Google earth and mapping resources are a good tool, but it becomes more useful when you understand the long standing weather patterns and how they changed and created the island. Then you might also see how the social patterns developed.
It's hard to describe for most of our learning styles unless you are looking at a blackboard lecture, but allow me to give it another shot. The
confusing basics:
Roatan is
long and narrow, let's say 5 x 37 miles. Some places, much narrower; the length is debatable as the far NE end is rather swampy.
Roatan runs Southwest to Northeast, at an angle. It is usually printed on a map or displayed horizontally, causing "North" to be skewed off to the 2 O'Clock position, making most maps very confusing.
The centerline of the island is a backbone
ridgeline that runs as high as about 600 feet (I'm too lazy to look at my maps). Roatan and the Bay islands are part of the Bonacca ridgeline, a
volcanic remnant that still has snaps and cracks, often heard underwater, at a usual epicenter some 30 miles to the North.
This ridgeline does
not divide the island in half, equally. Nature rarely works that way.
When one drives from the Airport, you hardly notice the gentle easy ascent as you drive from the South to North. As you crest the ridge, most anyone will note the more obvious steeper drop ahead.
This
ridgeline runs quite a bit closer to the Northern half of the island. As the land descends to the North, it does so (comparatively to the South) rather steeply. This steepness also continues at the Ocean, causing the underwater geography to be shaped in a similar manner.
For millions of years, the
heavy storms have come at Roatan from the North. This is what has caused the shape of both above and below water Roatan. When heavy "Northers" arrive (Dec-Mar) or during tropical storm season (Aug-Nov), if the island is getting winds, you will immediately note the salt smell from the crashing surf as you crest over the ridgeline from the South.
Roatan is largely out of the
historical Huricane track, as most do run off just off of the North of the island in a NW track towards Belize, which is 90 miles NNW, but the winds and rain do occur. It is a rain forest island,
which we used to call jungles.
The distance from the
ridgeline to the South shore is much longer. The Southern shoreline is comparatively at the end of a slower and more gentle descent. The Southern shore is where you will find more mangrove growth.
The Southern geography continues on this gentle slope into the ocean, but only for a short while. Not many feet offshore, running from Coxen Hole to Port Royal, are a series of shallow reef coral heads that start in 5-30 fsw and drop to first sandy shelf in 90fsw. From there on, and very quickly, you can get in 3000 feet of water in a blink. There is very little current flow, so visibility can be degraded after a storm (remember those eons of heavy Northerly storms that blow the soil over the ridge line to rest on the Southern slope). The island lies in a position that causes 10+ hours of
sunlight a day to fall directly upon exposed, shallow South side reef structures. This causes a lot of florid growth and the microscopic nature of this area. Essentially, for that very reason- limited visibility is not that much of an issue there.
Northern/Western reefs are quite a bit different. The waters there are generally much clearer, dues to the much quicker flow of water and the lack of mangroves (and extant soil deposits). The reef heads start much further offshore and they begin deeper. There is a running underwater plateau along much of the North & West, 90~115 feet from my fading memory.
The darker slopes of the Northside lend themselves to a much more dense vegetation with a lot more vegetable matter on the jungle floor. The South side is widely cultivated and the vegetation is more sparse and concentrated. Island development has occured along the shoreline of the North and West, with the major landholders of the island declining to sell off much territory along the South shore.
Is the diving better off of one side or the other? Not really, it's just different.
The North side is typical of the diving that one
used to be able to find all over the Caribbean. Quick positive changes have occurred with the recent advent of the Roatan Marine Reserve which has restricted commercial fishing in that zone. Larger, apex predators have quickly returned and become visible in this niche environment sanctuary. You will often see larger fish and crustaceans on the prowl.
The South side is for more advanced divers. No, it does not require the skills you learn in AOW, but it instead rewards the slow and observant divers with better buoyancy skills. You have to be able to hover and get in close to see all of the many micro/macro critters that use the shallow reef structure as an incubator and niche hiding spot. Many divers without those skill sets or an appreciation for the macro walk away hating it.
As a further comparison,
consider the artificial placed reefs, the "wrecks".
On the North side, they are newer, deep (100+fsw) and not very overgrown due to the depth and darkness. They are the hang-outs of
large fish which have been known to put on quite a show when fed (see YouTube) As deep as they are, they have been given an occasional good toss by passing storms. They are super technical dives and good penetration training dives.
On the South side, the wrecks are quite shallow (35~55fsw) and have weathered many storms intact, even one since 1984. Even the DC3 aircraft which has literally "flown" in the current, remains identifiable as an airplane. They are covered with soft and hard corals, anemones, and little stuff. Sure, there's an occasional big Eel or Ray, a Grouper or Baracuda, but most people there are looking at the small stuff so they wouldn't likely notice.
The other difference in the island is how it allows itself to be approached. It's geography and the inexorably linked development that it dictates also controls how you may visit or dive the island.
The West End and it's near Northern neighbor resorts lie
in the main visitor population center (also not very far from Coxen Hole (on the South side) which is the main local population center) On West End, you will find an excellent variety of day dive operations, small guest houses and an array of restaurants, bars and gift shops. Just to the Northern edge, that's where you will find many upscale condo developments. Further along, there is AKR, BIBR and IoLR, three well known AI's.
The South Shore is largely given over to Two large AI's (FIBR and CCV) and a few smaller players. The Southern shore is not a "day dive-op" area as there simply is no walk by traffic.
Further East on both the North and South, there are other AI's such as Paya Bay and Oak Ridge which have gained a tenuous toe hold in dive operations.
As does Coxen Hole, the
airport (RTB) and other indigenous population centers lie along the safe historical pirate harborages of the Southern shore. This includes Barrio Fuerte (a massive
former squatter city), and the progressively smaller Oak Ridge and Port Royal. The Garifuna, the castoffs from the failings of the Caribbean slave era
http://www.garifuna.com/ populate the lowlands of the Northern coast cenetring around Punta Gorda. The monied landowners are largely first and second cousins of Cayman islanders. Although the national Honduran government is Spanish based in
every classical sense, the British used to own and operate the Bay Islands. What a lasting dichotomy.
(British Honduras was the former name of Belice, the "correct" spelling of which gives you the airport code of BZE)
As of Nov 2008, the world economy does not bode well for short term financial gains in the Bay Islands. They have long struggled with anachronistic power generation systems while being 30 short miles North of the hydro electric power rich mainland. Drinking water will soon develop into a major concern as more mainlanders flock there to tap into tourist dollars and the local wealth.
Former highs in property evaluations have been reduced yet purchases still continue with the nouveau riche looking to own a piece of
the latest new hot paradise.
See it now.
