Newbies to Roatan Aug 16-23rd

[swimbody]

Staying at Cocolobo. Been conversing with Rory extensively. I fly for the airlines and can get down there almost any day of the year but my incredible girlfriend has a different schedule. We both just recently got certified per PADI Open Water Cert out of Scubaland Adventures in Austin, TX...out at Windy Point. She did very well underwater and was really a dream to be partnered with. Since this is our first time diving we have considered Reef Gliders as our first dive shop since the price is right and Rory recommended them...along with some others.

I have been reading a lot of the posts here and haven't been successful at narrowing down the comfort question. What should we look at diving first since we won't have the instructor there watching our every move? We'd both appreciate a more hands on first time experience and then we will both be settled in just fine. (We both quickly adapt and grasp concepts it seems to take others a lot more time). We've both gone down to 47 feet in Lake Travis with about 5 feet of viz. I can't wait to see what 50 foot looks like.

Let me stress that we are both comfortable in the water. I have 15 years of professional swimming under my belt and she is just naturally a tough Cajun woman. We are both on a budget and want this to be a combination dive/relaxation trip. She doesn't want to dive the whole time and I am willing to go at her pace throughout everything. We want to snorkel and dive and eat and have a little pre honeymoon and just really come away happy. We are both optimists and understand that nothings perfect all the time. I was a flight instructor for 2 years and a swim instructor and teacher of history and english before becoming an airline pilot. I understand that s&*t happens sometimes. Any folks who live down there or go down there often enough want to give some new travelers to Roatan some well needed advice? You can PM me and I'd be happy to give you my email address for better correspondence if that's easier.

Thanks in advance. I love the scuba community and look forward to a lifetime of interaction. Graham

 

[Doc]

Graham... other than you are looking for "some well needed advice", I only saw one thing in your post that even (almost kinda') approximated a question.

You were asking what dive site to go to since you wouldn't be under an instructor's supervision? (right?) The first dive sites they will take you to will be pretty simple, but be certain to tell them that you are new at this. Although they will see that on their own, it always pays to converse with your DM before the trip.

They will take you to wherever they always take first day divers, where everyone takes such customers. 25fsw and sandy flat bottom for a general thrash, weight check, boat familiarization- and for them to sort out the real MUPPETS. I don't think you''ll fit into that category

Just general advice to you, who seem to portray themselves as ready for that next open water challenge... pay attention to the briefings, ask questions, don't be afraid to follow your DM (that's the only way to see the cool stuff), watch with care how the boats and ladders work.

Other than that, dedicate yourself to smooth dive profiles and very slow ascents. This is a new experience for you and not only can you get deep fast, but it's easy to "sawtooth" your profile depths. Listen to the plan, stick with it, learn the ways to ascertain your depth without gauges- some of the similar tricks you use as a pilot.

I think you're headed on the right path with the perfect attitude for travel to Roatan. There it is not so much "flying" as it is still "aviation".

You're about to have a ball. Anything specific you wanted to know from our SB Crew? Lot of experts in the Sea Grape/West End zone you are headed to- they read here pretty often!

 

[swimbody]

Hey Doc, thanks for the reply. I was hoping to hear from you. We are both 36 and patient with ourselves and each other so we are really looking forward to the trip. I will read your tips. I'm sure they will be informative. Can you recommend Reef Gliders? I know its a rather silly question but it seems like $25 a dive (pilot's discount) with equipment is rather cheap. I'm not complaining, just leery.

 

[Doc]

Can you recommend XXXX

I am ignorant of their current diving operations. And I take up bandwidth with that reply only to reinforce one thing about Roatan that few understand and even fewer know to admit....

Roatan is one of those places where intimate questions such as this can only be answered by highly localized very few. There is such a huge variation from operation to the next, it is hard to have current dope on all of it. Others here will. Sometimes, those with the most intimate knowledge might be working at the competing place three doors down.

Info on any message board is further complicated by well meaning but noob posters who just had the bestest diving ever at Club Med. Any number of people will post glowing reports of places all over the Caribbean that are absolute nightmares, only because they don't know any better.

With your intended plan of mixing some vacationing and diving together, you really can't beat this area of Roatan.

I think you are off to a good start. You can pick dive ops on a daily basis, but the one you mention has been around for a while. I went and updated my mental images on their boats by looking at their website, and I immediately noticed the first picture that they show is of a wreck 75 minutes away- that I do not believe that they dive. Well, it's pretty, anyway.

Not to worry- they're just giving you the price on a ten dive package. Probably between the two of you, you'll do that 5 dives together. In a mathematical sense, it's cheaper for them to do that than to see one diver ten times!

Everybody these days are discounting- except the airlines.

It's all good.

 

[swimbody]

Good answer. I understand completely. We are going to piecemeal this thing and just let the tide take us. When we realize just what the hell Roatan is to the diving world we will instantly have the needed epiphany to book an all inclusive 7 night stay at a dive resort around Christmas and all these questions will be laid to rest. We aren't going to worry anymore. Only question I have is how full are the planes on Saturday going outbound? i know you don't have the answer...ah the joys of nonrev standby flying around the world.

 

[diversteve]

We're just back from Roatan/West End. In fact we stayed in a house 200 yds. west of Cocolobo. It's quiet out there at night, nothing but the ocean breaking on the ironshore. Not that there's a lot of noise in the West End but you won't hear any of it.

I don't have any personal experience wth Reef Gliders but I walked by there a couple of times. I think they dive off pangas (big skiffs) so entries/exits are a little more difficult.

We dove all week with Coconut Tree Divers - they have the biggest boats in that area. But still limit the # of divers on the boat to a very manageable amt. - for us it was around 10-12 daily - often just the 8 of us. One thing I liked about CTD is that they put a minimum of two DM's in the water on each dive, and gave the option to go deep/shallow on the first dive. The trailing DM came up with the first divers to go low on air. And there's always a captain on the boat. Genuinely nice people who seemed enthusiastic about every dive - even though they've done them 100's of times. Gay, the owner is new to SB. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/members/cocoloca.html

$25/dive is the going rate in the West End. It's what we paid all week.

Some other things:

There's two small stores within walking distance, Woody's and a smaller one at Coconut Tree. Woody's is the size of a big 7/11 with more staples. There's a small store at Coconut Tree - just snacks, basics and lots of fluids. Open later at night than Woody's.

Don't drink the Water!! Even ice is suspect. Lettuce gets washed in it also. I picked up something one day, not sure where. Everybody sells R/O bottled water in the West End.

Argentinian Grill is a must do - but pricey (for the West End..). You'll walk by it every trip to town. At least once walk down to Mavis & Dixies and get a table outside. Great food, right on the bay and usually a breeze to keep the mosquitos away. They serve food late too. On the water side near the church. Ask anyone.

Rotisserie Chicken was another good meal. A whole chicken plus side was around $10. It's actually called something else but I don't remember what. Saw a couple of our DM's eating there one night. You'll smell it as you walk by.

For a quick lunch between boat dives, try Pasta Express, it's right around Reef Gliders, maybe just past it.. Food service is slow just about every where else you go.

I didn't realize until 3-4 days into the trip is that there's a lot more to the West End the farther west you go. All the way down to Foster's.

Does Cocolobo have a generator? The power usually went out nightly for anything from 5 mins. to all night. Most places in that area had their own backup generator except some cabins to the south of us.

And it's co-dependent - when the power goes off, so do ATM's and credit card machines in the area. The two Internet cafe's were hit/miss all week even when the power was on. Sometimes my cel phone worked during power outages, other times it didn't. I have a GSM Quad phone with an Int'l Sim so it's possible I was connecting to the mainland also.

Bring lots of $20's. Larger bills are hard to deal with for the stores and you'll get a lot of Lempira back. The closest reliable ATM's were at the airport. One of them does English. But only gives Lempira (unless I did something wrong) I was also able to do some money changing with one of the tourist van drivers, they collect a lot of dollars from the cruise visitors all week.

Negotiate cab prices in advance...It's $15 pp from the airport or less. We paid $10pp but there were 8 of us in a van each way. And it was setup by our prop. mgr. We were told not to rent a car due to liability issues.

Lot's of stray dogs in the area. Most flea-laden so feed them but don't let them brush up against you. They hang around Sundowner's. (good bar, the closest to Cocolobo)

Deep Woods Off managed to minimize the mosquito bites to about 1/2 dozen total. But I usually to forget to apply it after diving.

Unless you go to the far West End (Fosters) or West Bay, everything else is a short walk away. Don't walk to West Bay unless you're into hiking - it's about 2-3 miles from the West End.

You'll need $33pp departure tax at the airport when leaving. Cash only afaik.

We were on completely full flights both ways. Maybe 3-4 open seats on the RTB-HOU return. 1st week of May so "low season".

 

[transparent]

We were in you exact situation at the end of May this year. Read my trip report if you haven't already. We also stayed at cocolobo, and it is the best accommodations I have seen in west end. I know the continental flights are packed to and from when we were there.
As to the diving. All the rental gear I saw and used seemed to be in good shape. We were newly certified also and started with the 2 tank advanced dives with little issues. And yes, diving is inexpensive but all the major ops I saw seemed professional (only 2 that I saw have relatively larger boats though). I would recommend bringing a dive computer if your are doing more than one dive a day, you may get close to decompression limits. Let me know if you need more specific info.

 

[Doc]

Read my trip report if you haven't already.

It was a great contribution. here it is: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...onut-tree-divers-5-24-5-31-a.html#post3608441

 

[Bay Island Diver]

Reef Gliders are an excellent operation as are many in the West End. At that time of year you DEFINITELY need to book in advance in order to be sure of space.

Have a good time

Will

 

[swimbody]

Thanks a ton for all the wonderful advice and commentary. Thanks transparent for your marvelous post. It was one of the first I read here on these boards. We have 50 days til our vacation. Lord knows it can't get here soon enough.