Trip Report CoCo View Resort - August 2023

[Doc]

I like blue boat. Why? As gimpy as i am, Marcos is the onliest DM that can lift me over his head with his left arm.

We dive similarly, the same things make us smile, the same things make our eyes roll.

He and i communicate by clicking tongues, that subtle. Often we answer each other with eye expressions alone.

Your “regular DM” knows whether or not to wave you off his big find if he knows you’ve seen a Neck Crab or even that very same Sea Horse over many years.

I do not carry a camera. I stay pretty close with Marcos. If i spot something, he calls the divers to look. If it’s something remarkable that he finds, he gives me a nod just as he’s summoning the others. I grab my quick gawk and get out of the way. We “work well together”.

You get pretty fond of these guys. I’m getting to the end of my diving days and i gave Marcos a SCUBA industry award ring that i had for 30 years.

 

[Lorenzoid]

You guys are killing me. CCV is indeed a diver's paradise. All they need to be a world class diver's paradise is more reef fish. As much as I like the small stuff, it's a long way to travel to see a few seahorses, etc.

 

[Doc]

You guys are killing me. CCV is indeed a diver's paradise. All they need to be a world class diver's paradise is more reef fish. As much as I like the small stuff, it's a long way to travel to see a few seahorses, etc.

It is, alas, the Caribbean.

@Lorenzoid i fear that many readers will misinterpret what you are correctly trying to convey. I’ve been searching for the words for years.

I believe it is “the best of what’s left”.

I have been diving extensively all around Roatan and the Bay Islands… the immediate zone around CCV i find the most interesting by far.

Worldwide? Are there more interesting locales? You bet! The Caribbean has been our toilet since the 1700’s. And it shows.

The CCV dive resort operation (taken as a whole) itself is the standard by which i measure all others worldwide.

With that definition, in that category, i would place also Hotel Atlantis (Philippines Sabang Puerto Galera). Is there better diving elsewhere? Sure, but if one takes the dive resort experience in it’s entirety- these two resorts set a very high bar.

There’s more than Sea Horses…

 

[Rilelen]

You guys are killing me. CCV is indeed a diver's paradise. All they need to be a world class diver's paradise is more reef fish. As much as I like the small stuff, it's a long way to travel to see a few seahorses, etc.

guilty as charged, and that is fair - I’m in Florida and honestly with frequent flyer miles it’s not much pricier for me to head to CCV for the week than drive to the keys…so I’ve claimed it as “local diving”

 

[scubabjs]

@Lorenzoid Thanks great writeup!

This place sounds amazing. Curious what your thoughts would be on the experience of going solo? Not diving solo, but just going without a companion. I'm guessing that like most resorts its very couple focused, but without much to do other than diving I can't imagine brining my non-diving partner. But I wonder if outside of guided boat dives it would be difficult to sync up with buddies for shore dives. If I was solo certified would that even be an option off the shore?

Not an issue they might charge a single supplement for the room, if they are full. I was solo diving at Cocoview back in 99 before there was solo certification, pretty much all photographers are solo divers IMHO. Drop off's are non-led dives as are shore/night dives.

 

[dflaher]

Thanks for the great trip report! I'm looking into CCV for a possible August '24 trio, as a single diver. What are the boat dives like? Giant strides or back roll? Are you allowed to dive your computer, or does everyone come up together?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thanks for the great trip report! I'm looking into CCV for a possible August '24 trio, as a single diver. What are the boat dives like? Giant strides or back roll? Are you allowed to dive your computer, or does everyone come up together?

Giant stride. As I think I mentioned, the boats are spacious and have a spacious dive deck at the stern. Really well designed for their purpose.

Boat trips are 2-tank. You're expected to return to the boat from the first dive at a reasonable time--I think they say something like a maximum of one hour in the briefing--but you do not have to stick with the group or surface with the group. Most divers do more or less stick with the group because having others, including an experienced DM, to find stuff is nice. In general, the crew treats you like the experienced diver you are. The second dive site is on one of the two walls flanking the resort, and you are expected to swim back toward the resort and exit at the resort's shore diving entry/exit point. You can do whatever you want on that dive.

 

[RyanT]

I should also mention that after a rain one day, the whole area was swarmed with termite-like insects that appeared to die quickly and leave their wings behind stuck to window screens and things. Anyone know what that’s about?

They are termites. That is the nuptial flight where new queens emerge from nests and males follow trying to mate with them. They land, shed their wings, mate, and go off to start new nests. The number of individuals and leftover wing carnage is pretty impressive.

 

[mje113]

@Lorenzoid what was the weather like in August? I presume HOT, but it does look somewhat south enough to be out of the major hurricane zone. I can deal with heat, but only if I have good AC in my room and other facilities. I just had a week in August free up and CoCo View has been on my list ever since I read your trip report.

 

[Doc]

And CCV has the ESE trade wind breezes -knocks the bugs down effectively