Trip Report Roatan, Turquoise Bay Resort, Subway Review- Long, but complete

[dmaziuk]

If you are wanting a night dive, you skip the afternoon dive and make it the evening instead?

There's one night dive "included"....Is the night dive available every night or how much charge for more?

Nobody in our boat "requested more" night dives, the one included was that. No idea what they'd charge for more.

We booked an extra day over the standard "package" (which confused their on-line booking system and then confused us when we looked at out booking details later), and that ended up with Darren driving us over to Frenchys and just the three of us diving Mary's Place and Missing Link.

When diving on the South side we are able to do two boat dives per day instead of three. This scenario may happen between December and March because of strong Northerly wind

The package includes a trip to the Kays and that's a two-tank day. You also can book the shark dive through them, again, nobody in our group did so I don't know how that works out or how much it is (it is an extra run by a different op). I'm assuming that would take the entire morning and you'd be back for the afternoon dive if there is one.

Any more details you can supply on this property would be appreciated as many posters come here to inquire. One of the other major questions that I see frequently regard the availability of shore access. My experience locally was pre-resort time period, I don't recall any access, but people do have varying views and ongoing questions. Any comments there?

No shore access to speak of. They'd probably let you take the gear out for a splash out front, but the bottom is mostly black goo, at least near the beach.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Sorry, I missed the notification that there had been questions.

Our day would start between 8 and 830 depending on the length of the boat ride. Dive masters chose the location, and it seemed to be a prearranged schedule to some degree. There were dozens of mooring balls on the way to each dive, so if your in the mood for something specific, I would bet they could accommodate you if the group agreed. Wreck dive was Wednesday, Island was Thursday. Those days were only 2 tank dives with no afternoon dive. All of us were first time Roatan visitors so we did not know any locations anyway. We did ask for Rockstar again on Friday and that was no problem.

Rockstar was the divesite that really stood out as having something for everyone. Swimthroughs, pinnacles, wall, etc.

The night dive was scheduled. I believe it was on one of the days with an afternoon dive so we did 4 dives that day. I don't know if you could do a night dive with another Subway boat on a different day or not. It's Roatan, money rules, I'm sure they would if you paid for it.

Your BC would already be on your tank and on the boat. We would grab our mask, fins, and wetsuit out of our locker and head to the boat. It is a small resort so everything is very close. Our room was one of the farthes away from the shop and it was under a 5 minute, slow, walk. After the dive, if you wanted to leave your wetsuit on a hanger outside, they would move it to your locker at the end of the day. Some days my regs were already hooked up, some days not. Absolutely no big deal. I was diving an AL100 with nitrox so it had to be tied off around the tank valve and would not fit in the tank racks. (Make sure your untied BEFORE you try to stand up...lol) I only had one short fill of 2700 or so, I wasn't worried because of the larger tank and we had several in our group diving 80's that used lots more air than I did. Again, no big deal.

The normal routine was a relatively short boat trip for the first drop, 45 minute dive, surface as a group, then back to the resort for about a 15-20 minute break. Another short boat ride for the second dive, same process, and back for lunch. Afternoon dives were after lunch but I never felt rushed in any manner. As long as the DMs knew you were coming, a few minutes late was never an issue for anyone.

Most days the dive would end at a shallow reef so the entire end of the dive was effectively a safety stop. We always had plenty of air so you could spend some extra time searching the reef if you wanted.

There is a nice beach, and some of our group snorkeled, but I never did. Boat access to the resort is through a man made (I think) channel that I would not swim in....it's not trashy or anything like that, just not the pretty blue water I came to play in. I can dive murky green water in Oklahoma.

Our nightdive turned into a cluster#%!# due a a divers inflator valve sticking (his equipment) and he did a triton missle impression. Part of the group went off on their own, DMs went after the cork, they got the valve issue handled, regrouped, and tried to finish the dive, but then currents kicked in. The vibe was blown after the equipment issue anyway. that dive was only 30 minutes or so. We did see a large Carribbean Octopus as soon as we dropped in and a huge lobster picking on a smaller lobster. We were warned to turn off lights on ascent up the mooring line to avoid jellyfish and purge our Octos on the way up to clear any overhead. We had no issues with jelllyfish.

The dives were well run, DM's great, boats were very nice (probably the nicest I've seen) food was good, drinks were great, reefs were amazing, resort was nice and staff friendly. The group we went with is planning to return in August/September and if we can swing it financially, we will return.

As far as complaining to the resort, most Roatan people are living on $300-$400 per month. If they gigged the group that went fishing for an extra $80 and us for an extra $20 each over dinner, I can live with that. The lesson learned is don't go off the resort, and if you do, ask lots of questions if it involves money. We did not ask how much dinner would be, and the fishing group did not ask if they would be on the big, nice, modern fishing boat. Lesson learned.

If you go, please have a SalvaVida for me...and a Monkey LaLa too!

Safe travels,
Jay

 

[Streydog]

I went fishing when I was there 3 years ago. Made a deal with a couple guys, I pay for the gas, they keep the fish. We trolled in a Panga for a couple hours. Caught two small tuna and had a wahoo get off. I didn't get another chance to go with them the next day because they had charters. The advice I was given about fishing on Roatan was always go with an Islander, not a Honduran, the islanders know the fishing much better.

 

[kmurray719]

Sorry, I missed the notification that there had been questions.

Our day would start between 8 and 830 depending on the length of the boat ride. Dive masters chose the location, and it seemed to be a prearranged schedule to some degree. There were dozens of mooring balls on the way to each dive, so if your in the mood for something specific, I would bet they could accommodate you if the group agreed. Wreck dive was Wednesday, Island was Thursday. Those days were only 2 tank dives with no afternoon dive. All of us were first time Roatan visitors so we did not know any locations anyway. We did ask for Rockstar again on Friday and that was no problem.

Rockstar was the divesite that really stood out as having something for everyone. Swimthroughs, pinnacles, wall, etc.

The night dive was scheduled. I believe it was on one of the days with an afternoon dive so we did 4 dives that day. I don't know if you could do a night dive with another Subway boat on a different day or not. It's Roatan, money rules, I'm sure they would if you paid for it.

Your BC would already be on your tank and on the boat. We would grab our mask, fins, and wetsuit out of our locker and head to the boat. It is a small resort so everything is very close. Our room was one of the farthes away from the shop and it was under a 5 minute, slow, walk. After the dive, if you wanted to leave your wetsuit on a hanger outside, they would move it to your locker at the end of the day. Some days my regs were already hooked up, some days not. Absolutely no big deal. I was diving an AL100 with nitrox so it had to be tied off around the tank valve and would not fit in the tank racks. (Make sure your untied BEFORE you try to stand up...lol) I only had one short fill of 2700 or so, I wasn't worried because of the larger tank and we had several in our group diving 80's that used lots more air than I did. Again, no big deal.

The normal routine was a relatively short boat trip for the first drop, 45 minute dive, surface as a group, then back to the resort for about a 15-20 minute break. Another short boat ride for the second dive, same process, and back for lunch. Afternoon dives were after lunch but I never felt rushed in any manner. As long as the DMs knew you were coming, a few minutes late was never an issue for anyone.

Most days the dive would end at a shallow reef so the entire end of the dive was effectively a safety stop. We always had plenty of air so you could spend some extra time searching the reef if you wanted.

There is a nice beach, and some of our group snorkeled, but I never did. Boat access to the resort is through a man made (I think) channel that I would not swim in....it's not trashy or anything like that, just not the pretty blue water I came to play in. I can dive murky green water in Oklahoma.



Safe travels,
Jay

Is that 45 minute dive time due to your air consumption or something they enforced? When I inquired with Subway about dive times, they said 60 minutes or 500psi, just wondering if that policy is actually used.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Subway logs your dives for you....kind of nice, especially since I don't log dives. Enforced is not really the word. My longest dive was 60 minutes. Shortest was 34. None were because of my air. I dove a 100 cf tank and usually had well in excess of 1000 psi. The short dive, I had 1365 psi left. That was the wreck so we went to 109 feet immediately and stayed for a bit. The rest of the dives, someone always finished with 300-600 psi. So it looks like it will depend on who you are diving with to determine your dive times. We had a boat all to ourselves so we did not make any new friends, other than the dive masters. We surfaced as a group sometimes, other times I stayed down and had a look around.

I would think that if you were on a boat with some heavier breathers, one DM could take them up and one stay with the longer divers. I imagine it will depend on the site and conditions as well. We never found any Cozumel-esque currents so don't get excited when they say drift dive...it just means the boat won't be moored.

We did have a few newer divers with us that were on 80's (You have to arrange for the 100's in advance). On most of the dives, you would follow a standard dive profile going deep first, then working your way to a 20-30 foot flat reef so the end of the dive was essentially a safety stop. If you wanted to stay and search the reef, you could. There were always 2 divemasters in the water. My last dives were 15-20 minutes longer than the newer divers.

I just took a dive skin....I wish I would have taken more. On several dives, I was a little cold by the end of the dive, not uncomfortable, but wishing for sunlight. Somewhere between a skin and a 3mil would have been right for me.

We loved the operation, loved the resorts, looking at a September trip.

Jay

 

[kmurray719]

Subway logs your dives for you....kind of nice, especially since I don't log dives. Enforced is not really the word. My longest dive was 60 minutes. Shortest was 34. None were because of my air. I dove a 100 cf tank and usually had well in excess of 1000 psi. The short dive, I had 1365 psi left. That was the wreck so we went to 109 feet immediately and stayed for a bit. The rest of the dives, someone always finished with 300-600 psi. So it looks like it will depend on who you are diving with to determine your dive times. We had a boat all to ourselves so we did not make any new friends, other than the dive masters. We surfaced as a group sometimes, other times I stayed down and had a look around.

I would think that if you were on a boat with some heavier breathers, one DM could take them up and one stay with the longer divers. I imagine it will depend on the site and conditions as well. We never found any Cozumel-esque currents so don't get excited when they say drift dive...it just means the boat won't be moored.

We did have a few newer divers with us that were on 80's (You have to arrange for the 100's in advance). On most of the dives, you would follow a standard dive profile going deep first, then working your way to a 20-30 foot flat reef so the end of the dive was essentially a safety stop. If you wanted to stay and search the reef, you could. There were always 2 divemasters in the water. My last dives were 15-20 minutes longer than the newer divers.

I just took a dive skin....I wish I would have taken more. On several dives, I was a little cold by the end of the dive, not uncomfortable, but wishing for sunlight. Somewhere between a skin and a 3mil would have been right for me.

We loved the operation, loved the resorts, looking at a September trip.

Jay

Awesome, thanks. I'll be leading a group trip there next winter so that's all helpful to know. We'll have our own boat, and everyone will be on nitrox, so NDL's should be reasonable. Most of the divers so far are experienced and competent. Great to know they won't be held to 45 mins!

 

[Thook]

Enjoyed our 10 days of diving there about 2 years ago.....

 

[Thook]

For those interested...

 

[AZNetEng]

The wife and I did 35 dives on Roatan (south side) last year, and we are going back this year for another week.

Loved the local beer. We drank with the folks moored on the island instead of at the resort and they kept it in the freezer at the tiki bar. Good stuff.