“If you’ve been to South East Asia, don’t bother with the Caribbean” is a phrase I’ve encountered many times over the last decade. Having done virtually all of my diving in Asia-Pacific, the region’s legendary diversity tends to leave one a tad spoilt. When you’ve dived exclusively in the world’s biodiversity hotspot, it’s all-too-easy to assume that other areas will suffer by comparison. However, when an opportunity arose to visit the island of Utila in Honduras, I was immediately intrigued.

The attorney strokes the white belly of an eight-foot-long reef shark. This is not a lawyer joke. I’m 70 feet (23 m) deep in the clear blue Caribbean water off Roatan Island with a half dozen scuba divers from Anthony’s Key Resort. We’re at a dive site called “Cara a cara,” which in Spanish means “face-to-face.”

Utila is the smallest of the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras, where divers go in search of whalesharks, but find much more. Being the Executive Director of The Manta Network, a global conservation organization, I was very interested in the local efforts to protect whalesharks. Patric Douglas, Director of SharkDiver.com, invited us to stay in Utila and write about his dive group’s whaleshark experiences.

The Lloyd Bridges Scholarship which will provide funding for one certified diver employed in the education field to participate in the REEF Field Survey Trip to Roatan July 30th- August 6th 2011. Application deadline is May 1st.