Fantasy Island vs CCV

[chillyinCanada]

Doc, I thought I recently read something here on scubaboard that said RHR is out of business. Anyone?

 

[VicScubaVentures]

They are still operating as before. Owner Mike is no longer living there and has hired a full time manager. Recent reviews suggest things have improved. I'd certainly give RHR serious consideration if Roatan was on my destinations list.

C.

 

[Doc]

Looks like it is on-line: Roatan Diving, Honduras Roatan Diving, Honduras Scuba Diving, PADI Scuba Courses, Shark Dive, Scuba Diving, Night Dive, Night Diving, Reef House, Reef House Resort, Reefhouseresort, Reef Dive Sites, Scuba Vacations, Dive Vacations, Roatan Dive Resort

 

[Colo Hippie]

I would not stay at FI again if you gave me a trip. I would sell it and buy a stay at CCV or AKR. After staying at FI we figured out we could have stayed at AKR for about $150 more than it cost us at FI

Here is a link to my thoughts from our trip in March of 2012

 

[oly5050user]

This all may have changed in the last year, but nobody has come here to tell us.

Doc; I have a group there in April. Will give report on return. Tried to book CCV as I have stayed there quite often starting back in the day when it took a 50 year old DC3 aircraft out of La Cieba to get there and land on a dirt airstrip, but not enough space available there for our time frame. Have stayed at AKR and CCV multiple times.Never stayed at FI, but was at CCV when FI was being built. Annoyed me to no end as their man made beach screwed up the shore dive at CCV.

I look at vacation time as a valuable commodity. I like to go on dive trips. I don't like to vacation and maybe do a dive or two. I don't want to drink alcohol... I can do that at the local gin-mill down the street. I came to dive. Feed me decent food without waiting for Caribbean-time waitstaff, give me a clean room, give me a nice gear room, give me nice boats, lots of tanks, an easy access shore dive. I'm good.

So true.

The OP is concerned with a major point. Yes, AKR does have rooms on stilts over water in an inshore tidal basin. They are nice, except at low tide. Kinda' stinky. The CCV rooms are on the ocean side front and are over an active changing tidal reef.

yup. The shore diving at AKR is actually non existant.They say they include unlimited shore dives, but its in a lagoon and not worth the effort.

To say that FI has the same shore dive access as CCV is a statement by somebody who has simply not done both from each resort. The shore dive from CCV is a very easy walk from the gear room and you're diving in an aquarium, following an anchor chain to the Prince Albert. The dive from FI starts (after a 1/8 mile schlepp from the dive lockers) in an 18' deep entry, follow an aircraft cable through the murk- feel the DC-3 wreck and then... there's the Prince Albert.

The shore access at CCV could not be any easier. I am hoping that the access at FI is not a big pain. Once in the water there would be pretty much the same dive sites as FI is just across the channel. I understand that tanks can be delivered to the gazebo on request so divers would not have to lug the stuff.I am the group lead so I'll be sure to slip a few $$ to the staff/dm's there to ensure that tanks are always kept there at the ready for my group to use at anytime.

I hope that Fantasy has come back from years of unreliable and uncertainty within this last 18 months. We will have to filter out glowing reports (as seen on any operation) that have very little basis for comparative experience by the poster. The sooner it comes back as viable- the better. This being booked solid a year in advance at CCV is problematic. We need more rooms available on the unique South side of Roatan.

As I said we originally tried to get into CCv..Some of my customers at the LDS here in NY belong to a local dive club - same club that sponsors Beneath the Sea show every year and they do frequent FI. They all say its not a 5 star resort-no surprise-and the diving was always accessible to them from boats and shore.

This specific highly localized zone for diving is absolutely unique in the Caribbean. Shallow vertical walls that are bathed in Sunlight most of the day. An entirely different experience for the observant and those who have good buoyancy.

Agree.Very good photo ops just off shore.

 

[Peter_C]

We stayed at FI 6 years ago or so. It was super cheap at $699 including diving for a week. There were more than a few challenges, and at the time it was under new ownership. The compressor broke leaving many with an oily taste in their mouth, and who knows what else. The water system died one day, but was repaired in the late afternoon. A dive boat wouldn't start. I heard of an A/C unit in someone else's room was quickly replaced. The rooms were in need of restoration when we were there, but that was years ago. For me they provided plenty of decent food buffet style as I like fresh fruit, and simple foods. The diving was nice, but the boats went to basic reefs, and I am not one who likes following a DM with a herd of cattle.

If you wanted to dive the wreck of the Prince Albert they would take you out in the skiff and drop you right on top. Then you leave your tanks at the bungalow and walk back to the dive center. If you wanted to do a night dive they would leave tanks at the bungalow for you. Never found the walking part bad, but I am not lazy. Plus the water was warm enough I didn't wear a wetsuit.

Alcohol was not free for us, but I don't drink much so not big deal.

Would I stay at FI today? Not sure as it has been awhile and there sure seems to be a lot of changes. Research the place and go from there.

 

[Doc]

yup. The shore diving at AKR is actually non existant.They say they include unlimited shore dives, but its in a lagoon and not worth the effort.

AKR promotes their shore dive as the entry made from the Cay into the Ocean to the North/West. There are limited hours to do this, and it does mean that you have to gear up and then take the motor launch over to the cay, then walk across the Cay and really think about whether you want to deal with the wind and wave. On the occasions that it is calm enough, this zone presents a shallow area that has been battered by millennia of storm impact.

The other possibility that you turned a thumbs down on, the lagoon, now that is some interesting stuff... it just creeps most people out. A good place to wear full protection as it has jellies- but you can dive under the dive boat piers and see some pretty whacky stuff. Bat Fish, and a lot of creepy bottom dwellers. I actually rate this as a "must do" Roatan dive with appropriate warnings and reservations.

The shore access at CCV could not be any easier. I am hoping that the access at FI is not a big pain. Once in the water there would be pretty much the same dive sites as FI is just across the channel. I understand that tanks can be delivered to the gazebo on request so divers would not have to lug the stuff.I am the group lead so I'll be sure to slip a few $$ to the staff/dm's there to ensure that tanks are always kept there at the ready for my group to use at anytime.

Same dive, yes, but the access from FI will take a 5 minute swim u/w through the murk to get there. A minor point, but there and back is 20% of most folk's BT. Now, while you are there, note that you have to swim directly under the boat channel used by FI for Ocean access. Do they maintain idle/no wake speed there or anywhere over the dive zone of the PA Wreck? That's an indicator of quality, to me.

FI has been known to run a dive boat out to the Prince Albert Wreck Shore Dive for a group, usually they splash about 20 mins before sunset, I prefer my Night Dives at 2000 and 2200. (Yep- we do two a night). Most often, they ask you to return u/w to the Gazebo where you can drop your tanks and walk the 700 feet back to the dive lockers. (I'd tell them to wait for you at the mooring) They will also occasionaly use a 7'x18' rectangular work pram and backroll from that. I would refuse to do this if there are more than 4 divers, but I've seen it with 20+

I have sat and watched this common shore dive area (while I wasn't diving it). Not many divers make this dive from FI, but there is a nightly parade from CCV. I think it's great that FI makes the effort to motor divers out there and haul the tanks back (not always out for you), but I guess the bottom line is that it isn't a concern from CCV. The CCV wetrooms from the shore dive entry are 70 paces on hard flat sand. As the dive population gets older, this is an issue- no less than the 68 steps up-and-down to get to every meal at AKR. Maybe that's why I should have quit DH Skiing sooner

With a large group you can get their attention and maybe get some extra services, tips help. But, like I said, their dive staff has never been part of their shortcomings or issues at FI

 

[webjr]

Waiting on email to confirm my CCV booking ...
Catalina in June and CCV in August, looking forward to summer!

 

[Doc]

This was posted by Dan Schmidt at CoCo Chat at 9pm on Monday Jan 21, 2013:

After a terrific week of the best diving the Caribbean offers, we woke up on Friday morning for our last dives to gale force winds; monsoon rains; and 300 foot visibility ABOVE the water. Despite this, Jessie and Kirk took us out to some final and amazing diving, where it felt like bath water when we jumped off the boat!

Our final night in Beach House 8 was memorable, as the winds roared and the adjacent palms thumped on the siding throughout. Despite this, the airport reported all was normal. NOT! We arrived; checked in; paid our exit tax; stood in interminable lines; eventually got through security; and waited for almost ten hours. The departure "lounge" was under construction, with enough seats for one in four of the hundreds crowded there waiting for flights. The one small sandwich vendor ran out of food and drink.

The danged Delta woman PA announcer made the same announcement about the delayed flight to the "City of Atlanta" about every two minutes for ten hours!!! Then, all flights were cancelled and bedlam ensued. We waited, interminably, until the airport staff finally decided to open the gates to the tarmac and let us walk back through the customs check point into the baggage area, where hundreds of people struggled to find their checked bags -- tripping over each other.

Nora from CCV was a saint -- as were the baggage guys from CoCoView. They found us. They gathered our
luggage. They waited until we were all accounted for. They transported us back to the resort. They fed us. They installed us back in our rooms!!

FIBR guests who managed to return to their resort were greeted with invoices for the extra night and meals... CoCoView guests were welcomed, taken care of and not charged another penny!!

The next morning started the odyssey all over again. All the pathways at CoCoView were under at least 4 inches of water and the rain and howling winds continued. Mitch and staff brought us to the club house in golf carts; supplied us with plastic rain gear; fed us; and gave us regular reports from Nora who was stationed at the airport. For the second day in a row, all our gear was loaded into boats to the landing and trucked back to the airport. We followed in the CoCoView bus. Nora and CoCoView staff helped us navigate through the bedlam of hundreds of people trying to recheck their luggage and get re-booked on new flights. The United Airlines staff were AWOL for most of the morning, and the few who showed up were rank and file staff. The United Airlines "supervisor" was a no show that day as the bedlam mounted.

Mitch, Nora, and other CoCoView staff were there the whole time and gave us incredible support -- promising to welcome us back for another night if our flights were cancelled again. After another 8 hour wait in the over-crowded departure area with no food and most people standing or sitting on the floor, the weather lifted enough for diverted flights to arrive from Cancun and San Pedro Sula. More bedlam ensued, but by 7 or 8 pm, most of us were in the air back to the States.

Of course, we missed our connecting flights and had to pay for hotel rooms, but by Monday evening (tonight) we made it back to Chicago. THREE DAYS TO GET HOME.

Without Mitch, Nora, Yanze, and the superb CoCoView staff -- this could have been so miserable. But, through their extraordinary efforts and hospitality the whole thing was actually a bit of an adventure! Again, this is why we come back over and over to CoCoView. This experience gave huge credibility to the notion of CoCoView as family and as "coming home."

These weather events are out of human control and happen anywhere in the world. But if you are a CoCoView guest/family member -- they have your back!!

(Photos of the incredible diving to follow! And, as Arnold says...."I'll be back")

 

[chillyinCanada]

If Cocoview is always full, what would they have done with their guests had a flight come in, dropped off new tourists/divers for Cocoview and had then not been cleared for takeoff with those hoping to depart? I'm just curious. Something similar happened to me once in another country. Yes the experience had its upside but the downside took away from being able to enjoy the adventure.