Utila -- A backpacker's Love Affair

The food on the island is excellent and costs around 55-75 Lps ($3.50-4.50). The backpackers thought this was expensive. Everybody ate everything, without care whether the food was washed in the water. This means that most people had daily bouts of diarrhea. But, nobody seemed to be bothered -- it became more of a joke or subject of conversation or a minor inconvenience rather than anything else. It didn't stop anybody from diving or partying.

Every day that I went diving for breakfast I ate delicious homemade cinnamon rolls, a cup of coffee and a bottle of water from the stand across the street from UDC for about 17 Lps. The ultimate breakfast is the heuvos rancheros at Munchies. For 55 Lps, you get the heuvos rancheros, orange juice, coffee and toast. The only problem at Munchies is that the sandflies seem to be at their worst over there.

My four favorite all around restaurants were Ultra Lite, an Israeli-like restaurant a little farther up on the strip closer to the beach; DJ's for their grilled fish; Island Cafe for their chicken fingers; and Bundu Cafe for their Italian night, where an Italian woman spends all day making Italian food from scratch. Bundu and DJs are open for dinner only a couple of nights a week, so when they are open, they are packed.

At a fundraiser on the beach one day to support the environment, I met two men who bought a huge chunk of the island. They explained to me that the cruise ships are going to Utila very soon, so their real estate is going to become quite lucrative, especially when they build thier hotels on it. Although I was horrified, I was glad that I got to go to Utila and experience the reefs before Utila succumbs to tourism. It'll probably take about a decade for Utila to change (there is still no power at night and no power at all on the north side), but unfortunately it appears as if the island is heading that way.

I arrived at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Good Friday. Fortunately, I was tipped off by my dive shop in Utila that the country closes down on Good Friday. When I arrived to SPS, however, I was told by some employees of the airlines that the planes indeed were flying. When I went to get a ticket, however, it turned out the planes to Utila weren't flying. Although the employees didn't really know what/when things were running, they were extremely nice. A guard told me to wait around because he knew that my hotel had a shuttle from the airport. After about an hour, I took a cab anyway. Turns out the hotel didn't have any such shuttle. A cab to the Mictrotel Hotel (which is related to the La Quinta chain), which is just off the center of town, costs $10. The center of town ranges from a 10 minute ride to a 1/2 hour ride, depending on whether the cab driver decides to make stops or chill with his friends at random places along the way.

The Microtel was nice and has free internet, but pricey for Honduras ($65). I learned later after talking to someone in Utila that Microtel offers an all-you-can-drink happy hour from 5-7pm every evening. Again, the employees of the Mictrotel tried to be very helpful and said that rather than spending the night in SPS, I should take the bus to La Ceiba and then stay overnight at La Ceiba and then take the ferry to Utila the next day.

That was a great idea, except for that the employees couldn't sort out whether the buses were running, and when they would run. So, I decided to spend the night and then take the three hour bus at 5:30am to the Ferry, which leaves daily from La Ceiba at 9:30am. Luckily, I later changed my mind the next morning and took the plane because no one really knew how far the Ferry was from the bus station. Turns out everyone who tried to take the bus/ferry missed the ferry and ended up taking the afternoon plane from La Ceiba. The cost of the plane from SPS to La Ceiba to Utila is 750 Lempiras (approx $42).

When I arrived at the SPS airport I was very scared. The signs on the plane were in Russian and were obviously very old. However, the flight was fine and the Honduran jungle looked absolutely beautiful. The ride to La Ceiba took about 45 minutes and the ride to Utila took about 20 minutes. However, there was a lot of time in between flights because, as I'll explain later, the planes leave whenever they feel like it.

Serious backpackers go to Utila from all over the world. I met many people from Canada, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Spain, and Israel. Surprisingly, because it's so close, I met only two people from the US.

Because Utila has the cheapest diving courses in the world, many people stop off to take the 3-5 day Open Water course (which ranges from $119 at Paradise Divers -- see below warning -- to $159 at Bay Islands College of Diving). Turns out that everyone I met who decided to take the OW course ended up staying on the island for about four months. Many of the courses offer free housing or other freebies, such as free dives. If you take a course that doesn't offer free housing, it's ok because it is very easy to find a place with a public kitchen for $2 a night.

There isn't much to do and it's very hot during the day if you aren't going to dive, so pick your dive shop carefully. On the main strip, which is about a kilometer long, there are about 30 dive shops (and two internet places, two places to rent bicycles, one ice cream shop, about five Western restaurants and about 10 local restaurants/stalls).

On your first day, you should probably walk up and down the street and choose your dive shop depending on where you want to dive (whether north dives are important), and other issues, such as whether you need a/c classrooms, whether you want free dives or free rooms, whether they offer continuing education, and the vibe of the employees in the shop. But, most importantly, check out the equipment and the boats to make sure they look safe. There are some outfits that are super cheap but obviously don't look too safe, such as Paradise Divers, where they take people down to 150 feet and take pride in the fact that they never open on time b/c they're so hung over. I got my Assistant Instructor at the Utila Dive Center, which is an institution on the island and therefore a safe place to dive with daily dives to the North Side. But, my instructor (Marc Sofer) sucked and was mean and provided my only annoyance during my 2 1/2 weeks on the island. However, John Fraser, the head divemaster, is excellent, kind, cares about your entertainment and finds the fishes, such as the sea horses.

If you dive on the north side of the island, you would leave on the morning dive, which, depending on the dive shop, leaves from 7:30-8:30 in the morning. I always dove on the north because the WHALE SHARKS, when they are found, generally are on the north side. Schools of DOLPHINS can be found anywhere.

I saw three whale sharks during my 2.5 weeks, which ranged from 20-30 feet long. Giant schools of tuna follow the whale sharks. When the tuna surface, it looks like hundreds of bubbles on the surface. So, the boat captains, and whoever else wants to, looked for big bubbles in the surface while we headed to our dive site. When we found the tuna, we waited for the whale shark to surface. When it did, the captain yelled for us to jump, and boy did we jump. My only injury was a kick to the head. The whaleshark tends to swim for about 10 seconds until it goes under. However, on my final swim, the whaleshark swam right with me for about six minutes. Intense.

A standard day is going diving, then having lunch, then taking a siesta, then waking up for sunset at Coco Loco's and having a few cocktails there, then dinner, then you go to the bar that's having a party night. The nights are as follows: Monday and Wednesdays, you go to the bar at Cross Creek; Fridays at Bar in the Bush (which is the only local bar that the backpackers frequent); and every other night at Coco Loco. Once you get to know people, you'll also learn of the house parties.

I originally stayed at a place called The Mango Inn. The Mango Inn is associated with UDC, so my room cost $5 a night. It costs more at Mango than at other hotels because the Mango offers a range of rooms -- a/c, shower, etc. and a restaurant that is known for its fantastic pizzas. I had to leave after 5 nights, however, because (a) the screens in my room had holes in them and I had the choice to either suffocate in the heat or get bitten up by sand flies all evening, (b)I had bed bugs, and (c) they never cleaned my room or changed my sheets from the person who had my room/bed before me. I moved to Ruby's Inn, which is on the strip and my room had views of the ocean. I paid $20 a night for a clean a/c room with hot showers with daily maid service.