Roatan compared to Cozumel?

[kixy1]

Just fishing for some opinions.... I'm planning a summer dive trip, and thought we'd be heading back to Coz, but that deal over at Fantasy Island has my interest piqued.

Soooo For those of you in the know, how does the diving compare?

Viz, currents, reef health, sea-life, overall impressions....?

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Just fishing for some opinions.... I'm planning a summer dive trip, and thought we'd be heading back to Coz, but that deal over at Fantasy Island has my interest piqued.

Soooo For those of you in the know, how does the diving compare?

Viz, currents, reef health, sea-life, overall impressions....?

two different locations.....Cozumel known for it's drift diving and swim throughs and not really any shore diving to speak of

Roatan very little drift diving nice sloping walls lush corals and some shore diving depending on where you stay..FI does have shore diving...

since you have been to Cozumel and never been to Roatan you should give it a try...I never compare places I have been....I love each one of them for different reasons

 

[Doc]

With a probing analysis, many Divers who enjoy Cozumel also focus heavily on the after-diving activities.

On Roatan, there isn't much neon signage, and none anywhere near Fantasy.

So far.

 

[kixy1]

We're not the nightlife crew here... so the idea of being "stuck" at the resort is just fine

We're just curious how people think the two compare. We'll miss the ease and fun of drift diving (getting lazy in our old age?), but I imagine that the reefs are in better shape here? What's the vis like, currents? Amount of sea life?

I think we're going to head on down as we haven't been before, and it's definitely on the Caribbean diving bucket list.

Dive, eat, laugh, dive, stare out at the water, eat, laugh, drink, relax, sleep. REPEAT..... Good friends and good diving will always result in good times!

 

[pelagic_by_nature]

Dive, eat, laugh, dive, stare out at the water, eat, laugh, drink, relax, sleep. REPEAT..... Good friends and good diving will always result in good times!

Sounds like you'll love FIBR. In a different thread, I heard someone call Fantasy Island a "dive camp". I would say that's pretty accurate. My only regret after going to FIBR is that I didn't take advantage of the shore diving like I should have. I was there as a brand new diver, and solo. It's where I did my check out dives. When I return, I will certainly dive more. You could easily do 4 or 5 dives a day without breaking a sweat.

 

[robint]

With a probing analysis, many Divers who enjoy Cozumel also focus heavily on the after-diving activities.

On Roatan, there isn't much neon signage, and none anywhere near Fantasy.

So far.

not true at all, RoatanMan. Cozumel has been a frequent stop for us, 7 trips there in fact, and we are not partiers. We do 3-4 dives per day there, in bed by 9pm each night. It all depends where you stay in Cozumel, we now are huge fans of ScubaClub which is very similar to CCV.
My trip report from April: Cozumel - April 2010

I have been to Roatan and Cozumel both in past few years and I have some comments on the comparison.

Cozumel = drift diving, usually 2 boat dives in am, reefs are not close to shore so there is a boat ride of 15-60 minutes, lots of swimthroughs and dramatic walls, clear vis, lots of fishlife. Boats drop off divers then pick them up at end of dive... you must follow the DM and stay together. Some dive sites are very crowded. Our last dive trip there was 2 months ago, I would rate the diving an A- (biggest negative for me is how many divers/boats are at each site and the fact that the drift sometimes means you can't see much as you are flying so fast!).

Roatan, southside (Fantasy Island and Cocoview Resort) = 3-4 boat dives per day, reefs are close so only 5-30 minute boat ride average, dramatic walls but not so many swimthroughs, vis is less than Cozumel but still pretty good if weather is good, macro fishlife is great especially seahorses, pipefish, etc. Since there is very little current, boats are usually moored and you follow DM or go off on your own, meet back at boat in 60 minutes max. You can stop and watch things, enjoy the reefs more than Cozumel in that respect. A couple of dive sites - Mary's Place and Calvin's Crack are similar to deeper sites on Cozumel. I would rate the diving a B+.

We stayed at Cocoview Resort in Roatan and absolutely loved it. The dive op there is the best we have ever dealt with anywhere in world. DMs great, boats fantastic, dive gear rooms big and right at each boat.... Food great, rooms right over water.
I can't really comment on Fantasy Island, just read many mixed reviews here so I know we wouldn't stay there, especially after experiencing CCV.
My trip report: http://www.rnrscuba.net/CCV_Trip_Report.html

robin

 

[CODMAN]

Kix, it's really hard to compare one destination with another. And not really fair. I really liked the diving (FIBR, south side Roatan). But if I compared it to SE-Asia, it would get a D... So would all the destinations in the caribean... Nevertheless, I still think the diving in Roatan is excellent; I don't try to compare it to my experience in Asia...

Honnestly, the diving there is very good. The south side is known for small macro critters (don't expect whale sharks...) and while I was there vis was 60-90 feet about. FIBR is no luxury resort. But clean safe, cheap and an awesome deal for getting a ton of diving done!

Plus, you've never been, so why not try something new? As long as you're not expecting pelagics (bring your eagle eyes for small stuff), or 5 star resorts, I think you'll like it... Most people do...

 

[Sloeber]

I've stayed at both SCC and FIBR and will return to both. My experience echoes robint rather closely with the exception I'd flip the A- and B+ grades perhaps. Cozumel offers better viz for sure, and the walls and swimthrus are dramatic no doubt. I thoroughly enjoy the feeling of drift dives and soaring like an eagle over a reef wall. But I like critter hunting moreso, which you simply cannot do at Coz. So you get to "find" more reef life in Roatan, where in Coz you get what you can spot as you fly by. The biggest difference is perhaps the shore diving. At SCC it is fairly limited, and from what I'm told its one of the better (only) spots to shore dive on Coz. Don't get me wrong I spent 2-3 hours every day off the SCC shoreline - the only time I could critter hunt at Coz. However, the shore diving at FIBR blows away SCC. If the two spots were equal quality reefs (debateable either direction), Coz would win points on the viz, but FIBR would crush SCC for the shore diving, and thus why I say I'd personally flip the A- to FIBR and the B+ to SCC. Now if only shore diving at FIBR was easy as it is at SCC, I'd likely never go back to SCC.

If you look at my Cozumel photos (5 pages) you'll likely recognize a fair amount of the basic scenery. You'll notice very little macro photos mostly because the prevailing currents. When you do see macros its because it was the shore dive off of SCC. I'm a macro photo kinda guy, so when you look at my Roatan pics you'll notice way more diversity. Just looking at my photo albums of each I can tell where I enjoyed my diving more.

In a nutshell, if you've done Coz before, but not Roatan, go to Roatan. At worst you won't regret your choice and you'll get some world class diving in. At best you never go back to Coz.

HTH

 

[georoc01]

I love both places. Cozumel for its ease of access (its the only place in the Caribbean I get direct flights to) and I really like the diving in Roatan. You didn't mention where in Cozumel you stay, but remember in FIBR it is an AI. If you are someone who likes to be closer to town, I stayed in the West End and did the more cozumel like two boat dives in the am and one in the pm type experience. I go to Cozumel annually, and just returned from my 3rd trip to Roatan.

I'd say the diving is similar along the same reef system. Vis is going to be less because you don't have the current clearing the water the way it does in Cozy. But the water is warm and the diving is about as easy as I have encountered anywhere. Plus some of the group requirements with diving in strong current isn't as much of an issue.

I'd definitely check it out. We like it quite a bit.

 

[kixy1]

Well folks, that's just what I was asking for! Many thanks.

I love the idea of being able to poke around and search for the little stuff (thanks for pointing that out Sloeber!). Not worried at all about staying at the resort. The last time we were in Coz (we stayed at Blue Angel and loved it!) we ended up heading to the store for cheese, crackers and fruit so we could use our "dinner" money for more diving. I think we went out once.

Lest you think that's sad, you need to understand that we're two moms, who live, I mean love to dive....Unfortunately, as we get older, the water here (Seattle) seems colder... We've begun to live more and more for our annual warm water trip. Just us, no kids, no husbands, no cooking, no cleaning, and NO DRYSUIT with 30 pounds on my waist! We just enjoy diving and relaxing. Give us an ocean, some grub, a decent place to sit and enjoy the view (sunsets and dive masters ) and we're good. Throw in a few beers, and well, we call that heaven.

So it looks like we're off to Fantasy Island! Da plane boss, da plane! Ok... feel free to groan, but I just had to say it once. Sorry.

Happy diving ya'll!