Steve P
Contributor
My wife & I just returned from our first trip to the Bay Islands and must say it was one of the most enjoyable dive trips we've ever had. We spent most of our time in Utila (1 week) followed by a few days in Roatan. I logged a total of 21 dives between the two islands.
We stayed at Laguna Beach Resort on Utila. http://www.utila.com/ Resort was very nice, food was good & plentiful and dive op well run with a great staff & nice, convenient gear storage area. Luciano & Romina who manage the resort are very pleasant and had no problem accomadating my wife's diet (no meat). See the recent thread by jbjclj for a detailed report of the resort. I agree with all of the positive comments made regarding this resort. We were looking for a destination to get in numerous dives while having plenty of time to relax & unwind from the "daily grind". The resort was perfect for this. :sunny
Diving. I had read a few posts about lack of fish abundance from overfishing, mediocre vis, poor dive sites on the south side of the island (where the resort is located) etc. Diving here is great. First day we found seahorse, frogfish, spotted eagle rays and a special treat - a stargazer. These are rarely spotted as they are well hidden in the sand until little fishy swims close by and . . . gulp. We saw it swim by and watched as it burried itself in the sand at about 65 ft. Boats are nice, covered, and carry a max of 12 divers. We never had more that 8 divers and never more than 4 divers with a d.m. Some of the dives on the southside are 5 min. from the resort and are very nice. The cruise to the northside takes 30 - 45 min. but this allows searching for whale sharks during the S.I. No, we didn't get to snorkel with any on our trip. I knew it was late in the season but we still kept our fingers crossed. We did have a close call. We spotted the characterstic "boil" of tuna and spotted a fin! Just as we were getting ready to go in - the water went still. When the "feed" goes so does the whale shark. :shakehead We did get to snorkel with dolphins from the boat on 2 consecutive days and this was a much better experience than our first & only "dolphin encounter" we did in the Florida Keys ~ 15 yrs ago. Highlight dives included: Black Hills, Great Wall and Jack Neal Cove. I would dive in Utila and go back to LBR without hesitation.
Roatan. We chose to take the ferries from Utila to Roatan. This allowed us to get in 2 morning dives, quick dry of equipment, lunch & bolt for the dock. Utila Princess to La Ceiba at 2:00 pm. Galaxy II to Roatan got us to our hotel in West End by about 6:30. Ferry was fine, we sat on top and enjoyed the view. We stayed at Seagrape Plantation Resort. http://seagraperoatan.com/ It's a bit removed from the hotels that are centrally located and we enjoyed this. Easy walking distance, cabin had air conditioning that barely kept up with the heat (it was pretty hot while we were there) ceiling fan, covered porch with hammock, great ocean view and great snorkeling right in front of the cabin. At $40.00/night it's a great value. Great food in West End. Our favorite was Dian's Garden of Eaten - fantastic food, fish tacos at the Lighthouse were great (in size as well as taste) and Rick's had great food and a nice band on Friday night. Sundowners for drinks after diving is a must. :11ztongue
Diving. We only dove 2 days. First day with Coconut Tree divers. Highly recommend this dive op. Gay, who owns the operation with her husband was fantasitc. Very friendly, went out of her way to help us book the Waihuka Shark Dive. I would go back to Coconut Tree without hestation. They have a nice, covered boat. Our dm was Will who has a very good website loaded with info. http://www.bayislandsdiver.com/index.html
Divers included my wife and I. Will asked if there were any specific sites we would like to go. I haven't been asked that many times before! Since we were firstimers we trusted in his recomendation. First dive was a site called Hole In the Wall. Its a 5 min (tops) boatride. Very nice site with numerous swmithroughs. The "hole in the wall" exits at about 115 ft. onto a nice wall with great vis. After one particularly tight swimthrough (exhale) we came face to face with a scorpion fish that was completely indifferent to our presence as we passed within a foot or 2. Second dive was also nice with great fish abundance and diversity. I saw the biggest school of Blue Tangs I've ever seen in my life.
Second, and last, day of diving was the Waihuka Shark Dive run by Sergio. He's a good guy but its definately an "old school" dive op. They cancelled our reservation for Thurs. since they had a big group from Fantasy Island that "bought the boat" for the day. Gay (from Coconut Tree) rescheduled for Friday morning. When we called Fri a.m. to confirm they said you better bring some tanks. Never asked for "C" cards, no waviers, small boat without water, started boat by touching 2 wires together, etc. :icosm11: That said, the dive was remarkable. We had never done a "shark encounter" dive before and it was thrilling. Had about 7 - 8 Carribean Reef Sharks and we swam with them within hands reach for most of the dive. The biggest must have been 8 feet. Also, there's a huge Green Morray at the site and very big Grouper as well. Site is nice with beautiful corals - although my wife was horrified to see some of the divers bashing into them. :nonono: I was too busy snapping off a roll with my old Nikonos 36 mm. I'll be shocked if I don't get some good shots. Great dive but don't count on a reservation unless you're booked as part of a big group - or speak Italian fluently.
To end this lengthy report I'll conclude by thanking the many members of SB that provided a wealth of information. From deciding on our destinations, selecting gear, getting good advice and saving money on equipment (Scubatoys!) , choosing our lodging, dive ops, etc. this site has been invaluable. Time to start planning our next trip!
Steve
We stayed at Laguna Beach Resort on Utila. http://www.utila.com/ Resort was very nice, food was good & plentiful and dive op well run with a great staff & nice, convenient gear storage area. Luciano & Romina who manage the resort are very pleasant and had no problem accomadating my wife's diet (no meat). See the recent thread by jbjclj for a detailed report of the resort. I agree with all of the positive comments made regarding this resort. We were looking for a destination to get in numerous dives while having plenty of time to relax & unwind from the "daily grind". The resort was perfect for this. :sunny
Diving. I had read a few posts about lack of fish abundance from overfishing, mediocre vis, poor dive sites on the south side of the island (where the resort is located) etc. Diving here is great. First day we found seahorse, frogfish, spotted eagle rays and a special treat - a stargazer. These are rarely spotted as they are well hidden in the sand until little fishy swims close by and . . . gulp. We saw it swim by and watched as it burried itself in the sand at about 65 ft. Boats are nice, covered, and carry a max of 12 divers. We never had more that 8 divers and never more than 4 divers with a d.m. Some of the dives on the southside are 5 min. from the resort and are very nice. The cruise to the northside takes 30 - 45 min. but this allows searching for whale sharks during the S.I. No, we didn't get to snorkel with any on our trip. I knew it was late in the season but we still kept our fingers crossed. We did have a close call. We spotted the characterstic "boil" of tuna and spotted a fin! Just as we were getting ready to go in - the water went still. When the "feed" goes so does the whale shark. :shakehead We did get to snorkel with dolphins from the boat on 2 consecutive days and this was a much better experience than our first & only "dolphin encounter" we did in the Florida Keys ~ 15 yrs ago. Highlight dives included: Black Hills, Great Wall and Jack Neal Cove. I would dive in Utila and go back to LBR without hesitation.
Roatan. We chose to take the ferries from Utila to Roatan. This allowed us to get in 2 morning dives, quick dry of equipment, lunch & bolt for the dock. Utila Princess to La Ceiba at 2:00 pm. Galaxy II to Roatan got us to our hotel in West End by about 6:30. Ferry was fine, we sat on top and enjoyed the view. We stayed at Seagrape Plantation Resort. http://seagraperoatan.com/ It's a bit removed from the hotels that are centrally located and we enjoyed this. Easy walking distance, cabin had air conditioning that barely kept up with the heat (it was pretty hot while we were there) ceiling fan, covered porch with hammock, great ocean view and great snorkeling right in front of the cabin. At $40.00/night it's a great value. Great food in West End. Our favorite was Dian's Garden of Eaten - fantastic food, fish tacos at the Lighthouse were great (in size as well as taste) and Rick's had great food and a nice band on Friday night. Sundowners for drinks after diving is a must. :11ztongue
Diving. We only dove 2 days. First day with Coconut Tree divers. Highly recommend this dive op. Gay, who owns the operation with her husband was fantasitc. Very friendly, went out of her way to help us book the Waihuka Shark Dive. I would go back to Coconut Tree without hestation. They have a nice, covered boat. Our dm was Will who has a very good website loaded with info. http://www.bayislandsdiver.com/index.html
Divers included my wife and I. Will asked if there were any specific sites we would like to go. I haven't been asked that many times before! Since we were firstimers we trusted in his recomendation. First dive was a site called Hole In the Wall. Its a 5 min (tops) boatride. Very nice site with numerous swmithroughs. The "hole in the wall" exits at about 115 ft. onto a nice wall with great vis. After one particularly tight swimthrough (exhale) we came face to face with a scorpion fish that was completely indifferent to our presence as we passed within a foot or 2. Second dive was also nice with great fish abundance and diversity. I saw the biggest school of Blue Tangs I've ever seen in my life.
Second, and last, day of diving was the Waihuka Shark Dive run by Sergio. He's a good guy but its definately an "old school" dive op. They cancelled our reservation for Thurs. since they had a big group from Fantasy Island that "bought the boat" for the day. Gay (from Coconut Tree) rescheduled for Friday morning. When we called Fri a.m. to confirm they said you better bring some tanks. Never asked for "C" cards, no waviers, small boat without water, started boat by touching 2 wires together, etc. :icosm11: That said, the dive was remarkable. We had never done a "shark encounter" dive before and it was thrilling. Had about 7 - 8 Carribean Reef Sharks and we swam with them within hands reach for most of the dive.
The biggest must have been 8 feet. Also, there's a huge Green Morray at the site and very big Grouper as well. Site is nice with beautiful corals - although my wife was horrified to see some of the divers bashing into them. :nonono: I was too busy snapping off a roll with my old Nikonos 36 mm. I'll be shocked if I don't get some good shots. Great dive but don't count on a reservation unless you're booked as part of a big group - or speak Italian fluently.To end this lengthy report I'll conclude by thanking the many members of SB that provided a wealth of information. From deciding on our destinations, selecting gear, getting good advice and saving money on equipment (Scubatoys!) , choosing our lodging, dive ops, etc. this site has been invaluable. Time to start planning our next trip!
Steve
