agilulfo
Contributor
My wife and I stayed at the Reef House Resort for a week in February and overall we enjoyed our stay. The resort is rustic and it is mainly geared toward divers. Situated on a small cay off the town of Oak Ridge, the Reef House Resort does not offer much to do but dive. Larry, his wife, his daughter and his son in law are great hosts and did everything they could to make our trip memorable. The food was very good and plentiful even though breakfasts could use a little more variety (eggs most of the time). The menus are geared towards American patrons and for good reason. Not much local cuisine going on.
The dive operation is also very good even though it could use some upgrading. One of the boats is pretty old and the exhaust fumes made a few people sea sick during our stay (me included). The trade winds were blowing all week at a pretty steady pace. This, while keeping the bugs at bay, affected considerably our diving experience. Because of the trade winds, the seas were rough most of the time and on a few occasions dives were either delayed, shortened, or cancelled. One of the cancelled dives was the night dive. Upon booking the trip, one of my main concerns was the fact that the resort offered only one night dive. Well, the one night dive was cancelled because of rough seas. Regardless of the sea, it seemed pretty clear that neither Larry nor the divemasters are fans of the night dive (hence, one night dive per week), and for this reason they seemed, in my opinion, a little too eager to find a reason to cancel it (rather than reschedule it).
Same thing happened to the weekly trip to Mary's Place, which we were teased all week with and which, in the end, didn't happen. My wife and I would get up every morning hoping for the wind to calm down but to no avail. Larry kept insisting that the wind was very unusual but after reading other people's reviews and having done a little research (which I should have done before so, poor intel on my end), it seems to me that that's not the case. The resort is on the windward southeast side of the island and and that's where the trade winds hit first, channeling between the island and the coast of Honduras. Finally, the shape of trees around the resort (see picture) denote constant, one directional wind exposure. While the trade winds keep the temperature pleasant all week (even though by the end of the week they got a little unnerving), the sea was so rough that my wife and I could do only one shore dive during the entire week (I've included a picture of the dock to show how difficult the entrance was all week except for one day). On the last couple of days the dive boats kept going back to the closest dive sites due to the rough seas.
I must say that none of this is, of course, the resort's fault. Larry is a great guy but he can't control the wind. On the other hand I just want people to be aware of what to expect this time of the year. If anyone has had a different experience, please contact me as I would gladly change my review and see the experience as a fluke rather than a probability.
Finally, the divemasters could use a little more discretion when grouping people. Absolute beginners who would run out of air very quickly almost daily were put together with experienced divers thus shortening the dives for everyone. The dive sites are great. Mostly wall dives. I enjoyed the fact that we didn't see one other dive boat in the entire week so dive sites were quickly and easily accessible and not crowded. Not much fish life going on due to overfishing from the villagers but great variety of critters. All in all, my wife and I will probably go back during a different time of the year when the trade winds are not blowing constantly. My overall impression is that this is a great place for beginner and intermediate divers; not so much for advanced divers. Minuses aside, the Reef House Resort is a great value for the money and the hosts are excellent.
The dive operation is also very good even though it could use some upgrading. One of the boats is pretty old and the exhaust fumes made a few people sea sick during our stay (me included). The trade winds were blowing all week at a pretty steady pace. This, while keeping the bugs at bay, affected considerably our diving experience. Because of the trade winds, the seas were rough most of the time and on a few occasions dives were either delayed, shortened, or cancelled. One of the cancelled dives was the night dive. Upon booking the trip, one of my main concerns was the fact that the resort offered only one night dive. Well, the one night dive was cancelled because of rough seas. Regardless of the sea, it seemed pretty clear that neither Larry nor the divemasters are fans of the night dive (hence, one night dive per week), and for this reason they seemed, in my opinion, a little too eager to find a reason to cancel it (rather than reschedule it).
Same thing happened to the weekly trip to Mary's Place, which we were teased all week with and which, in the end, didn't happen. My wife and I would get up every morning hoping for the wind to calm down but to no avail. Larry kept insisting that the wind was very unusual but after reading other people's reviews and having done a little research (which I should have done before so, poor intel on my end), it seems to me that that's not the case. The resort is on the windward southeast side of the island and and that's where the trade winds hit first, channeling between the island and the coast of Honduras. Finally, the shape of trees around the resort (see picture) denote constant, one directional wind exposure. While the trade winds keep the temperature pleasant all week (even though by the end of the week they got a little unnerving), the sea was so rough that my wife and I could do only one shore dive during the entire week (I've included a picture of the dock to show how difficult the entrance was all week except for one day). On the last couple of days the dive boats kept going back to the closest dive sites due to the rough seas.
I must say that none of this is, of course, the resort's fault. Larry is a great guy but he can't control the wind. On the other hand I just want people to be aware of what to expect this time of the year. If anyone has had a different experience, please contact me as I would gladly change my review and see the experience as a fluke rather than a probability.
Finally, the divemasters could use a little more discretion when grouping people. Absolute beginners who would run out of air very quickly almost daily were put together with experienced divers thus shortening the dives for everyone. The dive sites are great. Mostly wall dives. I enjoyed the fact that we didn't see one other dive boat in the entire week so dive sites were quickly and easily accessible and not crowded. Not much fish life going on due to overfishing from the villagers but great variety of critters. All in all, my wife and I will probably go back during a different time of the year when the trade winds are not blowing constantly. My overall impression is that this is a great place for beginner and intermediate divers; not so much for advanced divers. Minuses aside, the Reef House Resort is a great value for the money and the hosts are excellent.
