Booked first trip to Roatan - couple of questions

[donnad]

Hi all........We've booked our first trip to Roatan........another couple be coming with us. We have booked with Barefoot Cay resort. Can anyone who has stayed there tell us your thoughts, advice, etc.? Also......i understand that the south side is "small critter heaven".......so i'm wondering if we should consider doing a few dives elsewhere on the island one of our days to see different/bigger creatures, vary the experience a bit,right? and who and where would you recommend for that? any other advice and such is welcome. we're excited about the trip and about barefoot cay too.......although we aren't going until September 4th, so i have a long wait!! thanks in advance!

 

[Doc]

You might want to arrange for a cab to take you over to the "West End"/"North Side" and do a couple of interesting things.

There are some larger, deeper wrecks available. Because of their depth and simple geography: they lie in the shadow of the island... they are comparatively barren when compared to the shallow, Sunligh South side wrecks... BUT- they do attract larger pelagics. So here, you will likely find bigger individuals of Baracuda, Grouper and so on.

In that this W/NW zone is a Marine Reserve, you will see larger examples of some Caribbean fish. You will also see these on the South side, but likely not with the same concentrations. The opposite is true for the "small critters".

In that you are going there in September, your options may be restricted by weather to the South side. Barefoot Key is at the far Eastern edge of the "Little Critter Zone" of Roatan's South shore.

You can also plan a 1/2 day at AKR and do the Dolphin Encounter. You get a chance for some close-up interaction with Flipper. Preferable to the Dolphin Dive itself, do some research here on SB for more details as to why and how.

For a nice day dive operation, there are several good dive-ops that line the "West End", a few of which post here.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Tell Doug Hello....he is from your neck of the woods....but is now an island boy ;-)

 

[robint]

Hi all........We've booked our first trip to Roatan........another couple be coming with us. We have booked with Barefoot Cay resort. Can anyone who has stayed there tell us your thoughts, advice, etc.? Also......i understand that the south side is "small critter heaven".......so i'm wondering if we should consider doing a few dives elsewhere on the island one of our days to see different/bigger creatures, vary the experience a bit,right? and who and where would you recommend for that? any other advice and such is welcome. we're excited about the trip and about barefoot cay too.......although we aren't going until September 4th, so i have a long wait!! thanks in advance!

as RoatanMan says, I would schedule a day over at AKR to do the dolphin thing. I haven't done it, but a group with us at CCV last year told us they have done both the dolphin dive and dolphin snorkel and like the snorkel best.

There are quite a few nice wrecks in Roatan and I am sure your dive op will take you to those close by the resort at least once. Mr Bud and Prince Albert, for sure.

Also, there is a shark dive which you might want to sign up for, depending how comfortable you are with current, bouyancy, and kneeling in sand 20 minutes while they feed sharks right in front of you. It gets mixed reviews, some people love it and some say it was okay once but wouldn't do it again. If you have never seen real sharks it might be something to check out.

robin

 

[rboyer]

I dove with Barefoot divers last year (Mary's Place).....top notch seems like all there weight was brand new out of the box! Like it makes a difference as long as you get down but it nice to see new gear on the small island dive charters.

 

[donnad]

thanks for the tips guys. i'll be reading and hangin out here from time to time...i'm sure i'll have more questions