Roatan in January?

[Soggy_Diver]

Hi

We are thinking about a trip to Roatan in the first week of January. We are wondering if it is worth it, or if January is too rainy there. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Phil H.]

If diving is your focus for this trip, you might look into diving with operators who can also arrange diving on the south side when storms roll in from the north.

I‘ve been going to Roatan in early January for several years. Trips usually last two to three weeks and there’s generally at least one major weather event each trip that keeps north side dive operators at the docks due to rough seas. Storms usually blow through after a couple of days and we’ve used this land time to explore the island.

 

[Doc]

@Phil H. Great adevice, but Soggy should know that there are different levels of performance in that simple promise of, “oh sure, we dive the South side”.

A place like AKR puts everybody on shuttle busses and drives the divers 30 minutes to their own dock, you get 3 dives. Other shops take you by land vehicle, make sure you find an operation that will do that. Turquoise Bay has such a similar set-up, some far-east ops (like Pangea divers) slip thru a mangrove channel from the North to the south.

Some shops take you by boat, which limits the number of tanks you will have available.

The big problem if they take you by boat? The return trip into the heavy waves is a real fun time. Not. Anybody that says different…they were very lucky or have a higher bar for pain than I.

generally, winds blow from the ESE, keeping the West/North dive ops in the shadow of the breeze. During storm season (Oct>Mar), when it comes, it comes from the North, also affecting the West. When that happens, the South is flat.

Alternatively, see the South Side dive ops including Barefoot Key, Coco View and Reef House Resort.

 

[Mike_4635]

I was there last Jan on the Aggressor boat (live aboard). Good diving, conditions were fine. Did have some rain through the day and sometimes vis was about 50 feet, but no issues. Will be on the Aggressor again the first week of Jan.

 

[Doc]

I was there last Jan on the Aggressor boat (live aboard). Good diving, conditions were fine. Did have some rain through the day and sometimes vis was about 50 feet, but no issues. Will be on the Aggressor again the first week of Jan.

The Aggressor rarely, at that time of year, ever ventures to the West/North. While diving from the South side CCV dive sites, I usually see it 3, sometimes 4x a week, any day of the year, all seasons. It is usually visible for at least two days (Sun & Fri) on this webcam: Web Cams - CoCo View Resort < a GREAT way to watch the South side weather!

On a lot of winter days, AKR boats are camped offshore of the South side, at CCV’s shore dive multiple days/week.

This video shows a visual depiction of why the Aggressor stays where it does.

 

[covediver]

I was there the second week of January at CocoView. It did rain briefly nearly every day with longer and heavier rain at night. Visibility was affected at some of divesites but not that badly. It did not affect our diving. I plan on going back January 2024.

 

[Soggy_Diver]

Thanks for those really informative answers, and thanks to Doc for including that video! I also found this thread, which I had not seen earlier: When is the best time of the year to dive Roatan? We are looking at flights and hotels as well and will make a decision about when and where to go soon.

 

[Mike_4635]

I was there last Jan (second week) on the Aggressor. No issues with weather. Vis did drop down to about 50-60 feet in some locations. Water temp was about 80F. I am back the first week of Jan. Great crew, always making sure guests were taken care of. Great food.