Blogs from Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, Central America Caribbean

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Unquestionably one of the highlights of Honduras are the Bay Islands. We’ve come to Utila which is the smaller and cheaper of the 2 main islands (the other is Roatan) and also happens to be closer to the coast so easier to reach by fast ferry. We’ve here for 10 fun dives with one of the PADI dive schools (Dive Altons) which friends had recommended. Utila is really all about diving. There are over a dozen dive schools here all offering much the same sort of deal, but each school has their own slightly different emphasis – some have a bit of a party scene and others a more serious style. Altons seems to be about right for us and has good on-site accommodation which is free on the days you dive with them. The dive ... read more


On Tuesday morning, 3rd of April, I took a very early bus to Copán in Honduras. We left at 4AM to avoid heavy traffic in Antigua, Guatemala City and the border. Fortunately, our shuttle was rather empty, just 6 people, and so we all had space enough to stretch and sleep some more. The night before, at 10PM, Max, Jennifer and Rebecka, the Swedish guys from our hike to Acatenango, had decided to join me on my trip to Copán and I had managed to get the number of the shuttle company from the night watch in my hostel and they had managed to reserve a free spot in the shuttle for the next morning. The bus ride was a bit longer than expected, but that was because the others in the shuttle ordered on our ... read more
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Dienstag Morgen, den 3. April, habe ich ein sehr frühes Shuttle nach Copán in Honduras genommen. Wir sind um 4h morgens in Antigua losgefahren um dem Verkehr in Antigua, Guatemala und an der Grenze aus dem Weg zu gehen. Zum Glück war unser Shuttle ziemlich leer, nur 6 Leute, so hatten wir alle viel Platz und konnten noch ein paar Stunden schlafen. Am Abend vorher hatten Max, Jennifer und Rebecka, die Schweden von unserer Wanderung zum Acatenango Vulkan, entschieden, sie möchten gerne dasselbe Shuttle nach Copán nehmen wie ich und ich habe vom Nachtwächter unseres Hostels die Nummer des Shuttleunternehmens bekommen und sie haben es geschafft noch 3 Plätze im Shuttle zu reservieren. Die Fahrt war ein bisschen länger als erwartet, denn die anderen im Shuttle mussten während einer Pause unbedingt ein riesiges Frühstück bestellen, dass ... read more
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„Honduras has cheap diving“, was all I heard about this country, before I crossed the border in El Poy. Due to a late arrival I spent the night in Nuevo Ocotepeque in a very simple hotel (no backpacker destination - no hostel). After arrival, hungry Antonia looked for some food and FAILED. Nothing except fried chicken, this must be the place where they invented fried chicken – every restaurant sold ONLY FRIED CHICKEN… since I decided a few weeks earlier to exclude meat from my diet I went to bed hungry that night. What town serves JUST fried chicken???? That was an awesome start Honduras… The next day I spent to 90% of my time on the bus because the bus drivers drove five times through and around the town to avoid missing a single passenger. ... read more
Baleadas
crawling deep into the unexplored cave
On the way to the certification


Getting back into the water again after five years land bound was actually pretty scary. I have realised on this trip how age and experience has effected my fear tolerance. No longer am I that young fearless girl who jumps from obscene heights or chooses the sketchy ladder over the stairs. I have noticed that somehow I have begun to tread more carefully, trust less often and be afraid more than usual. This has defiantly changed the path I follow, as I choose not to jump of a broken rusty bridge into the free flowing river below or not to trust the rope swing with my weight I wonder if I am missing out or if I am just growing up?! I didn't really think when I signed up for my PADI Advanced open water about ... read more
Public beach
String of pearls


We finally had to leave Utopia and it only took 2 days to get to Utila by boat and shuttle. We were traveling with Jenny and Cindy who we met at Utopia. We had to stop overnight in Livingston on the way. It didn't seem like there was a lot to do in Livingston itself but the boat ride from Rio Dulce to Livingston was gorgeously green and lush. The second day of travel saw us taking a boat to Puerto Barrios at 6:30am to catch the shuttle to La Ceiba where we would take the ferry to Utila. That ferry was the rockiest boat we've ever been on so much so that Ashley now understands the true meaning of motion sickness. We didn't have a place to stay booked ahead of time but luckily for ... read more
A Couple of New Fish
Hawks Bill Turtle
Nurse Shark

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Utila February 18th 2015

02/02/15 Met de Utila Princess richting Utila... De kogel is door de kerk..uiteindelijk gekozen voor het meest gekende eiland Utila, " the place to be " om te leren duiken! Zou één van de goedkoopste plaatsen ter wereld zijn en tevens één van de grootste koraalriffen. Een andere doorslaggevende factor was UITERAARD dat het maar een uur varen is naar het eiland, wat een een stuk meer zou zijn naar Roatan. Met de nodige middelen tegen zeeziekte en "DORMIR" mijn maag juist voldoende kunnen...pff die golven blijken nog steeds niet voor mij te zijn... Eerste avond al in het juiste café beland met een ' open mike ', het niveau was niet al te hoog maar het was toch een heel geslaagde avond! Ik nam een' PADI ' cursus open water bij het Utila Divingcenter, een ... read more
Utila Princess..met zicht op La Ceiba.
Utila...
Zot café..

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Utila October 1st 2014

My dreams are vivid because of my malaria medication. I love it. I am living in another world both by day and by night. But I had one very unsettling night. We took a weekend trip to the tiny island of Utila. It perfectly exuded sleepy carribbean charm. We stayed with an acquaintance of our host grandma. His house was on the beach, sandwiched between two bars, which were constantly blaring music on the weekend from early morning until late night. We went to bed around midnight. It was hot and stuffy in the room, and it had a moderately assaulting musty cat pee smell. We kept the fan off to save electricity out of courtesy. Our room throbbed from the music next door. We put in ear plugs, although I'm not accustomed to sleeping with ... read more


Our Arrival The ferry docked on the East side of town. Turn left to walk into town. The ferry is met by a lot of dive schools trying to get you to sign up with them. Where We Stayed Hotel Sea Side Rooms - from the ferry walk along the main street until the far end of town near the beach. $15 for a room downstairs, $17 for a room upstairs next to the balcony. Room 201 upstairs is bigger however was missing a fly net on the window so we stayed in room 204 opposite which has 2 double beds and a tiny bathroom. Wifi, kitchen, water view and next to the beach. Towels provided and nice balcony albeit with several broken chairs. Owned and run by Minny who lives next door. The kitchen gets ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Honduras » Bay Islands » Utila September 27th 2013

The main aim of my trip to Honduras was to complete my advanced open water scuba diving in the Bay Islands, supposedly one of the cheapest and best places in the world to do it. One small snag was that I was on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and needed to get up to the Caribbean coast of Honduras! The first day of the two day journey somewhat improbably involved: a horse and cart, a row boat, a chicken bus, two taxi rides, a microbus, another chicken bus, a cycle rickshaw to the border, crossing the border on foot, a honduran chicken bus and one final honduran bus to get us to the capital! Phew – but luckily all of this only cost about $13 – but it did take 13 hours!! Finally reaching the Bay ... read more
Obviously something caught my eye...
Tiger fish




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