CCV Orientation/Checkout Dive ?

[szohn]

I just booked our first trip to Roatan, and are staying at CCV. From what I've been reading they seem to require a checkout/orientation dive before you can go out.

Can someone tell me if they only do these in the morning, or do they do them throughout the day depending on when people arrive?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Doc]

They do the Orientation Dive at the earliest practical moment depending upon you and then your luggage's arrival. It follows behind you and arrives about 30 minutes later. Then it gets sorted out and delivered to your room.

If you were wondering if you can get a dive in, right away, from the famous shore dive, you probably won't get one on the same day unless you arrive in the a.m. Previous guests, if they really want to, can squeeze in a dive after 6 p.m. or so. Logistically, even if you arrive in the early afternoon, it would be a real rush job to get you in the water on the same day.

Thinking back to the (not so long ago) olden days of Roatan... most guests arrived at sun down and always did their first dive after a good night's sleep. Not such a bad idea, even now.

If you want to get wet, go snorkeling right in front your room on the "Front Yard" reef. Take a flashlight if you want to go a bit later. Very few do, it is still a good idea to unwind from the airflight, get your room in order and such. Besides, the dehydration factor of flying is apparent, it's time for a decent meal and lots of water!

The Orientation Dive is not to be missed because it is just that- an orientation to the shore dive that you will likely grow to love about the place. You will learn how to "check out" on the tag board, where the chain lies underwater that connects your room to the 140' Prince Albert Shipwreck and the DC3 Aircraft. The chain winds its way through the coral heads, depositing you in 35fsw at the starboard bow of the wreck.

The DM will show you this and all of the other easily seen landmarks. Once you do the Orientation Dive, the Front Yard will become as familiar as your own front yard. That is the purpose of the dive- that and to get your weights squared away.

You won't really be missing any diving on the arrival day. When you wake up on Sunday morning, you'll have your first full day of 5 possible daily dives, then the whole week ahead. If you follow me, I'll get in a minimum of 28 dives, sometimes a few more if we double up on the night dive. I do the entire week on air, but I do stay shallow (that's where the cool stuff is, anyway) and never get very high into "the yellow" on my bend-o-matic.

Steve- You'll get plenty of diving! Are you taking your rebreather?

 

[szohn]

Thanks, Roatanman. I figured as much, but was still hopeful for an evening or night dive. My gf will be relieved, she prefers to take it easy on travel day.

No rebreather, I haven't purchased one. I don't dive at home and the majority of our trips wouldn't give us much benefit to outweigh the hassle of transporting it. But if I ever move near an ocean, it'll be my first purchase.

BTW, I chose Rotan/CCV based on your review of the front yard, so I plan on holding you personally responsible for what a great time I'm expecting to have.

Thanks for the response.
steve

Oh, and you can never get enough diving!

 

[Fab]

Ah, didn't even know about this Orientation/Checkout Dive. Sounds great. I was a bit nervous about the drop off. But now,..I know I'm going to be taken care of.

Szohn:

"BTW, I chose Rotan/CCV based on your review of the front yard, so I plan on holding you personally responsible for what a great time I'm expecting to have."

hahaha..

 

[Doc]

BTW, I chose Rotan/CCV based on your review of the front yard, so I plan on holding you personally responsible for what a great time I'm expecting to have.

It's all in the details. Stay close to your DM. Remember- when he finds something, he is looking in it's known and common niche environments. Most critters are invisible due to lighting, size and camouflage. But you can predict with certainty where they will be hiding.

Go very slowly, bring a single element glass magnifier on a lanyard. Always have a flashlight. They sell either at the dive shop.

On the two "drop-off" dives? Forget about the walls, have the boats drop you right atop the PA Wreck. Spend an hour (or more) in 35~65fsw and examine every inch... up close. Get to know it well. It will be your best friend on the night dives.

Look along the aft deck rail to see hundreds of tiny critters, hiding from all but the most observant.

DO NOT use the chain as a high speed route in. Dawdle. Make it last 10 minutes. Be very surprised at what you will see!

It's all there. If you don't see it, ask Patty at the Dockside Dive Center for a guided tour. She's the one that got me started years ago.

And as Osman, the Dive Op Mgr says, "Go slow, Seymour"

 

[Fab]

I'm so into this magnifying glass idea,..and I'm a serious poker, I can poke around in the same spot for a long time. I'm all about the small stuff. Sometimes I can't believe how much is happening in one tiny area. Pretty amazing. So, can I get this at the dive shop? Not at Walmart?

 

[Doc]

So, can I get this at the dive shop? Not at Walmart?

Just be careful to get a glass lensed magnifier. I get mine at hobby shows, flea markets, gun shows, etc. Pay a dollar or two. The higher the magnigfication the better- if it is almost unusable "in air" because of it's high power~ that's the one to buy.

You've got the right idea about picking a 3x3' spot and just staring at it. At CCV you can do this pretty easily on a shallow coral head on the shore dive in The Front Yard. If you very slowly move along the Prince Albert shipwreck's side- about a foot away- concentrate with the deck itself just at your eye level. Look for the critters that inhabit the rusted crack between the deck and the hull sides. This is a great perspective to get a side view of critters hiding in plain sight- on the deck itself.

One trick I have used to teach this art: Give the divers a tupperware box and lid. I punch a lot of holes in them with a hot nail. Tell them that you want them to collect any shell smaller than a nickel. When they come back, before placing the treasures back in the sea, they will be interested in what they found- and what starts to crawl away!

The real lesson that you have taught them? Adjust your eyes for "the small stuff". Forevermore you will have created a new macro diver. Downside? Sometimes you "can't see" the big stuff~ your eye's focus has been so retrained.

This is the case so much so that when we find something to look at, the first thing we signal is the creature's general size. I have stared for several minutes at a Scorpionfish and not seen it as I was looking for something macro-minute (not something that I had seen a thousand times). I never saw the Scorpionfish until either someone outlined it or it spooked. There I was, looking for a Pipe Fish or Decorator Crab.

I was so intrigued in a microscopic Crab that I darned near flippered a 9' Nurse Shark. :doh:

It's all in the small stuff. You'll have found a new home on the South side of Roatan. i hope you are grinning from ear to ear, and post a report on SB.

Here's what they saw at CoCoView last week: Dockside Dive Center Log

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Nice shot of the Mr Bud on pics of the week....kinda looks like my avatar shot

 

[Fab]

Roatanman: Your Micro pix are great! (that link in your signature)

Also,....about the glass magnifier. Glass, not plastic,...is this what you're saying? Unusable "in air"....? Ok...I've got to find one of these.

My favourite micro life was the little blue cleaner shrimps, (in Curacao) that hung around the sea anemones. I would rest my finger on a rocky part, close to it,..and they would come out and give me a manicure! The cutest thing ever.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Roatanman: Your Micro pix are great! (that link in your signature)

Also,....about the glass magnifier. Glass, not plastic,...is this what you're saying? Unusable "in air"....? Ok...I've got to find one of these.

here is a magnifier Bausch & Lomb Double Lens Magnifier 81-34-76 w/ Free UPS it is not like the one Doc or I have and I cannot remember what he told me about how much magnification you need....so I am not sure if this is strong enough....it is like the one I use at work to look at jeweler and I think it would work...I remember one of the times I was in the dive shop at CCV they had some for sale but I don't remember how long ago it was or how much they were and they were the ones that Doc probably brought down for them....am I right Doc?? gee I am not much help