Semita
Contributor
Hola,
Having been able to get a cople of days off work I headed out yesterday to Utila for 2 days of diving. I called in advance to several dive shops as I wanted to secure a night dive during my stay. Unfortunetely, no dive shop had anything scheduled. My Dive shop was even nice enoguh to call around the other shops.
I am happy to report that Utila now has a faster boat from La Ceiba. It is still operated by the Utila Princess crew but it is a smaller and faster 2 haul boat. Usually, it would take over an hour to get from La Ceiba to Utila but now you can make the trip in almost 45 minutes. The price I found is slightly higher than what I remembered and it is costing Lps. 600.00 round trip. You can still catch the ferry at 9 am and at 4 pm from La ceiba to Utila. I heard a rumor on the dock in La Ceiba that there is a new boat coming in but I am not sure what route it would cover. This new boat should be in operation in Augut 2006.
Back to diving.
Headed out at 7 am today for my first 2 dive. First dive was on the North Shore and it took a little longer than usual to get there due to the high winds. Utila Dive Shops usually try to cover dives in the North Shore in the morning and South Shore in the afternoon. First Dive was at a spot called Paraiso. Very nice choice as it starts with a 80-90 ft wall that has interesting formation and a fair amount of wildlife. 10 minutes into the dive we spotted a small mouth turtle, of a decent size, swimming from behind us. We almost missed it but it was very nice to watch. We continued on the wall and made the turn back at a more shallow depth. This spot, as mentioned earlier, is very nice cause the second leg covered nice sand patches that run perpendicular to the wall as well as some nice tunnels. In this leg of the dive our Dive Master John spotted and baby amorey it was amazing that he actually spotted it cause of it's size. He later explained that there is a fish that hangs around the eels and that usually gives away their location. Just after the first amorey sighting we spotted a mature eel of bright green color. Very nice as it was swimming above the coral.
The dive ended with a nice swim to the boat with very little current and a nice and warm sun to welcome us back to the boat.
Second dive was at a spot called Laberinth. Very intricate tunnels with a max depth of about 60 feet. Most of the dive was made at depths averaging 25-30 ft. Nice formations, good visibility and our dive master was very helpfull in spotting the smal criters that are known in Utila and Roatan.
An interesting sidenote is that Utila is having their annual carnival this week. Not very big but nice enough to watch a parade, beuty pagent celebration, and some nice parties at night. I will try not to stay up too late as I have two more dive tomorrow morning before heading back to the mainland at 2 pm.
Will try to provide some feedback on the afternoon dive of today and tomorrows morning dives before I leave.
P.S. There is a Carbonara pasta at Mango Inn's cafe that rocks. I usually have some pizza but this stuff was reaaly good tonight.
Having been able to get a cople of days off work I headed out yesterday to Utila for 2 days of diving. I called in advance to several dive shops as I wanted to secure a night dive during my stay. Unfortunetely, no dive shop had anything scheduled. My Dive shop was even nice enoguh to call around the other shops.
I am happy to report that Utila now has a faster boat from La Ceiba. It is still operated by the Utila Princess crew but it is a smaller and faster 2 haul boat. Usually, it would take over an hour to get from La Ceiba to Utila but now you can make the trip in almost 45 minutes. The price I found is slightly higher than what I remembered and it is costing Lps. 600.00 round trip. You can still catch the ferry at 9 am and at 4 pm from La ceiba to Utila. I heard a rumor on the dock in La Ceiba that there is a new boat coming in but I am not sure what route it would cover. This new boat should be in operation in Augut 2006.
Back to diving.
Headed out at 7 am today for my first 2 dive. First dive was on the North Shore and it took a little longer than usual to get there due to the high winds. Utila Dive Shops usually try to cover dives in the North Shore in the morning and South Shore in the afternoon. First Dive was at a spot called Paraiso. Very nice choice as it starts with a 80-90 ft wall that has interesting formation and a fair amount of wildlife. 10 minutes into the dive we spotted a small mouth turtle, of a decent size, swimming from behind us. We almost missed it but it was very nice to watch. We continued on the wall and made the turn back at a more shallow depth. This spot, as mentioned earlier, is very nice cause the second leg covered nice sand patches that run perpendicular to the wall as well as some nice tunnels. In this leg of the dive our Dive Master John spotted and baby amorey it was amazing that he actually spotted it cause of it's size. He later explained that there is a fish that hangs around the eels and that usually gives away their location. Just after the first amorey sighting we spotted a mature eel of bright green color. Very nice as it was swimming above the coral.
The dive ended with a nice swim to the boat with very little current and a nice and warm sun to welcome us back to the boat.
Second dive was at a spot called Laberinth. Very intricate tunnels with a max depth of about 60 feet. Most of the dive was made at depths averaging 25-30 ft. Nice formations, good visibility and our dive master was very helpfull in spotting the smal criters that are known in Utila and Roatan.
An interesting sidenote is that Utila is having their annual carnival this week. Not very big but nice enough to watch a parade, beuty pagent celebration, and some nice parties at night. I will try not to stay up too late as I have two more dive tomorrow morning before heading back to the mainland at 2 pm.
Will try to provide some feedback on the afternoon dive of today and tomorrows morning dives before I leave.
P.S. There is a Carbonara pasta at Mango Inn's cafe that rocks. I usually have some pizza but this stuff was reaaly good tonight.
