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Scuba diving and snorkelling

Marine conservation scuba diving and PADI courses

Diving in Honduras

Bill Mashek writes...

"Utila is the smallest and flattest of the three major Honduras Bay Islands, and is the closest to the mainland. The island is nine and a half miles long and three miles wide. Land transportation on Utila is limited to a few pickup trucks, a couple of unreliable taxis and a ton of old mountain bikes.

Utila is not only renowned as one of the best diving locations in the Caribbean, it is also known as the cheapest. From mid February through to March you can almost be guaranteed a whale-shark experience. For this reason the streets are lined with dive shops. Because certifications are so cheap, many shops have reputations as 'dive master factories'. For as little as $500 (including lodging) you can spend a month on the island completing a dive master course. My 12 dives cost me $160.

I dived with Altons because that is the shop the Spanish Language School uses. They were fine. The dive masters were young, mostly inexperienced but competent and all were friendly. I have also heard very good reports about Deep Blue Divers.

The best diving in Utila is in the morning. This is when most dive boats go to the 'north' side. Also, mornings offer the best conditions. Unfortunately, I had language school in the mornings and so dived in the afternoons. By doing this I missed two whale-shark encounters.

There are no bad dive sites on Utila - during my 12 dives, I encountered the largest lobster I have seen in the ocean (20-25 pounds) several barracuda, jaw fish, octopus, spotted drums, sea turtles, moray, scorpion fish, crabs, hog fish, lizard fish, large sting ray, eagle rays, corals, sea fans, sponges and much, much more.

The dive sites included a spectacular seamount at Black Hills, and Ron’s Wreck, which is unimpressive as a wreck dive but has lots of sea life (I saw the green moray here). Airport reef is a good night dive; Blue Bayou is also great - I saw two turtles, barracuda and the 'giant' lobsters. Other sites are Black Coral Wall (two deep dives here - good), Jack Neil, Big Rock, and Cabanas. The visibility ranged from 60-100 feet. Though I did a couple of deep dives (36 metres) the best diving is between 12-20 metres.

Lodging and food in Utila are as cheap as Thailand. We stayed at the Colibri Hotel, a new hotel with the first pool in Utila. We had a large room with two queen size beds and hot water for $25 per night. Most meals are under $3.00, while a fancy dinner will cost about twice that.

Non-divers can visit Water Caye (a small white sand island with palm trees and no sand flies), snorkel, or hike up Pumpkin Hill and explore some of the caves. There is also horse riding, shopping and people-watching. But be prepared, the bay islands are renowned for some of the most aggressive sand flies anywhere - bring lots of repellent."

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