Utila or Roatan?

[Lorenzoid]

I've dived both Roatan and Utila, and I felt Roatan had significantly better diving--more marine life, and more interesting reefs. I dove Utila much more than Roatan simply because Utila is less expensive. That said, it probably depends on what dive sites you visit. So maybe I should qualify what I said with my perception that the most conveniently reached dive sites from West End Roatan seemed much nicer than the most conveniently reached dive sites on Utila.

 

[cmneus]

thank you Lorenzoid, that is very helpful.

 

[laurenceh]

if you dive with utila cays diving and stay at their hotel on pigeon cay you're only a 10-15 min boat ride from the northside of utila with its world class diving thats at least as good as anything on roatan. plus staying with utila cays diving is only $10 a night, can't beat that for a private room on a little cay.

 

[Lorenzoid]

laurench, that is really interesting information. I was under the impression that apart from the few true "resorts" (meaning not cheap diving), the only dive operators were those in Utila Town. I wasn't aware there are dive ops on the Cays.

 

[laurenceh]

yes utila cays diving, they opened at the beginning of the year. nice little dive op, they're using hotel kaya on pigeon cay (captain morgans old place but they've really cleaned it up). they have a nice small covered boat (10 passengers max). they also take care of divers staying at the rental houses on treasure beach (where we stayed) and picked us up right from our beach. i dove with them for a couple of weeks last month and was very happy, we averaged 6 divers on the boat, nice and personal, all new equipment and no time limits on the dives. they also have kayaks and sup's for rent. we were lucky enough to see whale sharks, pilots whales and tons of dolphins. bogdan the owner is a nice guy who used to be head of diving at one of the resorts and the whole op is very professional, an all around good experience.

 

[cmneus]

Oh, you guys are making it so difficult, I had chosen to just stick with Roatan for my first time in the Bay Islands, I figure string of pearls, diving with sharks, etc would be plenty and save what limited time I have and skipping the extra jaunt to Utila but this talk of whale sharks is tempting......so so so tempting.

 

[diversteve]

Oh, you guys are making it so difficult, I had chosen to just stick with Roatan for my first time in the Bay Islands, I figure string of pearls, diving with sharks, etc would be plenty and save what limited time I have and skipping the extra jaunt to Utila but this talk of whale sharks is tempting......so so so tempting.

The big question is WHEN are you going? Peak whaleshark season is either early spring or (from what I've recently read) in September. By now most of the sharks will likely have moved to Gladden Spit for the snapper spawn - after that they appear to move to the Los Mujeres area for the summer. But no one really knows for sure.

You seem budget and time constrained. It's going to cost you a minimum of $100 (r/t ferry rides) to get to Utila from Roatan. And you'll burn 1/2 day each way doing it. Or you can fly over and back for more. Utila has a small, unlit airport so it's day flights only.

All the ones we saw - 6-8 (maybe the same one thrice) over two days - were off the north side so that requires a paid boat ride. We spent approximately 2-3 hrs. each day on the boat looking for them.

Notice that laurenceh dove with them last month. That's the "season". Not that they aren't spotted all year - they are - but it's much more infrequent. Steve Fox from Deep Blue told me he'd seen one every month for a year. He's also an expert on them, runs a program to document them and lives there.

I think segmenting a week long trip for the chance is just going to cost you money and buy you some good diving off Utila. Really what's the likelihood of one being spotted during the several days you're there - in the same area. The boat captains talk over the VHF to others nearby when they find one - but you have to be out there actively looking. Most operators do morning boat dives then do that.

Even if you do find one, most of them dive deep when the snorkelers hit the water. You maybe get a second look when they surface 10-15mins. later. Also there's a group of boats often hovering nearby - there's a protocol for dropping divers on one. It's also limited to a number of snorkelers per boat - but from what we saw that wasn't always enforced. When 20-30 people hit the water simultaneously - you have about 2 seconds before they're gone.

In the very heart of peak whale shark season several years ago we spent an entire week there. We saw all of ours the 1st two days then it was flat calm and hot which drove them deep - we never saw another one. Granted the ones we saw/snorkeled with made it worthwhile. However 2 of them were just tails going deep by the time we jumped also.

ymmv, if you really want to have the best shot - I'd suggest going next year - during the equivalent 2014weeks (they'll be different) shown here: Deep Blue Utila - swim with whale sharks at our all inclusive resort. Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

 

[cmneus]

Yes, I know what you say all makes sense, you know how it can be tempting though.... I know I will be so happy with the plans I've made! And I thank you for spelling it out so sensibly, I have a tendency to just "go for it" and end up a little disappointed in the outcome in the end!

 

[Lorenzoid]

You seem budget-constrained. It's going to cost you a minimum of $100 (r/t ferry ride) ...

Wow--the ferry price has increased since I was there 8 years ago. Fuel cost, no doubt.

. . .

Even if you do find one, most of them dive deep when the snorkelers hit the water. You maybe get a second look when they surface 10-15mins. later. Also there's a group of boats often hovering nearby - there's a protocol for dropping divers on one. It's also limited to a number of snorkelers per boat - but from what we saw that wasn't always enforced. When 20-30 people hit the water simultaneously - you have about 2 seconds before they're gone.

Is that an over-generalization? I've encountered whale sharks twice, though never in the two months I spent on Utila (I didn't venture to the North side, so that is not surprising). One time we were returning from a dive in the Dominican Republic when someone shouted "WHALE SHARK!" Five or six of us donned snorkeling gear and jumped in. The whale shark stayed right at the surface for well over a half hour, and we actually boarded the boat and left while it was still there. The thing seemed to love having us around, perhaps believing we were cleaners. I know we had an unusual experience, but it apparently does happen.

 

[diversteve]

Wow--the ferry price has increased since I was there 8 years ago. Fuel cost, no doubt.

It's actually gone up recently again. The Galaxy is now $62/72 r/t. - gotta pay for that new terminal somehow. The Princess even went up $4 since we were there - it's $25 now - I remember we paid $21. Total with tax was just over $100 IIRC.

Is that an over-generalization?

Probably - but our captain (Swin) seemed to indicate we needed to get in the water quick to see anything. Also the 4-5 other boats idling nearby also probably didn't help - ours as well.

Really 4/6 of our snorkels were over in 30 seconds or less though as we vainly tried to keep up - or they went deep. One big female seemed less concerned - I suppose at 30' long (estimated by the DM) - not much bothers you. She hung around for about a minute but mostly just at the fringes of visual range. I'm pretty sure that's my avatar - I didn't take the shot.

We also saw one feeding vertically near the surface for about 10-15 seconds. One longer encounter was when the researcher tried to cell-sample one - it seemed to make it mad and it circled under the boat and charged him. I unknowingly jumped (late) but at exactly the right moment to land in front of him. He stopped,, seemed to give me a dirty look, blew a bubble then took off towards the researcher. No teeth but my buddy has a couple shots of him back-pedaling in a hurry to avoid it - even 15-16' of mad whale shark can do some damage.

My local buddies has a really good experience in Belize. They dove with one at Gladden Spit that was more interested in feeding than them. Probably 20mins. with them and it later circled a group of snorkelers nearby past the time they re-boarded and left.