This page will be changing as time goes by, so check back now and again for more cool Utila stuff!

Our Town

This is an incredibly personal video for me. It is a bit of a mishmash of clips, showcasing the people on the rock when I was there.

It is way too long, I know - but once I got started, I found it quite impossible to stop!

Please note that the footage is quite old and there are lots of digital dropouts throughout.

Also, all the aerials I chose to use, represent Utila in 1994, before most of the development happened. I hung out of the plane with the door off in Selene's plane, with a high 8 camera . It is not the smoothest footage.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do.

Utila

Salty Dog Productions was born on Utila in 1996. Rick and I had moved to the Island 1993, with the idea that we would retire. Well, it did not happen that way. What did happen for the next decade, was an adventure of a lifetime.

7 miles long and 2 miles wide - Utila proudly boasts its ancestry from some of the most notorious pirates who ever sailed the seas, and they would be right. Tales of stashed treasure continue to lure adventurers from all over the world!

The scuba diving is extraordinary. Vertical walls, fringing reefs, sea mounts galore, more corals and sponges than anywhere else in the Caribbean, tons of fish, year round whale sharks and SO many other noteworthy pelagics!

The Utilians are a proud people with a rich and colorful history. They are also incredibly sweet, generous and welcoming.

And for the record... not a day goes by, that my heart does not go to Utila and those wonderful people. Not a single day in 20 years!

Skye Ranch

Our home for a decade, Skye Ranch was located about a mile outside of town on a sandy path. Skye Ranch Reef right in front, with swim thrus, brain and elkhorn coral mazes, tons of fish, and a 90 foot sloping wall.

Oh yeah... no electricity!

Rick and Skye (Jones) Reno

We both became instructors and taught loads of people to dive.

Rick is a brilliant educator, and has a very special way about him, when imparting knowledge.

Rick went on to become the first resident Course Director on Utila, and I opened Salty Dog Productions in 1996.

This entire page is sort of a scrapbook of videos, photos and stories highlighting a few of my experiences and memories of events, people and places, whilst on the rock.

Photo credit - Rocky Jones 1993

Rick hates this photo - but I love it because Rocky took it one night at Blue Bayou!

The Last Voyage of the Halliburton 211

This is one of my favorite Utila movies. It's a big story and if you have thirty minutes to spare and want to get a better feeling of Utila and the way it was; this is a good video to watch.

This video is centered around 3 men I have always had a soft spot for... Jim Engel, Rocky Jones and Ron Janssen.

Toss in the largest hurricane of the last century, and the sinking of a freighter and it's epic! Well, I think so anyway.

Photos from The Halliburton plaque placement

The Aquatic Realm of Utila

Another way too long video! That said, it represents Utila diving from 1995 to 2003. For any instructor or hardcore diver on the rock back then - you might even recognize some of these aquatic creatures.

They were after all - our friends!

Hurricane Mitch Day 3
Raw Footage

This is the raw footage that I shot on the 3rd day of Hurricane Mitch. There was a brief eye over us when I shot this. Mitch went on to wallop us again that night.

Ever grateful how cataclysmic events really do create a bonding experience. Oh yes... we were all bonding on the rock for those 3 days and nights, that's for sure!

The nights were the worst. Remember how loud it was?

Cool and colorful people doing cool things on the rock...

The Utila Sea Turtle Project

Utila has a dedicated group of people, committed to protecting the Island and its amazing and diverse natural resources.

This video highlights their efforts, to protect the Sea Turtles of Utila.

Glenn Pederson and Shelby McNab, through The Bay Island Conservation Association, spearheaded this fantastic endeavor, bringing the whole Island and the turtles together. The educational and general awareness benefits for the local Utilaians, has been invaluable.

This project is extra special to me, in that the baby turtles were raised in the little champa at Blue Bayou. very near Skye Ranch; so we were part of the feeding crew. Every morning a fish would magically appear on our porch to take down to the little turtles. Letting them go, as you will see at the end of the video, is a heart grabber for me, every single time I watch this video.

To this day, Glenn lives near the turtle nesting sites; and in the season, continues to monitor and chart the nests and the hatches.

After rescuing every backyard creature imaginable, and having all the furry pets one could as a kid, I finally got a small fish tank. That was a turning point.

Somehow, this introvert worked his way up from his first 10 gallon aquarium, to managing the aquarium shop, building and installing reef systems that just kept getting bigger, caring for and training marine mammals in even larger tanks, performing with these animals in front of thousands of people in 3 different countries.

These days I get to see almost every sunrise from a Caribbean beach with my best canine friends and live on an amazing Island with the best people on earth.

After 3 decades and more than half my life on this little rock, I often pinch myself, feeling I must be the luckiest man alive.

The reef is still protected. The baby turtles I rescued together with a pile of Island kids are now coming back to lay eggs - tens of thousand of them! And the kids are bringing their kids and even grandkids to watch all these baby turtles run to the sea.

Full circle indeed!

Glenn Pederson

This from Glenn -

Since as early as I can remember growing up in California, I've always gravitated towards animals rather than people.

Then, after all this time trying to bring the ocean to myself and others, when I finally landed on a beautiful little Island in the Caribbean, surrounded by coral reef it finally dawned on me... why didn't I just go to the ocean?

From training a chicken to dance, to water skiing on dolphins in Acapulco, to protecting coral reefs, to rescuing and raising hundreds of endangered sea turtles, it's been a crazy and amazing ride.

This from me -

Glenn is a creative force on the planet, with a kind and tender heart for animals and nature; and it shows in everything he has done, his entire life.

More than all of that, Glenn was an extraordinary friend over all the years we lived on Utila. There are so many stories in my heart, full of laughter, adventure and home. I also love knowing, that he is still out there, keeping watch.

In addition to everything else Glenn is; he is also an extraordinary artist. His lithographs of aquatic animals are legendary.

This to anyone who watched, Our Town and saw all those Skye Ranch t-shirts and Salty Dog t-shirts... Glenn was the designer!

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." Greek Proverb

Shelby McNabb

Shelby loved his island and it showed in everything he did. He gave his time & energy, heart and soul to steering the island in the best direction. He had the vision to understand where Utila was heading with tourism and the importance of protecting the islands' natural resources for the future. Together with a small group of forward-thinking Islanders, an environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) was formed where he became the first President of the Utila Chapter of the Bay Islands Conservation Association, or BICA. The group soon established the Turtle Harbor Marine Reserve and Wildlife Refuge.

He leaves behind a legacy of good deeds and love for his island home and people. He also leaves a crew of dedicated helpers who stood beside him all these years in all his endeavors. In the process ended up with a slew of kids named after him Shelby, Shelly, Lamar. He also took in and cared for other’s kids who knew him as "Abuelo" or Grandpa. He was a great mentor, teacher, and god parent to many on Utila. His patience, generosity and guidance will live on in them.

A bit hippy, a positive thinker, lover of life. He had a passion for plants & flowers, opened a beautiful vivero/nursery, encouraging others with Garden of the Month awards.

He created “Quebra Piedra,” a amazing farm full of fruit trees and medicinal plants. He donated and planted many of these plants and trees along Utila's roadsides ensuring the community had access to this medicine.

Written by Glenn Pederson

From me...

Shelby was one of the most adorable people I have ever known.

That said -I will never really know, if Shelby really believed that Utila was where Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked. I spoke with him about it on multiple occasions. I always pointed out that Robinson Crusoe is a work of fiction, but he was not deterred at all by this conversation

I did his Robinson Crusoe tour once, and he really had a fun schtick.

He even had me second guessing the truth about Robinson Crusoe being fiction or not, a few times!

Jim and Kisty Engel

Jim and Kisty first visited Utila in the very early 90s and were smitten; with the diving; the rustic little fishing lodge built over the water; and most of all - with the unique Island vibe that is Utila.

They bought The Lodge, packed up the kids and never looked back.

And Utila was never the same...

It was a bit staggering to watch Jim get a notion to do something, and then to watch the speed and determination to which he executed his notion. Yeah, he was amazing.

And for me, he was my real life hero. There are no words to impart, as to just how much this man impacted both our lives.

Rick and I first visited The Lodge in 1993, and we were the only guests. That week changed both our lives.

Jim was my first scuba instructor. Yeah, how many people on the planet get to say that? And we all know, you never forget your first!

This is Rick highlighting Jim's tenacity and gumption. Rick describes our first experience when Jim got a notion!

I think the moment I fell in love with The Lodge, was our first visit and our first dinner. Remembr, we were the only guests. Rebecca was about 5 or so and was very much a little imp. She reminded me of me as a kid!

She sort of crept up to our table and gave us a very concerned look and whispered...

"There are worms in the fish."

The look on Jim and Kisty's faces is embedded forever in my memory. And yes, this is the moment I fell in love with The Lodge!

Jim and Kisty went on to establish the Bay Islands College of Diving which became the first Course Director Development Center in Central America. and PADI Career Development Center. Oh yeah... I was the very first instructor at BICD!
They partnered with the Shark Research Institute to study the year-round whale shark population and get the gentle giant added to the CITES Protected List.
They were champions of the Utila Fire Department and the Mooring Buoy Project.