Roatan - early April 2011

[Brodydog]

I will add in my 2 cents here.

I agree with RoatanMan and Robint that multi dives in one day are best done at an all inclusive. If you are only wanting to do 3 dives a day max and you are doing that for 4 days max, I would think that is do-able. If you want more than 3 dives a day or more than 4 days, then I would definitely do an AI. Like Robint I have done the multi dive thing a few times at non AI locations. Doing 4 or 5 dives a day at a non AI location is VERY tiresome. And usually I had to pack a lunch to eat in between the morning dives and afternnon dives because there was no time to go anywhere for lunch.

At CCV they will set your gear up on the boat for you before every boat trip you take. You do the 2 am boat dives, eat lunch, 2 afternoon boat dives, eat dinner and rest, then do a night shore dive. Of course you can do more shore dives and fewer boat dives if you wish. You have your 5 dives in and you are so much more relaxed because the crew did most of the work for you.

I have never stay at Fantasy Island but if money was a concern and I did not care if my room wasn't quite as nice (just from what I have read from some reviewers) then I would consider staying there.

If I were you I would start by seeing who if any AI will allow you to stay for less than 1 week and get the price for that. Then compare to a couple of the other places you are interested in staying and taking into account the price for the resort, dive package, any additional dives you want to add on, and then tack on some money for food.

If money is a factor (and for me it usually is) then you might be able to narrow your decision down by looking at total trip cost. If you want to get in a lot of diving then an AI is not as expensive as it first appears.

 

[jlevine]

A couple of minor comments. First, there are resorts that do not label themselves as "all inclusive" but will offer you a meal plan. Las Rocas is one. They have a dive shop on site. If you want, they will include a full meal plan for you.

In terms of pay-by-the-dive or pay-up-front, personally I prefer pay by the dive. What Las Rocas does (forgive me...I've stayed there a lot) is they will typically price the dives based on the number you have done. So, if you do 10 dives, you'll get one price per dive. If you do 20, you'll get a lower price per dive. It's up to you.

Also, if you pay up front for all the dives...please ask your resort what will happen if you don't feel like diving for whatever reason. Also, what if you are the only person to show up for a certain dive, will they go out?

In terms of the number of dives you want to do per day, that factor itself will help you narrow down the selection. Some resorts only do three dives a day *at most*. So, if you have your heart set on four per day, that will eliminate some. However, if you want to do four dives per day, find out how long the dives are and what the surface interval is in between. That will affect your dive time. For example, in another country I dove in, the shop ran two dives in the morning and two in the afternoon but the dive times and the surface intervals were short. Never again! You may get better dive times with a shop that runs three dives per day rather than four because of the longer surface intervals. Don't forget about oxygen loading!

Lastly...I recommend you not go to Roatan during Semana Santa (Holy Week) April 17-24, 2011. The island will be packed.

Sorry for rambling! Have a great vacation!

jsl

 

[Doc]

Excellent thoughts on diving in general, and in particular Roatan, from JLevine.

Here are the details of Las Rocas....

5-Dives Package $160 ($32)
10-Dives Package $300 ($30)
15-Dives Package $375 ($25)

More at Roatan Diving - Wet'n Wild Dive Center @ Las Rocas Resort

 

[jlevine]

Geez...I wrote that late at night. I should have said "nitrogen loading" not "oxygen loading." Sorry!

 

[RTBDiver]

This has gotten to be quite the informative thread, unfortnately most of the info likely will mean little. As I recall the OP is looking at 2-2.5 days diving total so right away we know cost is not an issue and a buddy may be getting certified so number of dives are not an issue

 

[LynnB]

A couple of minor comments. First, there are resorts that do not label themselves as "all inclusive" but will offer you a meal plan. Las Rocas is one. They have a dive shop on site. If you want, they will include a full meal plan for you.

In terms of pay-by-the-dive or pay-up-front, personally I prefer pay by the dive. What Las Rocas does (forgive me...I've stayed there a lot) is they will typically price the dives based on the number you have done. So, if you do 10 dives, you'll get one price per dive. If you do 20, you'll get a lower price per dive. It's up to you.

Also, if you pay up front for all the dives...please ask your resort what will happen if you don't feel like diving for whatever reason. Also, what if you are the only person to show up for a certain dive, will they go out?

In terms of the number of dives you want to do per day, that factor itself will help you narrow down the selection. Some resorts only do three dives a day *at most*. So, if you have your heart set on four per day, that will eliminate some. However, if you want to do four dives per day, find out how long the dives are and what the surface interval is in between. That will affect your dive time. For example, in another country I dove in, the shop ran two dives in the morning and two in the afternoon but the dive times and the surface intervals were short. Never again! You may get better dive times with a shop that runs three dives per day rather than four because of the longer surface intervals. Don't forget about oxygen loading!

Lastly...I recommend you not go to Roatan during Semana Santa (Holy Week) April 17-24, 2011. The island will be packed.

Sorry for rambling! Have a great vacation!

jsl

We have stayed at Las Rocas and loved it. The diving was great with wonderful people. Personally for me 3 dives a day is a day full. It does not mean that I am not going on a dive vacation.
This past summer we stayed at FIBR and enjoyed it also. Different diving but would I say that one was any easier than the other for what I want... NO.
They both did a great job. Of course at FIBR you have the big dive boat which you don't have at Las Rocas but at Las Rocas there was usually the four of us and one other on the dives..
We didn't have a full boat at FIBR so that was great too...
Either way you won't go wrong...

 

[BDSC]

Well If I had to put a plug in for any resort it would definitely be the Reef House Resort. We were there last month and Mike and his staff were great! I don't know that I have ever been to ANY resort where the owner himself works as hard as Mike does to make sure you have a great time.

I have stayed before at Bay Island Beach Resort (now closed) and CocoView and enjoyed both. Well run operations. But when I go on a dive vacation my main focus is to DIVE and without a doubt, the dive sites RHR visited were superior to the dive areas at the other resorts. The area they dive is pretty much all for them. We never saw another dive operation the entire week. The shore dive there is also excellent. One final thing to point out about the diving is they do three dives a day but all three dives are DIFFERENT locations. Then you can do all the shore diving you want. While CocoView will say they do 4 boat dives a day, 2 will be different locations and the other 2 will be the drop-off right in front of the resort. Nothing wrong with that but just wanted to point that out.

While I liked the food at CocoView OK, it was just OK. The food at RHR is excellent in my opinion and that was the opinion of the other 17 in my group and several of them had been to both resorts.

The ride from the airport is no big deal at all. We're talking about an additional 25 to 30 minutes......not hours. They are also less expensive by several hundred dollars.

P.S. If you arrive on the early Delta flight on Saturday, you can either do a boat dive or shore dive that day!

 

[Bay Island Diver]

My Point remains the same, It is not true that doing three dives a day anywhere but an AI is impractical, which is what Roatanmans original post suggested. Two morning dives and one afternoon dive allows approximately 1.5 hours for lunch. 3 Dives a day can therefore easily be done whether you go the AI route or not.

RTB Diver - It is rare for dive ops on either side to cancel dives, since most move their boats to the calmer side of the island to allow them to keep diving. In the winter months you will often see the boats of North Side ops working from the south side, in the summer months you will often see boats of the south side ops working the North side.

Ignoring any special deals that can be found and often represent fantastic value, the point at which an AI becomes the obvious choice, is when you want to do 4 or more dives a day.

 

[Bay Island Diver]

Based on Advertised Prices:
Cocoview 1 week in April 5 nights $1049

West End dive op and West End hotel (Posada Arco Iris)
5 nights at $42/night = 210
3 Days diving 3 dives a day
1 Day with just 2 dives to allow 24hr preflight interval = 11 dives@$30 = $330
A total of $540
That would mean that before Cocoview became cheaper, you would have to spend $560 on food and drink. For that price you can eat like a King! ($5/breakfast, $15 Lunch and $25 dinner)


If you chose the more likely option of six nights with a sat-sat or sun-sun flight:
Cocoview $1099

West End option $252 Hotel
14 day Dives 2 night dives $500
leaving a budget of $427 for food (a GOOD Breakfast $5 Lunch $15 a good Dinner $25) = $270
Taxi to and from airport to the West End $50
Total Cost $1072 (Non alcholic beverages inc coffee free of charge at dive shop)

So after doing the not so tricky math you need to do 4 dives a day everyday before the AI option becomes preferable to the West End option.

Average walking distance between hotel and diveshop 100 yards, hotel to a selection of restaurants 50-800 yards so no need for any taxis other than to and from the airport.

In conclusion:
If you want to do 2 days with 4 dives and the rest of the week 3 dives a day, the West End is a good option, the best part being you are not limited to i restaurant all week long, I have painful memories of arriving at inclusive resorts, finding the food terrible and not being able to do anything about it. Great way to ruin a vacation in my mind, that is the main reason I choose vacations that give me as much freedom to choose where I dine/dive and stay as possible. If the room sucks you can move, if the DM or boat sucks you can change dive op, if the food sucks, change restaurant.

 

[RTBDiver]

If you chose the more likely option of six nights with a sat-sat or sun-sun flight:
.

Wow!!
A lot of info for someone with 2-2.5 days diving and maybe less if they wait for their buddy to get certified. Get over the week long BS, The OP said they planned 4 nights, Can you offer a plan that fits the OP's schedule?