What a difference a week can make. The first week of January we are diving in 80 degree water and we return the following week to 0 degree temperatures. Kristi and I just returned from a weeklong diving trip to the Bay Islands, Honduras. We stayed at Fantasy Island Resort on Roatan. They had a special for $450 for the week including accommodations, all your meals and three dives a day. This price also included unlimited shore diving and the 16% government tax. Needless to say we didnt know what to expect, but for the price we figured we would give it a try.
Flights on American and TACA were uneventful. We arrived at the Roatan airport, along with 58 other divers heading to Fantasy Island. We were told that 53 other divers arrived the previous day. Our first impressions of the resort were very good. The resort was very nice, our room was clean and the people were very friendly. We had a dive orientation the first night, and were informed we would be assigned to a boat the next day and we would stay with that boat/DM/captain the entire week. Fortunately we were not with a large group, like the 40 people for a dive shop in New England, so we were assigned to a boat with only 12 divers. The resort had 7 boats operating every day. Even though the resort was full, we never got the impression that the place was over crowded or not capable of handling that many divers. The dive shop was well manned and organized.
The dive boats were not very fast, but the furthest we traveled was 30 minutes. The boats were very wide and were easily capable of handling 20+ divers at a time. Needles to say, with only 12 divers on our boat, we had more than enough room. The daily routine was we loaded up by 8:30am, traveled anywhere from 5-30 minutes away, and did about a 50 minute dive on a wall or reef. We then traveled back to the dock, got fresh tanks and headed back out for a second dive. We then went back to the dock cleaned up, had lunch and then met back at the dock about 2:30 for the third dive of the day. After that, the other diving was up to you.
On the other side of the small island, the resort has a gazebo on the edge of the water with a ladder into the water. From there a wire rope leads to an airplane and then to the Prince Albert. This is a nice wreck in about 60 of water. This was there shore diving. If you wanted to dive here, you just told the guys in the dive shop, put on gear, and got in a small flat bottom boat. They then took you over the wreck, and you did a back roll off the boat. Toward the end of your dive, you followed the rope back to the gazebo. Once you got out of the water, they had a phone in the gazebo. You just called the shop and they came back with the boat to pick you up. This saved about a 5 minute walk back to the shop with all your gear. This dive taxi was available from 8am to 8pm every day. We did a night dive here three days during our visit. If you wanted to dive after 8pm, you just told the shop, and they took tanks to the gazebo for you. You would then just have to walk your gear to and from the gazebo, but just leave the empty tanks there and the shop would pick them up the next day. This isnt anything like shore diving on Bonaire, but for an extra few dives and no expense it couldnt be beat.
All the dives were either on walls or the top of the walls. The tops of the walls were usually about 50 and the vertical walls just dropped down from there. Due to a lot of recent storms and earthquakes in Mexico, the visibility was only about 60. It wasnt the greatest, but it wasnt bad either. We saw a turtles, seahorses, large moray eels, dolphins, octopus, king crabs, lobsters and even a toadfish. Of course we saw all the normal reef life. Some sites had better fish life than others, but all-in-all, it was decent.
The resort was very clean and there were always people working around. They were constantly cleaning up the beaches, rooms, dining areas etc. The rooms were nothing fancy, but adequate; the resort was very nice and well kept. The food was all served buffet style. The food was good, however it was very similar all week. So by the end of the week, it was getting a bit monotonous.
We heard a lot about the bugs on the island. We took bug spray, and occasionally sprayed ourselves before we went out. We only got a few bites the entire week. Other people we met got a few more, but nobody complained about getting bit. A little common sense goes a long way.
Other items to do on the island include a shark dive, a snorkel/dive with dolphins (which we did and was very cool) or island tours. There was a nice beach with loads of chairs, kayaks, jet skies and other water toys. There was plenty for the diver and non-diver alike.
Our only negative item at the resort was dealing with a missing passport. The resorts policy (and the policy for Anthonys Key) was that at the airport, you gave your passports to the person from the resort that was picking you up. He then took the passport to customs, got it stamped and then took the passport back to the resort. Through word of mouth the following day, we were told that the passports were on the hotel counter later that night so you could pick them up. When we went the following day, my passport was there, but Kristis was missing. We spoke with the gentleman that picked us up. He was also the head of immigration for the resort. He assured us he picked up 60 passports and brought 60 passports back to the resort. He then called the people who had not picked up there passports. It turns out another guest picked up two passports for her and her husband, but it wasnt the correct two. The manager called us two days later and said he had our passport. So it ended well, after only a little panicking. It wasnt really the resorts fault, but they should be more careful handing back the passports.
The only other negative was coming back through Miami airport. We had 2.5 hours from the time our plane landed in Miami, until we boarded our return flight to Baltimore. Well by the time we got through customs, picked up our bags, checked in with AA, had our bags inspected and went through the final check point, we got to the boarding area 5 minutes before we started to board the plane. Miami is a busy airport and with the new airline procedures (especially from an international flight) you need a minimum of 3 hours between flights. But we arrived on time and everything else went well, except arriving in 20 degree temperatures.
I would recommend Fantasy Island to anyone. They had a great operation and even though they were filled to capacity, you never noticed. If anyone wants any other info, feel free to pm me. You cant beat a new year where the number of dives made is larger than the number of days worked.
Jeff
Flights on American and TACA were uneventful. We arrived at the Roatan airport, along with 58 other divers heading to Fantasy Island. We were told that 53 other divers arrived the previous day. Our first impressions of the resort were very good. The resort was very nice, our room was clean and the people were very friendly. We had a dive orientation the first night, and were informed we would be assigned to a boat the next day and we would stay with that boat/DM/captain the entire week. Fortunately we were not with a large group, like the 40 people for a dive shop in New England, so we were assigned to a boat with only 12 divers. The resort had 7 boats operating every day. Even though the resort was full, we never got the impression that the place was over crowded or not capable of handling that many divers. The dive shop was well manned and organized.
The dive boats were not very fast, but the furthest we traveled was 30 minutes. The boats were very wide and were easily capable of handling 20+ divers at a time. Needles to say, with only 12 divers on our boat, we had more than enough room. The daily routine was we loaded up by 8:30am, traveled anywhere from 5-30 minutes away, and did about a 50 minute dive on a wall or reef. We then traveled back to the dock, got fresh tanks and headed back out for a second dive. We then went back to the dock cleaned up, had lunch and then met back at the dock about 2:30 for the third dive of the day. After that, the other diving was up to you.
On the other side of the small island, the resort has a gazebo on the edge of the water with a ladder into the water. From there a wire rope leads to an airplane and then to the Prince Albert. This is a nice wreck in about 60 of water. This was there shore diving. If you wanted to dive here, you just told the guys in the dive shop, put on gear, and got in a small flat bottom boat. They then took you over the wreck, and you did a back roll off the boat. Toward the end of your dive, you followed the rope back to the gazebo. Once you got out of the water, they had a phone in the gazebo. You just called the shop and they came back with the boat to pick you up. This saved about a 5 minute walk back to the shop with all your gear. This dive taxi was available from 8am to 8pm every day. We did a night dive here three days during our visit. If you wanted to dive after 8pm, you just told the shop, and they took tanks to the gazebo for you. You would then just have to walk your gear to and from the gazebo, but just leave the empty tanks there and the shop would pick them up the next day. This isnt anything like shore diving on Bonaire, but for an extra few dives and no expense it couldnt be beat.
All the dives were either on walls or the top of the walls. The tops of the walls were usually about 50 and the vertical walls just dropped down from there. Due to a lot of recent storms and earthquakes in Mexico, the visibility was only about 60. It wasnt the greatest, but it wasnt bad either. We saw a turtles, seahorses, large moray eels, dolphins, octopus, king crabs, lobsters and even a toadfish. Of course we saw all the normal reef life. Some sites had better fish life than others, but all-in-all, it was decent.
The resort was very clean and there were always people working around. They were constantly cleaning up the beaches, rooms, dining areas etc. The rooms were nothing fancy, but adequate; the resort was very nice and well kept. The food was all served buffet style. The food was good, however it was very similar all week. So by the end of the week, it was getting a bit monotonous.
We heard a lot about the bugs on the island. We took bug spray, and occasionally sprayed ourselves before we went out. We only got a few bites the entire week. Other people we met got a few more, but nobody complained about getting bit. A little common sense goes a long way.
Other items to do on the island include a shark dive, a snorkel/dive with dolphins (which we did and was very cool) or island tours. There was a nice beach with loads of chairs, kayaks, jet skies and other water toys. There was plenty for the diver and non-diver alike.
Our only negative item at the resort was dealing with a missing passport. The resorts policy (and the policy for Anthonys Key) was that at the airport, you gave your passports to the person from the resort that was picking you up. He then took the passport to customs, got it stamped and then took the passport back to the resort. Through word of mouth the following day, we were told that the passports were on the hotel counter later that night so you could pick them up. When we went the following day, my passport was there, but Kristis was missing. We spoke with the gentleman that picked us up. He was also the head of immigration for the resort. He assured us he picked up 60 passports and brought 60 passports back to the resort. He then called the people who had not picked up there passports. It turns out another guest picked up two passports for her and her husband, but it wasnt the correct two. The manager called us two days later and said he had our passport. So it ended well, after only a little panicking. It wasnt really the resorts fault, but they should be more careful handing back the passports.
The only other negative was coming back through Miami airport. We had 2.5 hours from the time our plane landed in Miami, until we boarded our return flight to Baltimore. Well by the time we got through customs, picked up our bags, checked in with AA, had our bags inspected and went through the final check point, we got to the boarding area 5 minutes before we started to board the plane. Miami is a busy airport and with the new airline procedures (especially from an international flight) you need a minimum of 3 hours between flights. But we arrived on time and everything else went well, except arriving in 20 degree temperatures.
I would recommend Fantasy Island to anyone. They had a great operation and even though they were filled to capacity, you never noticed. If anyone wants any other info, feel free to pm me. You cant beat a new year where the number of dives made is larger than the number of days worked.
Jeff
