K
KeithG
Guest
In our many years of vacation diving, Utopia Village stands out as a luxury
destination focused on great diving. Paul and Crisna were excellent hosts
with a top notch family-like team. And they are invested in making a
difference**. This is not a resort that has some diving, it is a luxury
diving resort. Emphasis on diving and luxury.
We have had valet diving once before and Utopia Village service was similar
in nature, but much more flexible (see below) and much more valet. We
dropped our gear off at the start of the week and picked it up at the end.
The dive crew handled everything in between. Actually we did not get to
drop our gear off. As we headed to the dive shop with our gear, several
staff "popped out of the bushes", grabbed our bags and carried
them to the shop.
There were 3 scheduled dives each day, but you could do more (or less) if
you wished. Most days were 3 boat dives: a double tank dive starting at
8:00 am and a single tank starting at 2:00pm. There was some small
variation with a checkout shore dive on the first day and a night dive mid
week (dinner was greatly delayed for this).
Flexibility: Every dive was well over an hour. We never felt rushed to get
back on the boat. The night shore dive was 79 minutes. One morning Evelyn
spotted dolphins swimming past the resort - we rushed in the jungle buggy
to the boat, spent 10 minutes locating them and then we all snorkeled with
the dolphins. Boat Captn Elvis even maneuvered the boat so that the
dolphins played in the bow wave and Elvis brought them back to us
snorkelers. This interlude meant lunch would have to wait for us. The
surface interval on the morning dives was spent looking for potential sea
life encounters. Instead of sitting at the mooring Elvis motored in a large
arc to the next site. One day we encountered a sailfish feeding? on the
surface. We slipped in with snorkels, but spooked it. Oops.
The land based resort side was pure luxury. Over the top. Very surprising
for a remote and small place like Utila. Lodging, service and food was
excellent. It stood out beyond any other dive trip. The prior week we had
spent on Roatan at a very popular dive resort and that quickly paled in
comparison.
Breakfast offered an array of local Honduran dishes AND an ala cart menu
(which I never used, can you say full of delicious?). At breakfast you
ordered your lunch and at lunch you ordered your dinner. Every meal had a
choice of 2 apps and 2 mains, but they suggested you try a half order of
everything. After a few days we just waved them away and said "bring
us some food". Every meal I had at Utopia was better than the fancy
steak house dinners I ate in Houston on our way to/from Honduras. As
foodies, we asked Crisna about her chefs. Chefs? Nope! Just some local
cooks that are very capable, very interested in food and have been given
the mandate to have fun and make interesting and tasty food. Some
highlights were the fresh lionfish meal (hunted by the crew on an afternoon
dive at an un-named seamount off the west cays) as well as the tuna sushi
meal that Crisna waffled on since Melvin had phoned to say he hooked one
but had not landed it yet. Fresh fish!
Lunch in the pool... No bathing suit needed. They set up "picnic
tables" in the shallow end and you get to eat lunch under a shroud
with your feet in the cool water of the infinity pool.
** the difference: Paul and Crisna have "gone Honduran". They
take pride in employing local people and are very active in spearheading
environmental programs at the Pigeon Cay school. They arranged a volunteer
English teacher and are actively teaching all of their staff English and
Scuba.
P.S. If you ask nicely they will sell you some of their home made hot
sauce. I preferred the green stuff over the yellow stuff. Use sparingly.
Yum!
destination focused on great diving. Paul and Crisna were excellent hosts
with a top notch family-like team. And they are invested in making a
difference**. This is not a resort that has some diving, it is a luxury
diving resort. Emphasis on diving and luxury.
We have had valet diving once before and Utopia Village service was similar
in nature, but much more flexible (see below) and much more valet. We
dropped our gear off at the start of the week and picked it up at the end.
The dive crew handled everything in between. Actually we did not get to
drop our gear off. As we headed to the dive shop with our gear, several
staff "popped out of the bushes", grabbed our bags and carried
them to the shop.
There were 3 scheduled dives each day, but you could do more (or less) if
you wished. Most days were 3 boat dives: a double tank dive starting at
8:00 am and a single tank starting at 2:00pm. There was some small
variation with a checkout shore dive on the first day and a night dive mid
week (dinner was greatly delayed for this).
Flexibility: Every dive was well over an hour. We never felt rushed to get
back on the boat. The night shore dive was 79 minutes. One morning Evelyn
spotted dolphins swimming past the resort - we rushed in the jungle buggy
to the boat, spent 10 minutes locating them and then we all snorkeled with
the dolphins. Boat Captn Elvis even maneuvered the boat so that the
dolphins played in the bow wave and Elvis brought them back to us
snorkelers. This interlude meant lunch would have to wait for us. The
surface interval on the morning dives was spent looking for potential sea
life encounters. Instead of sitting at the mooring Elvis motored in a large
arc to the next site. One day we encountered a sailfish feeding? on the
surface. We slipped in with snorkels, but spooked it. Oops.
The land based resort side was pure luxury. Over the top. Very surprising
for a remote and small place like Utila. Lodging, service and food was
excellent. It stood out beyond any other dive trip. The prior week we had
spent on Roatan at a very popular dive resort and that quickly paled in
comparison.
Breakfast offered an array of local Honduran dishes AND an ala cart menu
(which I never used, can you say full of delicious?). At breakfast you
ordered your lunch and at lunch you ordered your dinner. Every meal had a
choice of 2 apps and 2 mains, but they suggested you try a half order of
everything. After a few days we just waved them away and said "bring
us some food". Every meal I had at Utopia was better than the fancy
steak house dinners I ate in Houston on our way to/from Honduras. As
foodies, we asked Crisna about her chefs. Chefs? Nope! Just some local
cooks that are very capable, very interested in food and have been given
the mandate to have fun and make interesting and tasty food. Some
highlights were the fresh lionfish meal (hunted by the crew on an afternoon
dive at an un-named seamount off the west cays) as well as the tuna sushi
meal that Crisna waffled on since Melvin had phoned to say he hooked one
but had not landed it yet. Fresh fish!
Lunch in the pool... No bathing suit needed. They set up "picnic
tables" in the shallow end and you get to eat lunch under a shroud
with your feet in the cool water of the infinity pool.
** the difference: Paul and Crisna have "gone Honduran". They
take pride in employing local people and are very active in spearheading
environmental programs at the Pigeon Cay school. They arranged a volunteer
English teacher and are actively teaching all of their staff English and
Scuba.
P.S. If you ask nicely they will sell you some of their home made hot
sauce. I preferred the green stuff over the yellow stuff. Use sparingly.
Yum!
