“Utila Dive Centre was the first dive school and dedicated full service facility in Utila. After years of growth and hard work, Utila Dive Centre is now a PADI Gold Palm Resort and Career Development Center, a National Geographic Dive Center, and the first and only DSAT and IANTD Technical Diving facility in Central America.
Join us on an exciting, fun-filled photography and journaling expedition on the island of Utila with Stephen and Marlo Kirkpatrick- based at Utila Lodge.
Underwater Vision is a local, family-owned dive resort located on the beautiful island of Utila.
Looking for one of the best values in the world to SCUBA dive? You’ll find it in Utila!
Driftwood Bar and Grill is planning a music festival January 13-15, 2012. The Driftwood Music Festival will bring Country, Blues, & Bluegrass music to the island of Utila. Planned groups include: Outlaw Jim and The Whiskey Benders, The Konza Swamp Band, The Blue Cat Creole Band
Hi, I’m Rodger Mehrer, Captain of the “Layin’ Low” and I am excited to offer several ocean options for visitors who have come to Utila. Our boat the “Layin Low” has been custom built and outfitted (USCG Standards) for use around Utila for a variety of “Deep Blue” experiences.
Utila Carnival (Carnaval de Utila) 2011 will take place the first week of August.
Enjoying Chepes Beach, Utila Enjoying Chepes Beach in Utila. Photo by Utila Guide Well known for scuba diving, Utila also has great beaches to enjoy as well! For some reason, some of the guidebooks and travel books say that Utila has no beaches- well thats just crazy! We have a fantastic picture perfect public beach (Chepes- see right and below), a great semi-private beach that you can assess for a small $3 usd charge (Bandu Beach). Also, by water, easily accessible via kayak, stand up paddleboard, or water taxi, there is the fabulous Water Caye, and of course an entire coastline along the South, West, and North Shore dotted with awesome sandy beaches. At the North Shore (Rock Harbor) and West (Don Quickset), you will likely have the beach entirely to yourself! Whether you are looking to just lounge or be active, come check out Utila’s beaches! With our calm turquoise blue waters, nice sand, and uncrowded scene, it will be a great day~ For more on Utila, see www.UtilaGuide.com
Utila celebrated its first lionfish derby and cookoff! Organized by Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) and Utila Center for Marine Ecology (UCME), with the involvement of multiple dive shops and other community members, this was a great first-time event. Date of the catching derby was Friday, April 29th. Teams were organized through the dive shops, with 22 teams of four people participating. This resulted in 429 lionfish killed in just one day! Lionfish are a highly invasive species in the Caribbean. Their presence and detrimental effects throughout the Caribbean, including Belize, and Bay Islands, have been well documented. An “invasive species” means not only that the species was introduced to the area (in this case, “area” meaning the Caribbean at large; the introduction likely being accidental through aquariums in Florida and Bahamas), but ALSO that the introduced species has harmful impacts on the native species. In the case of lionfish, they are native to Indian and Pacific oceans, but here, they have no substantial active predators, and they aggressively destroy the local fish populations. (Some preliminary research is being done on shark and grouper predation on lionfish, however the predation seems to be on an individual case by case basis and not at the levels needed to actively control lionfish populations- though that may change in the future.) Read More
Local boy Jerome showing his skill at Stand up Paddleboarding in Utila Get ready to enjoy Stand up Paddleboarding (SUP) on Utila! Check out Paddle Utila (a.ka. Utila Paddle Hut) for high quality standup paddleboard rentals, lessons, and tours. Starting out by basing at Chepes beach (the public beach), most days of the week. You can contact them ahead of time if you want to be sure to catch them, but otherwise generally M-F 9:30 am to 3:30 pm ish (island standard hour) and Saturdays and Sundays 11am ish to 4pm ish. With great intro rate pricing ($10 usd per hour- this is the lowest priced SUP rentals in the WORLD!) , and monthly membership rates for locals, Paddleboard Utila is making it easy for anyone to give it a try. Stand up paddleboard is becoming well known across the globe for its ease in getting started, relaxing feeling, as well as awesome core exercise workouts. Give SUP a try in Utila! www.PaddleUtila.com Email: PaddleUtila@gmail.com Web: www.PaddleUtila.com Phone: 9-779-0521 (If calling from States, dial 011-504 first)
Sunjam Utila is August 6 at Water Cay, Utila, Honduras
Friday April 29is the day for the first Utila Lionfish Derby! For this first derby, teams are only through dive shops- contact your dive shop or BICA (Bay Islands Conservation Association) for more information. Sunday May 1stat Chepes Public Beach is the Utila Cook Off for the captured Lionfish! Lionfish are safe to eat and tasty- the venom is in the spine, not the flesh and cooking destroys residual toxins. Care must be taken in preparing the the fish, as the spines can have a powerful sting, but guidance will be on hand to show newcomers how to safely prepare these fish. Lionfish are a highly invasive species which means they were introduced to this area (the Caribbean) AND have harmful impacts on the native species. In simple terms- Lionfish can destroy the local fish populations on a reef, and don’t have any substantial predators to keep their numbers in check. A recent Roatan Lionfish Derby and Cookoff resulted in over 1300 of these invasive species being removed from the reef~!
Utila Featured in New York Magazine Utila continues to get some great press! See a recent article in New York Magazine featuring Utila~ https://nymag.com/travel/weekends/utila/ Come to Utila and enjoy our great island, its activities, and beautiful waters! For more on Utila, see www.UtilaGuide.com
Little Cay and Sandy Cay, 2 private islands off of Utila, Honduras have been seeing a lot of press this year. Here is a nice write up from our friends at Uncommon Caribbean (click) Having just returned from 4 days of kayaking and snorkeling based at Little Cay, this webmaster can say that this is definately a “must do” during your visit to Utila! For more information on Little Cay, see https://www.utilaguide.com/hotels/islandsrent/
Get out and explore Utila’s waters! Trips to Water Cay from town center will cost 500-600 lempiras ($25-30 usd) for the boat round trip, but confirm with your Captain ahead of time. Customized trips available. Here are a few local boat captains below and we’ll be adding to the list at https://www.utilaguide.com/services/water_taxi/ Larger skiffs (about 20 to 25′ feet); some are covered: 1) Captain Austin Solomon- Nice fast boat, very nice man. You can find him down at Sandy Bay; it’s the new white house on the left, the last one on the water side before you get to the gym. He’s also the “other gas station” in town. Cell: 9964-9679 2) Captain Arturo – Nice fast big boat. He is located just across from Utila Dive Center, behind the building that’s on the street. His home number is 2-425-3384. 3) Ramon’s Charters: Captain Ronnie. 2 boats: Cabin cruiser- 31’footer partly covered or a smaller open 25 footer. Customized Fishing trips and Charters to La Ceiba ($200 smaller boat, $600 big boat), Roatan (If a group- $50 per person, min 4 person or $200 usd- takes 1 hour), Cayos Cayochinos. 4) Captain Renny- Another veteran of the sea, with a nice Read More
Coming Feb 5-12 Week long Utila and Utila Cays Kayak and Reef Snorkeling Expedition with Private Island Rental! Utila-Bay Islands-Honduras Come join us on a week-long expedition as we explore by kayak, the Caribbean island of Utila, located in the beautiful Bay Islands of Honduras. Beautiful paddling, turquoise waters, easy access to snorkeling and fishing. We will be paddling in expedition style, cockpitted boats (not sit on tops) from Current Designs, Valley and Dagger. Experience in very helpful, but not mandatory. You can develop your kayaking skills with an American Canoe Association (ACA)-certified open-water instructor throughout the week as you learn to handle a sea kayak in wind and waves. Being on a tropical island in the trade winds presents great opportunities for gentle paddling as well as rough water paddling without the dangers of cold water. You can also learn how to snorkel right out of your kayak on a fantastic living coral reef! For more advanced snorkelers, there are excellent opportunities to hone your free diving skills and marine ecology knowledge. We will be based on the main island of Utila, and on the private cay of Little Cay- a perfect spot for a getaway. Small groups- 4-6 pp. Read More
Sandy Cay, Utila in the Bay Island of Honduras is featured in the Chicago Tribune Dec 3, 2010! Watch out- the secret is getting out! Utila has been in the press quite a bit this year, and following in that, the Chicago Tribune recently had a nice long article on Sandy Cay, Utila!
2nd annual Catch and Release Utila Fishing Tournament, in the Bay Islands of Honduras! Dates are Nov 25-28 (later than the ones on the flyer, postponed due to weather).
Kayaking is a great way to experience Utila! Check out this blog from kayakutila.com and snorkelutila.com for great photos of a kayak trip this past weekend through the mangrove tunnels out to the beautiful beaches and bay of Rock Harbor on the North side of Utila. https://kayakutila.com/2010/07/25/mangrove_kayak_carnival/