Roatan or Utila?????

Hello,

I am looking for some advice. A friend and I (2 single Females, 30 yrs old) are going to be in Hondorus from March 20th - 27th. My friend is already scuba certified, and I plan to get certified while there. We have our tickets to San Pedro and now can not decided if we should spend the week in Roatan or in Utila??? We want to do some diving, but I also want to spend a good amount of time on the beach. We also want to be somewhere that there are bars/restaurants and some sort of nightlife.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

Jillian

There are some nice beaches around Utila but they're not where the bars/restaurants/nightlife is. That's in town and you pretty much need a boat to find the nice beaches. There's snorkeling from shore but it's a bit tricky to find without a boat, too.

For those reasons, I find myself recommending Roatán more, even though I love both islands (and Guanaja, too). Roatán has gorgeous beaches, good hiking, and lots of eash access snorkeling for when you want to be in the water outside of your dive times. If you're planning to fly from SAP to an island, there are considerably more flights on offer to (and from) Roatán, too. That's my 2 lempiras' worth...

Having been to Roatan twice and Utila once, I recommend the latter. You're on a tight schedule for diving training, so reserve a course at Alton's (www.diveinutila.com) for the day after you arrive. Hopeforlust has apparently been bitten by a kootchabug, and is trying to lure you into sketch sitch.

Been Utila 3 times and love the place. Good vibes - easy going people - very safe.
This year the Phillipines is luring us away, otherwise we'd go back.
The diving is great. As Eddy mentioned, Alton's is good,so is Gunthers.
You can hire a boat to take you to Water Cay for the day - pack a lunch and have your very own private
island paradise for the day (costs around $15 US roundtrip).
Food is affordable and very good. Try the Asian Wok; La Piccola for Italian; Driftwood- just walk along the main drag - lots of choices. Then go to Tranguilla Bar and sit by the water to enjoy a drink.
Safe travelling...

You have more easy access beaches on Roatan between the West End and West Bay, as there really is no beaches where the main strip is in Utila, both have great vibes and a good scene, though Roatan outside of the West Bay area is pretty low key, Utila is a tad more compact and with more options for drinking/going out...

You need 3 days for the PADI OW course...

Utila nightlife gets my vote, and commute to beaches...