High Sierra Divers: Dive Equipment, Instruction, Repairs and Trips.

HIGH SIERRA DIVERS
217 Palm Avenue Auburn, CA 95603
(530) 823-6757 E-Mail info@hsdivers.com
Hours: Monday-Friday 10 AM - 6 PM Saturday 10 AM - 4 PM

Utila (Honduras) 2002

OVERVIEW

Utila is one of the Bay Islands off of the Honduran Coast, near Roatan
Join us at Utila Lodge, Resort, Hotel & Beach Dive Club August 17-24, 2002. Cost is $ 800 per person double occupancy plus taxes of $ 96.00.

Includes:
Accomodations 8 Days / 7 Nights

6 Days Diving (3 Boat Dives Per Day)

2 Night Dives

3 Meals per Day!

Welcome Coctail

Airfare is not included, however we have obtained bulk airfare from many US cities. (e-mail or call for quotes).
Sign up for this trip by clicking on the 'Sign-Up Now Button' at the bottom of this page.
Read on for some photos and details on the trip.

Utila Lodge is built on stilts at the
edge of the sea. The first dedicated dive resort, the Utila Lodge opened just three years ago. Here you will find comfortable lodging and safe, complete and self-contained diving. The resort is a series of seaside buildings with adjoining docks built on stilts at the edge of the sea toward the west end of Utila village. There are only eight rooms and they are bright, spacious, and air-conditioned. There is a full-service dive store, equipment rental, including photo gear, and specialty instruction and certification. (if booked in advanced)

The main dive boat is the Sea Sprite
The Sea Sprite is a 41 foot Morgan single diesel with a cabin and fly bridge. Side tank racks and a single centered platform ladder make equipment handling simple. Full electronics make Whale Sharks and seamounts easy to find!

Your chances of a seeing a Whale Shark, according to the statistics, are about 50/50. There is an average of one sighting per week. Jim and Captain Willy have developed a special technique for Whale Shark diving. They watch for seabirds flocking over the deep blue. "If we spot feeding seabirds and we often do, there's about an 80 percent chance we can find a Whale Shark." reports Captain Willy.
Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus), the
gentle giants of the deep are attracted
to the nutrient rich water surrounding Utila.

Fields of beautiful Bluebell Tunicates
(Clavenlina puertosecensis) add
a delicate hue to the seamount known
as Janet's Bank. Quite surprising is the diversification of reef topography and the variety of underwater habitats. All quadrants support coral reefs. The are uncountable seamounts, hug reef projections rising from undivable depths to within 40 to 60 feet of the surface, shallow coral gardens perfect for day or night diving, patch reefs, fringing reefs, the northern barrier reef, complete with huge coral canyons and a lengthy vertical drop-off bordering the deep blue.

Big-Eyed Toadfish
Rare Orange-Lipped Tunicates

Utila's constantly changing reef topography can be seen at three spots closely aligned along the island's north facing drop-off. Blackish Point is a mini-wall formed by a wave notch along an ancient shoreline. A plateau with a continuous series of caverns provide niches for stingrays, Nurse Sharks, Eagle Rays, Barracuda, and nudibranchs. Willy's Hole named for a local fisherman is a maze of coral canyons and pinnacles with Lettuce, Shingled Star and Starlet Corals sitting on the edge of the continental shelf. At Pinnacles you can find another kind of drop-off, a vertical escarpment carpeted with a forest of gorgonians harboring schools of Blue Chromis and surgeonfish.

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Utila Lodge is built on stilts at the edge of the sea.	The first dedicated dive resort, the Utila Lodge opened just three years ago. Here you will find comfortable lodging and safe, complete and self-contained diving. The resort is a series of seaside buildings with adjoining docks built on stilts at the edge of the sea toward the west end of Utila village. There are only eight rooms and they are bright, spacious, and air-conditioned. There is a full-service dive store, equipment rental, including photo gear, and specialty instruction and certification. (if booked in advanced)

The main dive boat is the Sea Sprite	The Sea Sprite is a 41 foot Morgan single diesel with a cabin and fly bridge. Side tank racks and a single centered platform ladder make equipment handling simple. Full electronics make Whale Sharks and seamounts easy to find!

Your chances of a seeing a Whale Shark, according to the statistics, are about 50/50. There is an average of one sighting per week. Jim and Captain Willy have developed a special technique for Whale Shark diving. They watch for seabirds flocking over the deep blue. "If we spot feeding seabirds and we often do, there's about an 80 percent chance we can find a Whale Shark." reports Captain Willy.	Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus), the gentle giants of the deep are attracted to the nutrient rich water surrounding Utila.

Fields of beautiful Bluebell Tunicates (Clavenlina puertosecensis) add a delicate hue to the seamount known as Janet's Bank.	Quite surprising is the diversification of reef topography and the variety of underwater habitats. All quadrants support coral reefs. The are uncountable seamounts, hug reef projections rising from undivable depths to within 40 to 60 feet of the surface, shallow coral gardens perfect for day or night diving, patch reefs, fringing reefs, the northern barrier reef, complete with huge coral canyons and a lengthy vertical drop-off bordering the deep blue.

Big-Eyed Toadfish	Rare Orange-Lipped Tunicates
Utila's constantly changing reef topography can be seen at three spots closely aligned along the island's north facing drop-off. Blackish Point is a mini-wall formed by a wave notch along an ancient shoreline. A plateau with a continuous series of caverns provide niches for stingrays, Nurse Sharks, Eagle Rays, Barracuda, and nudibranchs. Willy's Hole named for a local fisherman is a maze of coral canyons and pinnacles with Lettuce, Shingled Star and Starlet Corals sitting on the edge of the continental shelf. At Pinnacles you can find another kind of drop-off, a vertical escarpment carpeted with a forest of gorgonians harboring schools of Blue Chromis and surgeonfish.