UTILA, HONDURAS: Diving, Drinking and Disappointment

It’s easy and relatively risk-free to write about a place you loved.  It’s not exactly cake to write about a place that disappointed you.

I spent ten days on the island of Utila, Honduras in October of 2014, spent too much money and wasn’t all that impressed.  I admit – it’s a cheap place to get your scuba diving certification – but is it really that great of a place to go in general?  I didn’t really think so.

My major Utila complaints, which I’ll expand on below:

• There’s nothing to do on Utila but scuba dive during the day and drink hard at night.
• A lot of diving and drinking quickly wrecks a backpacker’s daily budget.
• Food is fairly expensive and not all that tasty on Utila.
• Utila is far from the prettiest or most pleasant place I’ve ever been.

Let’s Start Complaining!

I await your hate mail.  Remember, this is a personal blog and these are just opinions.

PROS:  Here’s what’s cheap and advantageous in Utila:

If you’re traveling in Central America, you’ll hear about Utila as the storied cheap place to scuba dive more cheaply than anywhere else in the region (and as cheaply as anywhere else in the world), as hear tales of cheap and/or free lodgings and a backpacker-centric vibe.  And I admit – all of these things are in Utila, yes.

For example, diving costs:  completion of a PADI Open Water Diver certification (4 day course) or Advanced Open Water certification (2 day course) costs about $300 US at any given dive shop – competition is intense between the myriad operators in tiny Utila Town.  A lot of dive resorts even give out free accommodations with certification courses or packages of fun dives.  Fun dives usually run about $25-30 US per tank.

This pricing is not only competitive on Utila, but worldwide.  It’s by no means a bad deal.

THE CHEAPEST DIVE SHOP ON UTILA:  upon research/visit in October 2014, only one dive shop really stuck out as a bit less expensive than the others – Paradise Divers, a popular spot for Spanish-speaking divers, which offered certification courses at around $250 US.  Accordingly, Paradise’s facilities and accommodations appeared just a bit less shiny and new than others.  I did not dive nor stay with Paradise so I cannot comment beyond this, though.

I went diving with Bay Islands College of Diving while I was on Utila, but I would recommend you shop around upon arrival (I certainly did!).  Competition for diving business is fierce on Utila, and bargaining is a good idea.

RELATED POST:  TRAVEL TIPS: How To Choose a Dive Shop

A few pictures from my time scuba diving while on Utila:

napping on the way to a dive site.

Dive in progress. No wetsuit for me in warm waters (and yes, I know my snorkel is on the wrong side).

They saw a hammerhead shark. I didn’t, unfortunately.

Dolphin alongside the diving boat.

Unloading the boat after a dive.

Another unique thing about Utila:

Another key thing that Utila boasts that many other places can’t:  diving/snorkeling Utila’s north side means that you may stand the chance of seeing whale sharks – the world’s largest fish, sometimes reaching 30-40 ft (9-12 meters).  This is one of the places you can see them for an extended season each year (dive resorts may tell you that they can be seen ALL YEAR, but they have money to gain by saying so!), and that’s not necessarily common.  I’m dying to see whale sharks myself, and haven’t yet.

CONS:  If you’re on a backpacker budget, Utila isn’t as cheap as you’d think.

This’ll seem like I’m nit-picking at first, but bear with me.

Examples of non-diving costs on Utila:

Prices for food in restaurants – say, a desayuno tipico (typical breakfast), or a set menu lunch – don’t vary considerably between establishments on the main road of Utila Town.  You can expect to pay around 80-100L for breakfast, 80-150L for lunch, and 100-200L for dinner.  Prices are slightly higher than I generally prefer to pay in Honduras, and though they’re not exactly runaway costs, little things like this add up if you’re on an extended trip (and yes, I know things just cost more on islands in general!).

Don’t expect a wealth of back alley comedores nor taquerias to save your budget either – there just aren’t a lot of them on hand.  And yeah, there’s a bit of street food available, but living off tacos (20L each) and baleadas (simple ones for 12L) alone will be tough if you’re diving every day.

The biggest problem for me was that I just didn’t think the food here was good QUALITY for its price.  Nothing blew me away, and I was on the island for a week and a half scouting hard for food that DID blow me away.  I was regularly disappointed at meal time and ended up just eating simple foods for as cheap as I could find them for the most part.

One of the cheapest lunches I had on the island. 70L (a little under $3.50 US) for a bit of fried fish, plantains, rice, beans and salad. Decidedly not from Shoneys.

Let’s say you have a kitchen in your accommodations and want to cook instead:  bad news – food in grocery stores isn’t all that inexpensive either – and there’s not really a “cheap” grocery store either – prices are nearly fixed between shops.  On the extreme high end of food costs, I saw a box of cereal for $9 US, and smallish plastic bags of pasta for $4 US.  Yikes.

Friends on the island that were staying for long, multi-level dive certification courses complained to me how they couldn’t really save a lot of money by shopping and doing their own food prep.  Bummer.

Roughly $8.00 US for cereal.

$4.00 US for a smallish bag of pasta.

Also of note:  transport costs to the island:  Taking the ferry to Utila from La Ceiba costs around $25 US each way, which is a somewhat considerable expense for a budget backpacker.  It’s not a disastrous amount, but it’s still a cost worth mentioning for travelers that’ve been chicken-bussing and dorm-ing their way through Central America.

Utila Princess posted prices (current Oct 2014) for transport from La Ceiba to Utila.

Swedes buying tickets.

The little one goes to Utila. The big one goes to Roatan. Same dock.

Activity occurring on the same dock.

The ferry ride to Utila can be pretty bumpy. There was a lot of passenger puking going on, and a lot of plastic bags being handed out accordingly by staff.

For your ease of use, here’s the Utila Princess daily ferry schedule, current October 2014 (it comes and goes twice daily, and takes about an hour for transit):

• Depart Utila for La Ceiba: 6:20 am
• Depart La Ceiba for Utila: 9:30 am
• Depart Utila for La Ceiba: 2:00 pm
• Depart La Ceiba for Utila: 4:00 pm

Here’s the REAL budget killer:  there’s not that much to do on any given day aside from DIVE AND DRINK, which gets expensive.

Dive during the day, drink hard at night.  No exceptions, and nothing more to do.  I know this sounds like a fantasy to some, but I think it’s pretty limiting routine that can destroy modest travel budgets.

Here’s what you should expect insofar as a daily budget if you do the daily Utila dance, which goes like this:

• $60-70 US:  go out on the dive boat for a 2-tank dive (meaning two immersions in the water and a surface interval).
• $0.00 US:  a day of diving often means your accommodation is cheap or free, so we’ll say that’s zero bucks per day.
• $10-20 US:  eat at least two meals in modest restaurants.
• $10-15 US:  go out with friends (or new acquaintances, whatever you want to call them) at night for a battery of drinks in one of the local bars ($2+ per drink, and you may drink 4-5 or more).

This not-unusual daily budget breakout means spending $80-105 US in one day – double or triple many backpackers’ anticipated budgets.

I know, I know – it’s not necessarily THAT MUCH MONEY on the grand scale.  But the thing is – remember – Utila is a place that, in my opinion, is NOT THAT TERRIBLY INTERESTING, and NOT REALLY THAT PRETTY.

Here’s one way to spend your drinking money in Utila:  several bars offer “challenges”, which mean slamming four shots of terrible-tasting alcohol, sometimes performing a physical activity like running about or spinning.  For the cost of 200 Lempira (just under $10 US) you get the shots – and should you complete your nasty drinks, you are awarded a t-shirt, which many people wear around the island like a badge of courage.  I admit, I did two of them – at dive bars La Cueva and Skid Row.

Skid Row’s challenge pictured below, as executed by myself and Rob, who was also staying in Utila at the time – and our unsightly beards.

First, take three shots of “guifity”, a horrid combination of rum and herbs.

Then, spin in circles ten times in the street while avoiding passing motorbikes and tuk-tuks.

Now, run around Skid Row’s pool table ten times, CLOCKWISE, without touching the pool table (interrupt any game that’s going on, no problem). If you somehow manage to PASS your friend, they have to take another shot, in theory.

Take one more shot afterwards (for a total of four) and feel like this.

Then, pick out your t-shirt or tank top.

woo!

Winner of the “Skid Row: Just Dirty Enough” tank top.

CON: Utila isn’t that pretty compared to other beaches and islands I’ve visited in other parts of the world.

I know, I know – Utila is supposed to be the rougher-edged Honduran bay island, and Roatán is supposed to be the pretty one.  Fine.  But Utila still isn’t that pretty.

Utila Town itself is a somewhat nondescript hodgepodge.  It’s not decaying in a particularly scenic way, it’s not historically preserved, it’s not shiny and new.  I wasn’t attracted to this place and didn’t find a lot of local interest or drive to photograph the city.  Along the main road, more buildings are abandoned and/or boarded up than you’d imagine.

And while I don’t need a pristine, Disneyland of an island, I was just hoping for something with a bit more character.

Utila waterfront property.

Palm trees and power lines.

What’s more, the traffic on the few roads of Utila Town favors motorbikes, ATVs and tuk-tuks to the point where pedestrians are often left cramming themselves against walls or into doorways to avoid passing vehicles, which maintain right of way and often nearly clip pedestrians regardless of how full the road is.  It’s incredibly irritating.  Oh, and there are no other options for places to walk other than this motor vehicle-dominated road.

Swerving out of a near miss at high speed on Utila Town’s main road.

Mixed-media traffic.

A large-ish sand crab hides in one of the gutters that you might have to lean into while avoiding traffic.

The beaches in Utila are low grade by anyone’s standards (even if the water is usually quite clear and warm once you’re in it).  Along the bay of Utila Town, there’s not really a good beach to speak of.  Some dive shops and other businesses offer nice docks on which that you can sit on the sun (which is great after a long day of diving), but if you like REALLY NICE BEACHES you will be disappointed here.  I prefer beaches in places like this.

The one easily accessible beach that I saw:  Chepes Beach, to the west of Utila Town, is reachable by tuk-tuk or via a long walk, but kind of an apology of a beach as far as I’m concerned.

Something that helps a bit with this issue:  you can take boats to nicer beaches.  Water Cay is a small, uninhabited island to the east of Utila where I whiled away a nice afternoon in the sun with friends.  My transit there (with said friends) cost me $12 US in a small boat.  There’s a nicer restaurant called Neptune’s that you can also visit that has a sandy patch in front of it as well – it’s only accessible by boat, though (free and operated by the restaurant – I’m not sure about schedule, though).

A few pretty photos regardless of what I’ve said:

Pico Bonito (2436 m) viewed from near Water Cay.

Pelicans sitting in a conifer on Water Cay.

Pumpkin Hill, the highest point on Utila at a whopping 243 feet (74 meters) high!

A dog named Ceiba that seems to be omnipresent on the island.

Another look at Pico Bonito from Utila.

Another CON:  Utila isn’t really that pleasant.

In my experience, the majority of the locals here were either very icy, or completely tired of tourists (even in low season, when I visited Utila).  I can’t blame them – this place attracts a party crowd that probably doesn’t give a shit about them either, and comes and goes with perceived impunity.  THIS ISN’T TO SAY THAT THERE AREN’T GOOD PEOPLE ON UTILA – I MET PLENTY – it’s just that a considerable percentage of the locals could take you or leave you.  This kind of burnout is pretty normal in touristic party spots worldwide, but that doesn’t mean I need to get used to it or make allowances for it.

Example:  people like the owner of the grocery store across from my dive shop seemed to HATE me.  As far as I know, I’m a pretty pleasant dude, and I certainly don’t need to get brow-beaten for doing something like buying food and drinks from a store.  I started making my purchases elsewhere as a result, and felt a little less welcome on the island than I had before (not that I ever really had a warm feeling about the place).

More:  the mosquitos on Utila are some of the worst and hungriest I’ve encountered, and I can say this after spending five weeks in lowland Amazon jungle in late 2013.  These things gave my ankles polka-dots, and seemed to have a specific affinity for biting my hands – especially the tasty area BETWEEN MY FINGERS.  Ow.  Of course, mosquitos are less of an issue if you’re in a pretty, amazing place.  But again, I don’t think Utila is that pretty nor that amazing of a place.

And more:  Utila’s airport is rumored to be a place favored by Columbian drug planes for stopovers on the way north, and (probably) accordingly there’s a bit of a slimy drug-culture vibe on the island.  Cocaine (and other things like MDMA) is readily available and the party culture is happily putting it up their noses.  This is all fine and well until you have a 30 minute spitting-close-talker conversation with a coked-up dive instructor and the young backpacker he’s fucking as of that week (I take it that this is one of the perks of the job, as dive instructor pay is not good), and afterwards neither can remember who you are, what you talked about, or what country you’re from.

They:  “What part of Canada are you from again?”

Me:  “The United States.”

So nice to meet you again.

A lot of the people I met on Utila quietly didn’t like Utila that much either.

I thought I was the only one with this distaste at first, but then multiple other divers and travelers I met confided in me that no, they didn’t like Utila much either, and they didn’t think the diving there was as good as they had hoped, and they were pissing away too much money on boring food and too much drinking once the sun had set.  Not exactly an endorsement.

Concluding:

There are a few GOOD reasons to go to Utila:

• You want to get dive certified, or want to quickly blast through your Divemaster or PADI Instructor course for prices that are competitive worldwide.
• You enjoy diving and drinking every day.
• You love extreme humidity and mosquito bites, and hate good beaches.
• You’re not picky about food.
• Your budget is $80-100 US per day or more (this can be lessened if you’re not diving every day, but I don’t see a lot of point in being in Utila if you’re not diving most days).

Are you trying to talk me out of my trip to Utila, Matt?

NO.  Do whatever the hell you want.

If you’re passing through northern Honduras on a bigger trip, there’s no reason not to visit one or more of the Bay Islands of Honduras.  However, if you’re planning a single-destination trip for vacation, natural beauty and diving, consider looking elsewhere.

Utila compared to Koh Tao, Thailand:

A comparison, just for fun:  when compared to Koh Tao, Thailand (another small island that’s about as diving certification-centric as it gets, and price-competitive), dive certification on Utila is more or less EQUAL in price.  Upon research in October 2014, dive shops in Koh Tao were offering PADI Open Water certification for right around $300 US, and include free lodging on dive days.  It’s the same!  Divemaster and PADI Instructor courses are similarly competitive on price in Utila.

With that said… I would have to say YES, I’d prefer Koh Tao if I was getting started in diving.  And in fact, I did complete my PADI Open Water Diver certification in Koh Tao, way back in 2011.

Though it’s by no means perfect, Koh Tao is just a bit of a prettier place, Thai food beats Utilian food any damn day of the week, Koh Tao has a couple of accessible modest beaches, and I thought the dive sites near Koh Tao were better and more filled with life, at least when I was there a few years ago.  And remember, the cost of diving and living are more or less the SAME in both Utila and Koh Tao.

But to be fair, Koh Tao’s local population definitely exhibited a bit of the tourist burnout that Utila’s did too.  And admittedly, Koh Tao is not the prettiest place in Thailand for beaches either – but I found it a bit more attractive than Utila, all the same.

Utila compared to the nearby Honduran Bay Island of Roatan:

I don’t really know how good Roatan is on a firsthand basis as I didn’t visit Roatan, so I won’t speak to that.  Fair!

Utila compared to the Corn Islands of Nicaragua:

Yep, there’s diving in Nicaragua too.  Nicaragua’s Corn Islands have a small handful of dive shops and are a reasonably good place to dive.  On top of this, the islands themselves (Great Corn Island + Little Corn Island) are a bit more attractive and enjoyable when compared to Utila, in my opinion.  Bonus:  there are no motor vehicles on Little Corn Island!

I would say that for combined general enjoyment, lifestyle and diving, I preferred the Corn Islands to Utila, though the two islands are certainly very different places, and also quite far from one another, so it’s a bit of an apples and oranges situation.

Did I have a good time in Utila in spite of myself?

Yes, of course.  What am I, a complete idiot?

I met good people, threw back too many drinks, ate a bunch of forgettable food and had fun doing a bit of diving.  But the only reason I stayed on Utila as long as I did on wasn’t for diving, or drinking, or whatever.  It was because of the friends I made.  Friends like the people below.

Thanks for reading.  If you’re looking for more information on travel in Honduras, check out my previous posts on Copán and crossing the border from Guatemala to Honduras.