UTILAThe Island

Welcome to our beautiful tropical island nestling in the Caribbean Sea, located approximately 18 miles (29 km) from the Honduras mainland port of La Ceiba.

Our island is just 11 km long and 4 km at its widest and surrounded by vast coral reefs with prolific undersea life.

The smallest of The Bay Islands group, we are renowned as being one of the best value and most beautiful places in the world for scuba diving.

UTILA Underwater

On the island of Utila, which borders on the Mesoamerican barrier reef system, (the 2nd largest reef in the world after the Australian Great Barrier Reef) you will discover some of the most beautiful beaches, coral reefs, and tropical island sunsets in the world.

With over 100 different dive sites to choose from, including caves and wrecks (such as the famous Halliburton), scuba diving is always interesting and never crowded.

UTILA Underwater

The reef system is home to more than 65 species of stony coral, 350 species of mollusk and more than 500 species of fish.

There are numerous species that live in or around the reef system that are endangered or under some degree of protection, including sea turtles.

Most of Utila’s divers frequent sites are on the south side of the island, simply because they are quicker and easier to get to from East Harbour than the north side, and also the waters are more protected and tend to be calmer.

UTILA Underwater – North Side

CJ’s Drop Off, at the western end of the reef in front of Turtle Harbour, is famed among divers for the vertigo-inducing coral cliffs plunging straight down into the blue depths. As you descend along the wall, watch for sting rays, moray eels, and hawksbill turtles, and the profusion of giant sponges and hard corals.

Willie’s Hole is a dramatic open cave in the coral wall at around 25 meters, with plenty of pillar and star corals to admire, along with sponges. Blackish Point is a system of caverns and passages in the reef wall at around 20 meters, with encrusted overhangs to check out. The gentle current makes this a good drift dive.

UTILA Underwater – South Side

Jack Neil Point and Jack Neil Beach are both great long, shallow dives along the tongue-and-groove formations of hard and soft corals. At the western end of the reef here, sightings of hawksbill and green turtles are common.

Among the many similar dives along the southern wall, each starting in around 4 meters of water and dropping to about 30 meters at the base of the reef, Pretty Bush and Black Coral Wall are two good ones. Despite the name of the latter dive, young black coral is found all along the wall here, as are elkhorn and pillar coral, sea fans, and frequent spotted eagle rays cruising at the deeper sections along the reef wall.

All dive sites are located 5 to 30 minutes from UDC.Morning dive are between 45 and 55 min long, and afternoon dive last between 50 to 60 minutes.

UTILAThe Culture

Because of the 300 year British influence on the Bay Islands, Utila is a different world from mainland Honduras. A safe town and fun enviroment offers entertainment to everyone, form an active nightlife to many water sports or relaxing scenes.

The island is mostly uninhabited except for the small fishing village of East Harbour (Utila Town) with a population of 3000.

The main language on the island is English, whereas in mainland Honduras it’s Spanish.

USA Dollars currency allowed as well as Honduras Lempiras.

UTILAGetting here

Located off the coast of Honduras. You can arrive by air or sea.

Sea. Utila Princess 1 hour ferry ride from port town of La Ceiba departing twice a day.

Air. Local flights from San Pedro Sula (30 min), Tegucigalpa (1hour) or La Ceiba (15 min) with Aerolineas Sosa, CM Airlines, Island Air and several charter on-demand flights from Belize, Roatan and Honduras mainland.

UTILAWhale Sharks

We are also famous for divers encountering the Whale Shark migrating, the world's largest fish.

The slow moving Whale Shark is a harmless zooplankton, snapper egg and shrimp eating fish which grows up to 18 meters in length.

Utila is one of the few places in the world where a Whale Shark will frequently pass close to shore, which is why Utila is known as The Whale Shark Capital of the Caribbean!

Mango InnLocation

Located in a calm residential area of town, the Mango Inn is within walking distance of all amenities and beaches and just a 5 minute walk from the ferry dock.

Nestled in a beautiful tropical garden, all rooms and cabins have the comfort you expect to make your stay as enjoyable and perfect as possible.

The complex is made entirely of Honduran pine with large airy rooms and big porches, where guests can swing in hammocks and relax by the pool.

Mango InnRooms & Cabins

We offer 5 types of rooms designed for the budget of every visitor.

Never wanting to lose our sense of fun and adventure, we offer shared rooms for the budget traveler and luxury cabins for our resort guests.

Mango InnCabins - Deluxe

The deluxe cabins are the most luxurious and comfortable rooms in the Mango Inn. They are located next to the pool and in front of our restaurant. The rooms have a lounge with a fridge. They have a large balcony and hammocks to swing in.

Each room is equipped with fans and air conditioned, closet, two double size beds. All the windows are screened. Private bathroom with hot water, Cable TV.

Mango InnCabins - Standard

The standard cabins have all the comfort you expect, more spacious, more comfortable, and more private. Located in our tropical garden, they are hidden in lush vegetation. They have large balcony and hammocks to swing in.

Each room is equipped with fans and air conditioned, closet, two double size beds. All the windows are screened. Private bathroom with hot water, Cable TV.

Mango InnRooms - Deluxe

The deluxe rooms are located on both floors of our main building, they have pool and garden views from our spacious communal balconies.

Each room is equipped with fans and air conditioned, closet, two double size beds. All the windows are screened. Private bathroom with hot water, Cable TV.

Mango InnRooms - Standard

The standard rooms are a great value for every traveler and diver. They are ideal for couples in need of more privacy and comfort, but with the budget in mind.

All rooms face out onto our pool and tropical gardens. Each room is equipped with fans and air conditioned, closet, a double size bed and a single size bed. All the windows are screened. Private bathroom with hot water, Cable TV.

Mango InnMango Cottage

The exclusive Mango Cottage is a very private and comfortable home. It's s few steps away from our pool and restaurant. With a big living room, and a big porch, it's a fine retreat for a family of 4 divers.

The Cottage is equipped with fans and air conditioned, closet, one king size bed and one double size bed. All the windows are screened. Private bathroom with hot water, Cable TV.

Mango InnAmenities

Our restaurant and bar, The Mango Café, is situated in the same tropical gardens as the Hotel itself, creating the most pleasant and peaceful surroundings and offer our famous brick oven pizzas, freshly made on the premises by our resident Italian chef.

We also offer free wi-fi and guest computer, roundtrip transportation from ferry or airport and water dispenser in every room.

UDCLocation

Just a 8 minute walk from the ferry dock on the main street, right on the comercial area with lots of restaurants, bars, private beach & supermarkets around.

And just a 15 minute walk to the Mango Inn.

UDCOur Shop & Mission

At Utila Dive Centre, our management team, Instructors, Divemasters, Boat Captains, Biologists, and support staff are committed and dedicated to providing our divers and students with the highest quality diving experiences with an emphasis on education and conservation.

Our Instructors at UDC are all qualified to the rating of 'Master Scuba Diver Trainer' and have a wealth of experience that you will benefit from during your classes.

UDCGear & Boats

We have 4 fully equipped dive boats with capacity for to 12 people. The morning boat leaves at 8 am for a 2 tank trip, it comes back around noon and leaves again at 2 pm for a 1 tank trip.Enriched Air Nitrox cost $14/tank extra unless you bought a Nitrox package when you booked.

We provide small snack (cookies) and water. Divers may bring their own refreshments if preferred.

If divers need any assistance while setting up or disassembling their gear, DMs are ready to help. Divers are responsible for setting up, disassembling, rinsing and storing their own gear at the end of the day. Usually there are 6 divers per DM.

There is private gear storage at the dive center for your equipment.

UDCCourses

Utila Dive Centre offers every diving course at affordable prices.

At UDC we offer not only Recreational Scuba diving courses for the novice diver to master scuba diver, but we also offer a professional training program for those wanting to become dive industry professional and qualify with our PADI Instructor course.

We also have technical diving programs that include training to DSAT Tec Deep Instructor. We also offer a variety of non-diving courses such as equipment maintenance and gas blending.

UDCSpeciality Courses available

• CCR-Rebreather• Deep diver• DPV specialty• Drift diver• Enriched Air diver• Equipment specialty• Gas Blender• Multilevel diver•Night diver• O2 provider• Peak Performance Buoyancy• Project Aware specialty Program• Project Aware-Coral• Project Aware-Fish• Search and Recovery• Sidemount• Underwater Naturalist• Underwater Navigator• Underwater Photographer• Underwater Videographer• Wreck diver

UDCRating & Awards

Utila Dive Centre has been a 5 Star PADI Career Development Center since 2002 and is the most popular and successful CDC in Central America. Not only do we train divers from beginner to Instructor, but we have Instructor level continuing education courses (Specialty Instructor, Master Scuba Diver Trainer, IDC Staff Instructor) and internships that add real value to your training with us.