"The old cruiseship story doesn't really work as most of the cruise shippers are herded off to the big resorts, and don't make it into the laid back West End"
Incorrect, on cruise ship days the West end is packed with traffic and visitors paying over inflated prices. I have seen it myself and as quoted from Bay Islands Diver.com (a website close to Shadow Diver);
"Between November and April, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are Cruise ship days in Roatan. During the day there will be loads of fat people wearing white sneakers and white socks. Don't go to the same places as them, you will be ripped off! Taxis will cost more everything goes up in price. Just hang on it goes back down at 6pm!
You have to be more selective in Roatan than Utila. There are a few expensive bars in Roatan, they cater to rich tourists on short holidays. If you go into them you will find Roatan very expensive! That doesn't mean that there are not cheaper bars as well. Ask the dive instructors where they drink - trust me they are not rich!
Since there are a lot of rich tourists and cruise ship visitors there are often two different prices, one in dollars and one in Lempira. Always get the price in Lempira it will usually be cheaper than the dollar price, an easy way to make people off the cruise ship pay more - they don't understand the local currency!"
"And of course Andy is going to make it sound like Utila is the place to be, he stands to profit from it."
I wrote my post with regards to Utila being labelled as having a higher turnover, I was not directly promoting the facility I represent. In fact I have written this post in response to the OP, knowing that the usual worms come out, but I will quote only facts, even refraining from giving my own personal opinion, if the OP wants that they can PM me. So 'Shadow Diver' please take that ignorant comment and Will you put it where the sun does not shine.
"The general ambience and scenery are much better and the diving is in my books easier and much more interesting than Utila, I have dived on both islands."
So have I and that comment is a personal opinion.
"The dive sites are much closer most of the good dive sites can be reached within 10 minutes from the West End and the dive boats don't leave until 9.00am. I was talking to one instructor who left Utila to work in Roatan, he said in Utila he had to be at work by 6.30am."
There are boats that make the 2 hour journey from Roatan to Utila on a regular basis for different dive sites, but mainly for a Whale shark encounter. Most visitors have travelled serval 1000 k's to get here, what's an 8pm start and a 30 minute boat ride for the best diving on the island and a Whale shark, Manta Ray or Dolphin encounter. How long does it take to get from West End to Mary's place? If you want to stay in bed we have boats that depart at 1pm or 2pm, we even have over 20 dives sites within a 10 minute boat trip.
"The critters are pretty much the same."
I agree, though it appears you do build an immunity after some time, that isn't effective if you visit the other island.
"There are about 10 dve shops on the West End and I guess the average monthly wage would be somewhere between us$1000-us$1200 per month."
11 dive shops on Utila, a big difference in earnings potential, average expenses are $700 per month, including rent and food and drinks etc. It depends on who you work for, I would say there are 3-4 dive centres where you can earn on average $1800 per month. I would estimate over 6 months of living and working on Utila, you would have gained more experience on Utila, saved more, and had the opportunity to teach a greater variety of courses. Up until 18 months ago, there wasn't one facility in the West End really offering specialized dive training.
"West End is beach road dive community, whereas Utila is concrete road, lots of electric wires, cheap people and no beaches."
I disagree with the cheap people part, we just have a higher demographic of backpackers, who also are professionals (Doctors, Lawyers etc...) on time out, or looking for career changes, we also have a lot of University/College grads visiting. Utila is set on a concrete road, but there are beaches, they are not artificial and surrounded by condos, you just need to go out of the town to discover them.
As a dive industry here are some other facts about Utila;
Over 50 dives sites, with access from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, diversity from fringing reef, to seamounts, to sheer walls and drop offs.
The best chances for a Whale shark encounter all year round.
All dive sites have mooring posts and the island has several environmental projects in place. A plastic recycling program on the island, a coral garden regrowing project on the South side, a Whale shark research center, a Dolphin study program accredited with the University of Missouri, Whale shark study by Eco Ocean.
A hyperbaric chamber with 5 day tender courses available.
3 PADI Instructor Development Centers of which 2 are PADI Career Development Centers, and also 1 National Geographic Center.
Several dive centers who have won environmental, industry and educational awards from PADI.
Over 8000 PADI certifications are issued per year on Utila, as a break down, that's approximately 700 per month, amongst 11 dive schools averages 60 (which is not representative), however if you want to get more experience as an Instructor in the Bay Islands, then Utila attracts more divers seeking training, and cheaper living costs generally result in more divers staying through to further their diver education.
Almost all dive centers offer PADI specialty training, from EANx, to photography, to environmental courses and there are 2 technical diving facilities with active programs to trimix Instructor. If you do a search on DAN's website
www.diversalertnetwork.org you'll find that only DAN training programs are currently available on Utila.
As for social conditions on Utila there is no violent crime (touch wood!!!) and a Municipal tourist police force in effect at night. You do not need to take taxis, there is less traffic, and most people get around by bicycle, other activities on offer are water sports, horse back riding, bush tours, a health club and yes, there are 2 nice beaches!!!! A cold beer costs approximately $1 compared to $1.50 on Roatan (and the average visitor is not their long enough to get to know the bar staff) and there are restaurants serving Italian, Israeli, Creole, Asian and Island style meals for on average $4-8.
So those are my facts for the OP, nothing disparaging and now I intend to leave this post and concentrate on my course that starts tomorrow. I hope it helps the OP in their decision making process and Will keep the trolls under the bridge!
Warm regards,
Andy
