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Scuba Diving in Utila, Honduras

Útila is the third largest of Honduras 's Bay Islands , after Guanaja . Útila is now starting to undergo the same commercialisation that Roatan experienced in the mid to late 1990s. With some of the best diving locations, Útila is attracting the general tourist along with its previous army of international back-packers.

Útila attracts people from around the world to dive and snorkel its extensive reefs teeming with marine life, including the elusive whale shark . Útila borders on the Mesoamerican barrier reef system, the second-largest reef in the world, after the Australian Great Barrier Reef . There are currently about 50 established scuba diving sites on Útila.

Ruins on all three of the Bay Islands indicate that they were inhabited well before the Europeans arrived. Christopher Columbus , on his fourth voyage to the new world, landed on the island of Guanaja on July 30th, 1502. He encountered a fairly large population of Indians whom he believed to be cannibals. The Spanish enslaved the islanders and sent them to work on the plantations of Cuba and gold and silver mines of Mexico.

They did not stay uninhabited for long, however. English, French & Dutch pirates established settlements on the islands and raided the cumbersome Spanish cargo vessels laden with gold and other treasures from the new world. The English buccaneer Henry Morgan established his base at Port Royal on Roatan, about 30 kilometers from Útila, in the mid 17th century; at that time as many as 5,000 pirates were living on that island.

During the Maya reign in Central America (between the foutth and tenth centuries), the Paya Indians populated the Bay Islands. The Payas were a smaller and less advanced group than the Mayans. Their civilization was characterized by simpler housing and tools. Payan artifacts (pottery, jade, and shells) are often found in Island burial and ceremonial sites and are referred to by the locals as "yaba ding dings."

The island Indians mined jade, which they took in small boats to the mainland to trade for tools and other items. The islands provided an abundant variety of foodstuffs such as manioc, fish, corn, turtles, iguanas, agouti (island "rabbits"), native fruits, land crabs and deer.

Colonization by the Spanish began in the early 1500s. Over the next century, the Spanish plundered the island for its slave trade and eliminated the island of Indians by the early 1600s. Britain, in its aggressive attempt to colonize the Caribbean from the Spanish, occupied the Bay Islands on and off between 1550 and 1700. During this time, the Buccaneers found the vacated, mostly unprotected Islands a haven for safe harbor and transport. Útila is rich in pirate lore: to this day, scuba divers look for sunken treasure from Captain Morgan's lost booty from his raid on Panama in 1671.

The British were forced to give back the Bay Islands to the Honduran government in the mid 1800s. It was at this time that the nearly uninhabited islands was being seeded by its now Caymanian roots. They remain rich in Caymanian culture and dialect.

Útila has been a part of Honduras for over 150 years. Yet its nature reflects its independence and its local government works diligently to promote and protect its unique and wonderful culture. For almost 200 years Spanish conquistadores and British pirates battled for control of these islands, ignoring the Indians for the most part. During this period, the Islands were used for food and wood supplies, safe harbor, and slave trading. Remains of British forts and towns named after famous pirates remain as their legacy. One group of slaves was "parked" here during this time during the heat of a battle. When the winners came to collect them, the slaves refused to go. These are the Garifunas who still populate much of the Bay Islands, maintaining their own cultural identity and language. Punta Gorda on Roatán is one of many villages where they live.