Trip Report Roatan Trip Report: CoCo View, July 2018

[Ironborn]

What makes Roatan unique in the Mar Caribe?

Shallow, protected, Sunlit. No more or less to it.

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  Different depths, not hurrying. These drop off dives, essentially dive #2 and #4... You get those 2 per day times 4.5 days, so 9 in total...you get "the same dive" only four times in total.

If the weather is dead flat calm, return atop the CCV wall. Not at 25', nope....I mean in 5 feet. I have not found a better and more intact Caribbean Coral example. It is startling.

Hydraulics, which us what you're talking about, are a mathematical fact. I've really studied that Front Yard very hard, I'm the guy who painted that map on the big round table on the bar porch. Look at the geography. When the wind picks up, that basin overflows with surge. If the DM says no, you should agree. Suffice to say, if it's 6' plus out of the SE, you're going to be better off in the bar. It would be akin to landing a J3 in a 15mph sidewind. Doable but why bother?

Surge, per se, is a shallow water phenomenon. Current? Roatan has very little current at the commonly dived sites, the leading exception is Cara a Cara, the Shark Dive, but they rig the boats with proper lines, easy breezy.

Visibility is simply not what the Bay islands is known for. You figured out that macro is the name if the game. How much viz did you need exactly to see something the size of a Seahorse... Or smaller?

I'm thinking that you're way past most divers in learned perceptual abilities. The majority of divers are still gawking at and seeking "larger fish". Along their quest, they like to see wrecks (not understanding that wrecks are more than romantic rusty iron), pretty corals, and are subliminally attracted to variations in geographical reef architecture. I believe that viz (aka crystal clear gin visibility) is in that category. It is highly overrated. Want viz in the Caribbean? As far as accessible for easy travel, that would be Cayman, but we all know that.

In my experience and as stated in "the standard bible" by Paul Humaan of Caribbean Reef Coral ID, Roatan and the Bay Islands have to widest array and most plentiful concentration of Soft Corals. Paul was specifically referencing the protected South shallows you visited.

Again, your post was brilliant.

Thank you for mentioning the shallow depths, I forgot to mention that additional advantage of this part of Roatan. More ambient light and less gas consumption and nitrogen absorption. More critters at the shallow tops (20-30ish feet) of the walls, in my experience. Look at the wide-angle reef shots on my Instagram page, and you can see how shallow I often was, capturing the texture of the surface and some sunbursts in the background of the sea fans and the elkhorn coral.

Some have cited this shallow wall topography as a reason why they found Little Cayman diving to be so great. This part of Roatan had comparable depth/topography to many of its walls, but much denser reef growth and more critters, albeit of the smaller varieties. I would also agree that great visibility is overrated. What good is 100 foot visibility if it only highlights how sparse the reefs are, as in some parts of the Cayman Islands?

 

[Ironborn]

Excellent, practical report! Enjoyed it, and it has info. I'd be looking for to plan a trip there (which I hope to someday do). Doc's follow-up info. brought it even farther; why Roatan, and why CocoView Resort.

At least, for a diver. Traveling solo for a dive trip, it's what I'd pick. They don't take guests under 10-years old, and my wife & I have a 5-year old. From their FAQ:

"Are Children Allowed At The Resort?
Children 10 and older are welcome at CoCo View Resort, but must be under parental supervision at all times. Children are not permitted at the bar, but are welcome in outdoor bar seating areas."

Did you make it off to see any other part of the island? IIRC, I think it was one of Doc's posts several years ago, it was pointed out many Roatan dive tourists 'stay on the reservation' at their resort, maybe visit the main town, but don't wander all over the place like they do on Bonaire.

Richard.

Thank you for the positive feedback.

Having read your previous trip reports and other posts, I think that you would really like CCV, particularly for: the "terrestrial liveaboard" experience; the good value for the money; the shore diving that does not involve the risk of Bonaire-style sprained ankles and car break-ins; and the evident tolerance for solo diving.

I did not leave the resort because of my focus on diving, the cost and length of a taxi ride into the West End, and another factor I will explain below. One of the guests on my boat, however, did go to the West End for separate tech dives with a stand-alone dive operation there, as well as some of the local night life; he spoke well of both. I might consider staying in the West End on a future trip, if only to dive a different part of the island, get a feel for the local culture, and sample some of the nightlife. I have an interest in Latin America that pre-dates my certification as a diver (in fact, I discovered diving by chance during vacations elsewhere in Latin America).

The guest who went into town informed us that the Honduran Feds had instituted a 10pm curfew on Roatan due to a manhunt for drug smuggling suspects. The word was that anyone that the Federales caught out after 10pm would find himself with some serious problems (if he survived). I am not familiar with Honduras in general, but I learned from previous travel in other Latin American countries that one should often worry more about potentially corrupt or abusive police than those working in the illegal drug industry, and the 10pm curfew would have made a night out on the town impractical. So the West End will have to wait until the Feds and their curfew are gone.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Great report!! Thanks so much.

 

[Trailboss123]

Great trip report and pics- Very timely. I will be making my first trip to Coco View next week, arriving the 28th and very much looking forward to it. I sympathize with your travel woes and challenges. Getting to anywhere in the Caribbean for those of us on the West Coast is a real challenge due to the time changes and the proclivity of airlines to have "too early" departure times for the primary Caribbean hubs like Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Houston. My solution, which adds time and cost, but works best for most destinations (for me) is to usually fly United and go through Houston with an overnight layover in the Houston Airport Marriott. Example: I will fly into Houston next Friday and arrive at 6pm. I will shuttle to the hotel, which is inside the airport. I will be able to get a nice relaxed dinner and a good night's sleep and then get up and shuttle back to my gate in the morning and arrive in Roatan at 11:40am. My only other option would have been to do a Red Eye to Houston in order to catch the Saturday morning flight- but I detest Red Eye's, as they physically ruin me for a couple of days afterward and just aren't worth the wear and tear on my body. Fortunately, the time change usually works in my favor on the return, with the ability to get home the same day.

 

[Ironborn]

Great trip report and pics- Very timely. I will be making my first trip to Coco View next week, arriving the 28th and very much looking forward to it. I sympathize with your travel woes and challenges. Getting to anywhere in the Caribbean for those of us on the West Coast is a real challenge due to the time changes and the proclivity of airlines to have "too early" departure times for the primary Caribbean hubs like Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Houston. My solution, which adds time and cost, but works best for most destinations (for me) is to usually fly United and go through Houston with an overnight layover in the Houston Airport Marriott. Example: I will fly into Houston next Friday and arrive at 6pm. I will shuttle to the hotel, which is inside the airport. I will be able to get a nice relaxed dinner and a good night's sleep and then get up and shuttle back to my gate in the morning and arrive in Roatan at 11:40am. My only other option would have been to do a Red Eye to Houston in order to catch the Saturday morning flight- but I detest Red Eye's, as they physically ruin me for a couple of days afterward and just aren't worth the wear and tear on my body. Fortunately, the time change usually works in my favor on the return, with the ability to get home the same day.

Small world! I remember that you responded to my trip report on Belize that you were going there too on the same boat (the BAIII), and we had some similar assessments of the two different atolls. I guess we have similar interests and tastes.

I considered overnight layovers like the ones that you described for this trip and for my trip to Belize. The problem was not the cost of the hotel but the timing of the initial outgoing flights. Sometimes such an itinerary would have required me to take time off from work on Friday (which might be impossible or prohibitively difficult) in order to ensure that I get to the airport on time, and any vacation time that I would use adds to the cost (since I would cash out my remaining vacation time whenever I leave my employer). So I just bit the bullet and flew out of New York before the crack of dawn on a Saturday.

Personally, if I lived on the West Coast, I would go to the Philippines repeatedly, rather than or in addition to the Caribbean. Philippines Airlines flies direct to Manila from LAX and SFO, if I remember correctly, and their prices seemed quite reasonable (my 22-hour direct flight to Manila from JFK cost less than this connecting 7-hour itinerary to Roatan). The flight might be more taxing than a Caribbean itinerary like the one that you described (but certainly not as taxing as my 22-hour flight), but the diving would be vastly more rewarding.

 

[KevinG58]

One way to introduce a little variety is make your return trips at different parts of the year. While the ocean is ever-changing my observations over the last three years is there may be more fish life / activity later (June-July) than early (March-April) in the year. Completely unscientific!

Reefhouse Resort further east on the south side, is an option. Two 2-tank dives a day. Sometimes their boats head west but the real plus of RHR is the boats regularly go further east. Less diver pressure there. Shore diving at RHR is hit or miss, there's a beautiful house reef out there but the access point is not protected, you have to navigate coral heads in potentially significant surge and often it's simply not do-able.
RHR is a smaller operation and more rustic than CCV. And a little cheaper.

The airline situation for Roatan is what it is. It's almost always a red-eye departure from California for me. There is the option to fly at a more human hour and layover at Houston and arrive somewhat refreshed the next day. The past two or three years UA schedules have forced a overnight layover in Houston on the return flight to California.

 

[Ironborn]

One way to introduce a little variety is make your return trips at different parts of the year. While the ocean is ever-changing my observations over the last three years is there may be more fish life / activity later (June-July) than early (March-April) in the year. Completely unscientific!

Reefhouse Resort further east on the south side, is an option. Two 2-tank dives a day. Sometimes their boats head west but the real plus of RHR is the boats regularly go further east. Less diver pressure there. Shore diving at RHR is hit or miss, there's a beautiful house reef out there but the access point is not protected, you have to navigate coral heads in potentially significant surge and often it's simply not do-able.
RHR is a smaller operation and more rustic than CCV. And a little cheaper.

The airline situation for Roatan is what it is. It's almost always a red-eye departure from California for me. There is the option to fly at a more human hour and layover at Houston and arrive somewhat refreshed the next day. The past two or three years UA schedules have forced a overnight layover in Houston on the return flight to California.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Since I already did this trip in the middle of the year (July), is there another time of year that you would recommend as different but still a good time to visit?

RHR sounds interesting, and I cannot recall reading about them in my research. How would you compare the difficulty of their shore entry to the typical shore entries of say, Bonaire's west coast? What you described sounds quite a bit rougher than CCV's shore entry but not that unusual for some parts of Bonaire.

 

[Doc]

Since I already did this trip in the middle of the year (July),..is there another time of year that you would recommend as different but still a good time to visit?

I like March -> June the best, but even reaching into the Caribbean Trop Storm season as far into it as August... I enjoy the volume of feeding activity in the July/August time. The water column is just pulsing with life, everything is eating and being eaten. Night dives are the point of the 7th and 8th month! Great stuff, but weather might turn to puppy poop.

RHR sounds interesting, and I cannot recall reading about them in my research. How would you compare the difficulty of their shore entry to the typical shore entries of say, Bonaire's west coast? What you described sounds quite a bit rougher than CCV's shore entry but not that unusual for some parts of Bonaire.

On the South side, RHR and Media Luna (MLR) both have shore dives that allow for easy physical entries. MLR makes tanks and access available but not really in the "dive resort" model, you got some hoops and time restrictions. RHR is a real deal dive resort, but it is very small, meaning the boats are a bit marginal. They have had some serious ups and downs financially in the last two decades including losing their first real-deal dive boat, but they manage to hang on. Their shore dive is also a very easy to access, it is protected from the open ocean by concrete pier walls.

Both MLR and RHR would appear to have the same "frontage" facing the ocean as a seemingly similarly situated CCV, but no. CCV's frontage is narrow and is tucked behind two different coral walls, well protected. MLR and RHR look directly upon whatever the ocean dictates that day. However... If it's rough, you can stay behind MLR's iron shore namesake shaped promontory, or at RHR just stay behind the pier ramparts. Excellent muck/night dives if you can't get out to the very nice sloping reef structure. It is not CCV, but it will do for the 10-15 dives a week guest.

Otherwise, in this before described sweet zone of Roatan, there is FIBR (Fantasy) which has been allowed to deteriorate to substandard, although their dive op struggles past the resort management and still earns a solid C from me. Same shore dive as CCV except that it's a major hump to get there from the dive op, and you first have to swim under a very active narrow and shallow channel, through about 75yds of murk.

The other current option is Barefoot Key (BFK) which is a nicely constructed resort islet that is unfortunately kerplunk in the middle of a brightly lit noisy industrial harborage. Their dive op I'd give a B+ on a curve, only dinging it for the comparatively lesser dive count availability and no shore dive (no matter what their website claims). It's got a good rep for service, food, the kind of stuff that makes a Tiger Woods tie his yacht up so he can go play golf.

[On Bonaire, I wear a pair of Crocs to get thru the coral rubble, clip them to my BC and carry +1# extra weight to offset their buoyancy]

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for taking the time to write such an excellent and comprehensive report, @Ironborn, so glad that you had a great trip!

Regarding The Reef House, we stayed there during our first trip to Roatan but that was 20 years ago. The link below is for a more recent report of TRH written by @Stoo and I think that it is an honest and balanced report. His descriptions are consistent with our memories of Oak Ridge, TRH, and the diving. It is a rustic place and a great bargain and we had a lot of fun - but once was enough and we are not interested in returning to The Reef House.

Trip Report - ReefHouse Resort, Roatan

 

[Doc]

Regarding The Reef House, we stayed there during our first trip to Roatan but that was 20 years ago.

Back in the day that Mike was the manager for Dave in Texas?
I enjoyed his little bit of paradise.