Utila – What to Bring
I’m back with a bit more info for you on Utila. A question that comes up with every trip is what to pack so I’ll break it down for you in this post. Utila is an extremely casual island & you need to bring way less than you think!
Clothes
We are scum-balls & light packers and even we had slightly too much for the week. I’d recommend bringing half of what you think you’ll need. I got by for a week on 4 tank tops, 1 t-shirt, 2 pairs of shorts, underwear of course, 1 bathing suit and flops. I actually brought a skirt and never wore it. There were days we didn’t bother to shower. It’s hot, humid and casual. If you’re going in the jungle you should bring sneakers but for town flops are all you need. I brought a backup bathing suit too because I had a top break once and it sucks to not have a spare. A hat or visor is a good idea too, the sun is strong!
The main drag
Other Stuff
You’ll want to bring the usual …. all medicines you might need, lots of sunscreen (chemical free if you’re going in the ocean) & bug spray! Sand flies pack a mean bite for their size. Seriously, I don’t know how something that small can hurt so bad. If you’re lucky to have a nice breeze while you’re there that will definitely help the bug situation. But when the breeze dies off, watch out!
Bring a re-useable water bottle. All islands struggle with handling trash so we try to make as little as possible when we travel. A lot of bars will refill your water bottle for a charge & 5 gallon jugs are cheap, we paid 35lps for them which is about $1.70. Restaurants don’t care if you bring your own drink either so we brought our water bottles everywhere with us. Try to recycle the glass beer and soda bottles too. We didn’t have collection bins where we stayed but the dive shop did so we brought them there every morning.
If your trip is short, bring all the cash you think you’ll need with you. US $ are accepted everywhere so there’s no need to convert it before arriving. There’s an ATM in town that we heard mixed things about. A few people said it wasn’t dispensing cash but was still debiting accounts. During normal banking hours the tellers will run your card for you if you’re worried about using the ATM. We just decided to avoid it all together since we were only there a week. Most places don’t take cards on the island. Bush’s supermarket was the only place we used a card all week.
In other news, it’s June 7th and CHILLY here! I wore jeans and a sweatshirt last night. Why can’t it just be HOT already! Recently, we’ve been discussing how we can get out of here ahead of another winter. I really hope we figure out a way because I can’t express how over being cold I am.
Warm thoughts to all!