We're considering a 1 week dive trip to Utila (Feb/Mar) and wanted to get opinions on accomodations, dive operators and of course on the diving. We're 4 guys more interested in great diving than great nightlife. We don't need super luxury but also don't want to stay anywhere that's too "rustic"! . This is an annual trip and we've been to Grand Turk, Cayman Brac, Cozumel and Bonaire in the past. The whole whale sharks thing and relatively unspoiled diving is appealing but certainly would want as much input based on experiences of others as possible. Any thoughts??
Need Utila advice
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Hi
I can give you lots of advice but of course i am biased, i live on Utila but if you want to tell me how much you wish to spend on accomodation i will certinaly make some suggestions, plus if you have any other questions ask away, i will do my best to answer them
I can give you lots of advice but of course i am biased, i live on Utila but if you want to tell me how much you wish to spend on accomodation i will certinaly make some suggestions, plus if you have any other questions ask away, i will do my best to answer them
A trip to Utila in Feb March could be a great trip. There is certainly a realistic chance of seeing Whalesharks (I saw 4 off Utila yesterday afternoon). March last year was great. I would recommend checking out the Mango Inn Resort (with Utila Dive Centre). You can find more info on their prices and packages at www.utiladivecentre.com. Let me know if you are planning to come and we can meet up for a cold Salva Vida :11ztongue
I dove with these folks last May. Nice friendly staff. What I did not like morning dive boat very crowded. Boat was not built as a dive boat watch your head!! Had to find a camera bucket and fill it myself several days. Had to ask for nitrox analiyzer every day but one. Was left adrift on one afternoon dive, me the DM and two or three other divers. We hung to a mooring bouy for about 30 minutes including drift time on the surface all the time looking at our boat over 300 yards away. I was about 5 minutes from making my final decision to swim to shore or land at the light house, we had some current. Till another boat signeled our boat with a neon green fin standing on top of his boat and waving for 5 minutes never did get to thank him. Mango Inn I liked but I had to upgrade to the $75 a night room the one I booked just would not due! The place is clean and nice with a great restuarant- pizza rocks. A 5 to 10 min walk to dive shop. But for the price the whole package deal is good. I was looking at this place and others for several dive clubs and was supposed to report back, I did. If your budget is small give them a shot they try hard want to make you happy but you have to help them do that. They see the whole picture but need a little more attention to the small items. That cost them a group trip. I talked to Deep Blue when I was there they did not know who I was and just walked in one day. They had the right answer for all the questions I asked them I think I made them nervous but I liked the responce. Gonna give them a shot in the future. I do not remember thier housing deal you can do with the dive package will ck it out next time there. And they have a "DIVE BOAT". I never got to ck out the remote resorts the dive clubs I am in would like to have access to the little town and the party/food choices. They this board also said no whale sharks in May, ya right saw one the first day and two more later that week. You just never know. The diving is good but not as good as Roatan, I think the vis in Roatan is better plus the reef has more unique features. IMHOdiver567:
texinutila
Registered
Check out these for more Utila trip reports.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/articles/A45659-2004Aug6.html
http://www.allaroundtheworld.de/honduras_utila_me.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/articles/A45659-2004Aug6.html
http://www.allaroundtheworld.de/honduras_utila_me.html
vetdiver
Contributor
I went to Utila early April 2004 and stayed at/dove with Laguna Beach resort. I posted a review on this board when I got back. It was wonderful, and I cannot recommend them highly enough - lodging, management, and diving staff. The husband and I did about 4 (sometimes 5) dives daily, ate like pigs, and had a ball for under $800 each per person (unlimited diving and all food included) - we used Nitrox all week for a flat rate of $135 additional. Oh - and we were in the water w/11 whale sharks in 5 days, mainly because our boat captain (Wagner) was unreal at finding them and always had everyone in the water at the right time - we seemed to get out to them, get in/out...and be headed back to the dive sites just about the time that all the other boats were headed out to chase the beasts.
We booked through Lynn at Roatan Charters, and she was great. I am also working with another travel agent for a spring vacation to Saba - Jan at Caribbean Dive Vacations - and she is familiar with Utila, as well.
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to PM me. Utila is beautiful - I hope you have a great trip.
Allison
We booked through Lynn at Roatan Charters, and she was great. I am also working with another travel agent for a spring vacation to Saba - Jan at Caribbean Dive Vacations - and she is familiar with Utila, as well.
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to PM me. Utila is beautiful - I hope you have a great trip.
Allison
We dove with the Utila Lodge and had a great time. Staff was great, excellent location, here is a link to a report on our experiance.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=66281&page=1&pp=10
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=66281&page=1&pp=10
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sigelr:
Sigeir,
Wife and I go to Utila pretty regularly. You are not clear in your post whether you want to do the all-inclusive route or otherwise. Try to be a little more specific as to what you would like to and I assure the friendly people familiar with Utila will provide you with an abundance of useful info. Wife and I are planning about six weeks there from Feb-March. Which, by the way, is the best whale shark time of the year, even tho we've seen them at different times.
Regards,
thanks for all the great input so far - and to answer the question, we're open as to all-inclusive or not--kinda depends on the availability and quality of restaurants--we've done both but would probably lean towards all-inclusive unless the food was just bad at the inclusive sites.
domino22:
Hey Domino,
Surprised to hear you had these problems at UDC. Of course nobody is perfect. Just a clarification on the boats. UDC has 5 dive boats with varying capacities. For this reason usually the group sizes are small. What time of year were you at UDC? UDC now also employs the Divers Alert Network DIDS system. These are the tags that are clipped on to your BCD so that we can keep track of you.
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