Roatan Trip Report

[ssroseberry]

I just returned from a from a six day five night stay in Roatan. We arrived on Monday afternoon and checked into Cocolobo. I was hesitant about staying here because on the internet maps I looked at it appeared to be quite a hike into town. I must say it is a very quick walk. There is a short cut that you can not see from and map or satellite image. The trail/road does get muddy after a rain, but so does the main street (which is about 1/3 paved and soon will be completely paved). It is just far enough away from town that you dont hear any music from the bars. There is a restaurant that is about a one minute walk away and it only takes about five minutes to walk into town. The lodging was very beautiful and quiet. We met a lot of great people there from all over the world and had a really fun time hanging out with them. I do recommend Cocolobo, and if you have any questions please ask.

We were scheduled to dive on the afternoon we arrived and the entire week with a dive center and we were wanting to do the shark dive. Our first dive was on Monday afternoon the day we arrived. I will start off by saying the dive center was very accomidating via e-mail and very friendly and after our experience did refund part of out deposit. Through email I was dealing with the owners. Our dive was with one of their dive masters on the south side of the island (due to weather on the north side).

I have never encountered a bigger prick of a dive master in my 21 years of diving. He was real big on not "over weighting" and didn't give my wife enough weight, and he liked to go slow so the group was going to go slow. Basically because he was the "Dive Master" we were going to do it his way, not the paying customers way. As soon as we submerged she was having trouble descending. I stopped to take a few pictures (with a Sealife DC1400 that I will post about in the photo section later {not impressed})and noticed him grab her, bring her to me and point to us to stay together. About five minutes later while she was trying to go deeper he grabbed her again and screamed at her underwater to stay calm. I could tell he was also trying to tell her to breath out to descend. After this I stopped taking pictures and stayed at her side. We were about ten feet above everyone else in the group because she couldn't descend. He came back over to her again, grabbed her spun her to face him and screamed at her underwater again. Then he spun her around and put a weight on her the BC tank strap. She finally was able to descend without a problem. About this time I noticed a fifteen year old girl in our group having trouble with her regulator and the dive master never noticed because he was to fixated on my wife. I watched back and forth between the dive master and the girl trying to swim closer to her and he never looked at her. Fortunately she was able to fix the problem. Things were fine for a little while until my wife had to start struggling to stay at the current depth. He came back over again, and again grabbed her spun her towards him and screamed at her underwater again. I noticed at this point the weight was no longer on the strap around the tank (hence her problem staying and struggle to stay with the group) he put a weight on the tank again acted like it was her fault. My wife was so upset at the end of this dive with the way she was bullied underwater that I almost didn't get her back in the water. It was not a fun first day for either of us.

The next day Tropical Storm Ernesto rolled in so we went to Serenity Day Spa in the West Bay. It was a great and much needed couples massage. They charged $100 total for two for fifty minutes. I thought that was a great price! and things were looking better for me. She said it was okay if I found a different dive shop, but she was only willing to do one dive and then decide if she would do more.

Wednesday morning I walked to Scubaroatanhonduras.com it is the first dive shop you pass if you are staying at Cocolobo. Rino and his wife own and operate it. They were great! My wife had a FUN wonderful dive and because of her past dives and Rino she was willing to do more.

We tried to do the shark dive while there, but were unable to. Aparently the people that schedule it are real flaky. You can not schedule it yourself, you have to do it through the dive shop. Our dive shop kept trying to schedule it for us, but kept getting the run around. Another couple we met diving with another shop had the same problem (I wonder if the save openings for the bigger dive shop/resorts on the island and fill in from the smaller operations if needed?).

It was a great trip after a rocky start and we look forward to doing it again. Next time I will be sure to exchange in to local currency before we go and I will take a lot of small bills. Nobody ever has change!!!! According to a few locals this is a common problem. If you pull US money out of the ATM's they will dispense $50 bills.

 

[Mike]

Ah the mucho macho dive master!

With the exception of him being in the right to tell you two to stay together, the rest is pure nonsense and out of line. My wife is very buoyant and every once in a while we get the mucho macho divemaster who wants to give her a lesson on weighting, after explaining to these types that she's been diving for 10 years, is rescue diver certified and taken peak buoyancy class not once but twice, if they don't back off from polite explanations it's time to tell em to f-off. If they try to touch her under water I wave them off, have even gotten in between them if I need to.

It sounds like you did the prudent thing, made a smart decision and dived with another operation and it turned out much better.

 

[drrich2]

I do recommend Cocolobo, and if you have any questions please ask.

Glad to read your report. I do have a few questions.

Roatan, like a number of other Caribbean destinations, has a number of dive resorts (or resorts & book your dive package separately I'm guessing) options, but a relative few achieve strong 'brand name' status on the forum. Here, I'd say CocoView is the one I read about the most, and Reef House Resort has been getting reviewed here lately, too.

So, what made you choose Cocolobo? Is it one that's been heavily reviewed here & elsewhere before? Just wondering whether you decided to roll the dice on a place that's not well known, or maybe it's very well known (just not to me).

Did they have shore diving? The other 2 I mentioned do, which is a real draw for some people.

Was your first dive part of a week long package deal (resort + diving) that you had to break up to change dive shops to some off-site place, or is Cocolobo just a lodging place and diving is done elsewhere?

Is Cocolobo all-inclusive? It was my understanding from an old post people diving Roatan tend to 'stay on the reservation' (resort grounds) more so than is typical of those staying on Bonaire, and I'm wondering whether you did a lot of eating out in town, etc...

Richard.

 

[JohnN]

Glad to read your report. I do have a few questions.

So, what made you choose Cocolobo? Is it one that's been heavily reviewed here & elsewhere before? Just wondering whether you decided to roll the dice on a place that's not well known, or maybe it's very well known (just not to me).

Richard.

Ahh, but there is more to the world than ScubaBoard. . . I know it's a bit of a shock.

After a bit of research I too picked CocoLobo for an upcoming vacation. It does quite well on Trip Adviser and as a combination of proximity to good dive operators and something for non-divers (because of a nasty traffic accident, my wife cannot dive), and proximity to largest selection of restaurants and bars in Roatan.

You also get to choose your dive operator. I've picked the most technical of all on Roatan, I'll let you know in a few weeks how it works out (but they're the only ones I could find with HP100's with EAN)

One of my prime rules is to never eat in the hotel I'm staying in. I have broken this a few times, but it has never led me badly wrong.

So no, not all-inclusive. No shore diving next to the resort (I'm told there is a sizeable cliff), yes you need to dive with someone else.

All-in-all a pretty nice combination to me

John N

 

[diversteve]

It was my understanding from an old post people diving Roatan tend to 'stay on the reservation

Mostly because the AI's - Cocoview, Fantasy Island, Anthony's Key, Reef House, Barefoot Cay aren't near much of anything else. Most of the West End/West Bay properties have shops/restaurants within walking distance. There's also a water taxi that runs between the 2 communities.

proximity to largest selection of restaurants and bars in Roatan.

That's certainly correct. Some to try: Tong's Thai, Argentinean Grille, Ooloonthoo (pricey) Rotisserie Chicken. Sundowners is the quintessential sunset beach bar - often there's divers there since several of the more popular shops are within a block.

No shore diving next to the resort (I'm told there is a sizeable cliff)

It's not exactly sizeable but getting out might be very interesting...the waves pound there pretty good at times. I rented a house just west of there.


You can get in next door at Seagrape but that has it's own set of challenges. Mostly you get in there and drift around the point into Half Moon Bay, get out at Half Moon Resort and walk back. As mentioned in the previous trip report, there's a shortcut also. Scuba Shore Diving Site Page for: Sea Grape - Roatan

Take a flashlight at night, it's pretty dark in that area and there's not much in the way of lights once past Half Moon Resort.

I've picked the most technical of all on Roatan

GoPro?

 

[ssroseberry]

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[JohnN]

Nice shots

 

[vcblklion]

Mostly because the AI's - Cocoview, Fantasy Island, Anthony's Key, Reef House, Barefoot Cay aren't near much of anything else. Most of the West End/West Bay properties have shops/restaurants within walking distance.

Ummm...Anthony's Key is a 10 min cab ride from West End. Cost me $5 for the cab.....the cab drivers were super freindly and the hotel called a cab for me.....I would dispute the "aren't near much of anything else" description...

 

[diversteve]

Ummm...Anthony's Key is a 10 min cab ride from West End. Cost me $5 for the cab.....the cab drivers were super freindly and the hotel called a cab for me.....I would dispute the "aren't near much of anything else" description...

And what else was around AKR? Except the few places along the road in Sandy Bay - the nearest "anything" is in the West End. And we both agree it's 10minutes by cab away - farther than I'd want to walk. And we did the drive 6x so I'm likely more familiar with it. Google earth puts it at about 2.5 miles from AKR's main entrance to the road into the center of the West End. I don't really consider that near - especially when walking along the side of the road in sweltering humidity.

I'll stand by my comment.

 

[ssroseberry]

My wife found Cocolobo on tripadvisor.com where it is one of the top rated for the west end. It is not an AI resort, but they do serve a delicious hot breakfast every morning with drinks.

It is possible to do smoe shore diving from the west end. I didn't personally do it, but did see others. I think it was a little dangerous because there is a lot of boat traffic.

From what I could tell, the AI's are far away from the west end or west bay. we wanted to experience the town and eat different places. For us it was perfect.