Utila in mid Feb

57 and 50 yr old male brothers going for approx 10 days. Both are divers and not looking for additional certification only a 10 day package inc 2 dives daily,accomodations, meals in a clean place. Anyone have any reccomendations? Also we've never been to Honduras before and speak no spanish. thanks!

Our favorite hotel is the Lighthouse and my favorite dive shop, Alton's, is practically next door. We like the quieter location by the bridge leading to the old airport (area has great snorkeling and flyfishing) and it's near our favorite restaurant, RJ's BBQ. The Alton's website mentions the Lighthouse; you might want to check prices both apart and as a package. Happy trails!

Yeah, Alton's! Tell 'em Eddy sent you.

Conventional wisdom says just show up on the island, walk around interviewing shops and see what they have on offer. There's no need to book anything in advance as there's no shortage of vacancies in mid February. Some shops may be able to do you a deal on diving and accommodation. Safety standards, by and large, are pretty high on Utila and there's no "bad" shops, merely shops that cater to a different clientele.

I went with Deep Blue Divers, the in town shop, not the resort last year and was more than happy with them. It's a smaller shop and for five days, I was their only customer. We talked about what would happen if I was the only customer as, obviously, nobody makes any money off of one diver and true to their word, the boat went out with just me, the captain and a divemaster on it. I'll be going with them again next Jan/Feb when I hit the island for another dive vacation.

Alton's is good, they have a package deal with lazy days on the Bay advertised on Scubaboard however, it's set to expire at the end of December. 500 bucks for a weeks worth of accommodation and 10 dives + a night dive.They also boast one hour dive times and offer a free t-shirt.

Utila Dive Center was rumoured to have a boat dedicated to "resort divers" meaning you won't be stuck on a boat with a group doing their open water dives.

Dunno about the Bay Islands College of Diving, I heard stories of deals on rooms at the resort last february, way better deals than the book in advance resort package. They have a new website, multiple boats and are rumoured to be trying to make a comeback to their former glory. I hung out there last Jan/Feb, mostly because I lived across the street and everything I saw looked good. They were offering a "dive around Utila deal, three dives + lunch, $75, when I enquired about it though they said they needed four divers to make it worthwhile and asked if I could find three more divers to make it happen.

At Altons is a conch corral, where they are experimenting at captive breeding with intent to release. The crowd last January was young. I'm more like your (OP's) age, so to break the ice, I leapt into the conch corral and with bare hands overpowered a giant conch intent on devouring me. After that, I was surrounded by drooling admirers of the opposite sex.

Eddy you keep your little who-who away from those conchs.
Don't make me get out the machete...

I hate so say it ,hopeforlust, because I have always liked this forum, it is getting completely taken over by flyfishers and snake slicers. Once my upcoming trip to central america is done, I am going to post a trip report and leave this forum for good.

NOooooOOOoo! Tell me it's not true! 8-O

Hi Ricky
Stout38 is right you should come and walk around and see what the different
shops are like for instance if you don't like getting up at 5:30 Gunters Ecomarine
has Lazy Boats going out when the divers want to go out. As far as food included
places I wouldn't do that because there are some great places to eat all over the
island including Indian Asian, Mexican, BBQ, Tipico and others.
What ever you decide you'll have a great time!!