When you are in Honduras, you must visit the Bay Islands, Islas de la Bahía. The most famous ones are Roatán and Utila. You can choose to fly to Utila, or if you want the more budget option you take the ferry. There used to be two ferry companies that made the trips, but recently the Utila Princess stopped all activity, making Utila Dream the only running company. So no need to search for them like we did, because Princess was cheaper. They don't exist anymore :)
They run twice a day to Utila and back. And they also make the trip between Utila and Roátan.
After a 50 minute boat trip you arrive at the tropical island of Utila. And when you get there, there are a numerous amount of people who will try to get you to their dive shop. Take your time, and compare them next to each other. We took the offer of Alton's Dive Center at the pier: free ride to their shop and you could leave your bags there if you wanted to go and look to other dive centers. No stings attached so a deal we needed to take. After listening to their explanation about sleeping arrangements, the course and all the other stuff they talk about we decided to have a look to the other dive centers before we made a choice.
We went by practically every shop to have a look and list them up next to each other. All tho pro's and cons.
Here is a quick overview: We always asked everything for a couple who would both do the course Open Water Padi. All the following dive centers gave us the course and two free fun dives afterwards for the price mentioned next to it.
Alton's Dive Center: $285 (discounted instead of $350) PRO: private room (no bath) while diving, free kayak, beach side, kitchen, start immediately CON: 6 persons per group per dive master, $20 for snorkeling, $11/pp for a night without diving
Utila Dive Centre: $349 PRO: 2 persons per dive master, kitchen, high safety, good equipment CON: dorm room not within the premises, $10 for snorkeling, $12/pp for a night without diving, had to wait two days to start a course
Underwater vision: $299 PRO: beach side, kitchen, start immediately CON: really small dorm room --> We didn't do much of an effort for this one, since the girl that was showing us around was really uninterested so we didn't bother.
Utila Water Sports: $ 280 PRO: double bed, free kayak, free pedal board, 4 persons per dive master, free snorkeling, free A/C, start immediately CON: $10/pp for a night without diving, only microwave and fridge, lagoon side
Parrots Dive Center: $275 PRO: private room (with bath), $5/pp for a night without diving, start immediately CON: equipment, large groups
Bay Islands College of Diving: $289 PRO: private room, start immediately, free snorkeling, pooltable CON: 5 persons per dive master, learning in swimming pool (this van be a plus to some of you)
There are a couple of others left, but after two hours we were full of it and we decided to go for Utila Water Sports. They had really good accommodation and we felt good while talking to them. Our other option was Utila Dive Center, but since there was a price difference of $70... We made our choice.
