First time Roatan/Turquoise Bay Resort

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FI is back in the diving business. The dive shop did a really good job for us. The accommodations left a little to be desired.

ScubaNashville, thanks for that clarification! That's kind of what I expected. That will serve us well for doing the same that first afternoon when we get there. Quick weight check and nice, easy place to do refresher, shake out bugs! Thanks
 
One of the nice things about FIBR 's dive op is that they offer inexpensive unescorted shore diving for day divers who are not staying on the resort. This works very well for us since we have a condo on the island and do not always want to go boat diving. From the FIBR palapa, you can easily access the Prince Albert Wreck, Newman's Wall and Cocoview Wall. Even better, you can just poop around the shallows between FIBR and CCV, which are chockablock full of macro goodies. Fun stuff!
 
One of the nice things about FIBR 's dive op is that they offer inexpensive unescorted shore diving for day divers who are not staying on the resort. This works very well for us since we have a condo on the island and do not always want to go boat diving. From the FIBR palapa, you can easily access the Prince Albert Wreck, Newman's Wall and Cocoview Wall. Even better, you can just poop around the shallows between FIBR and CCV, which are chockablock full of macro goodies. Fun stuff!
I did this dive several times when we stayed there. However, I have to add here that this dive is good only in the morning hours, or at least before noon, while vis is good. I even tried this as a night dive, it was bad.
 
The Prince Albert and adjacent walls are popular dive sites that attract a lot of boat and diver traffic. Given that the area is also quite sandy, it does get silted up. That said, the visibility on the south shore of Roatan is quite changeable due to the effects of run-off from as well as the strength and direction of the prevailing winds. Your mileage may vary depending on the time of year that you visit.
 
The area being described above...

Viz here is not related to "the time of day", instead it is tied to the phase of the tide, this varies daily.

Viz is not an effect of the sandy bottom. Near the Fantasy Island shore dive gazebo, it is dramatically affected by the siltation run off from FIs man-made beach and lagoon and ham handed earth moving projects.

The further you get from fi, closer to CCV, the water becomes markedly clearer.

Best conditions are at Slack Tide and environs just East of the (shallow placed) Wreck of the Prince Albert. This zone is much more easily accessed from CCV, but from FI, if you stay shallow and have a good SAC Rate, it's quite doable but it's a hump through the murk for a bit.

There are several other factors to consider in regards to the FI shore dive- it is 1/5 mile from the dive lockers- most divers do this dive as a drop off from a pram- and then swim back to the Gazebo Exit.

There is a lot of fast boat traffic, some from FI dive boats, yachtie idiots on jet skis and children thereof, some FI employees commuting. (You can set your watch by the moron at 4:30 every afternoon) Not a great place for popping to the surface, but no place is good for demonstrating that particular lack of dive skills. It's a non issue, unless you're fiddling with buoyancy checks at the Gazebo- it lies at the narrow constriction at the North end of the FI channel. Stay very near the gazebo until you get sorted out.

The outstanding FI dive op employees always save the reputation of this alleged resort, which otherwise, is just this side of dreadful, Dive with them and see this unique marine environment- like nothing else.. But stay or eat there? Ill advised.

They run dive op scheduling on a Euro/Asian system.
 
It could be tide-related, of course.
 
How is the "unlimited shore diving" from the resort? Heading here in February with a group of 24-30.
Unless they give you a BOAT- don't plan on any shore diving. the lagoon is murky, shallow and muddy. My brother and I paddled out to the coral heads about 1/4 mile away (that was a long way to go for a snorkel) but there was nothing else worthwhile any closer. I don't recall that Subway offered unlimited shore diving.
 
I stayed at Turquoise Bay two years ago and it was a pleasant stay that I would be happy to repeat. Sand fleas are vicious- Deet did no good at all, I wished that I had some Skin So Soft with picaridin. The resort is at the far end of the island and there is nothing to do around it except a zipline canopy tour. I would have been MUCH happier if they offered four dives a day rather than have to just sit and read or watch TV when not dining or diving. From the lips of a very jaded diver, there were several memorable dive sites and I liked that we were not running into other dive groups as we would have if staying in the west end.
 
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