Roatan Trip Report

[CaribbeanDiver]

Well, this is certainly the trip to even out all the good fortune I have had on all my previous trips.
My sojourn began early Sat morning when I boarded a 6 am flight out of New Orleans to Atlanta for my transfer connection to the beautiful bay island. After sitting on the plane for an hour, we were told that an hydraulic pump that they had been working on could not be repaired and the flight was cancelled. Everybody grab your stuff and get off the plane.
Now, being that I have travelled before, I decided that hanging around the gate with a puzzled look wasnt going to get me to my connection on time, so off I went to the ticket counter.
After waiting in line for a half hour or so, my turn came up. Delta was great in that they made connections for me. This Atlanta connection to Roatan was the only Delta flight of the week and I missed it. My new arrangements had me flying Continenal to Houston and then Taca to Roatan. The 5 hour trip now became a 13 hour trip if the other flights were on time.
I claimed my baggage from Delta and checked in at Continental. Another 30 minute wait in line but I was set to get to Houston.
Now, maybe it was an omen or maybe some other intangible but I was pretty nervous about flying Continental, I mean, their track record of foul ups is a championship level. And Taca, whew, they can rival any claim to champion foul up. But hey, I had flight arrangements to paradise and I couldnt be anything but happy.
I arrived in Houston and asked the Continental agent at the gate about how to get to where the Taca concourse was or even get my ticket. The agent didnt know but told me where the international concourse was so off I went.
After hanging around a couple of hours, I was relieved to find that the Taca gate agents can print my ticket and boarding pass. Soon after that I boarded and off we went to beautiful Roatan.
Upon arrival in paradise, I found no baggage. Taca denied even receiving anything from Continental, Contintenal said, hey, Taca flew you last, we aint doing zip.
4 freaking days with no dive gear. Every day I called and talked to one "buck passer" to another along with my daily treks to the airport to look for anyone that would listen. Finally, one guy says, here it is, at the airport.
Continental had it, noone knew when it got there, how it got there or why I never was notified despite everyone telling me everyday that they would call me.
But man o man, I was excited, finally I can dive. I declined the use of free rental gear. That stuff was worn out, low quality junk and I was not going to put my life on the line with iffy life support dive gear.
Unfortunately, this was not ideal Roatan weather as it rained all but one day last week and the wind was gusting away causing heavy swells, surge and undercurrents. Not to mention the stir had visibility at an all time low. The water looked like Lake Pontchatrain and that aint good.
But, Bay Island moved a couple of dive boats to the southside of the island and bused us over in vans so we could make a couple of dives each day.
The diving was very good, not as good as the north side but still great diving. Spectacular reefs, coral and wildlife. Several very large green eels, a few smaller spotted eels, tons of micro stuff, lots of really GIANT king crabs, and the usual carribean suspects, groupers, basletts, grunts, blennys, angels, tangs, etc.
I used my new BC and new dive computer for this trip. I had a Ranger BC with a Stiletto bladder and a new Aeris AI computer. The computer is very user friendly and although, still slightly complicated because of the zillion features, it was easy enough to figure out. The funny part is, the other computer I was considering was the Oceanic Data Max and 3 other divers at the resort had one so I could see both. I think I am glad I got the Aeris, I can see it easily and I like the smaller profile.
The BC was another story. I had little troube achieving good buoyancy and trim but I didnt like the rear dumps. I had to pull both at the same time when I wanted to exhaust because since I had very little air in the bladder, I could never tell which side would vent so I had to pull both. This meant arching my back and putting my butt in the air while my hands searched for the strings. I found that a bit hard to find, not real hard to find, but not immediately accessible when reaching for them.
Still, the BC is of extremely good quality, well made, and comfortable. I am not a fan of the double cam straps but you sure know for certain your cylinder aint going anywhere by accident.
Ok, back to Roatan, I made a grand total of 5 dives. Disappointing but the dives were all very good. The sights was awesome and we all had a great time.
The staff at Bay Island Beach Resort goes out of their way to make things nice for you. The dive staff are all terrific, the restaurant staff is terrific and the owners are always trying to make sure you are taken care of.
We had the usual pig roast and crab races on thursday night. My guys finished 4th in each heat so I was out of the money. I guess I shoulda picked bigger crabs cause my tiny guys ran like crazy but got beaten out by bigger legs. Still, I had a fondness for my Secretariat, Man of War and Alidar. Next year, I am naming em Fast, Faster and Fastest and I am gonna give them a siff tequila shot to see if that helps em win.
Anyway, I got to see the island, do lots of exploring and meet lots of people. No diving meant lots of do-nothing time. The people are all very friendly. I like West End although it is the poor side, and I like West Bay cause it has shops and stores like the states. The ritzy side, filled with westeners that had invested in Roatan.
The trip home was uneventful, Delta flights were on time. Oh wait, sorry, there was some events. The resort packed a sandwich, some cookies and a bananna for my trip home. I slipped the bag into my carry on and forgot about it. At Atlanta airport as we were going through customs, here comes Milo the contraband sniffing dog. Every so often, Milo hit on a bag and the owner opened up to reveal prescription drugs or some other such thing. Then me, Milo alerts and the custom agent says, "what kind of sandwich to do you have?". I thought, wow, he knows I have a sandwich? How does he know it is a sandwich? I replied, I dunno, the resort packed a lunch and I forgot it in my bag.
The agent grabs my customs ticket thing and writes SANDWICH and rechecks the block saying I am bringing in food. Opps, I checked No and now the agent caught me.
The next stop up the line, I had to explain the packed lunch but got through. After that we headed to baggage claim. I found a trashcan and unloaded the contraband.
Seemed simple enough to me, but that made it worse. The next stop had me go off to a special line where another agent questioned me. He said, "let me see the sandwich". I said I threw it away and that began the inquisition, "why did you throw it away?" "where did you throw it away?" I probably looked nervous at this point and told them that it seemed such the hassle that I just wanted to get rid of it.
I got through but felt like I was being watched all the while I was in the airport waiting for my final plane ride home.
Then I got home, claimed my baggage and discovered those "ba***rds broke the wheel on my brand new Aeris wheeled travel bag. First trip with the bag and now it doesnt roll.
This was a trip that evened out all those "everything went perfect" trips.
Still, I got to dive in paradise, I got to meet interesting nice people and I had a great time.
I am going to write Continental a letter to tell them they suck and see if I can get a free ticket somewhere. They costs me important dive time and I aint forgetting or forgiving.
I am assured my decision to fly Delta whenever possible is a good one. Unfortunately, my next trip is to Bonaire this coming January and I am booked on Continental. My fingers are already cramped from keeping them crossed.
I am sooooooooo looking forward to Bonaire. And I am soooooooooo not flying Continental again after that. And I had soooooooo good of a time diving and exploring Roatan.

[Kokomo]

Great trip report! Now I understand why you are selling your BC. You will love Bonaire and all will be well. Sorry about the travel mishaps. When things don't go right I try to remind myself that sitting in an airport on the way to somewhere nice is still better than sitting here at home.

[bubble-head]

Thanks for sharing your well-written trip report. You made the best out of a bad situation early on in your trip. Despite airline & weather problems, you still got some great diving in and managed to have a good time. I was remarking to a co-worker on a business trip last week, that airlines have taken a major back-step to customer service. With the way people feel about air travel, you would think they'd step it up a notch. I hope you are able to get some sort of compensation for your difficulties.

[maggs_the]

sorry to hear it was so difficult to get there and back, but agree with you that Roatan has spectactular dives!! we went there in May 2008. it rained about 30-45 minutes every day but it didnt affect the diving... it was like swimming in an aquarium and once i get back up and going from my hard drive crash, i'll upload some photos.

[Daved]

Thanks for the report.
If you are not flying Continental--how are you getting to Bonaire? The Continental flight out of Houston has been great. After flying AA to Bon the first couple of times--we just about quit going. The Continental flight has been great.
opps--don't want to hijack the thread--thanks again for the report!

[RoadRacer1978]

Thanks for the trip report. It was well written and very interesting.

[Daved]

Sorry--missed the second last paragragh about flying to Bon with Continental.

[namabiru]

Jaysus Hello, I knew American immigration was bad, but really. Come on. They freaked out over a sandwich, yo? Are you kidding me? That really sucks. Honestly, what's wrong with these people? (Besides the fact they voted for Bush and wish he'd stay around for life) Thanks for the report on that. Won't be entering the States anytime soon again...

Anyway, hope January goes okay. Continental is usually really good, I'm surprised they jerked (insert another word starting with 'F') up as badly as they did on your last journey. Give them one more trip. If they jerk up again, then you know.

[ScubaGir1]

Thanks for the report, sorry about the mishaps though!

[rach]

great report...sucks about the airline problems...

we stayed at BIBR for our honeymoon a year ago and i'm glad to hear that the staff are still just as friendly and accomodating as they were for us! it totally sounds like a miss cam thing to pack you a sandwich for the flight home--it's just too bad it got caught!

glad it was a great trip...did you see the "honeymooners" driftwood hanging up in the bar??