Dive Review of Utila Dive Center (UDC)/Mango Inn in
Honduras/Utila, Honduras

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Utila Dive Center (UDC)/Mango Inn, May, 2006, by Russ Battisto, MN, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 2907.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Mary and I decided to try something different so I inquired with Gene Dold at Aqua Dreams Travel. He recommended Utila as a different experience. He was right. We took a puddle jumper from Roataan to Utila. We were met at the Utila airport (a small strip without any buildings) by Hector (very helpful). He got us and our luggage to the Mango Inn Hotel. The hotel is beautiful, well run and has great food. Even the locals come by for the food (the wood fired pizza is great). They seem to have fresh fish every night and I’m led to believe it is from the locals which makes sense as the fish life wasn’t as abundant as a protected park like Cozumel. We enjoyed dinner with a couple who run a vet clinic on the island. We stayed in one of the suites, not the typical room the backpackers go for, expensive by Utila standards but very nice. The Mango Inn caters to all visitors and does it very well. Utila Dive Center is an easy 6 block walk from the hotel and Hector gets your dive equipment to UDC on the first day. Watch out for the rain storms overnight. They tend to take out the power for a short time. A little disturbing at first but we got used to it as it seemed to happen only overnight. Reminded me of Cozumel 10 years ago… Regina (head DM for UDC) gave is orientation for the upcoming dive week, checking us out for experience level. Utila is a backpackers paradise where most come to stay cheap and learn to dive at Utila Dive Center or one of the many other schools on the island. Most specialize in advance, DM and Instructor courses. We met many students while diving. In fact, I think we were the only couple who weren’t taking a course at UDC during our visit that week. We stayed close to Regina (the DM) on our first day. But once we “passed” their inspection we were free to do our thing. I had fun following Brian & Robin (both going for their instructor’s shingle) along with the other students, checking out their routines. I had a great time with my camera and got good response from the folks at Utila when I published some on my website. We met some wonderful people and correspond with them still. Nitrox is normally readily available but we ran into a problem in the middle of the week. I wasn’t clear on what happened but Nitrox became unavailable for two of our dive days out of the six. Jimmy (dive shop manager) was very apologetic and refunded our Nitrox payment in full. A step above and beyond in my book. The most interesting dive day we experienced was with some tech diver students and their instructor going for their deep dive. WOW, the equipment these divers had to put up with makes me wonder why anyone would want to do it. That’s just me. Simon and his students were VERY diligent in their routines and followed a long checklist leading up to the actual dive. Very disciplined with an emphasis on safety. We saw them at one of their safety stops around 70ft where I got some good pictures. The diving is easy overall, very little current and average vis. The coral is in good shape. The water was warm. Two things I was disappointed in. First, I expected to see more fish life. Lot’s of little stuff to look at and take pictures of and great coral structure but Utila lacks the big stuff. Second, Utila is known as a spot to see Whale Sharks at certain times of the year. We were in that time and did hear about Whale Shark sightings but never got close enough to experience it ourselves. We heard about sightings the week before, the week we were there and the week after. I chalk it up to the luck of the draw and an incentive to go back and enjoy Utila again. We did see dolphins though so that helped a little. All in all, I’d recommend Utila for any diver from newbie to experienced looking for a relaxing week of fun diving, cheap but good food and friendly people. We plan to go back again.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Mainly Caribbean destinations. Some So pacific. We like warm water.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm,noCurrents
Water Temp	79-83°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
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	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Cameras were accepted and accomidated but not a strong suit. Seems not a lot of divers bring cameras.

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Dive Review of Utila Dive Center (UDC)/Mango Inn in Honduras/Utila, Honduras

Utila Dive Center (UDC)/Mango Inn, May, 2006,

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 Utila Dive Center (UDC)/Mango Inn in
Honduras/Utila, Honduras