IMAGE various images from our days on Utila

Wednesday 19th April - We set off from Roatan – just 15 miles to our 3rd and final Bay Island - Utila. Utila is the smallest of the Bay Islands, with just one harbour inside the reef suitable for yachts.

Again we were not sure exactly we would find when we arrived in Utila. The guide book mentions serious security issues both onshore and out in the anchorage – but the latest Active Captain info says that all is OK and just usual safety and security should be taken.

The one thing that everything I have read on Utila is in agreement with is that it is a mecca for scuba diving.

Not much wind so motor-sailing. We arrived in the anchorage to find about 6 other boats. We sat back in the cockpit for the afternoon watching the shore-side activity and getting a feel for the place. Utila has a reputation for theft from the yachts – but all felt OK. It was a hot still night with lightning and thunder all around.

Thursday 20 - quiet morning onboard and then out to explore on land for the afternoon. Utila is small – about 13km long and 5km wide, with just 1 small hill. Utila Town is set in the middle on a curving bay. There are only 2 small beaches- both of which looked like resorts, and a cluster of tiny cays off the southwest shore. Utila is really just a one street town, with just small basic shops and several dive businesses – easily described as a basic – this is no manicured Caribbean hideaway!

Because it is the closest island to the mainland it is a major ferry port. Also this is the only island with no large fishing fleet like the other islands – so basically the surrounding reef and associated business earn the money to support this tiny island. There are a few concrete roads connecting the ferry dock, the main street and the main thoroughfare inland. These ‘roads’ are jammed with all the forms of local transport ie. tuk-tuks, quadbikes and motorcycles – no cars. It is total gridlock with the ferry arrives!

We wandered the back lanes off the main drag, past some basic housing, shops, medical centre and school to find children playing happily and people sitting our chatting. The local ladies had all obviously discovered that laundry services could bring in a few Ls, and every 2nd house had a rough hand-made sign saying they were the best!

Our aim today was to suss out the possibilities of getting on a dive boat to see whales sharks, and find some internet for a few hours before heading back to the boat.

We spent most of the weekend UNSUCCESSFULLY searching for whale sharks

Monday 24th April – we needed a good internet day today – maybe a final one for some time, as internet may be difficult to find in remote Belize. We decided to have lunch and extended internet time at the Mango Café – the accommodation recommended to its divers doing courses at UDC- a lovely spot indeed. I managed to get my Caymans blog and photos out and a Skype call with Mum – so a successful afternoon. The pool area around the accommodation had private – not openair showers and toilets – so we made the most of the opportunity to both have a lovely hot water shower after a dip in their pool.

Tuesday 25th – after listening to the 7am SSB weather forecast – it confirmed that we had good weather to leave Honduras bound for Belize. We headed ashore for food shopping and do our boat and immigration check-out. Again we found lovely baked goods at the inland bakery, and spent all our final Honduran Limparas there. We then headed to the Port Office to check-out. The Port Captain and Immigration were all in the same building near the ferry dock – so all very easy and convenient indeed. It was now 10am but the immigration office was still not open – anyway the ‘happy-chappie’ Port Officer completed our exit paperwork and together he and I input the correct information on his computer to produce our Zarpe document – an interesting multilingual experience! By the time we had finished, the immigration lady had arrived for the day and she completed our immigration exit – all very high tech with a fingerprint scanner and photo machine, and our exit stamp was produced by her digital scanner – very impressive indeed for a little island. No exit fees, or request for any other fees – thanks Honduras.

I had previously checked out the limited fresh produce available and the town only large supermarket and prepared a weeks food menu, so our shopping time did not take long. We intended to set off for our overnight 80 miles sail about 5pm – so a restful afternoon.
Utila was a very interesting and enjoyable stop for us…. pity about not seeing the whale sharks!!

We enjoyed our visit to the Bay Islands – everyone we spoke to said these 3 laidback little islands are VERY different from life on the mainland – even the locals don’t go there by choice. THANK YOU HONDURAS.