Dive Review of Laguna Beach Resort in
Honduras/Utila

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Laguna Beach Resort, Mar, 2008, by Laura Austin, VA, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports). Report 3955.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	How a diver feels about Utila, I think, depends entirely whether or not they saw a whale shark. We did not. Well, a few in the group reported seeing the outline and spots before the creature took off for the depths. But, still, it was a whale-shark free trip and I can't think of any reason to go to Utila other than to see--and swim with--the whale shark. We not only didn't see the whale shark, we weren't even able to go looking for them, due to high winds most of the week. We only made the trip out to the North shore one day--and the diving is definitely better there. Unfortunately, the resort makes you spend your first day diving locally and then attending a whale shark information session that evening before being allowed to go look for them. I appreciate the necessity and educational value of the information session; I just wish they had given it to us the night we arrived, as that first day we spent on the local sites was a gorgeous and fairly flat day--perhaps the day we could have seen the elusive whale shark if we had been allowed to go to the North. In any case, we were mostly on the South side and East & West End. Sadly, these reefs are in serious trouble. At some sites, we saw up to 80% dead coral. Not a lot of fish and even fewer of a good size. (Utila is not a preserve.) It was quite depressing. The DMS were very good about pointing out unusual or hard-to-spot species. We saw numerous seahorses, pipefishes, even a pipehorse! Other divers reported seeing a short-nosed batfish. I found a juvenile trunkfish (tiny pumpkin!) and various other interesting juveniles. (The indigo hamlets are a treat!) To tell the truth, I preferred rooting around in the sea beds than doing the usual back-and-forth on nearly-dead and nearly-empty reefs. We decided to concentrate on quality rather than quantity--really, what other choice did we have? The resort itself is rustic and charming. Simple cabins with plenty of room to spread out your stuff and very hot showers. Each has a porch for admiring the lagoon whilst rocking in your hammock. The food is simple and home-style and a bit lacking in variety. A bunch of people got some sort of turista bug toward the end of the stay--my teenager was particularly sick, with a fever, and missed two whole days of diving. The weather had turned cloudy and drizzly by this point, so it wasn't that hard for him to stay in bed and sleep it off. The dive shop is well run. Nice staff. Valet service. The resort takes its guests into town on Friday afternoon (it's a Saturday-to-Saturday deal) Utila is, simply put, a dump. Dirty and filthy with trash everywhere and lots of poverty. But it is cheap. We met at a bar in town where the toilet was directly over the water. Of course, all the sewage on the island goes directly into the water, so why should I be surprised? The sewage problem and over-fishing has obviously had a terrible impact on the reefs of Utila--I'm not sure anything can be done at this point. There were divers in our group who had been there the year or two before and were shocked at the deteriorating conditions. It seems the coral reefs are in a downward spiral. But the fisherman have to work and feed their families, and I don't suppose the Honduran government has a lot of money to spend on sewage treatment plants and the like. The trip was not a total disaster--we had some good times and enjoyed some of the diving. We liked the staff and the resort. But I'm sorry to say that I won't be recommending Utila to my diving friends.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Roatan, Cayman Brac, Florida Keys, Belize
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Our boat included some newbies, so we tended to stay fairly shallow and to be back at the boat after 45 minutes. We were allowed to stay underwater in the general area for the complete hour, however. Never went back to the boat with less that 1000 psi.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Table and tanks for cameras on boat. Rinse tanks on shore. Lots of opportunities for good macro photography.

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Dive Review of Laguna Beach Resort in Honduras/Utila

Laguna Beach Resort, Mar, 2008,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Laguna Beach Resort in
Honduras/Utila