My wife and I are considering a trip to the Bay islands for diving. We are 56 and have been certified about 4 years. We enjoy dives in the 40-70 feet range and have heard great things about Roatan. We would also love to see a whale shark. I understand the spring is the best time for this. Our questions are... which island to go to?; where to stay?, and who to dive with? Any input is appreciated. Thanks you
Considering the Bay islands - seeking input
- Thread starter Bruss719
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you will have a better chance of seeing a whale shark around utila but its still not a given at anytime of the year.
on utila my favorite places to stay are beach house rentals on the south shore (town is too noisy/busy for my taste), out there, there are miles of empty beaches, great snorkeling just feet from shore and peace and privacy. my favorites are the cabana at big rock, the pineapple house and the coral house on treasure beach and the two rental islands: sandy cay and little cay.
i will leave roatan advise to others as i don't spend much time there.
on utila my favorite places to stay are beach house rentals on the south shore (town is too noisy/busy for my taste), out there, there are miles of empty beaches, great snorkeling just feet from shore and peace and privacy. my favorites are the cabana at big rock, the pineapple house and the coral house on treasure beach and the two rental islands: sandy cay and little cay.
i will leave roatan advise to others as i don't spend much time there.
DogDiver
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diver 85
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One year ~ '99 I remember(1 of the 2 boats @) Inn of Last Resort saw no fewer than 20(single) WSs in the month of September.......Reason I remember, our middle child(son) was heading up that boat, he told me when we visited 3 months later "I finally quite counting the latter part of the month"......Also, we were down on one of our December trips~'00(we owned a house on the water in Sandy Bay from '94 thru '08) & saw 2 single WSs off West End--would be right in front of the original Sueno del Mar shop that was over the water(or right in front of Pura Vida Pizza place in West End----lol-is it still there???)........
So, going by these 2 1st hand eyewitness reports, I'd say spring ???may not be the best time??--who knows in reality.......good luck in your venture.........
So, going by these 2 1st hand eyewitness reports, I'd say spring ???may not be the best time??--who knows in reality.......good luck in your venture.........
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I zeroed in on your post's stated requirements for shallow depths. If you do select Roatan, decidedly the Southern shore is your best option for an easily achieved average depth per dive of 40fsw. Over 1000+ dives in the Bay Islands, I have also found that my West/North side dives averaged 60fsw. That's a generalized mathematical computed average depth over the total duration of many dives.
Whale Sharks? The more you dive, the greater the likelihood that you'll see one. All things will come to you in time.
Whale Sharks? The more you dive, the greater the likelihood that you'll see one. All things will come to you in time.
CajunDiva
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I agree with Doc. We just came back from Roatan two weeks ago. We dove for a couple of weeks at Media Luna Resort on the south shore. I am a data geek and had fun downloading the data from my dive computer and checking it out. Just as Doc said, the average depth of all my dives was 40 ft.
During January, the Roatan Marine Park reported spottings of whale sharks for five days straight...highly unusual. So besides whale sharks, what priorities do you have for a dive vacation?
During January, the Roatan Marine Park reported spottings of whale sharks for five days straight...highly unusual. So besides whale sharks, what priorities do you have for a dive vacation?
beluga2
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@diver 85: Pura Vida Pizza place is now the Splash Inn restaurant.
@Bruss719: if you are looking for a nice vacation with 1 or 2 dives a day, I would recommend West End in Roatan. Lots of dive shop, food and accommodation options. The PADI open water depth limit is maximum 60 fsw. I've dove with UDC in Utila and more than half the dive shops in Roatan and all would enforce that limit for divers without Advanced. I'm sure you will have no issues with any Bay Islands dive shop if you tell them you want to stay shallow.
@Bruss719: if you are looking for a nice vacation with 1 or 2 dives a day, I would recommend West End in Roatan. Lots of dive shop, food and accommodation options. The PADI open water depth limit is maximum 60 fsw. I've dove with UDC in Utila and more than half the dive shops in Roatan and all would enforce that limit for divers without Advanced. I'm sure you will have no issues with any Bay Islands dive shop if you tell them you want to stay shallow.
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Socially, no, of course they would have no issue.
Technically though, it can be a huge problem.
If the dive op is located (as I mentioned previously in post #5) in the area of the West and North access, try as they might, the dive boats simply can not give their divers both deep and/or shallow at the same moorings. It is not an issue of you making a personal decision to just "stay shallow" as you would have that easy option along the South side (as your boat mates drop over the adjacent edge to 75+ feet to see _____?)
I have spent many hours in 35fsw along the South shore, looking close-up at the crest of the Coral reef structure, being bathed in exhaust bubbles from divers 50 and more feet directly below me. Why? The cool stuff is inarguably shallow.
As Cajun inferred above, due to the South side mooring pins all being located at the vertical breaking point of the reef wall, you can stay at that (approx) 35' depth, or pick any deeper "limit" by just slipping over the straight-up-and-down vertical wall. In the W/N zones, the reef structure begins very deep, is a sloping field, and you really do not have a lot of depth options within any individual site- everybody goes deep or you hover in the blue, in mid water, out in nowheresville.
The placed "wrecks" are a perfect example and proof. The W/N access wrecks are in 110-125fsw and storm battered, being quite stark and devoid of growth, at that considerable depth. The S side wrecks are in 35' to 70' and are upright and perfectly intact, covered with growth, still undamaged even after a 2x longer duration of submersion in the 30 year range.
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The PADI 60 foot limit is for OW and some other training classes, other than that the limit is 130, If shops require AOW for anything below 60 it is their rule and not PADI. They want to sell a class, Most I have dealt with will not be concerned if you talk the talk and walk the walk, after all, it only takes 9 dives total to get from Non Diver to your AOW so someone with 9 supervised dives in which they paid to be looked out for is now AOW without ever doing a dive themselves?
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Damselfish
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It doesn't matter that someone may not be that much more qualified after AOW than they were after OW. And it doesn't matter whose rule it is, or why, or how little sense you think it makes. Some places will have this rule and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with trying to sell you a class, they just do. I have upon occasion seen this and other inane rules enforced. You may never run into a place that does, or you might. You may always be fortunate to use ops that appropriately recognize less common cards and qualifications, or you may run into one that is out of the loop and does not.
Saying you simply won't dive with these people is certainly one approach. But if you're far away, and they're the only available op, and they seem safe and otherwise competent, it would be a shame to not do a dive for that reason. So I would say if you're strictly diving locally and familiar with/to any op you might deal with, maybe you don't need to worry about it. If you do the rare trip and can verify it's not going to be a problem, maybe you don't need to worry about it. But if you travel much at all, I'd say just suck it up - get a widely recognized AOW card and avoid potential headaches. It's a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of dive travel.
Saying you simply won't dive with these people is certainly one approach. But if you're far away, and they're the only available op, and they seem safe and otherwise competent, it would be a shame to not do a dive for that reason. So I would say if you're strictly diving locally and familiar with/to any op you might deal with, maybe you don't need to worry about it. If you do the rare trip and can verify it's not going to be a problem, maybe you don't need to worry about it. But if you travel much at all, I'd say just suck it up - get a widely recognized AOW card and avoid potential headaches. It's a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of dive travel.
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