Henry Morgan review (Nov 2011 trip) - Don't waste your time and $!

[doctock993]

Just stayed at the Henry Morgan Resort for 1 week on a large group scuba trip 11/12/11-11/19/11.
I would NOT go back.


Pros:
The biggest "Pro" are the staff - everyone was universally friendly and attempted to assist even when language was a difficulty. (Spanish and Italian are most common; some English)
The "upgraded" king room was fresh, clean, comfortable, and everything seemed new and worked: bath (stand-up shower only) was functional with ample hot water (although others complained about a lack). However, the walls were thin and loud TV/ children's voices penetrated fully. AC unit was adequate for the space.


Cons:
EVERYTHING else!

The dive shop, while again with great and friendly staff, is somewhat far from the water, and VERY far from most rooms. No dock/pier so you have to haul your own gear through chest/chin deep water. (It's the Caribbean, so do not expect anywhere near the level of service that one finds in Asian dive spots.) Gear cleaning area was small, drying area inadequate (not enough hangers), cleaning tanks rarely refreshed. The boats were sufficient for 10-15min travels to sites - they only run 1 tank dives - so no distant locations available. NO policing of rinse vs camera buckets. Worse still, NO policing of destructive (bad) divers, and NO comment from dive staff on gloves ("prohibited" in supposed Marine Park waters).
Reef life declining - small corals surprisingly healthy - fish life scarce - macro almost nonexistent. Dove both West side and Southern tip.

The resort ran out of items of food on several occasions - including no eggs at all one morning! Food was bland and repetitive (mostly starches: rice/ pasta/ potatoes all at every meal) - after 2 nights several of us started leaving the "all inclusive" to pay for much better meals in the beach-adjoining spots.

The tap-water is non-potable (come on Roatan - desalinization is a necessity if you are going to ruin your island with cruise-ship tourism and not totally decimate the environment with plastic bottles) and water-bottle-refill not convenient (rooms far from central area sources).

The bugs are BAD and design of the resort aids their presence near gathering areas. The area around the pool is so dense with vegetation that it is impossible to be near the pool and not get devoured - even when just waiting to go dive. Same goes for the central building - it may be pretty, but the "jungle" in the center of the building had so many bugs that sitting near it was very unpleasant at all times of day. In addition, the management does not utilize fans or zappers to try to decrease bug activity near the bar/ desk/ etc. They do spray a "vegetable oil" smoke on the main road 2x per day. "Don't worry it's harmless" - why is the spraying guy wearing full-face respirator then?

There was a $30/ week charge for wi-fi that rarely worked in the room, and only sometimes was functioning in the main building.


Summary:
I would not recommend this resort for divers, and would question why anyone would want to take a non-diving trip there.

 

[cgoodman]

We were also diving that week with TGI although we stayed down the beach at Las Sirenas.
I agree with much that you have said, the bugs were terrible. This is the tail end of the rainy season and there was standing water everywhere. The whole West Bay area is in need of better drainage.

However, I have nothing but compliments for TGI. They coped well with the influx of 50 divers. The week before there were about ten divers and there was loads of room. We were on one dive where there was a group of 5 tech divers doing deco training, along with about 8 recreational divers. we all got in eachother's way. When I brought this to the attention of the TGI manager, he immediately added an extra dive boat for the next trip. All DM's were professional and were fluent in Spanish, English and Italian. The price of boat dives was reasonable. At 18 dives each we were charged $25 per dive.

 

[jlevine]

I am sorry your stay did not go as well as it could have. I have never stayed at Henry Morgan and cannot comment. I do have a comment regarding this part of your message:

"No dock/pier so you have to haul your own gear through chest/chin deep water. (It's the Caribbean, so do not expect anywhere near the level of service that one finds in Asian dive spots.)"

I believe the number of docks in the West Bay area is limited by the local government in order to provide enough safe areas for swimmers. Some resorts without docks (e.g. Mayan Divers) have folks who carry the gear to and from the boats, but, yes, trudging through the water to and from the boat isn't always fun. As far overall service levels, that does depend on the resort. Some resorts on Roatan provide more "valet" service than others. It can vary considerably.

Out of curiosity, can you say more about what service you have received in Asian locations? I don't want to hijack your thread but I am curious.

 

[RTBDiver]

We were also diving that week with TGI although we stayed down the beach at Las Sirenas.
I agree with much that you have said, the bugs were terrible. This is the tail end of the rainy season and there was standing water everywhere. The whole West Bay area is in need of better drainage.

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The thing most do not understand is that West Bay was at one time a beautiful natural paradise with mangroves and freshwater swamp and ponds, waterfowl were abundant, the mangroves a haven for juvenile fishes, then it was chopped and filled to become the beach it is today , The vast majority of what is now West Bay was purchased by one prominant local from a less well off fellow for 50K

 

[Mike]

EVERYTHING else!

The dive shop, while again with great and friendly staff, is somewhat far from the water, and VERY far from most rooms. No dock/pier so you have to haul your own gear through chest/chin deep water. (It's the Caribbean, so do not expect anywhere near the level of service that one finds in Asian dive spots.) Gear cleaning area was small, drying area inadequate (not enough hangers), cleaning tanks rarely refreshed. The boats were sufficient for 10-15min travels to sites - they only run 1 tank dives - so no distant locations available. NO policing of rinse vs camera buckets. Worse still, NO policing of destructive (bad) divers, and NO comment from dive staff on gloves ("prohibited" in supposed Marine Park waters).
Reef life declining - small corals surprisingly healthy - fish life scarce - macro almost nonexistent. Dove both West side and Southern tip.


The bugs are BAD and design of the resort aids their presence near gathering areas. The area around the pool is so dense with vegetation that it is impossible to be near the pool and not get devoured - even when just waiting to go dive. Same goes for the central building - it may be pretty, but the "jungle" in the center of the building had so many bugs that sitting near it was very unpleasant at all times of day. In addition, the management does not utilize fans or zappers to try to decrease bug activity near the bar/ desk/ etc. They do spray a "vegetable oil" smoke on the main road 2x per day. "Don't worry it's harmless" - why is the spraying guy wearing full-face respirator then?

It's the rainy season and it's the tropics, you won't find bugs in the mall in Iowa back in the USA, but Roatan is in the tropics and you were there in full on rainy season, there will be bugs. Complaining about bugs there is like complaining the water is wet.

The carrying of equipment isn't a 'caribbean' thing, it's a West Bay thing. The boats are usually not on docks and they haven't discovered valet diving there for some reason.

As for the reef life, I agree, we just returned there, staying about the same time as you did, and from our last trip 2 years ago the reefs are in very bad shape regarding fish.

Did anybody kill and lion fish during your dives? Does TGI's dive masters kill lionfish? We dove with Mayan Divers and I asked many, many times about the lion fish and the answer was always a shrug. The lion fish in Roatan on the north side are huge, the largest I have ever seen before! Out of 15 dives we saw multiple lion fish on all 15 of them, the reefs that used to be alive with thousands of tiny fish everywhere are now mostly ghost towns. On the night dive we did, I lost count at 11 lion fish hunting the reef. It's not going to be long til the lionfish aren't a problem in Roatan, since they are almost at the point where they will have to eat each other as there is nothing left for them. The largest population of fish I saw was the Creole Wrasses, other then that, even checking my log entrys from two years ago the fish life is suffering very badly on Roatan. Watching a DM point out a lion fish to divers like he's found something exciting then leaving it alone blew my mind. Dive masters in Cozumel would be fist fighting each other underwater to get at lion fish the size that I saw in Roatan, I had no idea they could even grow that large.

 

[doctock993]

Point of clarification: I'm well aware that it is the end of a very wet rainy season, it is the tropics, and there are bugs that apparently find me to be quite delicious. However, I was pointing out that this specific resort does little to mitigate the problem, especially in areas where people often chose to/ need to congregate.

The lion fish were huge and present everywhere. The DM's were pretty active in the hunt and a local official came to the resort and "certified" whichever divers wanted to hunt lion fish. There were quite a few killed that week.

Out of curiosity, can you say more about what service you have received in Asian locations? I don't want to hijack your thread but I am curious.

My gear comes back to me cleaner at the end of a trip where I pretty much have had TOTAL valet service (after the first dive you don't ever carry your gear), and the only thing I need to bring to a boat is myself & camera. It can get a little silly sometimes -eg: putting your fins on for you, etc.

 

[Mike]

P

The lion fish were huge and present everywhere. The DM's were pretty active in the hunt and a local official came to the resort and "certified" whichever divers wanted to hunt lion fish. There were quite a few killed that week.

That's shocking that you say TGIs dive masters were actively hunting lionfish since every lionfish I saw was huge which means its mature and has been around a long time. I could have killed 2 huge mature lionfish on every dive I went on.

Thanks for the report.

 

[RTBDiver]

, I was pointing out that this specific resort does little to mitigate the problem, especially in areas where people often chose to/ need to congregate.

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Is there an environmentally responsible way to deal with the veast majority of natural bugs or would you rather just have them use a generic DDT type thing everywhere? Why did you not take bug prevention into your own hands and deal with it? Its not like th bug issue in the bay Islands is a secret, Any search of the bay Islands on any forum will mention the bug isssue, I personally choose deet based products and have no prolems at all, like I already mentioned, much of West Bay was not long ago swamp and mangrove, where do you think the bugs should move in order to make their home better for tourism.