Utila trip report: Captain Morgan's, BICD and more...

[diver567]

Hi there,

I just wanted to let you know that the giudelines that BICD follow have been accepted by the dive operators asssoiation on the island. That means from now on the days of 7 or 8 boats on a shark should hopefully be over. Obviously this is hard to regulate but with help from all the Captains and dive professionals on the island things should get better.

Thank you for your report and I hope you ome back and visit soon.

 

[Utila Simon]

Hi,

I work for BICD and have just read your comments with interest... found your descriptions of all places that I too have been to very accurate and fair.

Thank you for the feedback on BICD, and the only criticism about the kit sizing I can answer by saying that you were obviously here during a very busy period, we have over 64 sets of Scuba kit and it is rare that someone cannot have the best size for them. Will try harder next time!!!

Whale Sharks. I am sorry that you didnt get to see one when you were here. I also thoroughly appreciate your comments regarding the way that we conduct Whale Shark encounters. We do pay more than lip-service to the Whale Shark guidelines in force on the island, well we would cos our people designed them! From the way you have phrased what you were told on the boat I suspect that I was the one running that particular encounter... it is always the hardest decision to walk away from the Sharks like that but I am reassurred that, as we head towards the season again, we should carry on the way we have been going.

I must go now, but hope to see you again, perhaps for your DM.

Regards

Simon

 

[Utila Simon]

Just to let you know that Louis is now working at BICD, so now you can have the best of both worlds!

Regards

Nice trip report! I just came back from Utila/Jewel caye as well and I think we met at Captain Morgan's where I was doing fun dives. I wanted to do one as well but I think yours is pretty complete. I did see a whale shark last friday. It was great in a selfish way but it's true that it might be disturbing for the whale shark (there was 4-5 boats looking for the whale to surface and he was going deeper once we were getting near him in snorkeling).

I was diving with deep blue divers and BICD while I was in Utila. I liked both, the boat of BICD is great, especially compared to the tight boat of Captain Morgan, but I return to deep blue because I really appreciated the DM, Louis, who was great: he knew the reefs like the back of his hand, he was leaving us do our thing but showing us the nice stuff as well, and he was always concern about security so you might want to try this operator on your next Utila trip!