All dive resorts are on the Bay Islands: Roatán, Guanaja, Utila, Cayos Cochinos, and other small cayes.... Honduras is home to the world's most aggressive no-see-ums; they bite, bite, bite. Although Skin-So-Soft works for a few, most people need DEET, and some have serious allergic reactions to the bites. Those who are unprepared often find their vacations ruined.... The diving features great walls, offshore seamounts, and excellent coral and gorgonians, although there are few large fish or lobsters due to overfishing.... Favorite dives include Little Bight, Black Hill, Church Bank and Turtle Bay Wall on Utila; and CocoView Wall, Calvin's Crack, Mary's Place, and Valley of Kings on Roatán; Jim's Silverlode on Guanaja; and the seamounts off Cayos Cochinos. Whale sharks are seen occasionally near Utila.... Cayos Cochinos is excellent for diversity of macro subjects..... The rainy season is October through February, and northers can blow and disrupt the diving.... TACA often overbooks, so reconfirm flights (which may not help) and carry essentials as TACA loses or delays luggage.... Spanish is spoken on the mainland, English in the Bay Islands.... While there's little night life or shopping, classic Central American jungles and Mayan ruins inland make great side trips.... Malaria protection is advised....

Guanaja

Bayman Bay Club, July 1998, Jill Crocker, Austin, TX. Water 80, vis: 60-100. Dive with a computer and do your own profile. No limits if you were experienced. If you need assistance, they were willing to help. Divemasters Roger and Elfonso were top notch. Every dive was relaxed and easy. No-see-ums! Bring mass quantities of bug spray! (Ph: 305-370-2120, Fax: 305-370-2276, Fax: 011-504-454179,

e-mail: info@baymanbayclub.com, Website: www.baymanbayclub.com)

Bayman Bay Club, July 1998, Richard Keen, Odessa, TX. Big grouper and moray around Jado Freighter dive and Jim's Silver Load dive. 3 dives a day. 2 in A.M. and 1 in P.M. Great Macro. Several types sea cucumber. A few dives not very interesting but always fun. Vis: 50-80 ft, water: 82-84 degrees. Dive staff gave guidelines but let our group of 13 dive our computers.

Posada Del Sol, June 1998, Walt & Angie Redmond, Austin, TX. Reefs in good shape but fish are not abundant. Great wreck dive. Jado Trader-100-110' depth. Black Rock canyon, lava formation dive. Several large green morays, large groupers every dive. Vis: 60-120 feet, water: 83-85 degrees. Excellent resort, swimming pool, volleyball and tennis courts, beach, tropical breeze blowing. Staff is efficient and courteous. Evening beach bar-b-que; lunch bar-b-que at another location. Sunset cruise, hiking opportunities. Take plenty of DEET as sand fleas are abundant. Direct flights to Guanaja from La Ceiba. (Ph: 800-642-3483 or 56-624-3483, Fax: 561-624-3225, e-mail: posdadel@aol.com, Website: posadadelsol.com)

Roatán

Anthony's Key Resort, Russ, Beeville, TX. The people bent over backwards to be of help. Vis: 30-60 ft. (Ph: 800-227-3483 or 305-227-3483, Fax: 305-666-2292)

Bay Island Beach Resort, October 1997, Galen White, Lawrence, KS. Older resort, rooms clean but not fancy, food good and plentiful but not fancy. Dive boats small and old but did the job. Dive personnel were good and tried hard to please. Weather not good but still got in lots of good dives. Vis: 80-100 ft, water: 75-80 degrees. One wreck, the Eagle. Lots of wall diving. Lots of fish. Value for the money was good. I would go back. Taca Airlines did a good job of getting us there. (Ph: 800-476-2826 or 561-624-5774, Fax: 561-624-7751,

e-mail: deepted@aol.com,

Website: www.bibr.com)

Bay Island Beach Resort, February 1998, Wolfgang Greiner, Minneapolis, MN. Staff and crew polite and helpful. Diving pleasant for intermediate divers. Vis: 50-100 ft, wtr: 80 degrees. . . . Accommodations misrepresented on the web site-rooms are poor at best. Food was cold and marginal quality. Poor accommodations and uneatable food spoiled this trip. The only thing that saved the day were the pleasant dives and extremely good staff.

Ben's Dive Resort/Paya Bay Resort, April 1998, Joe Murray, Boise, ID. Paya Bay not a dedicated dive resort. Located on the East End, miles ahead of the tourist demand curve at a picturesque place called Alligator Nose Point. Seven beautiful little rooms, two beaches, great restaurant, TV, local telephone system is VHF Marine Radio. A satellite telephone is available to call home. The owners, Lurlene and Mervin McNab are gracious hosts. They will arrange for snorkel and picnic trips to the Pigeon Cayes and Barbareta Island. Barrier reef is about 200 yards offshore. Usually dive with Ben's Dive Shop in Punta Gorda, a Garifuna Village 3-4 miles up the road or 1-2 miles up the beach. Ben Gonzales has 4 cabins and a nice restaurant. Ben was the Dive Master of Fantasy Island; has two small boats, which can take up to 4 or 5 divers to sites on the north side from Punta Gorda to Barbareta. No wall and not lots of big fish. Diving is still outstanding; huge barrel sponges, beautiful corals, fish, stingrays and caves. Choose your own profile if you want. Ben will pick you up at Paya Bay. Two other resorts on the north side have plans for a dive shop: Henry's Cove Resort (formerly Spyglass Hill Resort) and Captain Ron's Resort (opening soon). We have also driven five miles to Oakridge to dive with the Reef House Resort on the south side. Paya Bay Resort has plans for their own dive shop in the future. Take TACA from one of these cities: New Orleans (direct flight on Fridays), Houston (direct flight on Saturdays) and Miami (direct flight Sunday). On other days, flights to Belize connect direct to Roatan on both TACA and Caribbean Air. They have never lost my luggage and I have never missed a flight. Prices swing wildly between $490 and $700. Flying through San Pedro Sula on the other hand frequently will result in missed flights (Note: TACA blocks out their complete flights at Christmas, holding seats for the wholesalers. I have purchased a ticket at the airport in Houston the morning of the departure when I could not get a reservation for six months in advance). (Website: payabay.com)

Coco View Resort, November 1997, Jeff Houdret, Lansdale, PA. Sixth trip to Coco View. Not the undiscovered gem of 15 years ago but in some ways it has improved. New rooms over the water and open to the sea are very pleasant. Food creative, excellent. Staff friendly and efficient. Boats leave on time and are in good repair. Well-equipped dive shop. . . . Two walls, an airplane and the freighter Prince Albert, are 10-minute swim from shore. Most boat dives are less than 15 minutes. Beach diving in front once superb but years of construction and dredging have ruined visibility: now 10-30 feet, used to be 60-80. This degradation negates a key reason to choose the resort. Vis improves away from the hotel. While the chance of seeing sharks, turtles or large pelagics is low, gentle currents and savvy dive staff help new divers quickly gain confidence. Rains in October and November but it's also cool and breezy, which helps keep the no see-ums at bay. About $100/day. Tough to beat in the Caribbean. (Ph: 800/282-8932 or 352-588-4132, Fax: 352-588-4158)

Coco View Resort, December 1997, Richard Thayer, Commerce Twp, MI. Still the best place (besides Bonaire) to dive your brains out from a land-based resort. Revamped dive operation and separate gear areas for each boat to reduce confusion. Dining area also revamped. Bar now faces the water. Weather terrible. Rain, winds kept vis down. Water: 79-81 degrees, vis: 35-80 ft. Beginners may need a more structured environment.

Coco View Resort, December 1997, Alan Thayer, Commerce Twp., MI. Bad weather, viz poor, flights canceled, so late leaving. Resort put us up one more day at no charge. Just pay bar bill. TACA did its best under extraordinary weather conditions. One late bag was returned within two days (by Fed. Ex) since we missed connections, it was Sugar Bowl weekend (few airline seats available). TACA sent us home first class. . . . Resort revamping dive operation. Separate areas for each boat limits confusion at boarding time. Billy and Erin gung-ho and energetic. Resort extraordinary deal for the money. Vis: 50-60 ft. Water: 79-81 degrees. I rate diving for beginners low due to the near absolute diving freedom. We've seen beginners overwhelmed by this. Most need more direction.

Coco View Resort, December 1997, Barry Grosser, Tacoma, WA. Constantly interesting, however very little out of the ordinary. Healthy reefs, abundant smaller fish, eels, even a seahorse. As a first time experience in warm water diving, this was fabulous as far as location, conditions and ease of diving. Vis: 70-100 ft. Water: 72-75 degrees. Depth restrictions dues to repetitive diving. Could dive deep if planned previously. It began to all look the same and by day three the reason was apparent: the owners were away and the staff was relaxing in their absence. Our dive boat had a mechanical failure that limited its range, so they took us repeatedly to the same site or two. Harsh words were required to resolve this issue. It was a great disappointment paying full fare, while Anthony's Key Resort had a half price special and none of the same lassitude towards service. Dive briefs were good and the boats operated very safely and efficiently. I believe if the owners were present this would have been as near to perfect as possible.

Coco View, December 1997, Donald Johnson, Dover, DE. Summer camp for diving adults! Food good and plentiful, not gourmet. More diving than you could handle, although day trip to the west end didn't materialize-giving all of us (two boat loads) the opinion they didn't want to spend the gas-so we only made it to a poor dive site three miles from the dock. All other sites are within 10-15 minutes. Vis: 40-90 ft. Water: 78-79 degrees. Dive restrictions: 130'. No dive intervals so to speak between first dive (deep? 70') and drop off dive on the way back to the resort. Two divers suffered DCS, got great treatment from chamber and DAN.

Coco View, January 1998, Mike Tell, Grapevine, TX. A special place due to the quality and ease of the shore diving combined with outstanding attitude of the entire staff. Dive boats immaculate, excellent briefings, dive with or without divemaster. When weather was good it was sunny and mid-80's. When weather turned, it was stormy, windy and mid-70's -low 80's. When seas got rough we dove CoCo View Wall, Newman's Wall, and Prince Albert wreck from shore. Night diving from shore variable day to day. Some days saw many octopus, lobsters, other days not much, but still decent dives. Vis: 30-80 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Dive restrictions: dive your computer, return with 500 psi, not below 130 ft. (unless given permission). New locker facilities convenient to boat/shore. Can dive 24 hrs. a day. Rooms over water were basic but comfortable with great views. Food adequate. No see-ums no problem.

Coco View, March 1998, Bill & Alice Miller, Arden, NC. Great vacation. Coco View staff spectacular in all respects: courteous, considerate, knowledgeable, friendly, a great group. Food very good, buffet style with family dining. We enjoyed eating, diving, and relaxing with other divers. Weather was overcast and rainy, but did not inhibit the diving. Rough seas reduced visibility. Great wall diving and good shore diving. Would encourage anyone to visit. No bugs, no sun, but great diving. Fish life was not as spectacular or abundant as Bonaire, but we saw sea horses, scorpion fish, spotted eagle rays and nurse sharks. Vis: 50-75 ft. Water: 78-80 degrees. Great trip.

Co Co View, April 1998, Brent Davis, Oakdale, CA. I have no idea why this place gets consistently high marks in Rodale's Reader Survey, unless their reader's like cattle boats. Too many divers in too small an area, usually about 20 divers/boat all encouraged to stay together. Drop off dives the same problem, everyone off the boat at the same time. Drop off dives are the same as the shore dives. Very repetitive. Once/wall was plenty. No flexibility in dive sites. Set schedule. Vis: 60-80 ft. Water: 81-83 degrees. Dive restrictions on boat dives-limited to about 45 minutes. They did not seem happy if you stayed longer. Accommodations and food good. . . . Wish I had known that Roatan is a malaria area; the main town, such as it is, was posted with warnings-not a great thing given the quantity of mosquitos.

Coco View, May 1998, Teresa Yent, Raleigh, NC. Wished we had read your Sea Lice article before we went. They were terrible. I rented the last hood! Divemaster Jimmy was terrific, very accommodating. Beach house was great, but no AC. Get a room with AC. Walls were great. 7 days was too much. See one seen all by day 5. Vis: 30-60 ft, water: 83-84 degrees. Mary's Place wonderful dive. Very well run resort and dive operation, very organized. Shore dives, especially night dives were the best. On our only night boat dive, we had 20 divers, one divemaster. Eight divers lost-found by Peter Hughes, Wind Dancer. They took 20 min. to call CoCo View, left divers in water with sea lice. Finally towed by rope for 25 minutes back to resort. I always thought that divers had the best etiquette around. Great camaraderie but I guess our guest had the wrong color suits on. They didn't offer to take them on their boat. Left them floating out in the dark ocean. Then to tow them while they hung onto a rope and inhaled gas fames! One guy lost one flipper! One guy had at least no joke, over 1,000 sea lice bites. This guy ended up so sick. No see-ums not too bad.

Fantasy Island, October 1997, Richard Ulrich, Wichita Falls, TX. Resort and dive operation organized and professional. Wall diving very good, however, poor visibility above 35 ft. Shore diving at 56 ft. Sunken Prince Albert ship and DC-10 plane near wall. Three to four dives/day plus unlimited shore dives; a place for beginners and experienced. Water: 80-85 degrees. Vis: 60-80 ft. Dive your own profile; few restrictions. Some no-see-ums. Food excellent. . . . Wish they had more tropical fish. . . . No lost luggage, TACA got us there only an hour late. (Ph: 800-676-2826, Fax: 813-353-0154)

Fantasy Island, November 1997, Bruce and Elizabeth Gillespie. Picked up and escorted through customs. Deluxe, ocean view room: $1350/person; standard $1150. We got no better view in a deluxe room but a few square feet larger room. All dives a short distance from the Resort. Used same boat and divemasters entire week. Most fills over 3,000 pounds. I asked if Resort would consider using one boat for intermediate divers and the other boat for advanced special dives, but told it would create scheduling and overload problems. . . . Reefs on the south were majestic walls, missing fish and moving marine life. Usual hard and soft corals. Mary's Place has closed for years to allow it to recover, but we dived it and was the most beautiful reef of the entire week, however the large number of fish were not there. . . . I got permission to dive away from the group. Descended to 100'-110' several times where the wall buttress and sandy slope met; predominant fish and marine life is found at the crest of the wall down to 50'. . . . Night dives on the flats north of the walls. I shot over the wall to check night life. Nothing going on. Dives primarily in 15'-25', lots of red shrimp, a few morays and some squirrel fish. . . . Not once were there adequate towels to go around after a dive. Most days overcast or rainy. . . . Lunch and dinner tasty. Grouper, chicken, pork, shrimp, lobster and chicken; overcooked vegetables, good salads and fresh fruit. Deserts cakes and pies; Thursday night a lobster and crab boil, an additional $20, which should have been included. . . . Resort is beautifully executed, but needs to be freshened up. Rooms need attention; light fixtures and appliances made with metal showed a great deal of rust. Tile was cracked and needed recaulking. Pool was drained and the deck had been torn up. . . . Water went from gray to black and smelly one evening because resort switched to back up cistern that was unfiltered. . . . Power outage one afternoon. Sewage smell between room and diveshop. . . . Sand flea, mosquito and no-see-um bites. Take OFF and SKIN SO SOFT. . . . Managers kind and helpful at all times. Rented a rattle trap Suzuki Samuri for $55/day; large tracks of upscale residential developments going on; east end we hit an impoverished fishing and lobstering town called Oakridge; at Punta Gorda we fended off people drinking a Coke who demanded, give me $5. Over fishing and lobstering is decimating the stock; always could several trawlers working the waters just offshore. Rain forest is being clear cut for cattle grazing and upscale land development. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates from the plant cutting and decomposting, cattle grazing and waste and massive quantities of human waste and sewage is at the mercy of the rains; can you guess where all of this terrestrial material winds up? I would recommend Fantasy Island to anyone who places diving as a secondary subject matter, but not as primary.

Fantasy Island, August 1998, Harry L. Cure, Jr., Fort Worth, TX. For money excellent lodging and diving. Not a lot of fish, but great coral. Vis: 60-80 ft, water: 82-84 degrees. 3 boat dives a day, nice wreck on shore dive. Great for families and beginners.

Fantasy Island Beach Resort, August 1998, Gordon Gribble, Norwich. 84-85 degrees. Vis: 40-60' Excellent resort (clean rooms, TV, A/C, refrigerators, two restaurants, two bars, small pool, kayaks, wave runners, sailing) with a beautiful beach, tranquil lagoon, palm trees, beach chairs, and large, innocuous rodent-like capybaras (locally called "agouties"). Spiny urchins near the edge of the lagoon. Bugs not a major problem with modest use of repellent, although the no-see-ums affected some of us. Dive operation is smoothly run; mask/regulator removal check out on first dive. Did 3-4 dives/day to different sites, several within a few minutes of the dock. We had the same boat, divemaster, and captain all week. Nice shore dive to a plane and to the sunken ship Prince Albert. Divemaster Jimmy amazing at spotting critters-left us alone after getting us down. Few large fish (one shark, couple of groupers), the corals, sponges, tropicals, sea fans, gorgonians, tunicates, crabs, lobsters, octopus, rays, eels, and sea horses were plentiful. Dives begin on a wall to 100' (deeper if you want), and finished on top of an affluent reef. Nice swim-throughs. Two dives were made interesting by giant schools of jelly fish. Dinner at the nearby mountain top Mexican restaurant Tres Flores-beautiful sunset with pitchers of excellent margaritas and fantastic meal.

Inn of Last Resort, November 1997, Russell Schroeder, Gr. Prairie, TX. Based on Chapbook recommendations I tried the Inn of Last Resort. Exactly as described, nice resort, A/C wonderful owners, great food, well laid out comfortable boats, good gear storage facilities. Owners assist with arrival and departure and with TACA! They are the best hosts I have met in the Caribbean. Diving is mostly on northwest side. Vis: 60-100 ft. Water: 84 degrees. Depth limits enforced. Since most are drift dives, so it's easy to dive air. Tried the new insect repellent with DEET, fly repellent MGK-326 and synergist MGK-264. This worked! Walked the beaches in dead calm with no bites. Since all repellents work by evaporation, creams are longer lasting than sprays. Resort Internet site has lots of info and specials. (Ph: 011-504-445-1838 or 1-888-238-8266,

Website: www.coral.net/innlast.html)

Inn of Last Resort, December 1997, Chuck & Nancy Anson, Oceanside, CA. Bargain package dive trip. Three great dives/day on spacious dive boats, three sit down gourmet meals/day, and a large, well-appointed room less than $100 /day/person. Stayed two weeks, made 35 dives, treated like family. Short boat rides. Divemasters know sites well, boats have dry area for gear and rinse tanks for cameras. Walls are covered with corals and sponges. Fish life abundant. Owners Donna and Andy have made this a paradise. Staff is efficient and always helpful. Dining room and bar is spacious and always active. Large paperback library, a big screen T.V. and a gift shop. They have those dive gear items that always break or you lose. They have their own fresh water well (my wife tested the water, it is as pure as rainwater) and they have their own waste water treatment facility. Great place. Water 80-83 degrees. Air 85 degrees. Vis: 50-100 ft. Dive restrictions enforced were 130 ft., 50 min.

Inn of Last Resort, December 1997, Mona Dewart, Wayne, IN. Bad weather; could only do all 3 scheduled dives one of six days. Dove on wrong side of Roatan so divemasters not familiar with sites. Poor communication on drift dives left group very spread out and divers surfacing in ones and twos rather than as a group. one day there was no diving. Had to be transported (45-60 min) to boats at an alternate location last 2 days. Great deal of effort and expense for generally mediocre diving. Vis: 30-60 ft., water: 79- 80 degrees. Meals relatively good. Made to order breakfast narrowed to 2 or 3 choices several mornings when Inn was full. Dinner served way too late. My husband and I are not bar flies and had 4 hours between afternoon dive and dinner, 6 hours between lunch and dinner with little to do when afternoon dives were canceled! One day we couldn't dive at all. Guests had to pay for own transportation to and from town. And pay to play bingo, the only scheduled afternoon activity.

Inn of Last Resort, December 1997, Marilyn Mitchell & Gary Sundermann, Brighton, MI. Accommodations, stuff, food, owners outstanding. Donna and Andy are hands-on owners who get to know guests. Rooms really nice, plenty big for a weeks stay, excellent build in shelves, closets. 30 rooms in three buildings, which blend with the natural setting. . . . Wish we'd known it was the rainy season. Rain and wind constantly. Vis: 70-80 ft. Water: 75-80 degrees. No dive restrictions enforced. Couldn't dive the north shore many days due to rough seas. Bussed over to the nearly defunct, old Romeo's Resort on the south shore for diving. Other than 2 or 3 barracuda, several big grouper and large turtles sporting two or three remora each, no big critters. Reefs gorgeous. Due to wind, had no problem with dreaded no-see-ums.

Inn of Last Resort, January 1998, Ben Glick, Williamstown, MA. Great operation. Lodge is very comfortable with excellent service and food. Andy and Donna the owners were great. Dive operation well run with three dives every day and one night dive per week. Rental equipment is good. Reefs in great shape with lots of interesting contours. Vis: 75-100 ft. Water: 79-81 degrees. Restrictions: 130 ft.

Inn of Last Resort, January 1998, John L. Spragno, Williamstown, MA. New resort tried hard to please. Good dive operation with large comfortable boats. Set-up our own tanks on daily three dives and had to carry everything (except tanks) to nearby shed for safekeeping at end of day. Mo st diving repetitive wall diving, except more interesting Bear's Den (tunnels and a cave) and Hole-in-the-Wall (steep canyon). Pretty reefs, lots of coral, limited fish, including fair number of medium-sized groupers. No pelagics, rays or anything large. Vis: 50-80 ft. Water: 80 degrees. Diving restrictions: 130 ft. More for beginners and intermediates. TACA didn't lose any luggage!

Inn of Last Resort, February 1998, Ervin Ashford, Corpus Christi, TX. Good, outstanding dive operation. Boat operator stayed on board, divemaster in the water; oxygen and first aid and radio onboard. Recompression chamber close by. Dive sites within 10 minutes of dock. Water 80-85 degrees, vis: 80-100 ft. Food and service were five-star-not a buffet. Bad: lack of marine life.

Inn of Last Resort, March 1998, Mel Broder and Anjie Johnson, Timbo, AR. State of the art construction, large air-conditioned rooms. Meals 4 star, full breakfast menu. Lunch 3 course and 4 course dinner were exceptional. Anjie had BC problem, resort let her use one of theirs for the week-no charge. Vis: 50-100+ ft, water: low 80's. Boats comfortable. Excellent D.M. Andy and Donna warm friendly owners.

Inn of Last Resort, August 1998, Richard Swift, Camarillo, CA. Reef in excellent condition, permanent moorings at all sites; great walls, swim thrus within 200 yds. offshore. Excellent resort both in dive facilities and accommodations. Lack of pelagics and large fish. Vis: 75-120 ft. Water: 83-84 degrees. Dive restrictions: Depth 130 ft. and one hour bottom time.

Reef House Resort, January 1998, John MacDonald, Nashville, TN. Small, rustic setting on the East side of Roatan; larger resorts on the West side. Dive sites not overrun with boats. Dive operations and boats well maintained and Merritt and Ron provide excellent pre-dive briefings and accommodate on dive. Water 80-82, visibility 75'-100'. Excellent coral and wall diving. Large varieties of small fish, but absence of large fish. With 20 some rooms and two dive boats there is never overcrowding and only a few divers, which improves flexibility regarding diving. A well-run operation, dedicated to diving, unlike the west end operations that are more family oriented and commercialized. Excellent food and snacks in the evening. (Ph: 800-328-8897 or 011-504-452297, Fax: 011-504-452142)

Reef House, July 1998, Russ, Beeville, TX. Uncrowded boat. Great divemasters. Family atmosphere. Good reef dive in front of resort. Vis: 70 ft. Restrictions enforced were depth-time. Away from the crowds, local area is like USA 50 yrs. ago. Friendliest place I've been lately. Marine creatures were all out.

Utila

Laguna Beach, September 1997, Larry and Monica Millican, League City, TX. Great for experienced divers with computer; only limitations were 1 hr. max and 130 ft. max. Vis: 30-50 ft. Water: 85-87 degrees. They wash and set up your gear. Worked one on one with an inexperienced diver in our group. Boats set up well and have lots of shade; new boat has a freshwater shower and head. Resort staff eager to please. No TV, no phone, no shopping, charter fishing, and some other water activities but with 3 or 4 dives (2 night) a day who has the energy? (Ph: 800-668-8452 or 318-893-0013, Fax: 318-893-0013,

e-mail: awhite@utila.com)

Laguna Beach, January 1998, Adam & Debbi Wetzel, Saxtons River, VT. Saw two whale sharks! Snorkeled with blue marlin (9') Wow! New facility has private, comfortable rooms, lots of hot water and own water plant, soyou can eat the ice cubes! Matt and Deanna great hosts and this place is small enough to meet all requests. Very organized, easy dive boat where all gear is rinsed by knowledgeable, capable divemaster and boatman. Dive restrictions enforced were typical first dive of day deepest 80'-100'. Gradual ascent to top of reef at 30-15 ft. Second, third dive of day shallow. Best diving at 30-40'. Food was fine, nice dining room. Bugs as usual in Bay Islands, just have to be vigilant about spraying yourself, the only glitch in paradise. Three dives and great shore dive. Three meals and nice room for good price. Check out price of Honduran Air. New mooring policy around Utila starting to help.

Laguna Beach Hotel, February 1998, Terry & Karen Plaxton, W. Bloomfield, MI. On a peninsula by itself, perfect for a quiet, peaceful dive week. Diving was good, but made great by having an opportunity to swim with a whale shark. Wagner, the boat captain, is very knowledgeable; if whale sharks are around he can find them. Vis: 40-70 ft. Water: 80-82 degrees. Dive boats have fresh water showers and were never crowded, 12 people max. Service great. Matt and Diana, who run the resort, are great hosts. The accommodations (individual AC cottages on the water) are very nice and the food is plentiful. Utila is a step back in time, very unique.

Laguna Beach Resort, June 1998, R. Moore, Vista, CA. They really know how to take care of you. Other than luggage being late, it was a great trip. I got 31 dives in 5.5 days. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 83-85 degrees. Restrictions enforced: 130 ft., one hour. Resort is only 3 years old and in almost new condition, food very good (not gourmet), but better than I have at home. Rooms large and clean with private docks. Only 8 of us on each boat so plenty of room and great onboard service.

Utila Dive Lodge, November 1997, Calvin B. Emery, Belton, TX. Very good dive resort, staff accommodating. Nice 38' boat for eight divers. DM OK, boat captain great. Vis poor due to storm, but got better each day. Vis: 50-100 feet, water: 80 degrees. Boat captain found the whale sharks! Not much to do except dive. (Ph: 800-948-8452 or 011-504-453-143, Fax: 011-504-453209)

Utila Lodge, April 1998, Brent Davis, Oakdale, CA. Great place! Made to feel like a member of the family. Crew hung out and shared meals with guests. Divemasters and boat captain were terrific. Diving very good. Vis: 40-80 ft. Water: 81-83 degrees. Dive restrictions: no decompression diving. Healthy coral, good variety and quantity of fish. Seamounts spectacular. You're free to dive your own profile on your own or with a divemaster. Accommodations wonderful-spacious rooms and baths. Good staff kept it all clean. Lodge a great place to hang out. For experienced divers who want a small, quiet, well-run operation with no hassles and great diving.

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