircraft. It may have been a former Aeroflot aircraft as some of the cabin signs remained in Russian.

Glad to see the trip report on Utila - it is quite the place.

 

[adamp69]

hey guys. i'm looking at going to utila or roatan in the very near future. i'll have my gf with me, so i'm probably gonna do an all inclusive kinda deal like deep blue or something. i dont speak any spanish or anything, so my comfort level with roughin it while travelling is a little low...lol. my issue is getting there. im in canada, and i need to avoid US stop overs due to a criminal record from way back when. i can get to San Pedro or San Salvador direct from toronto, but it isnt cheap. should i not bother booking anything from there to Utila? is it better to just figure it out when i get there? I understand there are buses, ferry's and charters leaving daily. should i wing this portion of the trip?

 

[diversteve]

To fly direct from San Pedro Sula to Utila contact Alice at Worldwide Travel. She can make all the arrangements. https://www.facebook.com/wwtutila
Morgans is another option: About Us Day/early evening flights only - there's no lights at the Utila airport.

To take the ferries you'll have to get from SPS to La Ceiba. I think that requires an overnight in SPS or La Ceiba. There's a bus - IDK any details how that works. Except it's probably Hedman Alas - my spanish is non-existent also: Hedman Alas Bus | Destinos

To get to Roatan from La Ceiba take the Galaxy Ferry - Roatan Ferry, La Ceiba Ferry | Safeway Maritime
To get to Utila from La Ceiba take the Princess Ferry - Utila Princess

Both moor next to each other and their schedules mesh so you can actually go from Utila <-> Roatan using both.

I like Deep Blue, we stayed/dove with them a couple years ago. They have a good discount starting in July, $850 pp/wk all-inclusive. They also have travel details on their website: http://www.deepblueutila.com/howto.php

 

[adamp69]

thanks diversteve. i may try and work out a week in utila and a week in roatan. hell i may stay there yet....lol

 

[Damselfish]

Interesting side note: I was diving with this girl from Australia and she had done her OW and AOW in the Great Barrier reef. She was telling me that while Australia has more sites because barrier reef is so big, quality wise Utila has dive sites that are right up there with the Great Barrier Reef. This further confirmed my belief that in the world of dive-travel quality of diving and price have no real connection. In Utila, it is possible to experience GBR class diving for under 600 USD whereas a trip to Australia would cost over 6000 USD with the airfare.

Just curious, what part of the GBR was she comparing Utila against? It's called "Great" because it's big, nothing necessarily to do with the quality of the diving. Any comparison that doesn't specify where on the GBR is meaningless. Parts are pretty average at best, in particular some areas closer to Cairns where a lot of folks their do OW and AOW...

Price does have a connection to quality, in that most of the best diving in the world is far from the US and generally involves expensive airfares - if you're traveling from the US. Once you get somewhere, value is all over the place.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Just curious, what part of the GBR was she comparing Utila against? It's called "Great" because it's big, nothing necessarily to do with the quality of the diving. Any comparison that doesn't specify where on the GBR is meaningless. Parts are pretty average at best, in particular some areas closer to Cairns where a lot of folks their do OW and AOW...

Price does have a connection to quality, in that most of the best diving in the world is far from the US and generally involves expensive airfares - if you're traveling from the US. Once you get somewhere, value is all over the place.

Hi Damselfish: It has been a while so I do not recall which part of GBR they were talking about.

My understanding is that once you land at any given place, the prices for diving in that place are connected to the local economy rather than the quality of reef or marine life. So diving in developed nations (USA, UK, Australia) will be more expensive than diving in developing nations like Thailand, Philippines and Egypt etc regardless of which has better reef or marine life.