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For Divers since 1975 The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 |
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Dive Utopia/Utopia Village, Aug, 2008,by Mark Rosseisen, TX, United States ( 1 report). Report 4368. |
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No photos available at this time | |||
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Accommodations |  |
Food |  |
| Service and Attitude | |
Environmental Sensitivity | |
| Dive Operation | |
Shore Diving | |
| Snorkeling |  |
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Overall Rating |
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| Value for $$ | |
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| Beginners | |
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| Advanced | |
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| Comments |
I went with a group of 14 from Texas. Utopia is pretty remote, so bring along a sense of adventure. We started our journey from Austin on Continental airlines, we changed planes in Houston, and we were off to Roatan. Once we got to Roatan, we changed to a charter flight to Utila. It was a 20 passenger turboprop plane, big guys in front to help balance the luggage in back. Then it was a quick 20 minute ride to Utila. A representative from the resort met us at the airstrip and we loaded onto 2 “taxis” for a quick ride to the dock in town where we were met by the dive boat. We loaded up and headed to the resort, across the harbor and into the lower lagoon, where we slowly motored through the mangroves to a dock where we were met by the “jungle bus”. So we loaded onto the bus for the final leg to the resort. 2 miles down a 2 rut road through the jungle we finally arrive. We were met at the bar with a drink. Webster’s defines Utopia as “an imaginary and indefinitely remote place”, well it is remote, but it is definitely not imaginary. The resort is beautiful, 2 buildings house the 16 rooms, and there is a restaurant, and kitchen, a beach bar and the dive shop all sitting between the beach and jungle. The rooms are large with cold AC, the shower alternated between hot and warm, but was fine. The drinking water is bottled water only, but never really was a problem. The food, well let me just say that it was totally awesome. Hugh the chef made us 2 mouthwatering choices for dinner and lunch. It was always a hard choice, and I wish I could have ordered both choices. Breakfast was fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, pancakes, juice, coffee, and one morning we had Honduran breakfast with corn tortillas, eggs, beans. We definitely didn’t go hungry on this trip. The diving was really nice. Great walls and pinnacles, lots of really large formations. Large varieties of soft and hard corals. I saw several stands of large elkhorn coral. The fish were not as abundant as I would have liked, but I did see some interesting fish life on the dives. The dive boat is very large and roomy for our group. The diving was usually a morning 2 tank, then a shore dive or 2 in the afternoon or night. The shore diving from the resort is really nice, but be careful if the water gets rough, then the entrances and exits become a bit more challenging. The resort has rinse tanks for gear, and all gear was brought from the gear room to the boat every morning and returned and rinsed and hung up every evening. We usually spent our surface interval cruising for Whale sharks, unfortunately we did not see any on this trip, but we did get to snorkel with dolphins and got to see a Sailfish feeding at the surface. My favorite site was Pinnacles, a swim through at 120’, fantastic fish life, and a Grey Angel that likes to eat bubbles. Other things to know: Don’t forget the bug spray, those sand flies can be vicious when the wind dies down. The cell phone and internet service can be spotty, so don’t count on it. I was able to use skype most of the time, but sometimes there was quite a lag. As I said earlier, bring along a sense of adventure, Utila is already pretty isolated and this resort is a ways from town, and you can’t just run into town, it requires at least a boat ride, and sometimes a ride through the jungle, so plan accordingly. The staff was very accommodating to our requests and handled issues that arose in a timely fashion. This was certainly on of the best dive trips I have been on. |
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Reporter and Travel |
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| Dive Experience | 501-1000 dives | ||
| Where else diving | Bonaire, Turks and Caicos, Roatan, Cayman, Flower Garden Banks, Grenadines, Grenada | ||
| Closest Airport | Getting There | ||
Dive Conditions |
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| Weather | sunny, windy, dry | Seas | choppy, surge |
| Water Temp | 82-84°F / 28-29°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 1 |
| Water Visibility | 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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| Dive own profile | yes | ||
| Enforced diving restrictions | Be back on the boat with 500 psi | ||
| Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | N/A |
What I Saw |
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| Sharks | None | Mantas | None |
| Dolphins | Schools | Whale Sharks | None |
| Turtles | 1 or 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Corals | |
Tropical Fish | |
| Small Critters | |
Large Fish |  |
| Large Pelagics | |
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Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Subject Matter | |
Boat Facilities | |
| Overall rating for UWP's | |
Shore Facilities | |
| UW Photo Comments | Rinse tanks on the boat, no dedicated table. Good counter space in rooms to work on camera gear. | ||
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above. |
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