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Text and Photos by Bryan Stevens
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Under the sun in Utila
All relaxing and no throngs of tourists make this Central American island far from dull
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There’s something compelling about an island, something that tends to attract all sorts—the drifters and the drunks; the pirates and the preppies; the cosmopolitan and the crude. Yeah, islands have color, and Utila, a speck of land about 30km off the Caribbean coast of Honduras, is positively awash in it.
Those in the know liken Utila, sometimes wistfully, to the Key West of 30 years ago. It’s easy to see why. East Harbor, with its sandy streets, pastel paint jobs and rustling palm trees, is quaintly dilapidated. The fishing is good off Utila, and the diving is even better. In a word, it’s easygoing, and at just 11km by 4km, everything is accessible by bike.
My first morning on Utila found me talking shop with Captain Hal Whitefield. One of the “must do’s” during any stay is spending a day on Water Cay, a small, uninhabited island just off the coast of Utila with nice beaches and snorkeling right off the beach. Problem is, you need a boat to get there. Enter Captain Hal.
Hal is in his 60s, has white hair (which he usually keeps covered with a mesh baseball cap), and fluffy eyebrows. He wore a white V-neck T-shirt tucked into a pair of faded blue chinos and Velcro shoes. His facial features are decidedly English, but his skin is tanned the color of saddle leather from days in the harsh Caribbean sun. And while history says Britain returned the Bay Islands to Honduras over 200 years ago, Hal’s vernacular is markedly more Henry Morgan than Francisco Morazan.al’s a funny guy, for sure. He says so himself. We were leaning against the fence in his front yard, which is mostly sand, trying to hammer out the price of a shuttle to and from Water Cay, and the only thing I understood clearly is that he charges some people more and some people less.
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Finally, deciding I’m good people or perhaps just getting bored with me, we agreed on a price (about US$10) and made our way through his backyard to the dock. We ducked through some mangroves, passed a few boats pulled high and dry awaiting repair, and stepped out into the morning sun busy warping the planking on his dock. Like any waterman, Hal’s proud of his boat, and tossing gear into the bow, I complimented him on it. Priming the engine, he growled back in his heavy dialect, Wohhh yahh, she’s a sweeet boat mon.
Besides being a sort of Caribbean idyll, Utila is also a world-renowned dive destination. It borders the Mesoamerican barrier reef system, the world’s second largest after the Australian Great Barrier Reef, and with 60 different dive sites, Hal spends most of his time shuttling divers between them.
Utila is also destination numero uno for divers hoping to encounter the great Whale Shark, the world’s largest fish at up to 18m in length. (Unlike “The Great Leopard Shark,” however, the great Whale Shark won’t eat your dive partner and best friend.) And dive courses offered on Utila are some of the least expensive in the world.
While these factors, combined with the low cost of food and lodging, have always made Utila a popular stop on the Central America backpacker circuit, the island is by no means a “backpacker ghetto.” It has world-class diving resorts like the Utila Lodge and the Laguna Beach Resort, and private houses on private cays are also available for rent.
After about 20 minutes in the boat, we arrived at Water Cay where Hal left us, delightfully marooned. Like good castaways, we walked a full circuit around the deserted island, and then, our survey work done for the day, set up shop beneath the copse of palm trees we found most agreeable. The rest of the afternoon we spent napping, sunbathing, snorkeling or swigging cold beer in the shade, feeling worlds away from the Honduran mainland where, just 24 hours earlier, we’d been sweating it in dusty barrios.
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At five, a friend of Hal’s rescued us. I asked him where Hal was, and he told me he had taken a higher paying boat out for some fishing... or maybe they’d gone to search for the great Whale Shark. I wasn’t really listening. I was too stoned by the drone of the outboard engine and watching the colors of the Caribbean water changing from clear to turquoise to dark blue as we cut into deeper water.
I was also thinking whether a gin ‘n’ tonic or an ice-cold Salva Vida beer sounded better for happy hour. I had a lot on my mind.
Days in Utila are like this.
| Getting to Utila from Honduras is easy. Getting to Honduras from Tokyo is not—most itineraries require two to three stopovers. After arriving in the mainland port of La Ceiba, which also has an international airport, the Utila Princess ferry runs twice a day to the Municipal Dock in “El Centro” of East Harbor. Or you can fly. The island has a small airport that receives several flights daily on Aerolinas Sosa and Atlantic Airlines. English is spoken on Utila, and you can use US dollars or Honduran Lempiras. See www.aboututila.com for more information. |
Mitsubishi Estate Company, the driving force behind the Marunouchi redevelopment project, hopes to introduce foreign visitors to all the area has to offer. One way the company aims to achieve this goal is with a new multilingual map of Marunouchi, Otemachi and Yurakucho. The guide covers art galleries, commercial outlets, historical sites, cultural centers and hotels, as well as points of access to the up-and-coming district via road, rail and subway.
The free maps are available at various locations, including the Marunouchi Building and Shin-Marunouchi Building. CB
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Courtesy of British Airways |
Back in 2000, British Airways became the first carrier to offer flat beds in their business-class cabins. Now, the airline has collaborated with leading designers to kick the service up a few more notches with what they call “the next-generation World Club experience.” Basically, says BA spokesperson Julianne Rogers, World Club will offer passengers “all of the comfort, privacy and flexibility that one would expect from a five-star hotel.” This includes 100 movie and TV channels, an on-board kitchen serving hot and cold snacks between meals, and even an electronically controlled privacy screen. BM |
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