Utopia Village
I just came back from Utila, Honduras having stayed a week at the Utopia Village Resort as part of a group of about 12 divers. I left New England and arrived in Atlanta GA for a flight to San Pedro Sula. Then had to take a jumper plane to Utila. After that, we took a small transfer to the dock to catch the boat to Utopia. It makes for a long day. Interestingly, we were told that we had to pay a tax of $2 US for arriving in Honduras that day while in San Pedro Sula (by the SOSA airlines) but we did not after talking to the collector and going through some confusing conversations. You only need to pay on the way out ($36.57).
Arrival
We arrived at the Utopia dock in the late afternoon and were taken to the outdoor bar to have a drink and wind down from the travel. The management came out to greet us and we were introduced to the various people who we would be interacting with the whole week. We gathered in a screened in room with the billiard table for an orientation which is next to the library and given our room assignments. We were then given a quick tour of the main building that has the dining area and kitchen, small store and the office. The dining area is very comfy with high ceilings. It is very open with screens to let in the air and keep out the bugs.
Rooms
After the tour, I went up to my room. It was on the 2nd floor of an L-shaped building (which is only 2 stories high). I was impressed with the initial presentation of the room. Being on the 2nd floor, the room had a high ceiling with some "skylights". Seemed to be well designed and large enough to very comfortably sleep 2 people. It had a "designerly" touch to it. The bathroom was a nice size and had a tile shower and toilet. The sink was in the main part of the room with the beds presumably so someone can shower or use the toilet while you use the sink. After staying for a week, I found the short comings of the design of the room but nothing too major. It would have been nice to have a shelf in the shower and a real towel rack in the bathroom large enough to hang all the towels to dry. There also needed to be a towel rack by the sink. We also did not have a soap dish and just used a piece of the soap box for a dish all week long. There was a refrigerator in the room but it was dirty and did not seem to work or was not plugged in. One note to be aware of for Utopia is that the waste system is a stage 3. That means NO toilet paper or anything goes down the toilet! There was a small plastic bucket with a top that you used to put all toilet paper in. It was emptied everyday. Overall, the room was comfy and very clean and well laid out with ample space (free standing closet) to store your clothes. Rooms were quiet and had excellent air conditioning and a fan with a light. There was also a screen door on the entrance to the rooms. Nice to leave the door open when you're inside.
Outside the room on the balcony were large hooks to hang your stuff to dry and also lounge chairs to sit in, but they usually doubled as equipment drying racks. We would have had a premo view of the beach but there was a grove of trees in the way.
Beach
The beach was nice but not really meant to be a swimming beach as there was too much coral underwater and it was difficult to walk or wade. It was basically a good sun tanning beach with lots of sand... and sand fleas or no-see-ums. Most of the week, there was enough wind to deter the bugs but if the wind died down, you were at their mercy. Hate to say it, but the bugs were bad and detracted from a really nice vacation. When it becomes the topic of the day, everyday, it's a problem. Seems that normal deet products really do not work well and the Cactus Juice didn't seem to be any better. What did work was baby oil, but you had to put it on thick so the bugs would get caught in it and die. Not a comfortable feeling at all. There were only a few hardy souls who sat on the beach and braved the bugs. If the wind was not blowing, they were pretty horrible. I pretty much avoided sitting on the beach and I love sitting on the beach, but I am also the type of person who attracts bugs. They love to bite me.
Diving!
Diving the whole week was very good. Some great life and color on the reefs but wish I could have seen even more diversity of fish. Guess it's never enough. Visibility was good but not as good as I've seen at Roatan... but also not as bad as I've seen at Roatan. Probably because of downpours some nights that would stir up the water. The walls were good but I think the walls at Roatan were better for their ruggedness and diversity. We did the Pinnacle which is a really nice dive. Just a large round reef that juts up to close to the surface from about 90'. You can swim all around it as you come up. There's also a short swim through near the Pinnacle that's kinda neat... but very short. Calvin's Crack is still the best. Everyday we would do 2 dives in the morning, meeting at the bar at 8 am. We would then walk over to the dock (about 1/8- 1/4 mile?). Only about 5-10 minutes literally. Our gear was always transported and carried from the locker to the boat by the staff. I'd have to say the dive operation is smooooth! No hiccups. Well planned and executed everyday. We ended up diving the north side and the south side all week long. Only when the water got choppy did we have to settle for a different site.
One nit to pick was the cost of nitrox... $12 a tank. I'm not a nitrox junkie like some other divers in the group, but that's just a little too expensive for me. I was told the high cost was due to the shipment of O2 tanks from the mainland. We did use nitrox as a group (we're all certified except for one) on the Halliburton wreck dive. The dive is about 100' to the bottom and the deck is about 60'. Excellent time for nitrox.
Shore diving in front of Utopia is some of the best reef diving in front of a resort that I have seen. Lots of life and color and it's anywhere from 7' to 20' feet deep. Then you hit the wall and can go down as deep as want. You can leave your gear on the dock after the morning dives when you get off the boat and they will bring tanks out for you. Shore diving is unlimited and there is much to see. It's easy diving except for getting out in front of the resort. There's lots of coral and walking out is more difficult than a normal sandy beach. This can be a problem when the wind whips up and the waves start coming in. Another option is to exit back at the dock, but the ladder was missing a bottom rung and made exiting more difficult than necessary for some divers. I'd say there's room for improvement on this part. A dock in front of the resort would be a tremendous improvement and make it a more shore dive friendly resort.
Divemasters Extraordinaire
Our divemaster team of Juan Carlos (aka JuCa pronouned as "Hoo-ka") and Gina were absolutely fantastic. Great divemasters! They were energetic and led our group on dives that suited our abilities (slightly more advanced than the usual) which made for a great week of diving. They are very caring and conscientious. Probably the best divemasters I've had the pleasure of diving with on vacation. The boat is a nice size for about 12-15 divers, which is what we had the whole week. It's clean and well maintained. Sydney, the captain, is also top notch. Between dives we had homemade banana bread and watermelon and sometimes cantaloupe. There is always water available as usual. After the dives just put whatever gear into the boat bag they supplied that you want to get stowed in the locker room overnight... mostly gear that dries easily. They transport and rinse and hang it up for you. I always took my wetsuit back to the room to hang on a hanger on the balcony. It would always be dry for the next day. We would get back around noon-ish which is just the right time to have lunch.
Food
Food at Utopia was a mixed bag for me. I know lots of other divers who thought the food was very good. The meals started off very good for the first 2 days then was kind of inconsistent the rest of the week. For me, the fish was always overcooked. Hard and dry. Bummer because I am a big time seafood lover. Utopia, to their credit, does send out forms asking for your preferences. Quite a nice touch, and they do read them and the chef plans meals around your likes and dislikes. However, you only get 2 choices for lunch and dinner (one night we had 3). Breakfast is basically a buffet of different things... eggs, quiche, waffles, french toast, bacon, etc... but not all of this is served everyday. I enjoyed the breakfasts. Lunch and dinner were different. It's very tough to make a choice of only 2 items and I wish there was always a standard menu of easy to prepare items such as hamburgers or club sandwiches in case you didn't like both items being served that day, which happened occasionally. Dessert was always served after dinner. Sometimes it was a great well prepared dessert, other times it was kind of blah... like angel food cake with some chocolate drizzled on top (after one guest suggested chocolate). Overall, I'd say the food was better than average except for the fish which the chef REALLY needs to learn how to cook.
Summary
Overall, a good trip with good diving. The resort is very nice but the bugs are really a problem. More so than they let on. The dive operation is top notch with JuCa as the head divemaster. Food could use some improvement and it wouldn't take much to get it to an excellent rating. This is obviously not the kind of resort that you expect the best value, but there's things I expected from Utopia that just weren't there. Again, it wouldn't take much to get the resort to a high quality level but the quality is in the details and they just seemed to fall ever so short... at least on my vacation. Taking an informal poll of the divers on the trip, about half would go back.
I just came back from Utila, Honduras having stayed a week at the Utopia Village Resort as part of a group of about 12 divers. I left New England and arrived in Atlanta GA for a flight to San Pedro Sula. Then had to take a jumper plane to Utila. After that, we took a small transfer to the dock to catch the boat to Utopia. It makes for a long day. Interestingly, we were told that we had to pay a tax of $2 US for arriving in Honduras that day while in San Pedro Sula (by the SOSA airlines) but we did not after talking to the collector and going through some confusing conversations. You only need to pay on the way out ($36.57).
Arrival
We arrived at the Utopia dock in the late afternoon and were taken to the outdoor bar to have a drink and wind down from the travel. The management came out to greet us and we were introduced to the various people who we would be interacting with the whole week. We gathered in a screened in room with the billiard table for an orientation which is next to the library and given our room assignments. We were then given a quick tour of the main building that has the dining area and kitchen, small store and the office. The dining area is very comfy with high ceilings. It is very open with screens to let in the air and keep out the bugs.
Rooms
After the tour, I went up to my room. It was on the 2nd floor of an L-shaped building (which is only 2 stories high). I was impressed with the initial presentation of the room. Being on the 2nd floor, the room had a high ceiling with some "skylights". Seemed to be well designed and large enough to very comfortably sleep 2 people. It had a "designerly" touch to it. The bathroom was a nice size and had a tile shower and toilet. The sink was in the main part of the room with the beds presumably so someone can shower or use the toilet while you use the sink. After staying for a week, I found the short comings of the design of the room but nothing too major. It would have been nice to have a shelf in the shower and a real towel rack in the bathroom large enough to hang all the towels to dry. There also needed to be a towel rack by the sink. We also did not have a soap dish and just used a piece of the soap box for a dish all week long. There was a refrigerator in the room but it was dirty and did not seem to work or was not plugged in. One note to be aware of for Utopia is that the waste system is a stage 3. That means NO toilet paper or anything goes down the toilet! There was a small plastic bucket with a top that you used to put all toilet paper in. It was emptied everyday. Overall, the room was comfy and very clean and well laid out with ample space (free standing closet) to store your clothes. Rooms were quiet and had excellent air conditioning and a fan with a light. There was also a screen door on the entrance to the rooms. Nice to leave the door open when you're inside.
Outside the room on the balcony were large hooks to hang your stuff to dry and also lounge chairs to sit in, but they usually doubled as equipment drying racks. We would have had a premo view of the beach but there was a grove of trees in the way.
Beach
The beach was nice but not really meant to be a swimming beach as there was too much coral underwater and it was difficult to walk or wade. It was basically a good sun tanning beach with lots of sand... and sand fleas or no-see-ums. Most of the week, there was enough wind to deter the bugs but if the wind died down, you were at their mercy. Hate to say it, but the bugs were bad and detracted from a really nice vacation. When it becomes the topic of the day, everyday, it's a problem. Seems that normal deet products really do not work well and the Cactus Juice didn't seem to be any better. What did work was baby oil, but you had to put it on thick so the bugs would get caught in it and die. Not a comfortable feeling at all. There were only a few hardy souls who sat on the beach and braved the bugs. If the wind was not blowing, they were pretty horrible. I pretty much avoided sitting on the beach and I love sitting on the beach, but I am also the type of person who attracts bugs. They love to bite me.
Diving!
Diving the whole week was very good. Some great life and color on the reefs but wish I could have seen even more diversity of fish. Guess it's never enough. Visibility was good but not as good as I've seen at Roatan... but also not as bad as I've seen at Roatan. Probably because of downpours some nights that would stir up the water. The walls were good but I think the walls at Roatan were better for their ruggedness and diversity. We did the Pinnacle which is a really nice dive. Just a large round reef that juts up to close to the surface from about 90'. You can swim all around it as you come up. There's also a short swim through near the Pinnacle that's kinda neat... but very short. Calvin's Crack is still the best. Everyday we would do 2 dives in the morning, meeting at the bar at 8 am. We would then walk over to the dock (about 1/8- 1/4 mile?). Only about 5-10 minutes literally. Our gear was always transported and carried from the locker to the boat by the staff. I'd have to say the dive operation is smooooth! No hiccups. Well planned and executed everyday. We ended up diving the north side and the south side all week long. Only when the water got choppy did we have to settle for a different site.
One nit to pick was the cost of nitrox... $12 a tank. I'm not a nitrox junkie like some other divers in the group, but that's just a little too expensive for me. I was told the high cost was due to the shipment of O2 tanks from the mainland. We did use nitrox as a group (we're all certified except for one) on the Halliburton wreck dive. The dive is about 100' to the bottom and the deck is about 60'. Excellent time for nitrox.
Shore diving in front of Utopia is some of the best reef diving in front of a resort that I have seen. Lots of life and color and it's anywhere from 7' to 20' feet deep. Then you hit the wall and can go down as deep as want. You can leave your gear on the dock after the morning dives when you get off the boat and they will bring tanks out for you. Shore diving is unlimited and there is much to see. It's easy diving except for getting out in front of the resort. There's lots of coral and walking out is more difficult than a normal sandy beach. This can be a problem when the wind whips up and the waves start coming in. Another option is to exit back at the dock, but the ladder was missing a bottom rung and made exiting more difficult than necessary for some divers. I'd say there's room for improvement on this part. A dock in front of the resort would be a tremendous improvement and make it a more shore dive friendly resort.
Divemasters Extraordinaire
Our divemaster team of Juan Carlos (aka JuCa pronouned as "Hoo-ka") and Gina were absolutely fantastic. Great divemasters! They were energetic and led our group on dives that suited our abilities (slightly more advanced than the usual) which made for a great week of diving. They are very caring and conscientious. Probably the best divemasters I've had the pleasure of diving with on vacation. The boat is a nice size for about 12-15 divers, which is what we had the whole week. It's clean and well maintained. Sydney, the captain, is also top notch. Between dives we had homemade banana bread and watermelon and sometimes cantaloupe. There is always water available as usual. After the dives just put whatever gear into the boat bag they supplied that you want to get stowed in the locker room overnight... mostly gear that dries easily. They transport and rinse and hang it up for you. I always took my wetsuit back to the room to hang on a hanger on the balcony. It would always be dry for the next day. We would get back around noon-ish which is just the right time to have lunch.
Food
Food at Utopia was a mixed bag for me. I know lots of other divers who thought the food was very good. The meals started off very good for the first 2 days then was kind of inconsistent the rest of the week. For me, the fish was always overcooked. Hard and dry. Bummer because I am a big time seafood lover. Utopia, to their credit, does send out forms asking for your preferences. Quite a nice touch, and they do read them and the chef plans meals around your likes and dislikes. However, you only get 2 choices for lunch and dinner (one night we had 3). Breakfast is basically a buffet of different things... eggs, quiche, waffles, french toast, bacon, etc... but not all of this is served everyday. I enjoyed the breakfasts. Lunch and dinner were different. It's very tough to make a choice of only 2 items and I wish there was always a standard menu of easy to prepare items such as hamburgers or club sandwiches in case you didn't like both items being served that day, which happened occasionally. Dessert was always served after dinner. Sometimes it was a great well prepared dessert, other times it was kind of blah... like angel food cake with some chocolate drizzled on top (after one guest suggested chocolate). Overall, I'd say the food was better than average except for the fish which the chef REALLY needs to learn how to cook.
Summary
Overall, a good trip with good diving. The resort is very nice but the bugs are really a problem. More so than they let on. The dive operation is top notch with JuCa as the head divemaster. Food could use some improvement and it wouldn't take much to get it to an excellent rating. This is obviously not the kind of resort that you expect the best value, but there's things I expected from Utopia that just weren't there. Again, it wouldn't take much to get the resort to a high quality level but the quality is in the details and they just seemed to fall ever so short... at least on my vacation. Taking an informal poll of the divers on the trip, about half would go back.
