Utila in Feburaury- need travel advice!

[susan6868]

Hi Gang-
We did our first Utila trip last February and fell in love with both the island as well as the diving. The last time we went with our dive club and all was prearrrannged. We stayed at the Laguna Beach resort and were very pleased. However, we did take the little "shuttle" over to the main island and were so impressed with it that we vowed to go back and stay in the "thick" of things rather than the remote resort we were at.
This February, we'd like to go back just the two of us. We'll book our trip a week later than last year as the winds were so high we never did spot a whale shark. (Of course, the diving was awesome just the same.) We'd like to stay at the Mango Inn, we had met a friend from scubaboard there for a drink and just really felt at home. My questions are these:
1. If we stay at the Mango Inn, can we still chose our own dive operator?
(we don't even know who their "package" dive operator is)
2. If we choose our own dive op, who should we choose? (Deep Blue seems awesome
from what you read on the boards
3. Does anyone prereserve their flights from San Pedro Sula to Utila, or do you just hop the next plane heading in that direction when you land at SAP? I know the flights don't go all day. b(We're traveling from New York and DON"T wa[-][-][/-][/-]nt to get stranded in San Pedro Sula overnight!)
4. My understanding is that there are weeks in February and March that we might want to avoid due to special "whale shark" events and high volume of visitors during those weeks.

Now I know there is a way to search for these answers in the threads because I'm sure someone has asked some of them already, what I don't know is how to look for the information. So, please forgive me if I've been repetative, my "board" knowledge is limited at best.

Thanks for any advice you can give, and happy diving!

Susan

 

[itsjustme0770]

Susan-

We like the Mango Inn too, but have not stayed there. I suppose it depends really on what you need/want during your vacation. Some other options include renting a house on the water which is what we do when we are there. :Lots of options depending on your tastes/wants.

I know Mango has an affiliated dive shop, but you aren't under any obligation to dive with them (but the Mango does offer package deals with their operators).

We don't reserve the flight before we get there anymore. Did it once and it didn't matter. Welcome to Manana Land. Getting stuck in San Pedro, while rare, does happen.

I know that doesn't answer all your questions, but hope it helps some. Enjoy.

 

[PJP]

Hi Susan,

There is plenty of place to stay on Utila, just depends on your budget!!! Mango Inn is owned by the owners of two of the dive centers here on Utila. Once you arrive have a look around and get a feel of the dive shops. Ask questions......how many divers in a group, do you go north side...even with small groups on the boat.

If you want more info on some where to stay PM me, more than happy to help

 

[Dr. Bones]

I was just in Utila from 11/18/06 to 11/25/06 and it can be tough to reserve the flight from SAP to Utila. The 2 airlines fly small planes and Utila is a VFR airstrip, which means if the weathers clear the plane flys. Our plane landed in SAP at 2 pm and the Utila flight was at 2:30. My friends landed at 2:40pm so we missed it and took the 7:30 pm flight to the coastal town of La Cieba. We stayed at Hotel Canadien and ended up being there 2 days becasue the airport was closed due to high winds and low visibility. We got to the La Ceiba airport on Mon at 6:30am for a 7:30am flight, but the airport was closed until it suddenly opened at 9:30am and we flew to Utila, a 15 min flight. Upon return the weather was supposed to be sunny and 82F, and instead was windy and rainy. The 7:30 flight arrived at 10:15AM, and there's only 4 posts and a tin roof to stand under waiting for the plane. We were afraid the plane wouldn't come and we would miss our carrier back to the US and then have to purchase new tickets on Monday. There are no air flights to the island on Sundays. They take it off.

We stayed at the Utila Lighthouse and had hot water, was a short walk to Utila Dive Center which is owned by the same as the Mango Inn. The Mango is nice but is farther to walk each day. Yes you can dive anywhere, prices are the same. Watch out for cheaper prices. It offers less services.

I noticed that the reef is dying and is brown. Windy weather prevented us from getting to the north side.

Above all, nothing runs on time or to American schedules due to it's small laid back nature. Also, if the plane does fly, it doesn't mean the ferry will go. It didn't travel for 6 days and the island was running out of food.

Be prepared for unforseen circumstances.

Make sure you get to RJ's for their steak dinner, good and cheap. Go to Tretanic bar. I's awesome.

Good luck,

Regan

 

[Bay Island Diver]

I have to second what Phil says here. It may be a frightening prospect - but as long as you are not going over a holiday weekend, easter,christmas, thanksgiving etc just book your flight and arrive on Utila, Then you can spend an hour or two wandering around and decide where to stay and dive when you are actually there talking to the people who will be taking you diving, and looking at the room you will be staying in.

If you already know where you want to stay from a previous visit book that and decide upon your dive operator when you get there. Diving is such a personal thing the operator often isn't as important as the actual instructor/divemaster who will be guiding you. They change from month to month in many cases so a dive operation which gets excellent feedback one month may be a very different place the next. Its the staff that make it, followed by the boats and the operations policies (which are often closely linked to the cost of gas i.e not going to the north side unless there is a minimum number of people since it is not cost effective)!

Regarding Dr Bones' post he makes a good point. Due to Le Ceiba's location right at the foot of Pico Bonito there are often serious thunder storms sitting over the airport closing it, sometimes for days. So it is best to try and make sure of your connections before leaving San Pedro as getting stuck in Ceiba can be a problem, although from Le Ceiba you can get the ferry which is stopped by thunder storms just wind! This is really only a problem during the rainy season November to February. Don't bother trying to reserve a flight from San Pador just book it when you arrive, it is often cheaper that way and you can make sure you are going with the airline that leaves soonest! They really don't know the meaning of schedules over here! That is hwhat makes it an adventure!

Another alternative is book a flight direct to Roatan (Continental fly from Newark and Houston direct to Roatan on Saturdays, Delta from Atlanta on Saturdays, Taca from Houston on Saturdays and Miami on Sundays) From Roatan there are a couple ex pats operating charter flights between the islands (I will be putting their contact details on my website shortly) or you can organise a boat. You would want to do this in advance though or risk being stuck on Roatan (not a bad thing ;-)

HTH

Will

 

[ZenDiva]

I personally stay at Deep Blue Resort, Love it there!

Currently there now for my 3rd time since April 06, and they have THE BEST BOAT CAPTAIN ON THE ISLAND!

Plus Shirley would arrange your domestic flights for you, from wherever you're coming in from, last couple of times I"ve taken either the atlantic or the Sosa domestic flights from san pedro to cieba, and then the private Selene flight over to Utila, Selene meets you at your plane as you come off, gets your bags and you just walk over to the plane, hop on and take off...it was wonderful to not have to sit around in another airport again for a couple of hours waiting!

That and I have to say it was the smoothest take offs and landings I"ve ever experienced.

The really nice thing about staying at the resort is that all of your meals are already included. and if you wanted to go into town for an evening it's never a problem, once you add up your accomadations in town, plus add in what meals will cost you and diving on top of that....it's a much better bargain to stay at the resort where it's all already included.

On top of that Deep Blue Resort always has guests who come in and make some wonderful presentations, talks, In October we had someone from the Reef Society and it was great fun, her presentations were a lot of fun and very educational, and being a part of doing a reef survey on Utila was great fun as well.....

Last week we had Alexandra Cousteau and her fiancee for dinner and it was very interesting speaking to her about shark conservation , the steps being taken to stop shark finning in central america as well as around the world, among other things....