Alex777:
RoatanMan, my question was not directed at the quality of the dive (which I have also enjoyed in the past). I questioned whether the drop-off arrangement can be truly referred to as a "boat dive." Do you think it can? At Fantasy Island, a DM will take you in the skiff anytime between 8 AM and 8 PM out to the Prince Albert and drop you there. Would you say, therefore, that "Fantasy Island has unlimited boat diving"?
Many people are mislead to believe that the drop-off simply is a ruse to make one think that they are getting a 2nd and 4th dive each day. Now that you have let us all know that you too have taken the time to savor this "drop off" dive, more divers might give it a slow, meandering try!
I have been to a few resorts that feature 4
seperate boat dives, each day. They are usually geared towards the
non-US market. In September, we just got back from the Philippines, and although they did offer (and we took advantage of) 4 sepearte dives each day, they confirmed that only the Americans would try to do them all.
Any "double dive" (two tank) boat trip
takes a lot of time. Leave at 0830 and take 15 minutes to travel and with briefing, anchoring and to flop in. Another 60 minutes BT, then 30 mins SI. Before you begin the second dive, it is now (a very minimum of) 10:30 a.m.
IF you have motored and moored to the second dive site.
CCV has done an end run around this problem. If you want to go into the resort and sunbathe, sleep, internet, shop, take a class, or just hey the bar earlier in the afternoon... ride the boat in- don't do the drop off.
If you want that 2nd morning dive or that fourth afternoon dive... flop in... see you at lunch or dinner!
Is it
really a boat dive? Well, you aren't using an SUV or a toy wagon! Sure it's a boat dive, minus the dragging yourself up a ladder at the end.
Does FIBR offer unlimited boat diving? Sure, you could say that, but then again- that method is about the only way you could visit the PA Wreck and the DC3 without traversing the muck from FIBR to "The Front Yard". We're mincing words.
Say what these unknowns (and the unknowing) will about Albert Jackson, he built himself one hell of an interesting resort. The above quoted and contrary news stories aside, there was
never a local dwarf hired to reprise Tattoo's role from the TV Show. Albert was a lot of things, but he just wasn't that creative or hip. He knew how to copy and mimic.
I have seen him at ease in intimate social situations with his dearest running buddies and pals. He is not a horned devil, he is a product of our fat wallets and weekly flights to Roatan, just as is his resort. Some resorts look less environmentaly intrusive, some may or may not be as damaging. Suffice to say, it would be a less despoiled place if we had never invented sport diving. "They" and their island- are a product of our demands. Albert (and others like him) just knew when to be there and what to do. Blame them? Blame yourself!
You mention AKR. Just ask the owner Julio about the Casino (1970's) . Very few in paradise can match up to a left wing tree hugging socialist agenda that we demand with our umbrella drinks.
The worst thing he ever did was to create that beach by dredging up all of that sand. The run-off from the hill of his mansion also contributed to the problem. His corporation degraded his own shore dive at FIBR to such an extent that it is easily called a moonscape. FIBR is not a dive resort, it is a resort that offers diving. They run a European dive op with schedule to match. Not bad, not good- just what it is.
Along with the political tone of the prior post- does one eschew corporations such as Bayer, IG Farben, BMW, Mitsubishi, and the miriad US Corporations that profited from what was then acceptable behavior? Will you never watch another Seinfeld re-run? Myself?
I knew the devastation of the shrimping industry caused by all of the Red Lobster money (driven by our insatiable desire for cheap third rate seafood restaurants in the realm of Long John Silvers) that built and paid for all of those Wolmanized processing buildings. I have seen the reef rape up close and personal. I don't eat or knowingly consume ocean products. What will you do, stay at home?
Bottom line? There are several AI resorts on Roatan where you can crack out 5 dives a day- includng that great night dive! Some you will be tired at the end of the day, some you will be absolutely exhausted by dive 5. The difference? At CCV you can "survive and thrive" the
five a day program for all 5.75 "dive days" of your vacation week.
