Just got back early this morning (130am) from my Roatan trip. We stayed at Fantasy Island and accomodations were quite pleasant. The food was very good and the staff was very friendly and helpful.
The dive operation was well run in my opinion, though there were 26 in our group and we were all on one larger boat. I much prefer the smaller boats/groups like we had with Dive with Martin in Cozumel. Our divemaster was Nelson and the captain was Steve. They were both friendly and always looking for ways to help. I watched Nelson from time to time and it seemed he almost never breathed.
It was nice after the first two days, because different divers would start dropping dives and there was much more room on the boat, usually between 10-15 on a boat that would accomodate 30 I bet. One diver commented that he was on vacation and so he only did about half the dives and slept in the other times. My response was, I wasnt on vacation, I was there to dive.
They had divers sign a log before leaving the dock and then as they came in out of the water. Very efficient except for once when one diver got signed in twice (once by himself and once by his buddy) and another diver didnt sign in at all. Good lesson learned.
I tried attaching a few picts without success. I will post some on my website and post a link as soon as I can process the info. I returned with 16 CDs full of picts/video. I had a new camera with me so I was trigger happy just to try all the features and learn what to do/not to do. Hopefully there will be some good stuff in there. At least it is a good way to remember the dives.
I managed 22 dives, including one night shore dive and the PADI Wreck Specialty. My typical profile was 60-80' for the first half of the dive and then 20-40' for the return. About half of the walls topped out in 20-30' of water, but some were shallower and I would stay on the wall most of the return as well. I dove Nitrox all but one dive. I saw a max temp of 83f and a min of 82f. Vis was 60+ I would estimate. Better at times and slightly worse at times.
I was most impressed with the variety of coral and sponges and the abundance of smaller sea life. The walls were amazing with diversity of color and smaller fish. Most of the dives were on walls that bottomed well below rec limits -- sheer drop to 100+ feet and then a shallower slopes into the abyss.
There were considerable overhangs of coral and I would often find myself under some structure without even realizing it until the light changed.
The only larger species I saw were 4-5 green morays and a number of nice sized groupers. I did twice see quite a large fish, which I have been unable to identify. I got a faint picture of it and a bit of video at a distance. See the attached capture from video.
Several divers saw a small sand ray on one dive, and one diver (the first in the water) saw a very large eagle ray which quickly retreated as the other divers dropped in.
At the end of one dive some of the divers saw a very large blue marlin swim by along the top of the wall. The divemaster said it was the first one that he had seen in 8 years as a DM. I was already at the safety stop shooting video of the boat rocking and missed this one.
On several dives we saw small groups of squid and I got some good video on one of those dives. I will post more detail on the dives and more pictures when I get the chance.
Willie
The dive operation was well run in my opinion, though there were 26 in our group and we were all on one larger boat. I much prefer the smaller boats/groups like we had with Dive with Martin in Cozumel. Our divemaster was Nelson and the captain was Steve. They were both friendly and always looking for ways to help. I watched Nelson from time to time and it seemed he almost never breathed.
It was nice after the first two days, because different divers would start dropping dives and there was much more room on the boat, usually between 10-15 on a boat that would accomodate 30 I bet. One diver commented that he was on vacation and so he only did about half the dives and slept in the other times. My response was, I wasnt on vacation, I was there to dive.
They had divers sign a log before leaving the dock and then as they came in out of the water. Very efficient except for once when one diver got signed in twice (once by himself and once by his buddy) and another diver didnt sign in at all. Good lesson learned.
I tried attaching a few picts without success. I will post some on my website and post a link as soon as I can process the info. I returned with 16 CDs full of picts/video. I had a new camera with me so I was trigger happy just to try all the features and learn what to do/not to do. Hopefully there will be some good stuff in there. At least it is a good way to remember the dives.
I managed 22 dives, including one night shore dive and the PADI Wreck Specialty. My typical profile was 60-80' for the first half of the dive and then 20-40' for the return. About half of the walls topped out in 20-30' of water, but some were shallower and I would stay on the wall most of the return as well. I dove Nitrox all but one dive. I saw a max temp of 83f and a min of 82f. Vis was 60+ I would estimate. Better at times and slightly worse at times.
I was most impressed with the variety of coral and sponges and the abundance of smaller sea life. The walls were amazing with diversity of color and smaller fish. Most of the dives were on walls that bottomed well below rec limits -- sheer drop to 100+ feet and then a shallower slopes into the abyss.
There were considerable overhangs of coral and I would often find myself under some structure without even realizing it until the light changed.
The only larger species I saw were 4-5 green morays and a number of nice sized groupers. I did twice see quite a large fish, which I have been unable to identify. I got a faint picture of it and a bit of video at a distance. See the attached capture from video.
Several divers saw a small sand ray on one dive, and one diver (the first in the water) saw a very large eagle ray which quickly retreated as the other divers dropped in.
At the end of one dive some of the divers saw a very large blue marlin swim by along the top of the wall. The divemaster said it was the first one that he had seen in 8 years as a DM. I was already at the safety stop shooting video of the boat rocking and missed this one.
On several dives we saw small groups of squid and I got some good video on one of those dives. I will post more detail on the dives and more pictures when I get the chance.
Willie
