Utila Passage

Sailing out South Water Cay Cut with 2 friends ahead of us.

We left Belize on a beautiful sunny day. Forecast was for light winds a little to the northeast and gentle seas. Our plan was to not leave too early because the crossing to Utila would be only about 18 hours or less and we didn't want to arrive too early. So we snorkeled one of the reefs around South Water Cay we had done before and then got the boat ready to leave.  We were supposed to meet our friends on Emerald Seas, an IP 38 that was going to make the passage with us.

Final view of South Water Cay.

After making the passage from Placencia we arrived in the anchorage at South Water Cay and there were already several other boats in the anchorage that we knew but they were traveling on to Roatan. We and our friends were the only ones going to Utila. Late in the afternoon of the day before we were to leave we got an email from our friends that they wouldn't be going with us as she was in the hospital having just suffered a mild heart attack. Needless to say it left us devastated over her condition but we were happy to hear she was recovering nicely.

How's my sail trim for 40 degrees off the win?

The day of our departure was very casual with a late breakfast and snorkel. We chatted with our friends on the other boats and wished them well as they left before us. At our appointed time we took off on our own. We followed the tracks of the other boats right out the cut through the reef and into deep

The sun gets ready to disappear over Belize.

After we left the cut we raised our sails and the crossing was almost perfect. The gentle wind, 8-10 kts, very close on our port side gave us good lift and we were sailing about 6 kts and the seas were gently rolling. However, as the night moved on the wind clocked more toward the south forcing us to turn farther from our desired course. When we got to a point about 20 miles northwest of the eastern point of Utila we started the engine and motor-sailed to the anchorage which is in the southeast corner of Utila. The angle on the wind at that point was just too tight to sail. We possibly could have sailed and come down on the west side of Utila and then tacked north but the west side is problematic. There are many shoals and islets there as well as reports of attacks in years past.

Approaching Utila as day is dawning.

We arrived about 7 in the morning on Sunday, 17 March and checked in on Monday morning the 18th. In fact, we were so early it was hard to read the bottom and find a sand spot in which to anchor. We had a spot but another boat was anchored too close to it for us to take it. We remained on the boat Sunday sleeping and cleaning up after the passage.

Our first Bay Island sunset.

Utila (pronounced OOteea) is a great little island that many people have never even heard of. Sort of like St Pomme de Terre.  It's primary claim to fame is as a divers paradise. The island has just over 4,000 full-time residents and probably just as many part-time and transient ones. The bulk of the people live in the communities that ring the Bay because most of the businesses are there. People living outside the town travel to and from by water taxi since there are few roads on the island. Unlike the other Bay Islands the roads are only wide enough for scooters, golf carts and all-terrain vehicles.

Tuesday in Utila is Tapas Tuesday at Mango Tango.

The Bay Islands have a very unusual history. They were discovered by Columbus but became British as the Empire sought to prevent them from being used as hangouts for pirates and eventually, they were part of British Honduras that became Belize. When the United Kingdom gave them independence, the mainland of British Honduras became Belize and the Bay Islands became part of the Country of Honduras. There is a current and growing movement on the islands to return to the control of the UK.

The Octopus Carpaccio at Mango Tango is probably one of the best things I've ever eaten

As a result most people in the Bay Islands speak English because it is still taught in schools, but many of the people are from the mainland and speak Spanish. The population is a mix of original English settlers, some Dutch, Spanish and Garifuna. The Garifuna are descended from African slaves that escaped through piracy or shipwreck and then interbred with local natives and populate much of the coasts of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize.

Another one of our favorite places and two of our friends had been there.

Older guidebooks caution cruisers from visiting Utila because of rampant crime but that seems to be a thing of the past. Utila now features about two dozen dive shops catering to youngish divers in their 20's and 30's along with numerous bars and restaurants that crank out music into the wee hours. Provisioning isn't great here but you can find most of what you need and Bush's fuel dock has fuel and water. There is also Ocean Petroleum that has fuel and propane for sale.

$8 pizza Wednesday at Skid Row and $1.50 Salva Vida.


We came to Utila so I could do some diving. Before we got here I contacted the Utila Dive Center to take the Advanced Open Water Course. Even though I had been diving for years I never took the

Linda shopping for produce at the tienda.

Advanced course. So I signed up to take the course beginning on 25 March. A week after we arrived. I had scheduled it then because we thought we might stop in the atolls of Belize before we arrived. But we didn't and we had a week to kill.

One Sunday we climbed Pumpkin Hill, the highest point on Utila to Lookout Park.

 Views from the top.

Most people come to Utila for a few days and move on. We spent 2 weeks and weren't ready to leave. Besides the great diving (I did 7 dives in all) we found great snorkeling sites, great local places to visit, fun restaurants and super cool people. Since it is not a cruise ship destination and is sort of hard to get to it is not overwhelmed with tourists which also makes it fun.

Neptune's Beach Bar and Grill. Great food and great snorkeling.

When we left Utila we wanted more. We left without doing many things we wanted to do. But, it's always great leaving a place and having reasons to come back. Now on to Roatan.