Utila Dive Recommendations

[Rainer]

Wife and I will be in Utila between 12/30 and 1/5. We are staying near East Harbour (I've attached a photo if that helps).

Would love any recommendations for:

(1) Dive operators

(2) Topside activities

(3) Restaurants

Mostly looking to do some easy, uncomplicated diving. In addition to any boat options, is there good shore diving near where we are staying? Any "must see" dive sites? What should conditions be like this time of year (underwater and topside)? We will *not* have a car.

We've done a week in Roatan a couple years back, but this is our first trip to Utila. Anything else we should think about or know?

Really appreciate any suggestions!

 

[Stout]

Over the years I've found that dive op recommendations for Utila can be a tough game. Staff is transient, meaning that dive shop I had a great time at and those people I had a great time diving with will have changed over time and as a result, I'm hesitant to suggest any one. Earlier this year I had a great time at Altons, clean boats, no preset bottom times, small groups of similarly experienced divers however I hear management has changed so I'm not sure just who'll I'll be diving with next month until I have a chance to shop the shops, so to speak.

Coral View is looking pretty good. they're in a rather remote location but they do offer a pick up and drop off service to your place of residence as well as offering shore diving.

The best bet is to spend a couple of hours interviewing the shops. Try to deal with an owner or manager as Utila is set up mostly as a dive school destination and sometimes, dealing with an instructor can be frustrating for a "fun diver" as the instructor knows they won't be making any money off of you.

I was pretty happy with most of the dive sites with the exception of one called Stingray Point/ I also didn't find the Spotted Bay area all that interesting, except for those weird iridescent black sponges, or that palometa that just wanted to hang out, or that grey angelfish that insisted in stalking me from about 20 feet back.

IMO the north side is oversold, there's plenty of great diving on the south and east shores

Restaurant wise ? The go to is always RJs, consistently good food and lots of it. The Mexican joint is pretty good as well, same for the driftwood cafe.

Conditions, both topside and underwater are a crapshoot but in 40+ dives that I did last january there was only 1 that truly sucked due to bad conditions ( visibility, about 4 ft ) mainly due to large waves breaking on the north side shore and pulling a bunch of dirt and leaves back into the ocean as they receded.

A car isn't necessary, there are taxis and most of the island is walkable.

Have a good trip and enjoy Utila

 

[laurenceh]

since 2007 i've been a 5-7 month a year resident of utila. during that time i've dived with just about every dive co and stayed at most of the hotels and many rental homes. my favorite dive co. is utila cays diving but if you're staying in east harbor town, that won't work for you. close to your accommodation i would highly recommend deep blue divers, utila dive center or altons dive co's. generally utila dive co's dive the north side in the a.m. and the south side in the p.m.. most dive co's have food and bars now and will try to get you to spend all your $'s with them but my favorite places to eat in east harbor are foo king wok (open 3 nights a week), driftwood, skid row, the israeli place and for breakfast or lunch camellia's bakery.
no worries re. not having a car, east harbor town and out to the airport have the only roads. 90% of utila is only accessible by boat but imho that is the beautiful 90% of the island.
try and take a boat day trip to the other end of utila around the southwest shore (no roads at that end of the island) and the utila cays. if you're looking for desert island scenery/empty beaches and amazing snorkeling right off the beach thats the end of utila to be (you will probably wish you had stayed out there instead of in town). visit pigeon cay a small fishing village (the original settlement on utila), perhaps take a picnic lunch and some beers and spend the day snorkeling and laying around on water cay (an uninhabited island). also check out miles of deserted beaches and shallow water coral reefs ideal for snorkeling on utila opposite the cays.
your weather will be a bit of a toss up as rainy season doesn't end until late january so the viz won't be as good as it is march-sept but it will still be decent.

 

[Cudabait]

I second RJ's and Deep Blue divers. Emphasis on Driftwood Café & Grill. One week is not enough. Also ditto on a walkabout talking to operators rather than booking ahead online.

 

[Rainer]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. Just a few days away from our trip, so if anyone else has any further suggestions, please post them!

 

[diversteve]

Black Hills was about the best shallow dive we did. It's a seamount so rises to about 40'. Lots of schools of interesting things there. One dive we saw 1/2 dozen 2-3' Oceanic Triggers, an equal # of big Grouper, about 3-4 dozen Barracuda, lots of smaller fish and looking down the drop we could see a few sharks working their way up.

On the north side, Duppy Waters, Pinnacle and Blackish Point were good dives. Joshua's Swash was OK. I also was underimpressed with Spotted Bay and it's about as far as you can get from town.

 

[Rainer]

Thanks!

One other question I meant to ask earlier, is it worth packing a pair of running shoes? That is, are there enough roads to make doing even shorter (4-8 mile) runs possible? Would love to get in some running, but won't bother packing the running shoes if the roads aren't amenable to putting in some miles.

 

[laurenceh]

yes, if you run the length of the paved road from one end of town to the other and then out to the airport and back you'll get in about 6-7 miles.

 

[GoProHonduras]

Here's some of my favorite trails, the paths to the East and North can get flooded at parts if there's been a few days of rain, but they are passable, and fun runs! If you like to rest at times then I'd recommend repellant.

 

[Rainer]

Thanks, everyone!