Útila

Útila is a 42 km ² large island, about 32 miles off the Caribbean coast of Honduras; north-east lies the island of Roatan. Útila part of the island chain of the Islas de la Bahía ( Bay Islands ).

Geography

Útila is cleaved by one built in the 1950s by hand channel into a eastern and a western part. The western part is uninhabited and consists of a wet savannah and mangrove forest. Also, the eastern part accommodates mangrove forest, Caribbean dry forest and farmed land.

The island is relatively flat and has only two major surveys: Stewart Hill in the center of the East Island and Pumpkin Hill on the north side of East Island. Both are ancient volcanic cinder cones.

In the south of the East Island is the village of East Harbour or Utila Town. The village has about 4000 inhabitants.

Biology

The small and flat island is still very rich in species and habitats. So, it houses many endemic species, such as the Utila Iguana ( Ctenosaura bakeri ) which inhabits the mangrove forest. A conservation project of the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Senckenberg Nature Research Society operates a field station to the preservation of endangered Art

The Bay Islands are located in the Belize Barrier Reef, which from the Yucatán Peninsula to Belize ( formerly British Honduras ) extends over to the east of the Honduran north coast. The reef is considered the second largest barrier reef after the Great Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Australia.

The combination of mangrove and coral reef make the Gulf of Honduras to the nursery of the western Caribbean Sea. The protection offered habitats are used by many fish and invertebrates to reproduce. This explains the plankton-rich waters around the Bay Islands, where there is often whale sharks and manta rays, as well as other plankton feeders may be encountered in certain seasons

Tourism

In Utila Town currently are twelve dive shops as well as numerous hotels and hostels of different price categories. So far, make backpackers (so-called backpackers ), the majority of tourists on Útila from. But the island's government aims to increase the proportion of betuchteren tourists without scaring the backpackers. The current mayor, himself the owner of a diving school and a hotel, the importance of the backpackers is aware of the island and finds it as an enrichment that these be integrated into island life and not only as consumers come to Utila.

Luxury hotels there are not on Útila so far. Honduras is a total tourist not yet strongly developed, the Bay Islands and Roatan in particular are booming center of tourism in Honduras. For travelers, the Bay Islands by its English population a good entry point into the fascinating country.

Scuba divers will love the large variety of corals around Útila. The crystal clear warm water and spectacular colored walls, small canyons and caves complement the diving experience. One can regularly see large groupers, moray eels, turtles, rays, and in the spring months now and then a whale shark.

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