Scuba time! I received my Advanced Open Water certification from our local shop, Scuba Unlimited, in 2009 but had never traveled with them. I finally booked a trip to Utila, a tiny island off the coast of Honduras, in March of 2025. Kudos to Jenn and Chip, our trip leaders, who kept everything rolling smoothly with smiles on their faces.
We flew to Roatan and hustled to get to the ferry for a quick 1–hour cruise to Utila and then made our way to the Utila Lodge.
Our dives in Utila were lovely and super easy!! We did a total of 17 over 6 days, including 2 night dives and a wreck dive. Max depths ranged from 45 to 108 feet. On one of the night dives, I had my first bait ball experience! Our crew was Captain Gringo, Divemaster T, and Divemaster Brayden. All three were kind and patient and went out of their way to make us feel at home.
The reefs were healthy and vibrant! One of the coolest things though is the sounds you hear underwater – dolphin squeaks and parrotfish crunching on coral. On the night dives, the toadfish were so loud that I felt their cellphone-like vibrations rattle my chest. Our first octopus sighting was at night and she was all spread out and puffed up!
Special thanks to Matt Dressler who captured amazing underwater pictures and was happy to share them with our group. Trunkfish, drums, flamingo tongues, southern stingrays, crabs, and lots of cute little critters.
Reef squid, banded shrimp, camouflaged toadfish, spiny lobsters, porcupine fish, puffers, trumpet fish, invasive lionfish, and lots of colorful angels.
Captain Gringo took great care of us and tracked down spinner dolphins twice on the way out to our dives and we jumped in to snorkel with them!
I should mention my incredible dive buddy. Betty is 89 years old, strong as hell, and floats in the water with grace. She also likes avocado margaritas and ATVs!
So much marine life! I had never seen black and white urchins or the weird spider-looking crabs.
On our last day of diving, we saw a second octopus and my first seahorse for the week. Jackpot!
That same day, Captain Gringo went out of his way to make sure we found bottlenose dolphins. There were 3, mom, dad, and a little one. They were protective of their baby and swam away when we tried to snorkel with them, but were super happy to play with the boat.
After our last two morning dives on our final day, we took the afternoon off to decompress before our flight the next day. Betty and I hopped on ATVs and toured the island. I was a little starved for some social interaction and needed to meet some locals in a bar! We went up to Pumpkin Hill and had a beer at Rockie’s, then down to the airport and back to Blue Bayou at the west end of the island for a couple more Salva Vidas. I met expats who had moved to Utila from the States, Canada, and the EU to form their little family of friends. Such a fun adventure!
After dinner, I took a stroll through the bustling city center one last time and ended the evening at the Utila Brewing Company. The week went way too fast and soon it was time to go home. The ferry wouldn’t get us back to the Roatan airport in time for our flight so Jenn found us another boat. We spent the next hour and a half on a bouncy speed boat getting splashed with waves soaking in a last little bit of Honduran sunshine. Giddyup!! I’m already planning a trip back to quirky little Utila.
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