We just came back from a 10-day Roatan trip yesterday and it was wonderful. We were there from Jan 2 to Jan 12 We stayed at the Bay Island Beach Resort and if you go for Roatan with diving as a priority, it is the place to stay. The resort is located on the North west side of the island. Unlike other resorts, it is small and lacks certain amenities like a pool and an overly nice beach for swimming. However, its location, friendliness and dive operation more than make up for this. It is located near the Å´pooky Channel that has a deep hourglass shaped tunnel that offers spectacular structures and if you are brave, enough to continue swimming for a while you will end up at drop-off at 50' and a wall that rivals any other wall we have seen on our 26 dives.
The dive operation offered 24/7 shore diving. It also had three boat dives a day. We would add another dive via the drop off into the outer wall near The Spooky Channel. We utilized the nitrox package, which was $150 for the week also unlimited. They have two nice boats and have safety conscious, yet very relaxed dive masters. Once the dive master had an idea of our experience levels, we could do whatever we desired. You know you are at a cool place when the dive master, after explaining his dive plan, asks 'and what are you guys going to do?' or 'I plan on staying shallow on top of the reef, but you guys can go check out the wall.' We did 70+ minute dives and nobody said a word). Our average dive time was 60 minutes. We would check out the deep stuff and then come up to the top of the reef for what amounted to a 25-minute safety stop. The water temperature was 79 to 81-degrees and the visibility was 100 feet plus.
On our third day, we heard reports of whale shark sightings. It took very little convincing the boat crew to go out a third time that day. We had six spotters and four snorkelers on the boat. We jumped in twice and were both times directly on top of the shark. This was a first for me and it was an indescribable experience to see this beautiful and majestic creature from 3f away. We saw two different sharks that day, one in the 30-35f range and a much smaller one. The sharks stayed all week and the next day we got to snorkel with them again during our surface interval in between dives and again we saw two whale sharks. They were practically off of the resort. It was the best thing I have ever seen while snorkeling.
The resort had very good food and lots of it. The rooms were clean and the staff keeps it that way. All of the rooms had A/C, which was necessary, as it was around 80 degrees every night. The only problem is the sand flies. They like to bite and you need to keep DEET on you at all times. I had 23% and 40% DEET with me and after the first day, it was apparent that the 40 % worked well.
If you want a place that you can dive hard and do it at any hour of the day this is the place. Ted and Cam take pride in making BIBR a first class diving resort. The only thing that we did not see was a nurse shark or hammerhead. However, four whale sharks puts this dive vacation at the top. The food was omelets, French toast, pancakes, cereal and fresh fruit each morning. Lunch was Chicken sandwiches, fish sandwiches or hamburgers served with fries and salad. Dinner was different every night. We had lobster, steak, fish tacos, lasagna, chicken and more. There were always substitutions if you did not like the main course. I never heard anyone complain about the food. You know that you are in a great place with first class service when the owner and his wife show up at the airport to make sure you arrive safely and depart the same. I know that this review seems glowing and I personally donÃÕ believe such reports but in this case it is true.
The dive operation offered 24/7 shore diving. It also had three boat dives a day. We would add another dive via the drop off into the outer wall near The Spooky Channel. We utilized the nitrox package, which was $150 for the week also unlimited. They have two nice boats and have safety conscious, yet very relaxed dive masters. Once the dive master had an idea of our experience levels, we could do whatever we desired. You know you are at a cool place when the dive master, after explaining his dive plan, asks 'and what are you guys going to do?' or 'I plan on staying shallow on top of the reef, but you guys can go check out the wall.' We did 70+ minute dives and nobody said a word). Our average dive time was 60 minutes. We would check out the deep stuff and then come up to the top of the reef for what amounted to a 25-minute safety stop. The water temperature was 79 to 81-degrees and the visibility was 100 feet plus.
On our third day, we heard reports of whale shark sightings. It took very little convincing the boat crew to go out a third time that day. We had six spotters and four snorkelers on the boat. We jumped in twice and were both times directly on top of the shark. This was a first for me and it was an indescribable experience to see this beautiful and majestic creature from 3f away. We saw two different sharks that day, one in the 30-35f range and a much smaller one. The sharks stayed all week and the next day we got to snorkel with them again during our surface interval in between dives and again we saw two whale sharks. They were practically off of the resort. It was the best thing I have ever seen while snorkeling.
The resort had very good food and lots of it. The rooms were clean and the staff keeps it that way. All of the rooms had A/C, which was necessary, as it was around 80 degrees every night. The only problem is the sand flies. They like to bite and you need to keep DEET on you at all times. I had 23% and 40% DEET with me and after the first day, it was apparent that the 40 % worked well.
If you want a place that you can dive hard and do it at any hour of the day this is the place. Ted and Cam take pride in making BIBR a first class diving resort. The only thing that we did not see was a nurse shark or hammerhead. However, four whale sharks puts this dive vacation at the top. The food was omelets, French toast, pancakes, cereal and fresh fruit each morning. Lunch was Chicken sandwiches, fish sandwiches or hamburgers served with fries and salad. Dinner was different every night. We had lobster, steak, fish tacos, lasagna, chicken and more. There were always substitutions if you did not like the main course. I never heard anyone complain about the food. You know that you are in a great place with first class service when the owner and his wife show up at the airport to make sure you arrive safely and depart the same. I know that this review seems glowing and I personally donÃÕ believe such reports but in this case it is true.
