Tiny Island, Big Fun
Trip Start
Aug 23, 2009
1
22
23
Trip End
Jan 19, 2010
Where I stayed
Underwater Vision
Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras
Monday, December 7, 2009
Utila is one of the Bay Islands situated in the Caribbean of the coast of Honduras and is often over shadowed by its big sister, Roatan which is a little larger and is home to more of the nicer and pricier hotels, resorts and dive outfits. Utila is the perfect spot for the backpacker and for any diver who is looking to advance in their training. I don't think its an exaggeration to assume that there is at least one Dive Master in Training for every 2 divers on the island. Why so? Well, the diving is easy and abundant! If you don't dive, there's not much else for ya!
As expected, there were dozens of dive shops with accommodations. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a hotel or hostel that is not a dive shop first. We picked a place called Underwater Vision. It came with high recommendations and it was the most beautiful and comfortable digs that we checked out. Since there were 3 of us, Jaime, Tom and me, we got a room to ourselves. It was small and included 2 sets of bunk beds and a dresser of sorts and a high powered fan. The beds were comfy and clean. There was no room to complain!
The dive operation was really good too. I liked the equipment for the most part and the boat was really nice. The only complaint that I had was that the DMs were not very experienced and they were reluctant to take the boat out to more challenging sites. What I realized is that Underwater Vision does not cater to the "fun diver." Their bread and butter comes from classes. As a result, we went spent a day out with a competing shop, Parrots. Parrots and Underwater Vision have some sort of cruel relationship that is laced with tales of passion, betrayal and deceit. We felt like traitors that day, but what the hell, we can do what ever we want. So...we dove with Parrots and went to the North side of the island where there was so much more to see. The structures on the Northside were much more interesting. I particularly liked the site called, The Maze, which is just like a maze of coral formations. There were a lot of green moray eels, a couple of tiger tail sea cucumbers (which I just love), TWO spotted eagle rays swimming together, a lesser electric ray, garden eels and so much more. I did 8 dives in Utila. This was the best.
When we weren't diving, we were getting caught up on our hammock time and we were swimming in the bay right outside our door at Underwater Vision. There was a dock with a two level deck. The top deck was probably 12 feet over the water. It took a lot to psych myself into it, but I jumped off....not once but like 10 times!! It was so much fun.
We tried to cook in while we were there, but the kitchen that was provided to us at Underwater Vision was NASTY....like smelly and infested with bugs nasty. We ended up eating out a lot which was fine because eating out in Honduras is CHEAP and the food in Utila is YUMMY. There's not a lot of selection, but if you like fish, you're golden! The best place we ate was Dave's Grill. I had a massive fish burrito with some kind of creamy jalepeno sauce...yes jalepeno! Sometimes, if we didn't feel like going out, we'd just grab baleadas on the street or from the baleada shop next door to our place. What's a baleada? Well, every country seems to have some kind of dish that sets them apart from their neighbors. In Honduras, they eat Baleadas. They even have a fast food chain on the mainland called, "Baleada Express." A Baleada is basically a flour tortilla taco. It comes with refried beans and this buttery/sour creamy sauce. Then, you can jazz it up with whatever kind of meat you want, veggies, avocados or cheese..
Since we were diving most days, we didn't have too many late nights on the island although we did go out to a few places that are essential must sees. There's CocoLoco and Tranquila...which are basic bars on the south side. They have good music and are situated on the water. Depending on whether or not there is a Dive Master Graduation Class, they might be packed or wide open. Evidently there is an additional test to pass if you get your DM in Utila. It is the snorkel test and involves a snorkel and mask and mass quantities of rum and beer. I did not see one of these, but heard a lot about them. The other place we went is called Treetanic. Treetanic is actually a treehouse. Well, this guy started it like 15 or 20 years ago. it was just a little treehouse, but he kept adding to it. He is an artist, so he has made it spectacular. There is a bar with a lot of seating and then there are catwalks and other birds nests that you can lounge in. Everything is decorated with colorful glass beads and stone and metal sculptures. There are amazing wind chimes and other types of hanging art. It is worth seeing during the day and at night because the lighting at night is spectacular in its own right. I could go on and on, but until you see it, you'll never get it. Just trust me. It was fantastic!
Otherwise, we did a lot of walking. One day Tom and I walked out to the airport which was a good hike in the beating sun. We walked really far down the other way another time for some snorkeling. Well, Jaime snorkeled with Theo because we only had two sets of snorkel gear and I opted to take a nap in the sun. We also spent some time at the beach and to cool off, we kicked it in Annie's Internets...which was the classiest computer lab that I ever saw in Central America!
One thing about Utila is that when its time for you'll know it. There wasn't any good reason. We were all done diving. We had been to all the good places to eat and hang out and we were ready to rock, so we did. Thankfully, we were able to get ourselves booked on to a private speed boat to get off the island. I can't remember exactly why that was. I think there was a mechanical problem with the ferry. However it came to be, I was sooooo happy. I HATE that stupid ferry. It made me so sick! The speed boat was much better on my belly. It was brutal on my butt! It was so bumpy. I'm surprised that I didn't accidently bite my tongue off on one of those bumps! But, I survived and felt so good about it. Our plan was to get back to San Pedro Sula, the capital of Honduras. We would spend the night and then hook it to San Salvador, El Salvador for our next country full of adventure. Look out El Salvador, here come two Americans and an Aussi!
