Bay Islands Beach Resort vs. Reef House?

[imtoad]

Thank you for your previous help! CCV is booked so our choice is now BIBR and Reef Hse. We will be there the last week of April.

Pluses and minuses I'm concerned with so far are:

BIBR Minus -too close to west end noise. More heavily dived. Deeper dives and dive buddy has only five dives under her belt, also, I prefer shallower, longer dives.
Plus - nitrox, calmer seas, more fish? Boats look like there's more space to gear up.

RH Minus - possibly rough seas interfering with availability of dives, no nitrox. Less night diving? Maybe too advanced for someone who hasn't practiced much bouyancy control
Plus - More isolated, more interesting macro life.


Thank you for your input!, Hilary

 

[ncchuck]

I have been to BIBR once and RH 5 times. That probably says a lot but both are good. No need to worry about the west end noise at BIBR. It's a long way away(miles). BIBR is very private and I liked the dining area though it's a bit of a walk up the hill. Nothing to worry about however. Calmer seas completely depends upon the weather at the time you visit. I worked on the north side (same as BIBR) for several months and I probably had to take my divers to the South side almost half the time. When I went to the south side, we always did the dive on the RH house reef. It's excellent. While some will probably talk about Spooky Channel, I didn't like it at all. Virtually dead and dark. One thing I didn't like about BIBR was the way you get to the dive sites. You have to travel all the way down through Anthony's Keys to get to the cut in the reef. Rooms are close to the water and have nice views. They are a little newer than those at RH. The actual resort grounds are fairly large.

Reef House generally has very calm seas but of course they have some rough ones on occasion. You get one boat night dive included but you could dive every night from the shore if you wanted. Excellent shore diving compared to BIBR in my opinion. Nitrox isn't much of an issue for most Roatan divers unless you somehow plan on doing 5 dives or so a day which isn't even feasable at BIBR. RH has no limits on dive times and that's one of the things I like. The biggest advantage to RH is the dive sites. You visit dive sites that only they visit. This means 20 or so divers a week versus 200 hundred or more on some of the north west side sites. You'll only see another boat at Calvins Crack which is a great dive you'll miss at BIBR. Almost all the dives can be done at 50 to 60 feet in either place by the way although you could go much deeper on the walls on the south side if you wanted.
While the food at BIBR was good, I slightly prefer the food at RH. I also like the self service bar that stays open as long as anyone wants it open. Both have bars right on the water. RH has a deck over the water overlooking the turtle sanctuary.

You won't go wrong with either but I'd certainly choose RH again and I'm certain I will. It's my favorite low cost dive location.

Davit (maybe the most experienced DM on the island) is the DM at RH and he takes excellent care of newbies but I remember BIBR doing the same. Boats at RH are plenty roomy and the setup area, rinse tanks, locker are only about 10 feet from the boats. Very very convenient.

RH has one of the owners living right at the resort with you. He makes sure everything goes well every single day. Nice guy along with a very friendly staff. RH is on a key a few yards from big island. The back side overlooks a very picturesqe village. You'll see kids and adults commuting all day long in water taxis to schools, work and stores. You can hail a taxi yourself and tour the mangroves unique to that area of the island. I highly recommend this as a Friday adventure. The front side of the resort faces the ocean of course.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you might have.

Enjoy your trip. Let us know which one you choose and why and then let us know what you think when you get back.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Been there over a dozen times and BIBR is tops! You have spooky channel on your front door! The boat rides to the West it doesn't matter about the channel! You can easily do 20 plus dives and that includes 3 boat dives a day! Also if you ask they will drop you off in front of Spooky Channel with a fourth tank and make it a dive right back to the dock steps! Very cool! 22 dives in five days last time I was there! If you book tell Ted or Cam Papa Bear sent you and you will get the best deal! If your in the beach houses it is all flat, only the White House is up the hill. It is quite and homey and the food is great! The have a Thursday charity Bar-B-Q and crab races that are fun! I have been all over the island but BIBR is the one I recommend highly! For new diver Shawn the Head instructor is the best! All you have to do is tell him!

This was out in front of the resort!

 

[ncchuck]

Hey Papa Bear, nice picture of the dock system at BIBR. It's been a long time since I've been there and I don't remember that. My memory is pretty bad though. I suspect they made a lot of improvements since I was there. Is the bar still down by the water. There was a great bartender down there that was a barber during the day. He was real friendly and really loved his island. Post a picture or two of Spooky Channel if you can. I never liked that dive but maybe you'll have some great pictures for IMTOAD in case they decide that route.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Here is one of Tony Wiley during our Survey!
At the top of the channel north of the big rock:

 

[Papa_Bear]

We surveyed every inch of the channel with hundreds of dives and a three-d-map!

 

[Papa_Bear]

Middle of the Reef section:

 

[Papa_Bear]

Yes Deep Ted's is still on the beach!

 

[Papa_Bear]

At the Beach Bar and Dinning area!

 

[ncchuck]

Good pictures of the Spooky Channel. I remember it well now. It is different from many areas of Roatan in structure because the cut is so dramatic. It's disappointing however and I think the pictures actually show, there is little life there. There may be some macro critters however but the darkness makes them difficult to spot. Many people use lights on this dive.

There is another cut that is very rarely visited much further east (near Marble Hill Farms). It is much longer and twists and turns a lot. There are narrow areas, wide areas and areas where is splits into multiple paths with huge coral formations on both sides. Like Spooky Channel, there isn't a lot of fish life there. It sometimes has very strong currents pulling you into it from the shore side. It is called Verde Grande.
(sorry, I know this is slightly off topic)