Bay Islands advice/scuba

Bring money

Yes, Utila is a cheap place to get certified, $300 for open water but you'll still be paying to dive after you complete your course. $25-30/ dive. Living expenses on the island amount to about $800/month without diving and you can't realistically count on making any money on the island.

IMO, if you're planning on spending any time there a good course of action would be to do your divemaster. Call it $1500 for tuition and you'll be busy and occupied for at least two months. Otherwise, there's not a heck of a lot to do on the island, save party. and that, too costs money.

What equipment should you own ? At the minimum, your own mask, snorkel and come cold water fins with booties. Those slip on warm water fins suck, and suck hard. On Utila all gear is included in the course fees but I'd seriously consider your own 2-3 mm wetsuit as well. Gear on the island is competitively priced but if you can find a deal at home, consider it, as scuba gear is lying in basements and garages all over Oregon.

Wifi..no problem.

Just showing up and finding a place to sleep...no problem unless it's close to Christmas. Apartments start at $300/month a real nice one will cost you $500.

Utila is generally English speaking, Spanish would be helpful but it's not necessary, there is a Spanish school on the island.

So a couple of months on the island, doing divemaster, $4000 should about cover it. You may not spend it all but it would be nice to have it "just in case".

I've been diving for 8 or 9 years and always pack my beloved mask and snorkel; I take my fins if we're checking a bag for other reasons because I also prefer to travel really light. My favorite shop on Utila is Alton's. Many of the shops include lodging in the price so I'd just arrive and see which shop/lodging combo fits your style. If you're actually going to spend months then that would give you time to look around for a long term rental, maybe shared with other divers. You can do a bit of research on aboututila.com and there are lots of photos with info links below.

Utila is a lousy immersion environment for Spanish study (you're likely to hear more German than Spanish) but I had a great teacher at the Central Am. Spanish School there. Happy trails!

Thanks for the responses! I think I'll start out with just open water cert and take things from there ( need to know that I like it before going for divemaster). Also good to know that prices for gear are competitive on island. I really don't even know where to start with choosing a mask and snorkel.

Not sure when I'll head down. On one hand it would be nice to see family at Christmas so might wait until just after to go. On the other hand I'm not really a big fan of Christmas and might leave sooner.

I'm a biologist/naturalist but it has been mostly land and air based ( birds, butterflies, bats, amphibians). I'm excited about the prospect of learning more about sea creatures. Any suggestions for particularly useful reference books covering the mesoamerican barrier reef fauna? It would be nice to learn the fish, mollusks, corals etc. Suppose with an ipad and wifi I can look things up..

Also, how is the birding on Utila?

Thanks again folks.

Sounds like a good plan. Make sure you CAN dive and don't have any annoying ear problems that may keep you ashore before you make any decisions.

A mask and snorkel can be found at any local dive shop. Failing that they're available on the island. It's the sort of personal gear you want to own so you know it fits well and won't leak. Same with the fins and booties, you'll see what I mean after you spent a day diving in too small fins, They're kind of like rented ice skates.

There's a series of three books, most dive shops will have them, that cover pretty much anything you'll run into underwater. I can't for the life of me remember what they're called but it took me a month to just get through two of them. There's one on fish , one on non-fish and one on marine organism behavior, But, yep, Wikipedia is your friend as are divemasters who you can usually plump for some good info on critters.

There's a few marine biologists on the island and quite often there's lectures. I went to one on "the lionfish problem" and it was very informative. Look up a guy named Andrzej , you can get a hold of him through Deep Blue Divers, the shop in town, not the resort.

Check out the Utila Centre for Marine Ecology

Here's the set by Paul Humann and Ned Loach that stout is referring to. There are lots of options for mask but in general you want silicone and low volume. I hugely prefer a black mask because I see more clearly with less glare with them. Some snorkels are truly dry - they have a flap at the top that keeps the waves out and don't leak when you swim down to see things more closely. Keep us posted!

Totally agreee with stout38 but would add, you will not be allowed to fly into Honduras without a return ticket, and the maximum length of a tourist visa is 90 days before you will be required to leave the C4 area.

You can't enter Honduras without a return ticket? I was planning on flying into San Pedro Sula on a one-way ticket. Is this a situation where I can give someone $5 to look the other way? Or is this going to be a problem?

Edited by: ryan_thomas

I had the same idea (one way ticket to san pedro sula). A search online indicates that one does need either a return ticket or evidence of onward travel. I can think of some easy ways to provide evidence of "onward travel". Oh, and Beize is not one of the C4 so the 90 day limit isn't so bad.

What do you all think of traveling with an ipad? I am hoping I can bring it to facilitate job hunting while abroad. Of course the thing would be very easily stolen by someone unfamiliar with the need for a passcode to open it.

Edited by: SeldomSean

Edited by: SeldomSean

It is the airline that enforces the "Onward Travel" requirement, so when you check in, you will have to show the proof of return, as the airline gets fines, immigration in Honduras rarely checks-

Go to American Airlines website, make a reservation for the return, place on hold, print it, white out the HOLD, make new copy, and present this copy to airline for proof, they down have time to check other airline reservations, so thats the best way, otherwise, a fully refundable ticket, but make sure its refundable not just a credit towards future travel...

Now, did you have Measles?