Roatan in December

[SeaHorist]

Interested in diving in Roatan but the ideal time is late December/January. Wondering about conditions that time of year. We’re already aware that is a busy time there but are mostly concerned with getting shut out should there be some wind/waves.

We have dove Cozumel during the same time and have been pretty lucky but if the wind picks up there (as can happen in the winter) the diving gets completely shut down. This is for a few reasons that might be unique to Cozumel so I wonder if the same or similar can happen in Roatan.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[Gdog]

I dove Roatan in November actually during Tropical Storm Sara. Dove out of Barefoot Caye, the runoff from all the deluge hadnt reached that far and diving was good.
Last February spent 6 weeks in West End, dove maybe 35+ dives. Several ray spottings, a nurse shark, a couple green morays out swimming in the water, lots of fish life. Sometimes it just seems right place right time. The dead coral seems to be about the same all over. The high water temps are devastating the reef.
I saw less fish life on the south (Cocoview) side, but the reef structure is very different from the West End side, just as Utila is different structure North and South. I do enjoy the walls as much as I enjoy the Coral heads on the WE side.
I have noticed a decline in aquatic life Caribbean wide over the past 20 years. And even here, in the PNW, our waters have very obviously changed. Starfish wasting disease has effected the entire chain of life. Additionally, some of the nudibranchs we used to see are much harder to find. I think our oceans are drastically changing, and not for the better. Dive it up while you can. I dont see it getting better, only worse.
As far as garbage in the water, yes, its not good. But stay away from the Phillipines.....they make Roatan waters look pristine in terms of garbage content. Either way its heartbreaking to see humanity destroy our own environment.

 

[tridacna]

As far as garbage in the water, yes, its not good. But stay away from the Phillipines.....they make Roatan waters look pristine in terms of garbage content. Either way its heartbreaking to see humanity destroy our own environment.

Just returned from two weeks in the Philippines. Not a scrap of garbage in the water in P.G. Luck of the draw I suppose.

I'm dreading my trip to CCV in March. Hope all the naysayers are wrong. 6th time there.

 

[Stoo]

Garbage is very much a function of wind I suppose. Wakatobi has always been on my bucket list. Then some friends went there for two weeks, one of them on their liveaboard. Apparently there was plastic all over the reef almost everywhere. We really need to stop using that crap.

I’ve been diving actively for 50 years and yes, the oceans and the Great Lakes are changing drastically. I did a 150’ in Georgian Bay two weeks ago and the water was 50° which is way warmer than it should be. That’s why there’s so much lake effect snow currently.

I haven’t worn a full wetsuit in the Caribbean in the winter months for at least 4 years… just a vest. I think it was 84° last December in Roatan.

 

[therookie]

I think some, but not nearly all, of the garbage in the water around the Bay Islands can be blamed on the islanders. Almost 20 years ago we rented a kayak at the Coral View resort in Utila and paddled from there on the south side through the mangrove-lined canal that runs to Rock Harbor on the north side. At Rock Harbor we were absolutely stunned at how much plastic garbage was littering the beach. When we got back to the resort and returned the kayak we commented on it and the staff said that a full beach cleanup had been done there literally the day before - what we saw that day was the result of one day of winds out of the north. Utila's population at the time I think was somewhere around 3,000 and they all lived on the south side, so I can't see any way it was their garbage on the north shore the next day. I also can't imagine how much garbage washes up on Utila's north shore these days if it was that bad twenty years ago...

For the OP, it takes some truly, truly awful weather for Roatan dive shops to not take customers out. We were just diving in Roatan in early December, based in West Bay - after Sara and also after a strong norther and during a light one that resulted in strong winds out of the north, some nasty rain, heavy seas (by Roatan standards, probably light to medium by Pacific Northwest standards ) and poor visibility. As a result our dives were split almost 50/50 between SW (Mary's Place was the farthest east we went on the south side) and NW (El Aguila wreck was the farthest east we went on the west side). Dives were all excellent despite the poor visibility, and our drift dive at the West End Wall was the fishiest dive I have ever done - among other things a couple of turtles, a pair of eagle rays, several porcupine fish, a green moray eel, Atlantic Spadefish and one of the largest schools of Creole Wrasse I have ever seen. Granted I have limited experience (certified three years ago), but that dive was epic for me. I agree with gdog above - sometimes you just gotta be a the right place at the right time.

@Gdog I am curious - how many days of diving did you lose around that slow moving Tropical Storm Sara?

 

[Gdog]

Just returned from two weeks in the Philippines. Not a scrap of garbage in the water in P.G. Luck of the draw I suppose.

I'm dreading my trip to CCV in March. Hope all the naysayers are wrong. 6th time there.

When we were in the Phillipines, in discussing the days dives that night, it would go something like this....."did you see the black hairy frogfish? No? He was right by that old diaper". Or..."was that a jellyfish? No...just a plastic bag." However, the life there was totally amazing and worth every second.
Will be our 6th time to Roatan as well.

 

[Gdog]

I think some, but not nearly all, of the garbage in the water around the Bay Islands can be blamed on the islanders. Almost 20 years ago we rented a kayak at the Coral View resort in Utila and paddled from there on the south side through the mangrove-lined canal that runs to Rock Harbor on the north side. At Rock Harbor we were absolutely stunned at how much plastic garbage was littering the beach. When we got back to the resort and returned the kayak we commented on it and the staff said that a full beach cleanup had been done there literally the day before - what we saw that day was the result of one day of winds out of the north. Utila's population at the time I think was somewhere around 3,000 and they all lived on the south side, so I can't see any way it was their garbage on the north shore the next day. I also can't imagine how much garbage washes up on Utila's north shore these days if it was that bad twenty years ago...

For the OP, it takes some truly, truly awful weather for Roatan dive shops to not take customers out. We were just diving in Roatan in early December, based in West Bay - after Sara and also after a strong norther and during a light one that resulted in strong winds out of the north, some nasty rain, heavy seas (by Roatan standards, probably light to medium by Pacific Northwest standards ) and poor visibility. As a result our dives were split almost 50/50 between SW (Mary's Place was the farthest east we went on the south side) and NW (El Aguila wreck was the farthest east we went on the west side). Dives were all excellent despite the poor visibility, and our drift dive at the West End Wall was the fishiest dive I have ever done - among other things a couple of turtles, a pair of eagle rays, several porcupine fish, a green moray eel, Atlantic Spadefish and one of the largest schools of Creole Wrasse I have ever seen. Granted I have limited experience (certified three years ago), but that dive was epic for me. I agree with gdog above - sometimes you just gotta be a the right place at the right time.

@Gdog I am curious - how many days of diving did you lose around that slow moving Tropical Storm Sara?

First of all, you are correct, when the north wind blows, it blows garbage, and sargassum in to shore like crazy.
For my last trip there, I was on my first and last cruise...got talked into becoming a "pod person" by my cousins for a trip. So we arrived and left same day. I called one of the drivers we use when we stay, he picked me up, the LDS we love had moved to the south side, so he dropped me off and picked me up when we were done. Most of the folks stayed aboard the ship as it was raining torrentially. We did 2 dives, Mary's Place, and the Mr Bud wreck. When we surfaced by the boat, you could barely make the boat out thru the freaking rain! But hey...underwater was awesome. So to finally answer the question, I didnt miss any dives! Was only there for the bulk of one day.

 

[therookie]

I was on my first and last cruise

That is not what I had envisioned at all when you mentioned diving during Sara!

Glad you were able to turn what must have been a miserable port day into something fun.