Diving in Utila: Our Advanced Open Water with Underwater Vision (and No Whale Sharks)
Getting to Utila took us two days.
We left San Salvador, crossed into Honduras and spent a night in San Pedro Sula, which is not a city anyone visits on purpose. The next morning we pushed on to La Ceiba, then caught the ferry straight across to the island. Nothing went wrong, and none of it was particularly uncomfortable. It was simply the longest stretch of travel on the whole trip, two days of buses, waiting and more buses.
At the other end of it were eight dives, and an island unlike anywhere else on the route.
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An island with its own vibe
Utila is one of those strange, slightly enigmatic places that has formed a culture all of its own. It doesn’t feel especially Honduran, but it isn’t a gross tourist mecca either. Dive shops line the waterfront, and a good share of the people you meet are in the middle of a course, just finishing one, or have somehow stopped leaving.
It also has a reputation as one of the cheapest places in the world to learn to dive, and in our case the reputation held up.
Why we did our Advanced here
We weren’t beginners. We’d already done our Open Water certification in Thailand, with Sail Rock Divers on Koh Phangan, so Utila was the place to level up to the Advanced course.
The numbers make the case on their own. Our Open Water in Koh Phangan cost about THB 12,900, roughly US$380. The Advanced course at Underwater Vision came to around US$300, included two extra fun dives, and diving with them got us a discount on a private room right on the water. More diving, at a higher level, for less money.
Eight dives
It had been a while since we’d last been underwater, so the course started with a refresher dive. Then came the five adventure dives that make up the Advanced: deep, wreck, buoyancy, navigation and night. Finally, Underwater Vision threw in two fun dives at the end.
The days settled into an easy rhythm. Two dives in the morning and the afternoon off, or a lazy morning and two dives after lunch. The only exception was the night dive day, which ran to three.
There was never any shortage of help. Underwater Vision trains instructors as well as students, so between the instructors and the trainee instructors there were usually more staff on the boat than students.
Our first night dive
The night dive was our first, and we were both properly nervous about it. Not knowing which way is up, losing the group in the dark, surfacing somewhere the boat wasn’t: all of it had been playing on our minds.
In reality, it was champagne diving.
We headed out on a calm evening and suited up as the sun went down. Dropping in at dusk, there was still enough ambient light that even underwater we could sense where the surface was. Then the light faded, the torches took over, and we were in the dark properly. What I hadn’t expected was that even then, you never quite lose your sense of what’s around you. It doesn’t feel like diving blind at all.
And the colours were something else. Daytime diving shows you a reef through filtered, fading sunlight that washes most of the colour out. A torch puts it all back, far more vivid than anything we’d seen in daylight.
It was fantastic, easily the highlight of the course, and I came up a big fan.
The honest bit
The marine life on Utila wasn’t that impressive. We saw some of the best coral I’ve seen anywhere, but there just weren’t many fish on it.
And despite Utila’s reputation, we didn’t see a single whale shark. That’s less of a failure than it sounds: they pass through year-round, but the best odds are in March and April, and we were there in July, when sightings are far more hit and miss.
What Utila does brilliantly is the diving itself. The conditions were great, which is exactly what you want when you’re working through a course.
Lionfish
I didn’t spear a lionfish myself, but others on our boat did. I did eat one, though: lionfish ceviche, which was surprisingly good.
Lionfish aren’t native to the Caribbean and have no natural predators on the reef, so on Utila spearing them is legal, and the busier dive sites are now almost clear of them. Here, eating the problem is part of the solution.
Staying, costs and getting there
We stayed at Underwater Vision itself, which made everything easy. They have private rooms on site, discounted if you’re diving with them, and the boats leave from right outside.
The diving and the accommodation were both excellent, and I’d happily recommend both.
Where we dived and stayed · Utila
Underwater Vision
A PADI five-star dive centre and instructor school on the waterfront, with its own rooms, dock and boats. You book direct with them.
- Advanced
- From US$339 (we paid around US$300), with two fun dives and three nights’ accommodation
- Private room
- US$48 a night when you’re diving with them (US$58 otherwise)
- Best for
- Open Water and Advanced courses, and nervous first night dives
- How long it takes: Underwater Vision runs the Advanced over two days, with an extra day if you want to use the free fun dives. With our refresher on top, plan on three or four days.
- Getting there: the Utila Dream ferry runs from La Ceiba twice a day, at 9am and 4:30pm. The crossing takes about an hour and costs around US$31 one way, plus a small port tax on arrival. Coming from El Salvador, budget two days and a night in San Pedro Sula.
- Whale sharks: best odds in March and April.
- Insurance: check your policy covers diving to the depths the Advanced course takes you. Ours was with World Nomads.
Give it longer than you think
Utila is one of those places you go to for a week and end up getting stuck in for a month, in the best possible way.
If you’re planning the route, leave room for that.
Honduras Planning Cheatsheet
🚑 Should I buy travel insurance for Honduras?
Yes, and if you are going to Utila or Roatan this is the single most important line item on your whole trip.
Check that your policy covers scuba diving to the depth you will actually dive, and that it covers hyperbaric chamber treatment. Standard policies often cap recreational diving at 18m or 30m, which an Advanced course will take you past. Roatan has a chamber, and a chamber ride without cover is the kind of bill that ends trips.
World Nomads lets you add diving cover to the depth you need.
🎫 Do I need a visa for Honduras?
Most Western nationalities enter visa-free.
Arriving overland, there is an entry fee of about US$3, roughly 85 lempira. It is cash only, payable at the immigration window, and nobody tells you in advance. Have small US dollars ready and keep the receipt until you have left the country. There is no exit fee.
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua share a single 90-day allowance under the CA-4 agreement. That is the part people get wrong: the clock starts at the first of the four countries you enter and keeps running across all of them. Spend 30 days in Guatemala and you have 60 left for the other three, not a fresh 90. Leaving the zone for at least 24 hours, to Mexico, Belize or Costa Rica, resets it.
💉 Do I need any vaccinations for Honduras?
Routine vaccinations, plus Hepatitis A and typhoid. Dengue is present and the Bay Islands have sandflies, which are not dangerous but will make you miserable on a beach at sunset. Bring repellent that works on both.
💵 How do you pay for things in Honduras?
Lempira on the mainland. On Utila and Roatan, US dollars are accepted more or less everywhere and dive shops usually quote in them.
Heads up: island ATMs are limited and do run out of cash, particularly on Utila at weekends and around the end of a dive course when everyone is settling up. Bring more cash across on the ferry than you think you need.
A Wise debit card avoids the worst of the ATM fees when you do find a working machine.
🚌 What’s the public transport like in Honduras?
Most travellers only use three or four legs of it, so here is what matters:
- Ferries to the Bay Islands leave from La Ceiba. Utila and Roatan each have their own service, and there is a direct connection between the two islands.
- Tropic Air flies Roatan to Belize City on set days only, which is worth checking before you fix your dates. It is the cleanest way north.
- San Pedro Sula is the transit hub for the international buses. Treat it as a place you pass through rather than a stop. We overnighted there and would not do it again.
📲 How do I get internet, data or wifi in Honduras?
Tigo and Claro both cover the mainland and the islands. Island wifi is generally slow, so a data packet is worth having.
An Airalo eSIM avoids buying a SIM for what may only be a week or two.
✈️ What’s the best site to buy flights to Honduras?
I use Skyscanner to compare routes, then book directly with the airline once I know what I want. San Pedro Sula (SAP) is the main international gateway. Roatan (RTB) takes some direct international flights and is the easier arrival if the islands are the whole reason you are going.
💧 Can you drink the water in Honduras?
No, including on the Bay Islands where the supply is often rainwater or desalinated and not treated to drinking standard.
Purified water is sold everywhere and most dive shops have a refill station for students, which adds up over a week of diving.
I carry Aquatabs and a Brita filter bottle, which saves buying a bottle every few hours and is genuinely useful anywhere rural.
