Utila
I arrived in Utila yesterday afternoon. I took the 10:20 bus from San Pedro Sula (lovely service) and arrived in La Ceiba at around 13:15. I took a taxi to the Banana Republic Hostel which was recommended to me as well, thinking that the only ferry was actually in the morning. Fortunately the taxi driver told me there was another ferry (Utila Princess) at 16:00, so, off we go, I went to the port, took the ferry ($21) and I’m here a bit earlier than expected. I managed to squeeze 2 dives already this morning.
I’m staying for now at Backpacker’s Lodge, which is the accommodation affiliated to Ecomarine Gunter’s Shop. It cost $5 a night for a private room and shared bathroom and is pretty much OK. There is no swimming pool, private bar, A/C, wireless internet and other superfluous things but who cares.
Utila is for sure a different beast than Dahab for all I can see. I was very surprised here, that just by walking on the seafront on the evening, I had people passing by me saying “hello”, moreover they were nice girls 
. In Dahab, there is probably more chance to get rain than someone saying a genuine “hello” to you, so that’s for sure a good change in the overall attitude.
It’s a bit too early as of now to describe Utila, but let’s just say, that it looks like kind of a typical carribean small village. There are quite a few dive centers here and a certain number of restaurants serving inexpensive food. There is only 1 ATM and unfortunately my credit card does not work in it, even though it’s a VISA. Apparently, it happens to other people here as well, especially those who don’t own a US credit card (great!). I hope I will be able to sort it out tomorrow when the bank opens. Utila shops accepts either US dollars or Lempiras ($US1 = 18 HNL). I have got a bit of cash but not that much.
My father should also be arriving a bit earlier than expected due to favorable winds. He left Key West on March 1 with his boat (which name is …bearaway), basically the day I arrived in Miami, and has been sailing down to Utila since then, his original ETA was roughly March 7, but he is now 60 miles off Utila and is expected to arrive during the night.
