Dive conditions Roatan this week

[be17jamln]

Hi guys and gals,

Planned on flying into Roatan wednesday and diving thurs and friday of this week. Saw the storms with the 15+ mph winds. I'm guessing that's going to make for pretty crappy dive conditions, if diving at all.

Anybody out there now that can comment? I'd prefer not to fly 10 hours each way just to feed the sandflies. this is a real short trip so i'd be extra disappointed if the diving was poor and would rather reschedule.

thanks in advance!!!

 

[BigHarryDiver]

Hi guys and gals,

Planned on flying into Roatan wednesday and diving thurs and friday of this week. Saw the storms with the 15+ mph winds. I'm guessing that's going to make for pretty crappy dive conditions, if diving at all.

Anybody out there now that can comment? I'd prefer not to fly 10 hours each way just to feed the sandflies. this is a real short trip so i'd be extra disappointed if the diving was poor and would rather reschedule.

thanks in advance!!!

Hi there,

Arrived back home in Delaware about 1a.m. on (April 26 2009) after 1 full week at FI on Roatan.

Dive conditions varied from day to day but were mostly great. Vis varied from 40-50 feet to virtually unlimited. The weather was about as varied as the vis and dives. Some days all sun with light wind, other days sun with strong winds making re-entry to the boats a bit challenging for us old guys and gals. We also had a couple small rain showers during the week but nothing at all bad. Humidity was not an issue. Was very surprised to find the weather at home hotter than it was in Roatan. I saw 0 mosquitos and only received a couple no-see-um bites the entire time. Some in our group of 11 divers had more bug bites but all in all, they were a non-issue. We took DEET but never even got it out of the suitcase.

I did 21 dives while there. Would have been 22 but the dive boat were were assigned to had engine problems on the last day and our mid morning dive had to be canceled which left not time to dive using the 24hours to fly rule.

Sea life was great with a couple of firsts for me (3 seahorses, 3 octopus's all on night dives) and the normal cast of characters in the carrib.

Service at the resort was fine, not 5 star but very good. Food was ok and again, not a 5 star resort but very easy on the system.

 

[Bay Island Diver]

The West End shops will be diving for Sure, The North West Coast will be flat calm! Its great out there right now.

 

[be17jamln]

Guys and gals, please keep the input coming. i realized that today was fairly calm but tomorrow is forecasting for 19mph winds. if someone could chime in about whether any dives happen tomorrow and if so, how it was, that would be so appreciated.

cheers

 

[Doc]

What location on Roatan will you be staying?

That's a big part of this discussion.

 

[RTBDiver]

Dives happen most days, and yes they are diving today, it just depends on where as RoatanMan mentioned. Two years ago right after the tropical storm/hurricane that evacuated roatan, seas were rough and sloppy on the north side, a few broken docks and some damage so they dive the southside. Many operators have contingency plans.

 

[be17jamln]

Thanks for the responses. I don't know yet where we were planning o diving. We had planned on staying at Bananarama (or somewhere on the west end since it's me and a buddy).

I guess I'm not looking forward to flying ten hours each way to do two days of subpar diving. I did some foul-weather (i.e., choppy, low vis) diving in thailand and really was a bit bummed.

This is a real short vacation, so we're still undecided. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated. Which sides of the island seems to be better diving right now?

Cheers.
Ben

 

[Doc]

Ten hour flight. Two days on Roatan.

Besides anythging else one might draw from that description, for sure you are staying in the West End, right in the Bananarama zone. There are a multitude of other options in that area, including SB regular, Coco Nut Tree Divers (CNT). (I didn't ask where you'll be diving, I asked the operative question- "where you'll be staying")

If you do find that the wind is piping up from the North, associate yourself with a dive op who will run their boats to the South side and bus you over to meet them. Otherwise, with any of these operations, you will be diving West and North dive sites and enjoying them!

A general, and I believe best answer for you? It is likely to be good weather in May, no matter where you go on Roatan, but there is simply no way to predict what the weather will likley be much beyond tomorrow, certainly in anything more than very general terms.

Now, as to a two day trip....

Diving on the day of airplane arrival is difficult in terms of timing. Also the best medical advice counsels against such activity as your body is likely degydrated (a leading cause of DCS).

Diving within 24 hours of airplane flight on your way out is also a red flag.

That narrows down your window of opportunity substantially.

 

[be17jamln]

Hmm,

I'm not sure where the negative insinuations are based on, but I do appreciate the information so thank you again.

I will fly in Wed and have thurs and fri, and leave sun. So that means two days of diving. Unfortunately I am a California native working hard so longer periods of time are hard to come by. I just wanted to do a quick dive trip with a friend.

As to the dive operator (forgive me for reading your reply quickly), I don't know yet.

I guess it boils down to this, could the members who are in roatan right now, is the diving, great, good, mediocre, poor relative to a good day in roatan? I would hate to take such a hectic vacation just to come back more stressed than before i left.

cheers,
ben

 

[RTBDiver]

Offhand there is nowhere I would fly 10 hours each way to dive for 2 days. It certainly would not be relaxing for me with packing, transfers and all that goes with it. How is it that you have ten hour flights each way from california? You are talking California USA right?