Dive Review of Utopia Village in
Honduras/utila

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Utopia Village: "Luxury Valet Diving", Sep, 2016, by Ken, ON, CA ( Contributor 15 reports with 15 Helpful votes). Report 9113 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	In our many years of vacation diving, Utopia Village stands out as a luxury destination focused on great diving. Paul and Crisna were excellent hosts with a top notch family-like team. And they are invested in making a difference. This is not a resort that has some diving, it is a luxury diving resort. Emphasis on diving and luxury. We have had valet diving once before and Utopia Village service was similar in nature, but much more flexible (see below) and much more valet. We dropped our gear off at the start of the week and picked it up at the end. The dive crew handled everything in between. Actually we did not get to drop our gear off. As we headed to the dive shop with our gear, several staff "popped out of the bushes", grabbed our bags and carried them to the shop. There were 3 scheduled dives each day, but you could do more (or less) if you wished. Most days were 3 boat dives: a double tank dive starting at 8:00 am and a single tank starting at 2:00pm. There was some small variation with a checkout shore dive on the first day and a night dive mid week (dinner was greatly delayed for this). Flexibility: Every dive was well over an hour. We never felt rushed to get back on the boat. The night shore dive was 79 minutes. One morning Evelyn spotted dolphins swimming past the resort - we rushed in the jungle buggy to the boat, spent 10 minutes locating them and then we all snorkeled with the dolphins. Boat Captn Elvis even maneuvered the boat so that the dolphins played in the bow wave and Elvis brought them back to us snorkelers. This interlude meant lunch would have to wait for us. The surface interval on the morning dives was spent looking for potential sea life encounters. Instead of sitting at the mooring Elvis motored in a large arc to the next site. One day we encountered a sailfish feeding? on the surface. We slipped in with snorkels, but spooked it. Oops. The land based resort side was pure luxury. Over the top. Very surprising for a remote and small place like Utila. Lodging, service and food was excellent. It stood out beyond any other dive trip. The prior week we had spent on Roatan at a very popular dive resort and that quickly paled in comparison. Breakfast offered an array of local Honduran dishes AND an ala cart menu (which I never used, can you say full of delicious?). At breakfast you ordered your lunch and at lunch you ordered your dinner. Every meal had a choice of 2 apps and 2 mains, but they suggested you try a half order of everything. After a few days we just waved them away and said "bring us some food". Every meal I had at Utopia was better than the fancy steak house dinners I ate in Houston on our way to/from Honduras. As foodies, we asked Crisna about her chefs. Chefs? Nope! Just some local cooks that are very capable, very interested in food and have been given the mandate to have fun and make interesting and tasty food. Some highlights were the fresh lionfish meal (hunted by the crew on an afternoon dive at an un-named seamount off the west cays) as well as the tuna sushi meal that Crisna waffled on since Melvin had phoned to say he hooked one but had not landed it yet. Fresh fish! Lunch in the pool... No bathing suit needed. They set up "picnic tables" in the shallow end and you get to eat lunch under a shroud with your feet in the cool water of the infinity pool. the difference: Paul and Crisna have "gone Honduran". They take pride in employing local people and are very active in spearheading environmental programs at the Pigeon Cay school. They arranged a volunteer English teacher and are actively teaching all of their staff English and Scuba. P.S. If you ask nicely they will sell you some of their home made hot sauce. I preferred the green stuff over the yellow stuff. Use sparingly. Yum!
Websites	Utopia Village
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Multiple Caribbean, Hawaii, PNG
Closest Airport	utila	Getting There	from RTB via Island Air with Captain Angelo!
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	83-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Unsure. All of our dives were long and shallow.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	they handled my camera perfectly. The boat did not have any permanent camera tank, they used a pair of coolers for masks and cameras. They brought a bigger camera cooler after they saw my rig.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Utopia Village in Honduras/utila

Utopia Village: "Luxury Valet Diving", Sep, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Utopia Village in
Honduras/utila