Utila
The smallest of the three Bay Islands, ringed by more than eighty dive sites, where whale sharks are among the visitors.
- Arrival
- Útila Airport · UII
- To the island
- About an hour by ferry from La Ceiba
- Private jets
- Customs at La Ceiba, then a short hop
- Best time
- April to May
The city
Divers, cays and a 74-metre hill.
Utila covers about 45 square kilometres at the southern end of the Mesoamerican reef. Most of it is low; the only real height is Pumpkin Hill in the east, 74 metres of old volcanic rock. The island and its cays have been a Ramsar wetland since 2013, and birders know it for white-crowned pigeons and yellow-naped amazons.
The Pech lived here before Spanish slavers raided in 1516, then came pirates, and later settlers with roots in the Cayman Islands, whose dialect is still part of island life. Divers now come for the reef, and lunch might be conch soup with coconut bread.
- The Utila Cays Water Cay, Pigeon Cay and Sandy Cay, small islets off the main island, reached by boat.
- Pumpkin Hill The highest point on the island, 74 metres, at its volcanic eastern end.
- Whale sharks Among the marine life of more than eighty dive sites around the island.
Arriving
A short strip, and the ferry from La Ceiba.
Útila Airport lies 1.6 kilometres north-east of the town. La Ceiba, on the mainland about 40 kilometres south, has the ferry and the nearest jet runway with customs.
- Miami 2 h 00
- Nassau 2 h 10
- Lima 4 h 35
- Lagos 13 h 00 long-range jet
- Istanbul 14 h 15 long-range jet
When to go
April to May.
Warm all year: highs from 27 to 31 °C, and the sea never drops below 26 °C. April and May are the dry window, each with about 84 mm of rain. From October to December more than 350 mm a month falls.
- 27° J 277 27°
- 27° F 232 26°
- 29° M 161 27°
- 30° A 83 27°
- 31° M 84 28°
- 31° J 142 29°
- 31° J 147 28°
- 31° A 161 29°
- 31° S 194 29°
- 29° O 352 29°
- 28° N 419 28°
- 27° D 371 27°
Elsewhere in Honduras
More reasons to come.
Flying to Utila?
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