Deep Blue Resort Utila
We spent two weeks here in April 2014. One of them was the special "Whale Shark Week" that costs a bit more for lectures by the researcher and more focus on getting in the water near the big fellas. Unfortunately, the interaction with the whale sharks was limited by their ability to dive deep whenever we got close! Many of the dive sites had few fish and poor visibility with lots of particulate in the water that I had not experienced in Utila before. Also, we only got to the deeper wall sites on the north side twice and the visibility there is usually better.
Deep Blue Resort is situated on the beach. Very pretty, but the bugs were awful. Nothing much seems to deter the nasty bites several of our group experienced. The rooms allow the breezes to blow through--nice; and the bugs to enter--not so good. The room layout is adequate, but not particularly comfortable. The maids appear to have a hard time keeping up with a full guest load. Missing towels, dirty floors and sinks at times. Food was plentiful, but repetitive and heavy on chicken dishes. The bar does not have much variety, but Shirley will get what you request if it's available. Shirley is a wonderful owner and made us feel very welcome. She is working very hard to keep this resort running.
The dive boat is well used and somewhat crowded. Lack of repairs led to one serious accident during our trip. The captain and crew did everything they could to make our dives enjoyable. But we spent a lot of time driving back and forth to the fuel dock and most of our dives were just off the front side of the resort or barely outside the harbor. We did see a couple sea horse, and the swim throughs at Airport Caves and Labyrinth are fun to explore. Dive staff was friendly and helpful but a little disorganized. It seemed that regular staff were missing during our stay and the overall operation suffered. Shore diving was possible, but required a long rocky entry.
This is a good place for your first exposure to whale sharks, but a bit expensive for the limited interaction available. It's a good place for dedicated divers who don't mind a bit of challenge for shore diving. Some of the guests put in four dives daily!
