Tag Archives: Utila

Utila, Honduras
Central America, Honduras, Play, Trip Ideas

Into The Blue: Best Snorkel Sites in Honduras

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In the Caribbean waters just off the Honduran coast lies the start of the world’s second-longest barrier reef. Sitting atop the outer edge of this reef is a collection of tropical islands ringed by coral gardens that teem with fish life. Scuba divers have long known about these underwater marvels and consider the Honduran Bay Islands to be one of the prime diving destinations in the hemisphere. The deeper edges of the island drop-offs may be reserved for divers, but snorkelers aren’t slighted either. Many of these same reefs begin near the shore and close to the surface. These are the places where you can best experience Honduras’ underwater riches with mask and snorkel.

Honduras Fish, Best Snorkel Sites in Honduras

A school of colorful creale fish swarm a formation of thin leaf lettuce coral. This is typical of what snorkelers will discover on the shallow reefs of the Bay Islands. Photo: John A. Anderson/Shutterstock

Guanaja

The easternmost member of the Bay Islands group, Guanaja is also the least developed. Most around-island travel happens by water taxi rather than road, and the primary settlement, Bonica Town, is a community perched on a tiny dollop of land in the center of a lagoon. Shoreside resorts tend to be small family-run affairs, and several of these properties sit beachside, making it possible to wade out and discover patch reefs and schooling fish in the clear waters. A string of small cays on the island’s south side is just a short distance from the edge of underwater cliffs that rise to within 15 feet of the surface. A quick boat ride or a long swim brings snorkelers to these underwater walls, where they can watch reef fish flit across the colorful shallows, or glide out over the edge of the deeper blue abyss to look for passing eagle rays and possibly dolphin. For an escape from the ordinary, head to tiny Half Moon Cay and the intimate resort known as Graham’s Place, which occupies a palm-covered slice of beach, with the barrier reef just a stone’s throw away.

Honduras Underwater

This group of pillar coral, found on a shallow reef in Honduras’ Bay Islands, resembles hands emerging from the sea floor. The fuzzy surfaces are actually coral polyps feeding. Photo: Brian Lasenby/Shutterstock

Roatán

Roatán, the largest of the Bay Islands, has long been a magnet for the backpacking crowd, but it’s also home to several upscale beach resorts. Because the island is almost entirely ringed by coral reefs, finding a suitable snorkel site is mainly a matter of gaining beach access. The easiest place to do so is at West Bay Beach, which as the name suggests, sits at the island’s western tip. The sandy shallows are favorites with turtles, while a 200-foot swim takes you to a coral wall on the edge of the deep. Nearby Half Moon Bay is another popular spot for shore entries and home to beachfront restaurants where you can savor fresh seafood and a cold cerveza afterwards. Sign up for a boat trip and you’ll open up a whole new realm of possibilities, including sites such as the Valley of the Kings, where vertical walls drop hundreds of feet from the reef top, or secluded Pigeon Cay, where groves of elkhorn coral sit just off a white sand beach. Several resorts along the island’s southern coast overlook nearby shallow reefs. One of the best is Fantasy Island Beach Resort, which occupies a small wooded island connected by a causeway, with a private beach delivering great snorkeling and a marina close by for boat trips.

Roatan, Half Moon Bay ,Honduras

A view of Roatán Island’s Half Moon Bay and West End town. Snorkelers can enter from beach or docks and swim across grass beds to a coral reef at the outer edge of the bay. Photo: Devon Stephens/iStock

Utila

If you’ve found your way to Utila, it’s probably either to drop off the radar or to go scuba diving and snorkeling. If you are staying at one of several resorts along the south shore, you can swim right out from the beach and explore a range of shallow sand flats and patch reefs, or continue a bit farther to the edge of the drop-off. It’s also possible to gain access to prime sites at points along Chepes Beach, or near the Blue Bayou Beach House. If you opt for a boat trip, you can spend a day at idyllic Water Cay or gain access to the north shore, where oceanic fish patrol the underwater walls, and there is the promise, but no guarantee, of meeting up with a whale shark. Encounters with these massive yet harmless behemoths are limited to surface swims, so snorkelers actually have an advantage over scuba divers in these cases. The premier property on the island’s south shore is the Laguna Beach Resort, which is built on an isolated spit of land, with waterfront bungalows overlooking the lagoon and a prime snorkel reef just out front.

Utila, Honduras

The only development on Utila Island is along the south-central coastline, where a single beachfront settlement and several small resorts overlook sandy shallows. Photo: Dennis Sabo/Shutterstock

Jost Van Dyke Foxys, biggest parties in the caribbean
Bahamas, Bahamas-New Providence, British Virgin Islands, Caribbean, Central America, Honduras, Play, St. Martin/St. Maarten, Trinidad & Tobago, Trip Ideas, U.S. Virgin Islands

The Biggest Parties in the Caribbean

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Some say that just being in the Caribbean is a cause for celebration. True, but there are also times when crowds come together to escalate the revelry and dance like there’s no tomorrow. Here are seven of our favorite Caribbean parties. Mark your calendar.

New Year’s Eve at Foxy’s Bar on Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands

It’s the Caribbean’s biggest New Year’s Eve celebration. Jost Van Dyke is a ferry ride away from Tortola, St. Thomas or St. John—sorry, there’s no airport or helipad, and no large hotels. The rest of the year, the island is sleepy, but for what Foxy’s calls Old Year’s Night. The limited supply of villas and beachfront campsites start to book up the preceding summer, and the anchorages fill up days in advance. For many, the play is to stay up and greet the dawn, then catch a morning ferry out. As for the party itself, it’s an all-night rager, fueled by painkiller cocktails and live reggae.

Carnival on Trinidad

Locals start hand-sewing their feathered and beaded costumes a year in advance. The two-day event takes place on the Monday and Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday and is preceded by days of elaborate pre-parties known as fetes. The energy is infectious thanks to nonstop soca music (think calypso, but faster). Anyone willing to flaunt their stuff can join the parade by signing up with a band and purchasing a costume, which can run from $250 on up. In a nod to the digital age, fete tickets, costume orders and band registration can even be made online.

Sunjam on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

It’s one night only of all-night dancing, light shows and electronica music, held the first weekend of August. Started in 1996 as a free party organized by former island resident and house DJ Alun Gordon, the festival now draws around 1,500 die-hard fans, who must first make their way to the Honduran island of Utila by plane or ferry. The party is actually on the satellite island of Water Cay (uninhabited and ideal for camping the rest of the year), and local fishermen provide transport. The crowd is mainly twenty-somethings and the vibe backpacker, but all are welcome.

St. Patrick’s Day on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Seven flags have flown over St. Croix—none Irish—but that doesn’t mean the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in downtown Christiansted are anything short of epic. Most locals take the day off work; quite a few start the morning with Irish car bomb shooters. Pacing matters. The streets are shut for the parade that starts midday, followed by an outdoor after-party with live music sponsored by the Fort Christian Brew Pub.

St. Maarten Heineken Regatta

Four days, four nights and more than 200 boats from 32 countries. It adds up to the Caribbean’s largest regatta, held annually in early March since 1980. Bring your own boat, charter one or grab a slot on a pick-up crew. Otherwise, watch from a beach or spectator vessel. The finish line is just the beginning, as Apres Sail parties become warm- ups for nightly concerts that feature big-name artists and draw huge crowds to match. Past performers include Wyclef Jean, Shaggy and The Black Eyed Peas.

Junkanoo on Nassau, Bahamas

Junkanoo, a loud and lively street parade, happens throughout the Bahamas—and beyond in places like Key West, Florida—on Boxing Day (December 26) and again on New Year’s Day. The biggest celebration is on Nassau, where troops costumed in intricate crepe-paper creations compete for top honors as they move down Bay Street to the incessant rhythm of cowbells, goat-skinned goombay drums, whistles and brass. The action, known as a rush-out, gets started around 2 a.m. and continues on into midmorning. The crowd gets in on the action, and spectators soon become revelers.

Full Moon Parties at Bomba’s Shack on Tortola, British Virgin Islands

The mushroom tea isn’t as potent as it used to be, but that’s good—it’s easier to locate your dinghy come night’s end. The full moon parties at Bomba’s Shack, found on Cappoons Bay on Tortola, have a history dating back decades, explaining why sizable crowds appear every month for the live music. The place has a street-party feel thanks to a flow of revelers who spill from the beach and open-air bar to the grass on the other side of the dirt road where the stage stands. The average partygoer is mid-30s to 40s, and likely to come off a boat. These folks tend to party hard, and the rowdiness lasts well into the wee hours.