Question Roatan - Land-based or Liveaboard?

[Kharon]

Couple of vids to give you an idea what CCV was like two weeks 2016 (most likely declined since then). Poor vis, few and small marine life, plastic in the water everywhere. And boy scout camp food.

 

[KevinG58]

I'm a multi-time guest at Coco View and the Reefhouse (it's been a few years since my last visit to the latter) on Roatan. I've done one Roatan Aggressor trip.

I had a good time on the boat and I'm glad I did it, but one and done for me. I really like the overall operation, and potential for independent diving, at Coco View.

 

[drrich2]

Aggressor Fleet runs occasional big sales (like >30% off close to Black Friday); I would not pay list price (note: pay attention to dates, in case the special price puts you in hurricane season; might be worth the risk to you, but be aware). CocoView Resort tends to not 'go on sale,' so no need to time it.

I really enjoyed my CocoView Resort trip; I enjoyed Aggressor liveaboard trips to Belize, the Caymans and Turks & Caicos.

CocoView Trip Report May 2021 - Trip Report - CocoView Resort May 8-15, 2021

My Research Notes from planning a Roatan Trip - My Research Notes from Planning Roatan Trip

 

[Barrel SpongeBob]

I would do it if you were guaranteed to be visiting sea mounts and Cayos but they stop at pretty mundane sites around Utila (one of them 50 yards from my house).

I felt Cayos was also very mundane. Less boat traffic for sure. Easy diving, very private. I went on a day trip, did not go Aggressor for Roatan.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Where the liveaboard visit is all up to the captain. When I visited, they didn't do the north due to the wind. Didn't do Utila due to it not opened yet from Covid. Cut short Cayos/seamounts day due to increasing wind. Some sites were repeated (at least it was by popular choice) because they ran out of sites to go. But we did do the shark dive twice.

They will almost always go to Cayos, as they will see which day of the week is the calmest and head out there that day.

 

[abdallas]

We just returned from a 13 day trip to Roatan - stayed at TranquilSeas resort, dove with Best Dive Roatan and I can't recommend them highly enough. The resort is small and personal and the dive shop offered a high quality experience with an excellent staff.

Our dives offered a variety of experiences centered around what we enjoyed. The dives were varied and interesting with a lot of opportunities to experience structures, swim throughs, caves and sea life.

 

[tarponchik]

We did both south (Fantasy Island when it operated, next to Coco) and north (TBR) of Roatan and haven't noticed much difference. No waves in the north, no sir. FI and Coco have a bonus of shore diving; however, since visibility at the wreck and their house reef wall is only good in the morning, we had to wake up at 5 and dive there before the boat trip. We actually liked diving in the north better because the landscapes were more variable. For a change, TBR did a couple of dives in the south, including the famous Mary's Place.

 

[oberstpac]

The only comparable to the Roatan Aggressor is Coco View. $3200>3500(+) vs $1900 (inclusive) from a quick search

CCV sits on the South side of Roatan, exactly where any liveaboard is forced to stay because of: 1) wind and wave, and 2) high fuel costs. (Do not begin to count on Utila, Seamounts or Cayos)

The ship does not move to any different u/w experiences as much as the hype would infer.

Both have their die hard fans, very few have done both. I’ve done the Bay islands 3x shipboard, 30x at CCV.

Liveaboard has less sand fles, CCV doesn’t rock.

Which is more expensive... the liveaboard or the land based ?

 

[USdiver1]

LOB, in Doc's example the Roatan Aggressor, is the more expensive. Land based [Coco View] is less $$.