Roatan

[llv21]

Has anyone been to Roatan? Tell me about it... going in November.

[rainmaker]

I spent 2 weeks in Roatan (West End) in June. My trip report is located here:

http://www.trailquest.net/scubatrips.html#honduras07

[Desert_Diver]

Originally Posted by llv21

Has anyone been to Roatan? Tell me about it... going in November.

I spent a week at CoCoView. It has it's good points and it's not as good points. I went with a group. I paid the same rate as everyone else. Four of us got an UN-airconditioned house. Major bummer. Not only was it not air conditioned, about half of the fans didn't work. I ended up sleeping outside in a hammock in a gazebo on the beach. The breeze made that much more comfortable than sleeping indoors. The price you pay is that you are somewhat mosquito chewed in the morning.

You are assigned to a dive boat (one of four) on the first day. You dive with that boat, that DM and that captain all week. There are two dives in the morning and two in the afternoon. There is unlimited shore diving. When the boat goes out in the morning, you do a dive at a new dive site. After the divers are back aboard, the boat heads for the resort. When the boat reaches one of two points, the divers do a "drop dive". You jump off the boat and swim back to the resort along one of two walls. No DM. Just you and your buddy (and any other buddy teams that drop). Depth of dive is up to you. Different teams will dive radically different depths coming back in. It's good to have bouyancy skills, gas management skills and nav skills but basics will suffice.

There are several "sanitized" wrecks (no sharp stuff, no entanglement hazards, and an exit visible from almost any point in the wreck). I particularly enjoyed a dive called Calvin's Crack ( deep-90 to 100 feet at its deepest point, very narrow underwater canyon), the Chiminies and several others. There a several wall dives (out bound from the boat) that turn into reef dives on the return to the boat. The reef fish are reasonably plentiful but we didn't see a lot of big stuff. There are dolphin dives and shark dives available but they are at addtional cost and you take a van ride to someplace else. The dolphins are at Anthony's Key Resort. I don't remember the shark dive op's name. The dolphins are "domesticated" (kept in an acess restricted area). I didn't do that activity so I don't have first hand information. I did do the shark dive. We were in the water with approx 20-25 gray reef sharks in the open ocean. The dive lasts about 20 to 25 minutes. If you are a photographer, you can get some good close up pictures. If you are a photographer, Roatan is good for a lot of macro (little guy) pictures.

Food is OK. Plenty of it.

There are some activities on CoCoView in the evenings. The have "fire dancers" in one evening. They dance while swinging ropes in each hand with one to three oil soaked torches on the rope. It's at night. They also do some dances with a flaming baton.

I think there was a "picnic" one evening.

Some local kids came in and did some singing and folk dancing one night.

During the day, vendors will come in and set up displays/for sale of craft type stuff. I was favorably impressed with some of the woodcarving but didn't buy anything.

There is one boat night dive during the week. Not enough divers signed up for it so it was cancelled. However, you can do as many shore night dives as you like. There is a "token" system and a strobe for shore night dives. First diver out takes the strobe with him plus a numbered token. Every diver after that takes a token with him. Everyone fastens their token to the bouy with the strobe. When you finish your dive, you pick up you token from the strobe line. If yours is the last token, you pick up your token plus the strobe and bring it back to the resort.

CoCoView has a web site. They have two active cameras. One is focused on the shore dive entry point and one camera is pointed at the boat dock. I think there is a chat board on the web site so you can talk to the regulars.

There is snorkling activity at CoCoView and kayaking. Be warned, if you start to put a kayak in the water, one of the resort dogs (Golden Retriever) will jump on the kayak with you. Because of the amount of time he spends in the ocean, his coat stinks terribly but he is a good dog.

Sorry this ended up being so long. I give CoCoView good marks for diving, fair marks for food, poor marks for housing (because we got clipped on the air conditioning). If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask.


Art

[roatan]

I have lived here 3 yrs and love it still...

My wife writes a blog at www.Roatan.blog.com read it for her latest insights.

Latest blog post on the Independence Day parade in West End and Fishing Tournament.

Bob Millsaps

[llv21]

We are planning on going in November, can you tell us a good resort and a good dive shop?

Someone said that the flies are bad? I can't wait to go!

[ParrotheadDiver]

Originally Posted by llv21

We are planning on going in November, can you tell us a good resort and a good dive shop?

Someone said that the flies are bad? I can't wait to go!

The sand flies are all over the island..they are at the worse in the early morning and late evening...take repellant if bugs like you....CoCo View is a great resort have been there many times.....all rooms have a/c...the beach house some have some don't this is not a 5 star hotel....the trade winds blow most of the time and is usually cool enough w/o a/c....this is a dive resort you can dive as much as you want....it is on the south side of the island so it is protected from the Nortes that may blow in so diving is not interupted...shore diving is great there with two walls and a ship wreck in their "Front Yard"....http://www.cocoviewresort.com/ they book up fast

If you are looking for something that is more of a hotel than diving you may want to look at Turquoise Bay http://www.turquoisebayresort.com/ it is a new hotel and they do have diving...

I have also state at Anthonys Key Resort a couple of times it is on the North side of the island....rustic no shore diving but they have a dolphin encounter that the crusie ship people usually go to....you have to climb a lot of stairs to get up to the restuarant...http://www.anthonyskey.com/

you might want to include what you are looking for in a resort on Roatan....

[Defman]

Chalk up another vote for CoCoView, spent a week there last December. I will pretty much ditto what the other people have already said. The AC in my room worked just fine. Buffet is small but always something worth eating, I didn't see anyone going hungry.

Definitely take bug repellent, and lots of it!!

[PlatypusMan]

Last September, I stayed at the resort opposite from CoCoview-- Fantasy Island.

While the dive shop was good, I cannot in good faith recommend the resort itself. Too many problems.

In all fairness, they may have corrected the things that I found problematic... but I know I will never go back there.

[dallasdivergirl]

I went here on three trips last year www.lasrocas.com

Food was ok but if you don't like seafood you are kind of out of luck on most of the evening dishes. Breakfast was one option.

Rooms had good a/c. There is no ceiling to the bathroom.

Diving was good. I do know that they have had a total staff change since I was there last year.

Sand flies are a beating. Take B-50 starting about a month before going.

[lucidblue]

Originally Posted by dallasdivergirl

Sand flies are a beating. Take B-50 starting about a month before going.

I didn't know B-50 helped prevent insect bites... can you share what you know? Mosquitoes and flies eat me alive.