Stoo
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Mrs. Stoo and I are just back from a week in Utila.
We arrived in Roatan last Friday, but because it was Good Friday, connecting flights to Utila weren't operational. Easter is the end of "La Semaine Sainte" which is a combo religious/party vacation week. Because of this, we had had trouble finding accommodation in Roatan, but were able to stay with a local woman at her house in West End. It was a crazy party night in West End Friday night, with bars closing up about 4:00 AM.
We arranged to do two dives with Coconut Tree Divers (Coconut Tree Divers - PADI 5-Star IDC Dive Resort on Roatan, Honduras - scuba diving courses, divemaster internships, instructor development, tec diving, and more!) on Saturday morning, before sailing to Roatan on a catamaran operated by Vernon Fine. Vernon is an American ex-pat who operates a shuttle service departing West End every afternoon at 1:00 and returning from Utila the following morning. The sail takes about 4-5 hours and is a nice way to get from one island to the other. He charges $50 US which is a bargain compared to flying. He often spots whales, whale sharks or dolphins along the way, but our trip was uneventful in that regard.
We arrived at Utila about 6:00 and we were met by the manager of our hotel, Laguna Beach Resort (Beach resort, diving vacation, Bay Islands of Honduras). This is the same place we stayed last year and we can't say enough good things about the place. While it is perhaps the most "opulent" resort on the island, it is very basic and if you are a "5-star only" traveller, this probably isn't the place for you.. but then Utila probably isn't either.
The accommodations are small bungalows built along a salt-water lagoon, on a tiny sand strip between the ocean and lagoon. The rooms are clean and rustic, but the beds are comfortable and there's lots of hot water (which there wasn't last year). I think the resort can hold about 26 people in total, and I would say that there were about 18 when we were there. Several guests had just come from a week on the Aggressor and of these, a couple of them didn't dive as they had picked up a chest bug from another guest on the Aggressor.
Meals are basic, but plentiful and delicious. The cooks are local women, so expect lots of seafood, rice, beans and vegetables. The meals are buffet style and "seconds" are encouraged. You clean up your own dishes, scraping them and stacking them in the kitchen. Think "summer camp" for grown-ups. Mrs, Stoo loves her food and gives this place a "thumbs-up". The bar is operated on an honour system, with each guest having a chit where drinks are recorded when you help yourself. (The resort is all inclusive, with the exception of drinks, which are reasonably priced). There is a bar tender on duty for a couple of hours around dinner time who (according to Mrs Stoo) makes the best Pina Coladas in the Caribbean... starting with fresh pineapple. Night life at the resort is non-existent. Guests tend to be a little older and well-travelled.
As for the diving in Utila, I would describe it as "very nice" but not spectacular. The north side of the island has steep walls while the south side is more a sloping reef. Both sides have their merits. Our typical day had us leaving the dock at 8:00, doing two dives in the morning on the north side, with a third dive in the afternoon along the south shore. Boat rides average about 45 minutes in the morning and perhaps 10 - 20 in the afternoon. There is always the option of a forth "drop-dive" on the house reef on the way back in as long as you arrange an extra tank at noon. Night dives are offered twice a week, and we did one of them, but passed on Thursdays' as we were flying out Friday AM. The dive boats are without question, the best on the islands. he resort has a fleet of three Newtons. Ours was a 46 footer, and the most divers we ever had on board was 10. Most days, there was 6 or 8, so there was lots of room. Most of the shops in town operate older, smaller boats and generally appeared to be carrying 16 - 20 divers on much smaller boats.
We felt that there were fewer large fish this year. One local we spoke to theorized that part of the problem was that there had been an influx of main-land Hondurans as a result of the global economic melt-down. These visitors didn't respect the fishing laws as Utila is largely surrounded by marine sanctuary. Such is life when a guy needs to feed his family.
Laguna Beach is owned by local Utilian Troy Bodden, who also owns the Utila Aggressor as well as a dive shop in town. He clearly knows how to operate a top-notch operation, ably managed by Angi. Our dive masters Mike and Nick, were great and were agreeable to us pretty much doing our own thing, with instructions to be back on the boat in "about an hour". Depth restrictions were not imposed, but we rarely wandered below 110 or so.
One true "gem" at LBR was our boat captain Kerry. We dove with him last year and he "makes" the trip. His laugh is contagious, and having grown up on Pigeon Cay, just off shore from Utila, he knows these water very well. Last year, he found whale sharks for us most days during our SITs but this year we had to settle for swimming with dolphins... every day. Bottlenose, Spinners and the odd Roughtooth were very common, leading to plans to create a new T-shirt: "Utila suffers from a dolphin infestation problem". These beasts are hilarious to swim with and seemed to enjoy the interaction with us. Wednesday we swam for about 40 minutes with a pod of Spinners that numbered about 40 - 50 animals.
If this place has a down-side, it is that is set away from the town of Utila. To get there, you need to arrange a ride across the lagoon, then take a 25-30 minute walk along a sandy roadway into town. Utila itself is decidedly "third world"... It is a collection of little shops, bars and more dive shops per mile than most places I have travelled to. There is areas of significant poverty, but we tend to go into town several times during the week. Food and drink is dirt cheap there so if you miss a meal at the resort, it's no big deal. The walk back at night can be a little lonely and in spite of everyone telling us how safe it was, we did wonder a little at times. Of course if you don't care about wandering around Utila, the relative isolation is a plus. The staff was always willing to give is a lift to the landing, and meet us at a designated time at night. The staff at this resort all seemed to genuinely care about our needs and because it is such a small place, we got to know many of them personally. (We kept in touch with our DMs from last year and had dinner and few drinks with he and his girlfriend this year...)
Our trip home was uneventful... flying back to Roatan on a 4-seater. We had booked the air portion of a Conquest Tours package to Roatan. Our travel agents, Squba Holidays, had contacted us on Wednesday to advise us that our flights were secure as they were covered by TICO. (Conquest went bankrupt last week...)
Waiting in the Roatan airport however, we heard a number of horror stories. One couple from Alberta who flew to Roatan with us last week had planned to stay for two weeks. They were advised by their hotel manager on Wednesday that they would need to pay for their room as Conquest had not paid them. To add insult to injury, they could "try" to come home a week early on our flight (on standby) since this would be Conquest's last flight. As Albertans, who booked direct with Conquest, they were unlikely to recover any money. Their week wil have cost them close to $9000... for a non-diving trip!
All in all, a great trip with good people, great diving and a very laid back "vibe"... This is the only place we've returned to in many years of dive travel and I suspect we will again.
We arrived in Roatan last Friday, but because it was Good Friday, connecting flights to Utila weren't operational. Easter is the end of "La Semaine Sainte" which is a combo religious/party vacation week. Because of this, we had had trouble finding accommodation in Roatan, but were able to stay with a local woman at her house in West End. It was a crazy party night in West End Friday night, with bars closing up about 4:00 AM.
We arranged to do two dives with Coconut Tree Divers (Coconut Tree Divers - PADI 5-Star IDC Dive Resort on Roatan, Honduras - scuba diving courses, divemaster internships, instructor development, tec diving, and more!) on Saturday morning, before sailing to Roatan on a catamaran operated by Vernon Fine. Vernon is an American ex-pat who operates a shuttle service departing West End every afternoon at 1:00 and returning from Utila the following morning. The sail takes about 4-5 hours and is a nice way to get from one island to the other. He charges $50 US which is a bargain compared to flying. He often spots whales, whale sharks or dolphins along the way, but our trip was uneventful in that regard.
We arrived at Utila about 6:00 and we were met by the manager of our hotel, Laguna Beach Resort (Beach resort, diving vacation, Bay Islands of Honduras). This is the same place we stayed last year and we can't say enough good things about the place. While it is perhaps the most "opulent" resort on the island, it is very basic and if you are a "5-star only" traveller, this probably isn't the place for you.. but then Utila probably isn't either.
The accommodations are small bungalows built along a salt-water lagoon, on a tiny sand strip between the ocean and lagoon. The rooms are clean and rustic, but the beds are comfortable and there's lots of hot water (which there wasn't last year). I think the resort can hold about 26 people in total, and I would say that there were about 18 when we were there. Several guests had just come from a week on the Aggressor and of these, a couple of them didn't dive as they had picked up a chest bug from another guest on the Aggressor.
Meals are basic, but plentiful and delicious. The cooks are local women, so expect lots of seafood, rice, beans and vegetables. The meals are buffet style and "seconds" are encouraged. You clean up your own dishes, scraping them and stacking them in the kitchen. Think "summer camp" for grown-ups. Mrs, Stoo loves her food and gives this place a "thumbs-up". The bar is operated on an honour system, with each guest having a chit where drinks are recorded when you help yourself. (The resort is all inclusive, with the exception of drinks, which are reasonably priced). There is a bar tender on duty for a couple of hours around dinner time who (according to Mrs Stoo) makes the best Pina Coladas in the Caribbean... starting with fresh pineapple. Night life at the resort is non-existent. Guests tend to be a little older and well-travelled.
As for the diving in Utila, I would describe it as "very nice" but not spectacular. The north side of the island has steep walls while the south side is more a sloping reef. Both sides have their merits. Our typical day had us leaving the dock at 8:00, doing two dives in the morning on the north side, with a third dive in the afternoon along the south shore. Boat rides average about 45 minutes in the morning and perhaps 10 - 20 in the afternoon. There is always the option of a forth "drop-dive" on the house reef on the way back in as long as you arrange an extra tank at noon. Night dives are offered twice a week, and we did one of them, but passed on Thursdays' as we were flying out Friday AM. The dive boats are without question, the best on the islands. he resort has a fleet of three Newtons. Ours was a 46 footer, and the most divers we ever had on board was 10. Most days, there was 6 or 8, so there was lots of room. Most of the shops in town operate older, smaller boats and generally appeared to be carrying 16 - 20 divers on much smaller boats.
We felt that there were fewer large fish this year. One local we spoke to theorized that part of the problem was that there had been an influx of main-land Hondurans as a result of the global economic melt-down. These visitors didn't respect the fishing laws as Utila is largely surrounded by marine sanctuary. Such is life when a guy needs to feed his family.
Laguna Beach is owned by local Utilian Troy Bodden, who also owns the Utila Aggressor as well as a dive shop in town. He clearly knows how to operate a top-notch operation, ably managed by Angi. Our dive masters Mike and Nick, were great and were agreeable to us pretty much doing our own thing, with instructions to be back on the boat in "about an hour". Depth restrictions were not imposed, but we rarely wandered below 110 or so.
One true "gem" at LBR was our boat captain Kerry. We dove with him last year and he "makes" the trip. His laugh is contagious, and having grown up on Pigeon Cay, just off shore from Utila, he knows these water very well. Last year, he found whale sharks for us most days during our SITs but this year we had to settle for swimming with dolphins... every day. Bottlenose, Spinners and the odd Roughtooth were very common, leading to plans to create a new T-shirt: "Utila suffers from a dolphin infestation problem". These beasts are hilarious to swim with and seemed to enjoy the interaction with us. Wednesday we swam for about 40 minutes with a pod of Spinners that numbered about 40 - 50 animals.
If this place has a down-side, it is that is set away from the town of Utila. To get there, you need to arrange a ride across the lagoon, then take a 25-30 minute walk along a sandy roadway into town. Utila itself is decidedly "third world"... It is a collection of little shops, bars and more dive shops per mile than most places I have travelled to. There is areas of significant poverty, but we tend to go into town several times during the week. Food and drink is dirt cheap there so if you miss a meal at the resort, it's no big deal. The walk back at night can be a little lonely and in spite of everyone telling us how safe it was, we did wonder a little at times. Of course if you don't care about wandering around Utila, the relative isolation is a plus. The staff was always willing to give is a lift to the landing, and meet us at a designated time at night. The staff at this resort all seemed to genuinely care about our needs and because it is such a small place, we got to know many of them personally. (We kept in touch with our DMs from last year and had dinner and few drinks with he and his girlfriend this year...)
Our trip home was uneventful... flying back to Roatan on a 4-seater. We had booked the air portion of a Conquest Tours package to Roatan. Our travel agents, Squba Holidays, had contacted us on Wednesday to advise us that our flights were secure as they were covered by TICO. (Conquest went bankrupt last week...)
Waiting in the Roatan airport however, we heard a number of horror stories. One couple from Alberta who flew to Roatan with us last week had planned to stay for two weeks. They were advised by their hotel manager on Wednesday that they would need to pay for their room as Conquest had not paid them. To add insult to injury, they could "try" to come home a week early on our flight (on standby) since this would be Conquest's last flight. As Albertans, who booked direct with Conquest, they were unlikely to recover any money. Their week wil have cost them close to $9000... for a non-diving trip!
All in all, a great trip with good people, great diving and a very laid back "vibe"... This is the only place we've returned to in many years of dive travel and I suspect we will again.
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