Roatan southside wall diving

[ronscuba]

Just got back from a week of diving at Cocoview.

Roatanman has pretty much said everything. Great macro as he said, but I was very surprised at the quality of the wall dives. Visability near the resort was low all week, but out on the walls things cleared up.

I found the walls, reef and corals to be in good shape with colorful tube and vase sponges. Huge barrel sponges too.

So if you shoot video or photo, take your wide angle lens too.

Here are a couple of screen grabs from my video showing the walls and reef. No color correction or editing done, these are raw image captures from my video tape.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

very nice love the barrel sponge shot....are you going to do a trip report...even though I have been there many times I always enjoy someone elses view

 

[ronscuba]

There have already been so many Cocoview trip reports, that I'll just give a quick summary of the things that surprised me.

Surpise Minuses:
Bugs. I got eaten where and when I didn't apply repellent. Including on my back and shoulders when I was sleeping. Wasn't expecting to get bitten so much while sleeping. They must like me, because my dive buddy didn't get bitten.

House reef visability was low all week and from what the DM's tell me that is typical with occassional clear periods depending on rain and the tides. Still plenty to see if you get close.

Not much fish life, but plenty of macro creatures and sponges.

Arrived Saturday at 11 A.M., didn't get to dive until 9:30 A.M. Sunday. This was my 1st time so I had to do orientation/evaluation. After seeing some of the other guests dive abilities, I can understand the need for an orientation/evaluation, but why wait until Sunday ? In my view, we lost a day and 1/2 of diving.

1 DM per boat can make things a little crowded down there when everyone is following his lead and looking at what he is pointing out.



Surprise Pluses:
Dive variety. Good macro and surprisingly good wall dives with healthy sponges and reefs.

4 boat dives a day an unlimited shore dives on the house reef, this is a great place if you want to do a lot of dives.

Service at the resort and dive operation was great all week. The setup and organization of the diving was fantastik.


Summary:
The pluses far outweigh the minuses, and I will definitely return. I shoot video and my dive buddy does photography. One of the ways we judge how good a place is by the amount of video tape used and the # of pictures taken. I can tell you that we filmed/photographed more than on any other 1 week trip we have done in the Caribbean.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Yeah that is funny about the sand flies...I usually get 4 or 5 bites all week w/o bug spray but some people look like they have the measles w/bug spray...go figure

Roatan is not really know for big stuff....it is the little stuff and the corals and sponges and walls that you go for....on occasion you might see a turtle or two and an eagle ray....the Front Yard has everything....I just love it there....one time we went out and it was so murky we couldn't even find the ship but after we went down and back on the wall it was crystal clear all the way up the chain....but yeah the tides and moon affect..

I am surprised you didn't get to shore dive that afternoon...but I guess they want the late arrivals to be in on the orientation too and the tour of the frontyard....now they have several flights in a day so it kind of messes them up with the schedule....when there was only one flight in from Houston....it got there late so it was the next day before diving was done....but it gave us time to unpack get a drink and get on island time....plus there is always snorkling...

it is a wonderful place....I just keep looking at the webcam on CoCoChat and dreaming of being there http://www.cocoviewresort.com/cam2.html of course doesn't look to good today with Dean looming....glad you had a great time...

Oh yeah recognize that ship on my avatar...that is me on the Mr Bud

 

[Doc]

I am surprised you didn't get to shore dive that afternoon...but I guess they want the late arrivals to be in on the orientation too and the tour of the frontyard....now they have several flights in a day so it kind of messes them up with the schedule....when there was only one flight in from Houston....it got there late so it was the next day before diving was done....but it gave us time to unpack get a drink and get on island time....plus there is always snorkling...

Even for those of us who have been there before and are thus excused from the orientation dive- we really don't bother with it on the first day. A few times, we have done a Saturday arrival Night Dive, but that was the time frame from arrival to prepared that worked. It is one thing to be in at the airport at 11 am, it's another to be at the resort, unpacked, rigged up and ready to dive. Just too much of a rush for most folks.

In recent days, we would arrive on Roatan at 5:45 p.m. on Saturday night. With these new flights, a lot of folks get the "I gotta dive" jitters with all of that daylight. A snorkel is the very best way to see what is out there- and yes- the shore dive is why you came! The Front Yard visibility does indeed vary. After rains it can be kind of goopy. Best time overall is just after the peak of high tide- but, as our new CoCoNut in Training (Ron) mentioned, you're up-close and looking at small criters, anyway- the longer viz is irrelevant. The same applies at night.

And as RonSCUBA also brings up another good point- the Orienation Dive is sometimes confused with a skills demo. The OD is only good if the diver has their skills in order so that they might truly understand the UW landmarks and architecture. To know the Front Yard is to lose all fear of being lost- any time, night or day. If you are having any difficulty during that orientation dive- you'll miss the tour.

So, even though you missed diving on Saturday... how many did you get?

Great Videos, btw!

 

[ronscuba]

I believe we did 23 dives. I'll have to check my dive computer. We only got in 2 night dives as the other nights thunderstorms and/or rough seas shut things down.

My dive video is almost done. I'll post a link later in the week.

 

[ronscuba]

Low resolution videos are now up on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0B12AFC6D5A84235


High resolution versions will go up on Stage6 later in the week.

http://www.ronrosa.com/p1h.wmv

 

[montychandler]

Exactly 1583 photo's taken... Of that, I've select 310 to process.. I have a lot of work to do.. The macro opportunity was unlike any other single destination I'd been to.. In fat it was more like a combination of many different places. Kind of a cross between St. Vincent & Curacao... Jawfish WITH EGGS!! Way too cool for this old guy.. Like a kid in a candy store..

Cheers,

 

[Doc]

Exactly 1583 photo's taken... Of that, I've select 310 to process.. I have a lot of work to do.. The macro opportunity was unlike any other single destination I'd been to.. In fat it was more like a combination of many different places. Kind of a cross between St. Vincent & Curacao... Jawfish WITH EGGS!! Way too cool for this old guy.. Like a kid in a candy store..

You point up the truly imponderable Roatan that I have grown to love.

Many divers walk away from Roatan decrying the lack of fish life, or mentioning that they saw a huge Green Moray, etc. Others, such as you, know about the "small stuff" The cool stuff is in the details.

For the diver with great observational skills and perfected buoyancy, you really can't beat the shallow lush walls of the South side.

In any given dive career, you'll have seen enough Lobsters, Baracudas and Parrot Fish to fill a book. How many ever notice that Jawfish.... much less the eggs in the mouth?

 

[montychandler]

You point up the truly imponderable Roatan that I have grown to love.

Many divers walk away from Roatan decrying the lack of fish life, or mentioning that they saw a huge Green Moray, etc. Others, such as you, know about the "small stuff" The cool stuff is in the details.

For the diver with great observational skills and perfected buoyancy, you really can't beat the shallow lush walls of the South side.

In any given dive career, you'll have seen enough Lobsters, Baracudas and Parrot Fish to fill a book. How many ever notice that Jawfish.... much less the eggs in the mouth?

And the list goes on... The Blue Mantis Shrimp at 4:30AM just starting to dig his new hole for the day, The pipefish, The myriad of colorful blennies, multiple little crabs about 2 CM's in size (several of which I still need to idenitfy), the juvenile slender filefish, the multitude of tobacco fish, banded coral shrimp, etc.. etc.. and yes there were several species of eels, those lobsters you speak of, crabs that would eat you if they could.. And let's not forget those little damselfish that kept biting me!!

Life everywhere I looked!!