island life and tips

see how life is on a small caribbean island, how people are there and what there is to see and do beside scuba diving. utila is a party island and has many possibilities to go out!

living on the island!

utila is a small caribbean island in honduras, central america, and is part of the "bay islands". depending on the season utila has between 4000 and 8000 inhabitants. the difference is given by the tourism seasons (tourists, seasonal workers etc.). utila has about 12 diving schools and nice accommodation offers for almost every budget. get to know more about utila on  wikipedia.org or  aboututila.com.

utila has only one bigger hotel/resort in the town centre. all other accommodation offers are more like backpackers. this makes accommodation very cheap. for a long time utila was one of the cheapest places in the world for scuba diving. it has changed a bit, but the prices are still one of the lowest. these are the reasons why utila became a backpacker island and is today a must-see for almost every backpacker, who's traveling trough central america. this fact gives the island a special mood and lifestyle! there are so many young people like almost nowhere else i've been before. utila is a party island. there are so many good and cheap restaurants and bars to go and more activities to do than only diving. but sure, diving is the main industry of utila. there are about 60 dive sites around this small island, which can all be reached by boat within 2 hours.

the people are open and helpful. the island has a better security than the mainland and criminalism is not frequent. even then visitors have to pay a lot more attention than in richer countries. honduras is, after haiti, one of the poorest countries in central america. learn more about honduras on  wikipedia.org. the living standard on utila is much better, thanks to the tourism. in honduras about 80% of the people are poor, which means they are living with less than the minimum. this poverty produces criminalism of course. but like i wrote, on utila it is not bad.

honduras main language is spanish. the bay islands are english spoken. the reason for that is that the bay islands were once a british colony. the spoken english is not easy to understand the first time you're there. after the first days i began to love this english...the accent is like a kind of the jamaican accent. it is caribbean english! the roots are in african languages and english of course. this language is so cool that i have all the time tried to learn to speak it the same way...it's not so easy! more about the language  here.

the caribbean island, the open hearted people, the young visitors and scuba diving make this island unique in the world. i made here so many friends in only 3 months. i love utila!

where to eat...

there are rally many restaurants for such a small place! and the best of all is they are cheap, good and you don't have to walk far. good places to go are (my favourites):

• bundu café (not the cheapest, but always good food, everyday open)
• café mariposa (a swiss boss - that says everything :-), almost everyday open)
• dave's restaurants (cheap and good - my favourite, open only 3 or 4 days a week)
• mango café (expensive, but good, open everyday)
• rj's bbq grill (cheap and good bbq, open only about 3 days a week)
• seven seas (fast food - good and cheap, almost everyday open)

there are more restaurants  here. check the opening hours before you go to eat somewehere. some restaurants are only 3 to 4 days open a week! and "there is no fast food on the island" is true (excepting seven seas, which is really fast). so plan up to one hour waiting time.

bars and parties!!!

all the young tourists (backpackers), the caribbean mood and the open people are the reason that there is everyday a party on utila! there are many bars for such a small town and there are some excellent bars! my favourites are:

• treetanic bar (a bar made on a platform in the trees, with a lot of love in a lot of details. it took them about 10 years to build that bar! this is a everyday afterwork bar. i almost lived there :-)
• utila dive centre bar (after working this bar is good for one or two beers and enyoing the magic sunset on the dock, before going home to take a shower.)
• tranquila (this bar is made on a pier, directly at the sea. on clear nights it is absolutely magic to dance here to caribbean sound - reggaeton - watch the stars and listen to the waves of the sea)
• coco loco (the crazy coconut is beside tranquila, made on a pier as well. i preferred tranquila.)
• bar in the bush (on wednesdays and weekends after the first party somewhere else, the party moves thelong walk to bar in the bush. i didn't like it too much - too dark, too many drug dealers)
• utila dive centre's thursday night bbq's (every thursday and for only 200 lempiras you get a big deal at udc: huge meal and all you can drink! these parties were always good...i wished i was there right now!)

the above are my favourites, but there are more  bars to find. and keep thinking while going out, that diving the next day could be dangerous with too much alcohol in the blood.

there are a lot of exceptional parties: xmas, divemaster snorkeltests, idc bodyshots, new years eve, private house parties etc. if you're there during summer you could enjoy the famous  utila sun jam.

what else is there to see and do?

utila does not have white beaches like in other caribbean places. but there are two public beaches anyway. for about two bugs you can rent kayaks and cruise around the island.

you can also rent a golf cart or scooter and go for sightseeing by yourself.

another thing to do is a visit on the utila keys, which are tiny islands off utila. there are some longer trips available as well from the local travel offices. you can also go to la ceiba on the mainland, which is an only one hour ferry ride. from there you can get to san pedro sula by bus within 4 hours.

accommodation: where to stay...

there are a lot of good and cheap accommodation offers. but there are bad places to stay as well. i made the mistake and booked my place in advance from home. so i had to change the place, when i was there (it was far outside of the town, very dark and bad street and it rained into my apartment).  if you book a dive course you will get the first nights free accommodation in mango inn. during this time you will have time enough to find a good place. only in summer (high season) it could be better to book in advance. just ask the dive centre which accommodation is good or not. you will find an accommodation directory  here.

the prices are different. i didn't take the cheapest place and i paid 550 usd a month for a house with kitchen, living room, toilet/bathroom and two separate sleeping rooms. and i shared it with some friends which made it quiet cheap. calculate about 150 to 300 usd a month if you share.