footballguy05
Registered
The journey first begins about a year ago, June of 2013, when I won the trip at the Bonne Terre Mines’ annual Treasure Hunt event. If you haven’t checked it out, you can find other posts here on ScubaBoard that detail that event. It’s a great event held in the Midwest, Southeast Missouri to be more precise, and I highly recommend you read up on it. Thanks Bonne Terre Mines!!! The location is extremely unique, with quite a bit of history on the dive site. In addition to the diving, there are some fantastic prizes to bid on if you’re lucky enough to earn enough “money” during the hunt.
Back to the Utila report. As first timers to the Bay Islands, my wife and I had no idea what to expect. We had been to a few other places in the Caribbean, however all of our travel thus far has been on a cruise ship. This was our first vacation to a dive resort. I have been certified for a few years, but my wife was to be PADI certified on this trip. We cannot thank the staff of Deep Blue Resort enough for their hospitality and patience with us being new to the scene of diving vacations. The staff was fantastic. Colin and Steve are great instructors. He was very patient, encouraging, and helpful. He made learning SCUBA fun for my wife.
For travel to Utila, I found a few main options. We chose to fly United Airlines to San Pedro Sula, catch a local flight on CM Air to Utila. We booked our local flight through [URL="http://www.aboututila.com/TravelInfo/World-Wide-Travel/Index.htm"]World Wide Travel[/URL], an agency located on Utila. Alice, of World Wide Travel, was very helpful in getting our flights coordinated. The other option we considered was flying to Roatan, catching a ferry to Utila, via La Cieba. This option avoids the local flight if you’re nervous of smaller aircraft, however, I read that if the seas are not calm enough, the ferries do not run. There was not a lot of cost difference in the two options at least when doing my research, and from my point of origin. In the end, we chose to fly, as the schedule worked out better that way.
(One side note, on the return trip, CM Air did re-route us through Roatan on our way back to San Pedro Sula. Having to switch planes in Roatan caused us to arrive much later than anticipated in SAP. The international flight from San Pedro back to the states started boarding over an hour ahead of scheduled departure time and due to the Roatan re-route, we nearly missed our flight home. After a hectic few minutes at the United counter in SAP, we were eventually allowed to board and did not miss the plane, but it was much too close for comfort. In addition, when departing Honduras, there is a departure tax that must be paid before being allowed to board, separate from any ticket fees. Give yourself plenty of time at the airport when leaving the country as the line to pay the tax is quite long in the middle of the day.)
As for the accommodations and diving throughout the week, we stayed at Deep Blue Resort on Utila. The rooms were air conditioned, the food was good and they provide bottled water for you to drink for the duration of your stay. Each day, we had three excellent meals and three excellent dives. Food is buffet style breakfast (eggs, breakfast potatoes, pancakes, French toast etc.). Lunch was prepared after the two morning dives and is ready when you get off the boat. You typically have 3-4 options for dinner, which you will choose each morning at breakfast. The meals were excellent and well prepared. Typical dinners were grilled chicken, BBQ ribs, spaghetti, etc. One thing that did disappoint, there was not any fresh fish on the menu. In addition, you couldn’t find much of it in town either. I never got around to asking, but it appeared quite difficult to get fresh fish as I’m guessing much of the local fishing boats export their catch. No matter, the food that was served, was excellent. In addition, Shirley (the owner) and the kitchen staff was great at making sure to work around any diet concerns of the guests. In the spare time, when not diving, eating or sleeping, we enjoyed a few trips to town, which you’ll have to get to via boat ride, as well as some hard earned rest in the hammock on the private balcony of your ocean front room.
As for the diving, the dive sites were excellent. There are several all around the island and each offered their own unique topographies and ocean life. On the south, you have gradual sloping walls with sand channels and tall reefs. On the north side, you have the most dramatic walls, with depths dropping off to 300-400 feet. Not much current or surge at most locations. On the West side of the islands, there are some spots that offer drift dives. With a few wrecks sprinkled in, each dive was different than the previous. Air temps were 82-85 everyday with water temps being 80-82 on the surface and 72 at depth (most sites around 60' max depth). I dove in a .5mm long-sleeve shirt and trunks and my wife dove in a 3mm full wetsuit. The coral reef in Utila is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have too much dive experience yet, but it was the most beautiful coral I have ever seen. The fish populations however, were not the most impressive. A large variety of small creatures and interesting animals, but we did not see many large schools or an overly impressive amount of fish. Part of the reason, our Dive Instructor Steve explained, was because local fishing laws on the reef in the past was scarcely enforced. However, with a recently elected new mayor and new water patrols, they are trying to correct this problem. We did see a variety of parrotfish, a number of squirrelfish, drum fish, quite a few eels, a variety of rays and even a few seahorses among other things. Night dives provided octopus, crabs, lobsters among other nocturnals for our viewing pleasures. For the whale sharks that I’m sure you’re wondering about, we were not quite lucky enough. The weather just didn’t cooperate the week we were there. According to our boat captain, Ivor, the water needs to be relatively calm in order to spot whale sharks from a distance. The wind and waves we had most days made it a bit too difficult to see them. We had one day of excellent weather and calm seas, and a whale shark was spotted by another boat that day, however, we had left the area a few hours prior and were not on the boat that afternoon as we had a night dive scheduled that evening.
Overall, we had a great time. My wife is now certified and we hope to return again. Thank you Deep Blue for giving us an unforgettable vacation.
Video I took while staying at Deep Blue. GoPro Hero2 with Polar Pro Snap-on Red Filter:
[video=youtube_share;1fBQXCxnlJc]http://youtu.be/1fBQXCxnlJc[/video]
Back to the Utila report. As first timers to the Bay Islands, my wife and I had no idea what to expect. We had been to a few other places in the Caribbean, however all of our travel thus far has been on a cruise ship. This was our first vacation to a dive resort. I have been certified for a few years, but my wife was to be PADI certified on this trip. We cannot thank the staff of Deep Blue Resort enough for their hospitality and patience with us being new to the scene of diving vacations. The staff was fantastic. Colin and Steve are great instructors. He was very patient, encouraging, and helpful. He made learning SCUBA fun for my wife.
For travel to Utila, I found a few main options. We chose to fly United Airlines to San Pedro Sula, catch a local flight on CM Air to Utila. We booked our local flight through [URL="http://www.aboututila.com/TravelInfo/World-Wide-Travel/Index.htm"]World Wide Travel[/URL], an agency located on Utila. Alice, of World Wide Travel, was very helpful in getting our flights coordinated. The other option we considered was flying to Roatan, catching a ferry to Utila, via La Cieba. This option avoids the local flight if you’re nervous of smaller aircraft, however, I read that if the seas are not calm enough, the ferries do not run. There was not a lot of cost difference in the two options at least when doing my research, and from my point of origin. In the end, we chose to fly, as the schedule worked out better that way.
(One side note, on the return trip, CM Air did re-route us through Roatan on our way back to San Pedro Sula. Having to switch planes in Roatan caused us to arrive much later than anticipated in SAP. The international flight from San Pedro back to the states started boarding over an hour ahead of scheduled departure time and due to the Roatan re-route, we nearly missed our flight home. After a hectic few minutes at the United counter in SAP, we were eventually allowed to board and did not miss the plane, but it was much too close for comfort. In addition, when departing Honduras, there is a departure tax that must be paid before being allowed to board, separate from any ticket fees. Give yourself plenty of time at the airport when leaving the country as the line to pay the tax is quite long in the middle of the day.)
As for the accommodations and diving throughout the week, we stayed at Deep Blue Resort on Utila. The rooms were air conditioned, the food was good and they provide bottled water for you to drink for the duration of your stay. Each day, we had three excellent meals and three excellent dives. Food is buffet style breakfast (eggs, breakfast potatoes, pancakes, French toast etc.). Lunch was prepared after the two morning dives and is ready when you get off the boat. You typically have 3-4 options for dinner, which you will choose each morning at breakfast. The meals were excellent and well prepared. Typical dinners were grilled chicken, BBQ ribs, spaghetti, etc. One thing that did disappoint, there was not any fresh fish on the menu. In addition, you couldn’t find much of it in town either. I never got around to asking, but it appeared quite difficult to get fresh fish as I’m guessing much of the local fishing boats export their catch. No matter, the food that was served, was excellent. In addition, Shirley (the owner) and the kitchen staff was great at making sure to work around any diet concerns of the guests. In the spare time, when not diving, eating or sleeping, we enjoyed a few trips to town, which you’ll have to get to via boat ride, as well as some hard earned rest in the hammock on the private balcony of your ocean front room.
As for the diving, the dive sites were excellent. There are several all around the island and each offered their own unique topographies and ocean life. On the south, you have gradual sloping walls with sand channels and tall reefs. On the north side, you have the most dramatic walls, with depths dropping off to 300-400 feet. Not much current or surge at most locations. On the West side of the islands, there are some spots that offer drift dives. With a few wrecks sprinkled in, each dive was different than the previous. Air temps were 82-85 everyday with water temps being 80-82 on the surface and 72 at depth (most sites around 60' max depth). I dove in a .5mm long-sleeve shirt and trunks and my wife dove in a 3mm full wetsuit. The coral reef in Utila is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have too much dive experience yet, but it was the most beautiful coral I have ever seen. The fish populations however, were not the most impressive. A large variety of small creatures and interesting animals, but we did not see many large schools or an overly impressive amount of fish. Part of the reason, our Dive Instructor Steve explained, was because local fishing laws on the reef in the past was scarcely enforced. However, with a recently elected new mayor and new water patrols, they are trying to correct this problem. We did see a variety of parrotfish, a number of squirrelfish, drum fish, quite a few eels, a variety of rays and even a few seahorses among other things. Night dives provided octopus, crabs, lobsters among other nocturnals for our viewing pleasures. For the whale sharks that I’m sure you’re wondering about, we were not quite lucky enough. The weather just didn’t cooperate the week we were there. According to our boat captain, Ivor, the water needs to be relatively calm in order to spot whale sharks from a distance. The wind and waves we had most days made it a bit too difficult to see them. We had one day of excellent weather and calm seas, and a whale shark was spotted by another boat that day, however, we had left the area a few hours prior and were not on the boat that afternoon as we had a night dive scheduled that evening.
Overall, we had a great time. My wife is now certified and we hope to return again. Thank you Deep Blue for giving us an unforgettable vacation.
Video I took while staying at Deep Blue. GoPro Hero2 with Polar Pro Snap-on Red Filter:
[video=youtube_share;1fBQXCxnlJc]http://youtu.be/1fBQXCxnlJc[/video]
