6 April East End, Utila

anchorage seen from creek

path to dinghy dock

coffee shop

There's really only one yacht anchorage on Utila, the east end which is the main town centre and home for Customs and Immigration because this is where we plan to clear out to continue on to Belize. It is also the centre of the island's diving industry and has a reputation for offering some of the cheapest dive courses and dive packages anywhere. The average visitor is young and travelling with a backpack. While we were here there were never more than seven yachts visiting.

The waterfront is a continuous line of jetties belonging to local industries and, of course, to the dive shops. When we wanted to go ashore we left our dinghy at the yellow guest house which has a new coffee shop on the ground floor with internet. Internet which we found had a single strong enough to reach us at anchor.

Behind the jetties lies Main Street with the usual collection of guest houses, supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries and laundries. One unusual collection of signs was for bike rental, a coffin maker and a laundry. If you have a fatal bike accident you can be buried in clean clothes all in one convenient location.

Behind an Argentine restaurant (good food) we found a entertainment multiplex; American Chris retired from an LA internet company and came here to set up a book store come film rental come movie theatre. Downstairs you can peruse a wide selection of secondhand books to buy, or rent a film, upstairs there is an air conditioned movie theatre and films are played three evenings a week.

By the end of our first day we had found a company who would let us join there regular morning dives and to bring all our own kit and tanks. Some companies ruled we had to use their aluminium tanks for 'safety reasons'. Paradise Divers charged $18 a dive, companies supplying tanks $29 a dive. Paradise Divers were also conveniently located 2 minutes from us.