Looking for new dive location

[salunra]

That's cause you always have a regulator in your mouth.

Bonaire is hard to beat- all the great diving, the shore diving, the good and unusual restaurants, the nice people, the Dutch beer... but Salunra, I think youre going to like Roatan in July!

::grins:: I'm looking forward to a great trip.

We love Bonaire, but it'll be nice to do something different as well. I'm looking forward to exploring a new place, and seeing new things.

-Moon

 

[salunra]

Really!? Thats the same week we will be there.

-Moon

 

[Nitediver]

I just returned from a trip to Roatan and thought I would pass along an update. We stayed at Fantasy Island. They offer a 50% discount the first two weeks of January so may want to keep in mind for next year. We had 3 cloudy days and the rest sunny. The ocean was calm but vis was 50-60' due to the end of the rainey season. The no-see-ums are reduced at this time of the year and we had been told that during the summer it is hard to sit on the beach due to the little bugs. The dive operation was very good and all sites are within 10-20 minutes from the resort. They have 3 dives a day plus, what they call, beach diving. The beach dive is actually a boat dive from a small boat to a site close to the resort. The food was great. We did go to Los Palmas and go on a shark dive that was worth it for me as I had not been on a similar dive.

After our week there we went inland to San Pedro Sula and Copan. We had a great 4 days and had a private guide who arranged all activities at a very affordable price. They provided van transportation, hotels and guided trips. If you plan a trip like this the side trip is well worth it to see the ruins and culture. The tour agent in San Pedro Sula is Gilberto and he can be contacted at mayanct@hondutel.hn It was a great 10 day trip.
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[mjh]

We also are deciding between Kona and Roatan. We stayed at AKR May 03 and had a great time but did not care for the fact the cap the dive at 45min or 500psi, is this true for CCV? Also, what is the weather like in July? I looked at the "Weather" channel and it showed that July was the third rainiest month of the year. Anyone have any experience with July in Roatan?

Thanks...

 

[parrotheaddiver]

We also are deciding between Kona and Roatan. We stayed at AKR May 03 and had a great time but did not care for the fact the cap the dive at 45min or 500psi, is this true for CCV? Also, what is the weather like in July? I looked at the "Weather" channel and it showed that July was the third rainiest month of the year. Anyone have any experience with July in Roatan?

Thanks...

Kona and Roatan, wow, those are two totally different dive locations.

In regards to CoCo View. You are pretty much left alone as far as dive times. They treat you like adults but if you need guidance the DM's are there. Plus a big Plus you have all the shore diving you can handle. (ROATANMAN where are you?)

We have been there in July and are going back this July as posted above. The rain, it is the tropics an occasional shower during the day or night is not uncommon, but not really enough to ruin you vacation. They usually don't get hurricanes (except for Mitch about 5yrs ago) the location of the island seems to ward off hurricanes not sure why.

See RoatanMans post in this thread and others. You can do a search using CoCo View or Roatan and I am sure his post will come up. He knows the island like the back of his hand.

 

[louisianadiver]

If you like Bonaire, you'll also like Curacao. Habitat Curacao is a great resort with one of the best "house reefs" in the Caribbean--loaded with eels and octopus at night and available for hassle-free diving 24/7. The resort is in the middle of nowhere, but a public beach at Porto Mari is nearby and has several interesting dives as well as very interesting scenery on the beach. Curacao is a much larger island than Bonaire, and Willemstad is more cosmopolitan than Kralendijk. The last time I was at Habitat Curacao (2 years ago) I only made 3 boat dives due to the quality of the house reef. Coco View is nice, but they had some health problems there not too long ago (many guests got sick). Fantasy Island has the same shore diving in the lagoon where the Prince Albert shipwreck and Tattoo's Wreck (airplane) are, but vis in the lagoon is often limited.

 

[Doc]

Kona and Roatan, wow, those are two totally different dive locations.

In regards to CoCo View. You are pretty much left alone as far as dive times. They treat you like adults but if you need guidance the DM's are there. Plus a big Plus you have all the shore diving you can handle.

CCV (as with most dive ops), requests that if you have the "gift of air"- that is... you can turn one tank into a 1.5 hr excursion- that you should be mindful of your fellow divers awaiting your return topside, bouncing at anchor. My recollection is that they ask your 1st tank off of any boat dive to be limited to 1 hour maximum. (If it's an idyllic flat calm warm day no one will begrudge you a 1:15 dive)

In that your profiles are fairly shallow, you'll have to manage your own issues about the surface interval. Remember, the guys topside have started theirs while you were still grinning at that critter. By deffinition, you were probably pretty shallow, just under the boat's 25fsw (standard) mooring pin. Most of the life in Roatan is above 45fsw anyway.

You'll have plenty of time (at least at CCV) to dawdle on the second tank as you get to make your return via the shore exit.

No one checks your SPG for remaining compressed air. This will make more sense after you've seen it, but it is no problem for the medium-advanced diver to leave the Prince Albert Wreck at 800 psi and safely make it ashore with plenty of air remaining. It is not uncommon for some shore divers to take 2 hour "walks in the front yard", just ask "Dee".

There are "sand checkers", the ones who descend past 80' looking for the next sand ledge at 130 then 180... is the sand still there? 230'? Just checking. People get bent in Roatan mostly by doing dumb stuff.

I haven't been to Kona in years, but I recall it was drift and recovery diving. If I was DM I might set certain minimums for those conditions as well, building in a safety margin. The South side of Roatan is pretty much so a swimming pool with pretty fish. Like any dive in any water- Nature will apply Darwin's Theory as necessary- it's just that you really got to need it down Roatan way before that happens.

 

[Doc]

Coco View is nice, but they had some health problems there not too long ago (many guests got sick). Fantasy Island has the same shore diving in the lagoon where the Prince Albert shipwreck and Tattoo's Wreck (airplane) are, but vis in the lagoon is often limited.

NO, this internet distortion is still a vexing issue. The problems referenced were pinpointed and eliminated by the staff of CCV, but the problem was all over the Bay Islands. Every resort was affected, only CCV admitted it and fought it.

The problem turned out to be bad product from a Government Health Service Approved Dairy Producer. Once this supplier was targeted and eliminated by CCV, the problems went away immediately. Internet distortions never die, blUndercurrent did a lot to fuel that fire.

The shore dive from Fantasy is simply not the same as CoCoView. Try both and tell me that they are. This is because- just as you state- the "viz in the lagoon is often limited". You bet it is- it is so limited between the Wreck and FIBR that one must follow an aircraft cable thru the murk. FIBR shore dives are really done via small boat. No one wants to go thru the murk that FIBR created by dredging their beach.

The same does not apply for the short 300' expanse between CCV and the Wreck. It is usualy quite clear and a delight. CCV placed the Wreck of the Prince Albert -just so- in 1984.

The intact DC3 was dumped there by FIBR causing it to be ripped into three chunks.

Some resorts were eco-friendly before it was a fad. (Look at CCV and Anthony's Key Resort among the well known) When development money hit Roatan in the late 80's, a lot of locals took advantage of it and started up their dredges and bulldozers. Dredging of sand to create man made beaches is a contradiction to reef health and the purpose of a dive resort. FIBR has made themselves a lovely huge beach that is largely unused. Their continued parking of their more than occasional broken down boats on the reef does little damage by comparison.

You gotta visit all of the resorts before comparing them.

 

[mjh]

Thanks all, looks like we are going to book the "2 Week, 2 Islands, 2 Resorts" package for July. So we will get Roatan and Utila! Going to have to do a Whale Shark trip, that would be incredible! Now just have to "suffer" thru the next 3months of cold water diving