Traveling between Utila and Roatan just got easy!
Despite being sister islands, traveling between Utila and Roatan has always been complicated. With no scheduled service between both islands, it has always been a travelers nightmare traveling between them. Until now, the easiest, and practically only way of travelling between Utila and Roatan has been to take the ferry from Utila to La Ceiba, and then board the ferry from La Ceiba to Roatan. While the schedules worked in both directions, not only where you paying more, you were actually traveling twice the distance and spending more than twice the time you really needed.
The good news is that the Utila Dream, the new ferry that has come to service Utila will now be operating twice a week a Utila to Roatan route, which will be running on Thursday and Saturday making traveling between Utila and Roatan a piece of cake. Departures from Utila will be at 9:30 a.m. from the Municipal dock in Utila, and return from Roatan will depart at 2:00 p.m. from the Coconut Tree Dock at West End. By using this arrival and departure location, passengers will actually be arriving or departing directly from the heart of the most popular location in Roatan: West End. The trip will be a short 40 minute ride between both islands!
Island Air, a small airline based in Utila is also offering round trip service between Utila and Roatan on Saturdays, which of course is even more convenient if you are traveling to Roatan to catch an international flight, since you arrive at the Roatan International Airport (RTB).
For those tourists coming in from Belize and Rio Dulce in Guatemala, we have even more good news! The Utila Dream will be traveling between Utila and Puerto Cortes twice a week on Friday and Sunday! Departures from Utila will be at 9:30 a.m. from the municipal dock and the passage will be only 2 ½ hours, arriving at Puerto Cortes at noontime. Departures from Puerto Cortes will be at 12:30, arriving in Utila by 3:00 p.m. The cost of the service will be only Lps 700 each way, which is approximately $31 US. Not only will you be saving time, you will also be saving money!
This new routes will be in effect starting the first week in March, 2016, and will certainly make traveling between Utila and Roatan, and between Rio Dulce and Utila much, much easier!