1. Introduction

1.1 Utila Background

Utila is the smallest of the three main islands that comprise the Honduran Bay Islands. The Bay
Islands are designated as a National Marine Park, and are form the southernmost region of the
Mesoamerican Reef System that contains the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere.
These idyllic islands collectively draw to their shores over a million tourists annually making the
Bay Islands one of Honduras’ most important tourism hubs.
Utila has a population of approximately 4,000 people residing on the main island and several
nearby cays.1 The destination is a dive mecca boasting more than 80 dive sites. It is known for
its low-cost diving, healthy reefs, regular whale shark sightings and peaceful environment.
Utila’s colorful history spans centuries from the pre-Columbian indigenous settlements of the
Paya to the Spanish and British colonists that fought to occupy the island over 300 years. In the
late 1700s, the British relocated several thousand Garifuna, descendants of Carib, Arawak and
West African people, from the Windward Island of St. Vincent to the Bay Islands. The Garifuna
became first post-Columbian settlers of the Bay Islands. Later in the 1830s, waves of former
slaveholders and slaves from the Cayman Islands migrated to the Bay Islands after Britain
abolished slavery in 1838. This Creole community, known as native islanders, became the
largest cultural group.