Article by: Scuba Diver Girl
Mary Schriefer Gorden from Plano, Texas 
Texins Dive Club enjoyed hearing from guest speaker Angelika Lukacsy, owner and president of Utopia Village in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, during the club's April 13, 2010 meeting at Outback Steakhouse in Plano, Texas – a Dallas suburb. Angelika, a Dallas native, worked for Corgan Associates Architects for 14 years. Her job took her from Dallas to London and London to New York, where she lived mere blocks from the Trade Towers. A combination of that fateful 9/11 day and her longtime desire to design and own a small eco-friendly resort made for an interesting, 2-year process of designing and building her dream – the all-inclusive Utopia Village resort. She told the Texins Dive Club members that, after life threw her the "curve ball" of 9/11, she chose not to "strike out" but to "start a new game."
She set out to explore the eastern and western Caribbean Ocean, learning and loving to scuba dive and discovering what she considers the "premiere dive location in the Caribbean" – the tiny Honduran bay island of Utila -- to build her dream resort. With little to no money, Angelika enlisted the assistance and partnership of her Texas friends and a bank loan to put her dream into motion. Utopia Village resort is "casual and luxurious at the same time," said Angelika, architect and co-owner of the resort with several female and a few male fellow Texans.
The 16-room eco-friendly resort is located on 500 feet of jungle beachfront, offering both bungalows and hotel-like rooms, first-class meals, unlimited shore diving with a sensational wall merely 50 feet from shore, snorkeling, boat diving a dive valet service. "Utila has more than 100 buoyed dive sites with diverse terrain for scuba enthusiasts to explore," said Angelika. And, Utila is just minutes from the larger island of Roatan, Honduras, which holds its own allure for adventurists and diving enthusiasts.
Utila and its surrounding islands are home to the largest fish in the sea, the Whale Shark. "Sightings are year round," explained Angelika, however visitors can see the beautiful giants mostly in November and December. "When the whales move, they generally move down, not out, depending upon the climate and conditions," she said. Utopia Village is the only eco-permitted resort on Utila. The resort staff oversees weekly clean up dives and periodic Project Aware events, in which resort guests are welcome to participate. Utopia's owners are also proud of the fact that they have employed and trained several island locals to help build the resort and as cooks, dive boat operators and luxury spa technicians, to name a few. "If you're looking to 'get away from it all' and for a "peaceful, stress-free environment, consider our island retreat of Utopia Village," Angelika told Texins Dive Club members.
The resort includes a mere 2 ½ hour flight from Houston, Texas, to Roatan, Honduras, and then a puddle jump to tiny Utila and the Utopia Village resort. She shared several specials with guests, which can be found on the Utopia website at:
http://www.utopiadivevillage.com/ 
The Texins Dive Club was founded 1958 and comprises mostly Texas Instruments employees (current and former) plus other interested Texas scuba diving enthusiasts. Visit Texins Dive Club online at:
http://www.texinsdiveclub.com/ [caption id="attachment_4305" align="alignleft" width="168" caption="Texas Scuba Diver Girls will love all the SDG Texas products! click here!"]
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Texins Dive Club enjoyed hearing from guest speaker Angelika Lukacsy, owner and president of Utopia Village in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, during the club's April 13, 2010 meeting at Outback Steakhouse in Plano, Texas – a Dallas suburb. Angelika, a Dallas native, worked for Corgan Associates Architects for 14 years. Her job took her from Dallas to London and London to New York, where she lived mere blocks from the Trade Towers. A combination of that fateful 9/11 day and her longtime desire to design and own a small eco-friendly resort made for an interesting, 2-year process of designing and building her dream – the all-inclusive Utopia Village resort. She told the Texins Dive Club members that, after life threw her the "curve ball" of 9/11, she chose not to "strike out" but to "start a new game." 
She set out to explore the eastern and western Caribbean Ocean, learning and loving to scuba dive and discovering what she considers the "premiere dive location in the Caribbean" – the tiny Honduran bay island of Utila -- to build her dream resort. With little to no money, Angelika enlisted the assistance and partnership of her Texas friends and a bank loan to put her dream into motion. Utopia Village resort is "casual and luxurious at the same time," said Angelika, architect and co-owner of the resort with several female and a few male fellow Texans. 