Review of CoCo View Resort (long write up, but hopefully worth the read)

[Midge907]

In January of 2012 I embarked on what would be my first solo scuba diving vacation to Roatan, which is part of the Bay Islands of Honduras. My destination would be the all inclusive resort of CoCo View. My choice to go to CoCo View came from their track record of having one of the highest ratings of return guest, some of which return several times a year. An even bigger draw to CoCo View resort was also knowing that this is the place to go if you want to Dive, Dive, Dive, since 4-5 dives a day is the normal for most of its clients.

The week before my trip I was greeted with a early morning call from Liv at Roatan Charters who wanted to see if it was alright to upgrade me from a on land room, to a over the water accommodation. As you can imagine, the answer was a no brainer response of “yes”. Their goal was to free up the on land room, so that they would be able to do some repairs to the roof during the week. This I must say was the beginning to what would be a great vacation.

I was traveling from Fairbanks, Alaska and the journey was a long one to get to Roatan, requiring me to overnight in Atlanta on the way to, and in Chicago on the way back. My flights started on Alaska Airlines, and transferred to Alaska Airs partner Delta along the way. I was able to travel for only 35K Alaska Airline miles, which was a bonus and a deciding factor to go to Roatan at that time. Overnighting in Atlanta was a good choice, since I was rested up before arriving in Roatan after the direct flight in.

Upon arriving at the airport, we started on island time as customs lines moved very slowly for us. After getting my travel visa I was meet by Nora from CoCo View who was there to show us where to go to retrieve our bags, which were put into one big pile for separate delivery to the resort, and then where to go to get on the CoCo View bus. After I confirmed the arrival of my bag which was the last one off the plane, I had to wait for the bus to come back, as it was already full and had to go drop off the first group at the resort.

After a big welcome home speech from Nora while sitting on the bus, we proceeded to the resorts landing. The resort is actually on a small private island, so you must ferry from the landing and take the short boat ride to the dive operations dock. When you’re pulling up, you can tell you’re in for a treat, as the dive boats are lined up for the adventures that wait. After arriving at the dock, we were escorted to get our room assignments, and fill out registration paperwork in the cafeteria. This was the first chance to see what the schedule of non-diving activities were lined up for its guest during the week.

After I got all signed in, I went back to the dive dock where I looked up my name on the dive boat assignment board, and located a locker to use in the corresponding area for the E-Z rider boat I was assigned to. This was a boat that would be used to accommodate the solo travelers, and the couples that did not come with a group. I then gave the dock master my certification cards, and received my weights for the week. I was being led my Mitch the on-site manager which made things go smooth, and he also showed my how to do the nitrox log book as I would be diving with nitrox for my entire stay. The nitrox package is $125/week or $8/per tank, and they will charge you for the lesser at the end of the week, based off of the amount of tanks you inputted into the log book. The standard mix was 32%, and it varied very little, but you should still make sure you use the available analox gas reader for safety.

After getting all this taken care of it was time to do the early orientation dive, whether you do this on Saturday, or on the normal Sunday morning it is a requirement. The price is $25 for the dive masters time, or $10/person if more then 2, a bargain to be able to get back in the water upon arrival. If you arrive later then 3 p.m. you may be to late to do the Saturday orientation dive, but don’t fret, you can always just enjoy the reef while snorkeling if you so choose. The orientation dive goes over some basic skills including mask clearing, regulator retrieval, and a weight check. After the skills are completed you will do a short tour of the “Front Yard” which includes the Prince Albert wreck, and the starting points of Newman’s Wall, and CoCo View wall. On this dive we had a bottom time of (33 minutes and a max depth of 59 feet). This is also a good orientation of how to follow the anchor line that gets you threw the shallows of 5 feet or less, which is very simple to do after you go down it a few times.

Doing the orientation dive gives you the first taste of what the skill levels of the other divers may be, so that you may find out who to stay clear from, and who is safe to be a instant buddy if your traveling solo. I myself started this trip with my 48^th dive, which is not a high number, but was decent I believe for only having been diving for 18 months, and my only local diving is cold water lakes in a dry suit. This was also when you notice how relaxed the diving would be, since the dive master moved slow so you could enjoy the tour.

After getting back from a shore dive at CoCo View you can drop your gear at the exit, or stay geared up, and walk a distance of about 60 yards back to the dock to drop your gear and wash off. You will find ample tubs for dipping your gear in fresh water, and also tubs specifically for camera gear. Tanks are as simple as putting the empty nitrox tank in the “empty” pile, and grabbing a fresh tank from the “full” pile, which is clearly labeled. When setting up for the next dive boat trip you pull your tanks and set them up by your locker, you must put a piece of tape with blend percentage on nitrox tanks showing that you analyzed it. If you do not do this, the dive boat captain, and dive master are not suppose to put your tank on the boat until you have done so. When you go to the boat your gear will be all setup for you, and they do a good job throughout the week, to set it to your specifications if they don’t get it right the first time.

 

[Midge907]

The first night at the resort starts with “Happy Hour” at the bar, with local beers and the usual line of liquor you would find in America. Dinner is served at 6:30 prompt, and the first nights menu included (lemon sautéed shrimp, and chicken) that was very good. The desert for the night was bread pudding, which I’m not a fan of at anytime. There is a T.V. upstairs in the club house above the bar/cafeteria with satellite feed. This was good for the large group from Carthage College that was at the resort for a January term of Marine Biodiversity and Brains, as they were big Green Bay Packers fans, and the World Cup soccer games were on. It seemed like most people headed off to bed by 8pm, and things were quiet around the resort.

The first morning started with a great breakfast, and an orientation video of the resort with pointers from the managers. They also introduced their on staff volunteer medical officer, which proved to be a major asset to the resort. With 21 open water students from Carthage College, ear problems were bound to come up. After the orientation, those who had done the dive orientation the day before or who were return guest (within 5 years) were allowed to gear up for the first boat dives of the day. The first boat dive of the day, proved why the say the E-Z rider is not so easy in rough water for entries and exits in rough water. The day had greeted us with 3-5 foot seas, and re-entry took strength to get boarded back on the boat with its light stern and shallow keel. After a short surface interval the second dive was a drop off onto Newman’s Wall. This wall is a fantastic dive, and to do it over and over again is an actual blessing.

The first day of boat diving included a second 2-tank boat trip in the afternoon, followed by a nap before dinner. After eating another wonderful dinner, and the sun has gone down, its time to do a night dive in the Front Yard. The resort has a process of using a sign out board for a buoy marker light, and a tag system to keep track of who is out in the water. This is a good idea, as there are a lot of divers doing their dives solo, and seeing the tags hanging off the buoy line lets you know how many divers are out on their night dive. You will find that the Prince Albert wreck comes alive at night, as does the anchor line. You can find the micro stuff, or the big lobster to keep you intrigued during you visiting hours to their world.

When you dive off of the boats you will find that you are not rushed, and you will get good bottom times. They do ask you to limit your bottom time to an hour, as to allow the day to stay on schedule, and not be rude to those who have boarded early due to poor air consumption. The dive master will watch the people who are not good on air, and once they know that you have good air consumption and awareness they will not bother you.

While you’re diving around the southern dive sites of Roatan you will see the usual array of Caribbean critters, including the LION FISH!!! I would usually count about 3-5 on most dives, but counted 10 of these critters on the sandy bottom of Newman’s Wall at 100 feet. Not in hiding, but right there in plain site, as if they have nothing to worry about. I was told that at one time the dive masters were allowed to hunt the lion fish, but were eventually told to seize their efforts due to customer complaints. They were complaining of lack of attention during the dive, and people also were complaining about the ethics of killing the lion fish. I personally think that the dive masters should be allowed to spear, as long as they are with a competent group of clients. I would also like to see a lion fish hunting class given at CoCo View, where you can be grouped together on a boat and all go hunting together to help eradicate this species on the popular dive sites.

During the week by the request of the Carthage College group one of the resident and original old timers at the resort gave a presentation on the lion fish invasion into Roatan. It’s enlightening to hear about the state of our reef system from some one who has been diving the sights of Roatan for so many years. The presentation was good, but needs to be updated with new data. Their seamed to be a lot that is not known, about a fish that has been held and studied in captivity for so long. However the main point is that it is being studied, and efforts to eradicate from dive sites and fisheries needs to hold precedence. From what I’ve heard, lion fish are tasty!!!

There are several trips throughout the week that are offered as a special treat, at a price of course. Some of the trips on the menu include a West Side long range dive, Dolphin dive hosted by Anthony Key Resort, boat night dive, zip line, and a shark dive. The shark dive is hosted by another company, yet due to the large group sizes from CoCo View doing this dive, we shuttled over in CoCo Views boats. We did stop by the Shark Dive operators shop to get a site briefing and to pickup their dive master, and videographer. They offer an edited video for sale after the dive, and if you have a large group of people purchasing you can negotiate on pricing. The price of the dive itself was $94.50 with tax.

The location of the shark dive was superb as it’s on a pinnacle sitting at about 68 feet, a few miles from shore. The sharks that arrived were Caribbean reef sharks and we had 12 of them there visiting us. The dive was not a feeding frenzy, and the chum bucket consisted of only a few scraps in a home depot 5 gallon bucket. The dive consists of going down an ascent line to the bottom, as there is a substantial amount of current at the surface. When you reach the bottom, you find a spot to sit or stand, and once situated it’s a good time to take some pictures. After a few minutes of observing you are given the chance to swim around with the sharks, and pose for the videographer, before sitting back down to watch the feeding. After the sharks are given the chance to scrounge for the little amount of chum, and shaking the bucket off their head, they disperse. This gives you the chance to move around again, and look for teeth. I will add that the shark dive operator’s office and boats are run down, and you would think with the amount of revenue they get things would be better. I would guess the owners of the operation line their own pockets with the profit, and don’t put much of it back into the operation.

Flights in and out of Roatan from the United States are usually on Saturdays. So when Friday rolls around, the boats just go out in the morning to allow 24hrs before flying, which is unless they have a group of divers staying for another week. This leaves the afternoon to go on an Island tour if you have never been to the West End. I ended up doing an Island tour with another guy, with a cab operator named Woody. He is related to the bar tender, and did a real good job for us at a charge of $30/each. This tour lasted around 2-3 hours, which was enough time to see a lot of the island, and do some walking around. Doing an Island tour gives you a chance to see some of the other Scuba operations around the island which is a bonus.

We asked to go to Anthony’s Key Resort to take a look at their operation, and would like to say I made the correct choice to go to CoCo View for my vacation. We also checked out Coconut Tree Divers, which looked like a good shop, however they were tearing up the road in front of their operation which took away from their location. Bananrama had a busy location, including a resort and bar right on a busy section of beach, this is a very touristy section. A major note of interest is that the cruise ship leaves port as early as 2:30pm, so things calm down in the afternoon. If there was any All Inclusive resort that I would give a chance to over CoCo View, it would be the Reef House Resort, due to how small of an operation they have, and their boat access to the south side dive sites.

So as an overview to my stay I must say that I really did enjoy the food choices, and endless amounts of lemonade. The choices of dessert, was what made me decide how much of the main course I was eating. The kitchen staff, and bar tender were very friendly, and made you feel like you were a valued client. The rooms were nice and clean, and the over water bungalow that I was staying in had ample room, and the veranda was wonderful with its hammock. The grounds around the resort were well taken care off, and layout nicely. There is a courtyard where some of the staff members can be seen playing soccer on their breaks between dives; they played games with some of the vacationers also to much applause.

The diving on the south side of Roatan is great with walls that plunge down to a sandy bottom, with soft corral that hides the elusive sea horse that your dive master is sure to find for you. The free swimming eels are eerie, but a sight to see none the less. I would not say this is the best diving in the Caribbean, but it is good, and easy. The Front Yard of CoCo View for ease of 24hr access would be hard to beat, and is one of the many reasons people return so many times and become CoCo Nuts. The Dive Masters and Boat Captains are setting what I believe should be the standard in customer satisfaction, and easily earn a great tip at the end of the week.

I will be back to CoCo View in the future, maybe not as a CoCo Nut, but again for sure. There are a lot of places around this ball we call earth to dive, and I hope that other resorts will take notes on running an All Inclusive resort from CoCo View Resort, a true dive, dive, dive location. I was able to put in 22 dives during my week there, many over one hour in length, and still was able to relax and hang out with new friends. This place is the true meaning of bang for your buck, and a great deposit into the memory bank.

To view my pictures of this trip please go to Pictures by AkTinknocker - Photobucket

 

[Scubagolf]

Great, detailed review. We were at the Reef House in March of 2011. My review is on TripAdvisor. IF we go back to Roatan, which is certainly a dump (the island) we will likely go to CCV. It won't be the Reef House Hostel...uh...Resort.

 

[Midge907]

I can not edit my previous post at the moment, but wanted to clarify that the charge for orientation is only if you do it on Saturday, rather then the normal Sunday morning orientation. This charge is due only because Saturday is the normal day off for the Dive Masters, yet one of them will volunteer to work this day to make extra money.

 

[130ft]

Great post.........We just booked CCW after not being able to get an aircon room at AKR. Seems like the diving gods were smiling upon us

 

[parrotheaddiver]

can never hear enough about my home away from home...great report and spot on about everything...will be there again in a few weeks

 

[Doc]

Great post.........We just booked CCW after not being able to get an aircon room at AKR. Seems like the diving gods were smiling upon us

Just don't live up to your :sblogo: "name", 130ft

The stuff you come to this area to see is all very shallow and overall- seen very seldom elsewhere. It is a rare dive that I hit 65fsw, mostly at about 50' is the maximum I go. Follow the DM's and let them show you the really cool macro stuff- this is what is unique to this immediate area.

CCV is the resort, CCW is something we qualify for everywhere ~ except where I am at... Illinois.

 

[Midge907]

I'm so ready to go back to Roatan (CCV) for another week long adventure. I'm thinking of going in January again, but I also have a good opportunity to go to Cozumel. I think it will all depend on airline ticket availability in November, and Im willing to travel solo to Roatan, but not so much to Cozumel as I would want a dedicated dive buddy there.

 

[divergal65]

thanks so much for that great report. That brought back so many memories, almost all good.
One thing I was a bit surprised about though was the ban on ;ionfish hunting by the DM's. when we went there last year, it was open season on the lionfish - our DM Marcos bagged 3-5 nearly every dive, and even fed a few to a moray. But he was still able to show us all the sights and pay extra attention to a newly certifid couple who were having buoyancy problems, so they required some extra hand holding at the beginning but they managed to over come that pretty easily. Marcos's lionfish hunts gave us a lot of great photo ops, too, so I'm kind of surprised about this. Did that college group have any conclusions - like whether the lionfish population is even going to be controlled? When we were there, we saw anywhere from 5-15 / dive, but we never saw any at Newmans wall or Cocoview wall or the Prince Albert.
But we've never found more convenient diving than at CCV - it really is a shore based liveaboard - we got 5 dives / day in easily, and no dive on the Prince Albert/CCV Wall/ Newmans wall was the same.
We'll definitely be back too.

 

[Midge907]

DiverGal, The only one I saw hunt lion fish on this trip was the resident nurse, who went diving with us a few times. Apparently a few of the dive masters got stuck by the lion fish while cleaning. I counted about 10 lion fish at the bottom of Newmans wall on my last dive there, all at the sandy bottom. The college group was not there to study the lion fish, but instead were doing a brains and biodiversity class, so i'm not sure they would of had enough information to go on for any kind of conclusion. Even the speech that was given was pretty un conclusive.