I went to Roatan and the beaches were beautiful, but it was the first resort Iāve stayed at that had armed security. Also cameras along the beach.
Made me wonder what they were worried about.
To be honest. I never saw violent crime on Utila. Petty theft? Its a way of life / making a living for some islanders. Gun violence? none. Rapes? (considering that the amount of drunk / beautiful women walking the streets home at night?) Surprisingly none being reported. Kidnappings? Its all backpackers with no money, theres not gonna be any ransom to be had.
I felt safer walking down the main rd in Utila at 2am, drunk, than I would walking down any given street in NYC, sober. Always wary of petty theft / burglaries, but that was the worst of it.
The resort I stayed at in Jamaica had more security, and that made me wonder like you did. And judging by the scams / how pushy the weed guys are there, I understand it. Armed guards in Roatan? Makes no sense other than calming the nerves of tourists. The Bay Islands are much safer than mainland Honduras (San Pedro Sula was murder capital of the world several years running, and I fly into SPS on my way to Utila). Wouldnāt recommend walking home drunk at 2am in SPSā¦
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Yep, I knew about this. My niece ended up meeting a local while we were there. Moved in with him and stayed there over a year I think. She told me in the slow season the cops try and clear out undesirables that come over from the mainland.
She worked on a dive boat while she was there.
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Roatan is bigger, so more room for the undesirables I guess. Utila is small enough that when a mainlander comes over and gets caught stealing something, the locals run him off, not the cops (guess they donāt want competition).
The police force on Utila is kinda a joke too.
First trip I saw 2 cops, late one night at the Treetanic Bar (Bar in a treehouse! or group of em) chasing out dealers at 2am. That was it. Second trip not a single cop, but 4 military guys (2 posted at airport, 2 posted in front of mayors house).
The third trip, where I stayed 3 months, the police force had grown to FOUR officers! And they had a Yamaha Rhino as a vehicle. And evidently they all shared the same 9-5 shift, as all 4 were ALWAYS on the Rhino during the day. Essentially they were no different than all the other people hanging out, they just had uniforms. But would gladly drink beer, BS with the girls, and do anything but act like a cop. Shit, they even smoked weed, publicly. And its still illegal in Honduras. (also the first place I publicly smoke and didnt give a shit, not like hiding it at a concert, I lit up at my table at Che Pancho after lunch 
) .
Gotta imagine theres now at least 8 on the force there.
But cops really didnāt ārunā the island nearly as much as the local islanders. Youād probably rather deal with the cops than the locals anyway!
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I stayed in West End Roatan and didnāt see armed guards (this was probably 15 years ago though) but we werenāt in a resort, just in a studio apt. I never felt unsafe or anything and loved the friendly atmosphere. West Bay I could see having issues as it was a bunch of resorts that I wouldnāt want if I was a local.
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I havenāt been out of the usa in about ten years. Nowadays I have no intent to leave. Itās a country all I need is here and now my state allows weed.
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āYou can come to Utilaā¦ But you will never leaveā
āThose who know about Utila, need no explanation. Those who have never experienced Utila, no explanation will ever be enoughā
Pretty much sums up my love for that tiny little island. It changed me on a core levelā¦
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I can totally understand cuz lol you should post some of those dive recordings, maybe on a separate threadā¦ then folks can see
Them things are on a level of awesome thatās hard to explain in mere words!
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Ya know what drives me to make them? Sharing them with people who wonāt / canāt / are unable to go down there and see the reefs themselves. Takes someone to a place theyāve never been and might have never gone. And makes them appreciate the beauty beneath the surface
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lol well cuz, you damn sure made a believer outta the boss-lady and me!
She swims like a rock, lol but she totally fell in love with the place
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When making topicals, add in some emu oil, it takes it down through the skin, making the balm more effective. You could also use DMSO, but since you need to be extra careful with it, emu oil needs no special prep, so I use it instead.
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Have you got a YouTube channel that we could check out dive vids?
Just be careful when you milk your emu for the oil as it usually pisses them off.
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Stoner momentā¦
Garlic Bud x Shishkaberry (kens 3lber 
?)ā¦
Anyone ever get visions of Suger Buds (in this case landraces 
) dancing in their heads 
??
The above are Two Separate stoner thoughts 
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More stoned nowā¦.
Anyone ever had a hard to breed strain? What I mean is does it not pair well with anything or you just canāt seem to get it to do what you want?
Maybe it should be considered for itās inherent male characteristicsā¦those characteristics that are expressed in the males of the population.
Not wanting to get into too much detail, but hops I believe is decended from such a plant. That is, hops is a hermaphrodite cannabis plant that has been breed or evolved into what it is today.
@Nagel420
I wanna go diving! Iāve never done anything but snorkel at ~15ā deep. I would love to go in with diving gear.
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The great thing about Honduras is the reefs arenāt completely destroyedā¦yet.
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Give me a minute will ya, Iām working on it. I can only be so many places at once!
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Utilaās reefs are faring well, SCTLD (Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease) hasnāt really hit Utila yet, but it will get there. That started in the Florida Keys, has gone past Cozumel, MX and is working its way south. SCTLD is horrible, it will take a brain coral the size of a VW Bug, and in 2 years turn it to a white skeleton, killing off hundreds, if not thousands of years of growth. One MASSIVE brain in Cozumel was lost 3 years ago, I recall seeing it in 2016, and it was amazing. Saw it again in 2020, and it was just algae covered skeleton 
Places like Guanaja, Utila and Roatan (Honduras Bay Islands) are a bit more south, but the currents will bring it there eventually
And while Utila was beautiful for coral, its virtually devoid of sharks and turtles. Saw a single nurse shark and a single turtle in 4+ months of diving (though I swam with over a dozen whale sharks, but thats off-reef in deep open water). Compare that to Cozumel where thereās constant current (Drift Diving), and in a week in Cozumel you can see 8-12 turtles, a dozen sharks (nurses all over, black tips off the wall, and if you are really lucky a hammerhead), but coral coverage has been dismal and is still recovering from Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
One day I will make it to the Pacificā¦ Palau, Solomon Islands, Truk Lagoon, Saba, Koh Tao, and the Great Barrier Reefā¦
Hereās a few teaser videos in 360Ā° for you guys to tempt you to ātake the plungeā The videos are IN 360Ā° so be sure to grab the screen withyour mouse and pull left/ right / up / down to pan around you.
Turtles and Palancar Caves
Punta Tunich Drift
Inside the C-53 Wreck (skip the first 30 seconds or so as I adjust the cam)
Whale Shark in Utila
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