Caribb-LEM # 4 on the island of Utila!
10 - day option: Wednesday, March 13th, 2019 to Saturday, March 23rd, 2019
7-day option: Saturday, March 16th, 2019 to Saturday, March 23rd, 2019
We are going with package-pricing this time, to make things easier. The package includes your room at the resort, plus breakfast and lunch each day, plus either 11 or 18 dives (depending on your stay) and including all rental dive gear.
For the 10 day package, we will have 16 boat dives plus 2 night dives. The 7 day package will have 10 boat dives and 1 night dive.
Something new this year: both package options include unlimited fun dives off the dock at the resort for no extra charge!
Package cost for 10-day: $1300
Package cost for 7-day: $920
If you are not SCUBA certified, you can take the open-water course for an extra $250 (either package) and once you are done with the course you can join the rest of the group on the daily boat dives. (Best to do all the e-learning ahead of time so you don't have to spend much time in the classroom when on the island.)
The cost of the advanced open-water course is also $250. (Same advice applies re: e-learning) Note that if you do the 10-day option, you could complete BOTH classes and still join the group for the rest of the daily dives once you are done with your certification(s).
One caveat: The package pricing above is for double-occupancy, but there are a *limited* number of single rooms currently available. Once they are gone, if you don't have a roommate, you will be charged a surcharge. (Expect this to be at least $225 on the 7 day, or at least $350 on the 10 day; surcharge pricing may change after December 1st.)
You still have to book your own travel arrangements to and from Utila. The best option is to fly to the island of Roatan (code: RTB) and then catch the ferry boat from Roatan to Utila. (Ferry is cheap - like $30.) The ferry leaves Roatan at 2 PM, so your flight needs to land at noon or earlier to give you time to clear customs and immigration. (The ferry dock is about 5-10 min by taxi from the airport.)
The other option is to fly to San Pedro-Sula airport (code: SAP) on the mainland and then book another flight with Sosa airlines to get to Utila. While it is often cheaper to fly into SAP, by the time you pay for the Sosa airlines flight it ends up being a wash vs flying into RTB. Rich and I will be flying into RTB, so if you select the 10-day option you'll be able to meet up with us at the airport in Roatan.
If you plan to bring a significant other who will not be diving, contact SCUBA HUT for special pricing that does not include the dive package.
As in previous years, the plan is that we will go into town as a group each night for dinner at one of the many local restaurants. Figure on a maximum of $20 per night (and that's eating like a king) per person for dinner. We will be doing two main laser shows for the public while we are on the island. The first one will be outdoors, on the main public beach, on Saturday night, March 16th. The second one will be closer in town at one of the local bars (possibly Skid Row, possibly another location) on Wednesday, March 20th. And of course we can play around with lasers any time we want in the SCUBA shop or on the dock at the resort.
This trip and these prices are currently being offered exclusively to us laser geeks. However, on October 17th the trip will be opened up to all current and former SCUBA students at SCUBA HUT in California, along with their regular dive customers. After that, it's first-come, first-served.
Here is a link to the SCUBA HUT web announcement for the trip. Yes, the web page is already live, but the e-mail announcement pointing people to the link doesn't go out for another 10 days, so it's unlikely that people will just stumble upon it. After that e-mail goes out though... Well, at that point it's game on!
A 50% deposit is required to reserve your spot on the trip. Contact SCUBA HUT directly to do this. Phone (530) 636-2644. Note that you can also e-mail rich at info@scubahut.org if you have questions. And remember that single-occupancy rooms are severely limited this time, so it is very important to book early if you want a single room!
Adam