Adventures for Life

UTILA
Bay Islands, Honduras
December 26, 2005 - January 3, 2006

Bookmarks:| General Info | Accommodations | Beaches | Diving | Restaurants and Bars

General Info
Looking for large wide sandy beaches, world class accommodations, five star restaurants, highly developed infrastructure, and wild party bars? Then Utila is not for you!! However if you are looking for great diving, inexpensive accommodations, bars where both locals and the "tourists" party together, good restaurants and a real taste (and smell) of island life not overly influenced by tourists then Utila is the place to go.

Utila is located off the Honduras coast and is the closest of the three bay islands that include the better known and more developed Roatan as well as Guanaja. Utila's claim to fame is as one of the least expensive places to learn to dive and as a result attracts a great number of the younger backpacker and "Hostile" type crowd. From an underwater experience standpoint, Utila is also known for whale shark sightings as well as diving for all abilities.

There is only one town on Utila and one main road through that town that follows the harbor. The town is comprised of a narrow street, lined on both sides with business of various varieties and in various states of repair. This main street is really a collection of styles and seems little changed in the last few years. The recent introduction of an independent electrical utility has created several unique electrical wiring approaches and along with the buildings and the smells you have the very real feeling that you are not in a tourist town. Adding to this feeling is the airport that is a paved strip with no control tower, no buildings and only a small bus stop type shelter for you to wait and hope your plane arrives. Utila is a great place to visit, dive and stay if you willing to experience the unique non-tourist setting it offers.

Accommodations
There are no luxury hotels on Utila but there are very reasonably priced accommodations that are good. I stayed at the Mango Inn - a short walk up the road to the airport from town. The Mango Inn has accommodations that range from a shared dormitory style room, standard rooms, deluxe rooms, standard cabins and deluxe cabins. I selected the top of the line deluxe cabin and was rewarded with a large room that had a separate sitting and raised sleeping area, a large bathroom and a great deck. The room was clean, the staff nice and helpful and I enjoyed my deck when not diving. I would recommend this hotel as an alterative to hotels located on the water in town.

Beaches
There are few developed beaches on Utila but two beaches lie at both ends of town on the main road. The one on the western end of town, is a private beach that requires an entry fee and has chairs and other water equipment available. Good snorkeling is available here but the beach is very shallow. The other beach, Chepes, is a public beach that has a few benches but no chairs. Other secluded and difficult to get to beaches exist but Utila is not really a island for beaches.

Diving
Diving is why you come to Utila and it does not disappoint. The trip was arranged by A1 Scuba and Travel and the diving on island was handled by the Utila Dive Center. There are many dive shops and operations on the islands but the Utila Dive Center seemed to be one of the better operations and were very great to work with.

Utila has a range of diving on the spectacular and very untouched reef that surrounds the whole island as well as on sea mounds located in the open water on the northern side of the island. Utila has done a great job of creating a marine park that includes moorings for all dive sites and is supported by a minimal daily fee of $3 per diver. The dive sites are not far from town - with the northern sites taking at most a 20-30 minute boat ride and many excellent sites within 10 minutes of the harbor.

Whale sharks are why many people come to Utila and our group was no different. After diving on the beautiful and lush North side wall on our first day, our group was very fortunate and located two separate whale sharks. The first whale shark we located, we were able to swim with this beautiful animal for over 5 minutes following along side and behind the shark until it dove into the depths. The second one was more elusive but we still had about three minutes of swim time. In addition to the whale sharks, we were able to swim with a pod of dolphins. We never saw another whale shark during the remaining 6 days of diving but had the experience of a divers life time our first day!

The remaining dives were on the reefs and sea mounds. The reefs were lush with coral and small fish life but did not have an abundance of larger fish schools and few larger fish. The visibility ranged from 30 to 80 feet depending on where the site was located and got better as the week went on as the water cleared from a recent rain storm. There was little if any current on most dives and the dive were very pleasant. I really enjoyed the range of diving and the close and crowded sites - Utila is on my list to return to again.

Restaurants and Bars
Most restaurants and bars are located along the main road in town and are easily "overwhelmed" by more than a few people. I suggest calling ahead and letting any of them know when a group of more than 3 or 4 people will be hitting the restaurant, even then expect to wait 40 minutes or more for your meals as each meal is individually made. Just relax and enjoy the island time. Here are some of the restaurants and bars I enjoyed while in Utila:

Cafe Mango - Located at the Mango Inn, this was a very popular restaurant and was crowed most nights. The pizza's are great as are the specials, with nice people and good (but still slow) service.

Mermaids Buffet - The fastest place to get food on the island.

Bundu Cafe - Nice sandwiches and nice people.

Zanzibar Cafe - Hamburgers, chicken and fish are the fare at this small restaurant.

Munchies - Nice outside seating for basic fare.

Jade Seahorse - Calling this bar, restaurant and hotel located on the road to the airport eclectic is a vast understatement. Glass and tile sculptures as well as a tree house must be seen to be believed.

Coco Loco - One of bars that starts late and goes until early in the morning - very cheap drinks and music.

Tranquila - Next door to Coco Loco with a similar crowd, cheap drinks but a different style of music.

Bar in Bush - Pulsating music heard and felt from miles away and cheap drinks - a crowd that starts late and stays until the morning. Outside of town, located on the road to the airport.