Roatan, what not to take?

[John_B]

There is a lot of money being wasted on Nitrox. If air was not safe, why do they teach people to dive on air? For me Nitrox is a technical item. If I am diving someplace like the Texas Flower Gardens where we do repetitive 65' square dives its great stuff and worth the crazy $15 per tank the boats get. The rest of the time I dive air and nothing happens. Perhaps we should take it up a notch and pay $40 per tank for Tri-Ox to have a clear head on a recreational dive to 110'.

I don't know why their teach people to dive on air, probably the same reason they teach them to dive kneeling at the bottom of a pool: my guess would be sheer laziness.

For someone going on a liveaboard or traveling to a dive resort to do dive five dives a day (this is a Roatan thread, isn't it?), *Nitrox can mean the difference between diving the fourth or fifth day vs. offgassing for a day while everyone else is diving.

Back to the OP's question, the one thing I would *remember* is my Nitrox card. :cool2:

* There's that capital N again!

 

[Doc]

(this is a Roatan thread, isn't it?), *

Back to the OP's question,

I don't think these posts were off topic, given that his destination (FIBR) is dead center in this shallow-wall zone that is pictured.

Roatan is a big island with a lot of different underwater architecture and critters that have been shaped by eons of wind, wave and sunlight.

I keep using phrases such as, "shallow sunlit walls" and "unique reef environment with specific niche creature habitat" for the reefs in front of the pictured area.

Fancy words that are the best I can come up with to describe this diving- like no other in the Caribbean.

The best proof I can offer up is in the form of a "negative". Many, many divers walk away from this South side environment disappointed. Yet- this is exactly the area that macro hounds and world famous photographers (Waterman and others) live and breathe when on Roatan. The divers who have gained the dive experience and have seen enough Lobsters and 18" Parrot fish- they enjoy this area tremendously.

It may seem off topic until you can compare this unique environment to any other you may have dived.

(Nitrox (capitalized at the beginning of a sentence ) is a great idea if you are diving Roatan's North and West dives which are inherently deeper. )

It is really no different than any other "shaping of the island" by the constant pressure of nature since it was shoved up by the Earthquakes... or which way the prevailing wind and wave dictate your access.

Would you prepare the same way :vintagediver: and dive the same methods :snorkel2: on either side of Cayman, the two Florida coasts or Bonaire, which end of the Red Sea? You might- :goingdown: only if you didn't know in advance the differences.

Knowing what to bring to Roatan goes far beyond sun block, denominations of currency hats and type of insect goop.

....................

Too many visitors to paradise (anywhere) believe that diving is simply diving, and certainly on what appears to be a small island~ what difference can there be in diving conditions separated by the ridgeline of an island?

Those little white areas pictured above in the chart... they mean a whole lot.

 

[Stormingheaven]

Please let the postings go where they may, all of your insights are very valuable.

As I pointed out earlier I just finished my nitrox class this weekend. One of the ideas in doing so was that FIBR has free nitrox, yes I know there is some limits on how much they will provide. I wasn't sure how useful nitrox was going to be while in Roatan considering the depths of the dives but I thought that since it was free it would afford me a chance to use it and get used to the idea of thinking in terms of nitrox. I live in the Great Lakes region and a number of the wreck dives in this area would benefit from using nitrox so I thought taking the class when I would have a chance to use the gas more would be a good idea.

RoatanMan thank you so much for posting the pictures as well as your insight about the area.

Three weeks to go...gonna be a long three weeks

 

[Doc]

How about a cheap, 10x GLASS magnifying glass and a small flashlight... taken along on every day dive.

....................

 

[leadweight]

I second the motion on a flashlight.

Nitrox, is one of the most over argued topics in scuba forums. There are folks who will not do a 40' dive without it, for "safety" reasons.

 

[adjuster-jd]

Having just completed 23 dives on the south side - most of which were on nitrox, I did find it valuable. Sometimes, if nothing other than for an added margin of safety, I left my computer set to air (being mindful of the max depth limit for the gas I was using). I did, one day, on the second dive, get one of my computers (Suunto Cobra2) into deco while set to air. My oceanic computers still have a relative lot of bottom time remaining.
True, I had been a little deeper (80 feet or so) on these these, but the nitrox might have extended the time somewhat.
I do agree, however, that there was usually more to see on the top of the reef, and always more light up there as well.
Some of my dives were deep by necessity as I was teaching a deep specialty, but as Roatanman has said, there's not much different deeper on the south side than there is above that.

 

[leadweight]

I don't know why their teach people to dive on air, probably the same reason they teach them to dive kneeling at the bottom of a pool: my guess would be sheer laziness.

That is so incorrect. New divers have enough to deal with without getting into additional topics like nitrox. Perhaps you should send a letter to PADI detailing your ideas for revising their instructional methods. By the way, most OW courses given in areas like Roatan do the confined water in a shallow area off the dock.

The second and fourth dive at Coco View is a drop off that is for most a short and shallow dive. Half of the first and third dive is very shallow. Night dives tend to be shallow as well. I have done it on air, never even came close to running out of no stop time, let alone having to consider taking a day off. That is the reality of 5 dives a day on Roatan.

Anyone wanting to push it deeper, be my guest, but its been often discussed that marine life is in the shallow water around Roatan.

When the profiles get deeper and more square, I use Nitrox and most of those boats are doing only 4 dives per day, but that's not Roatan and I thought this was a Roatan thread.

For Roatan, buy nitrox if you feel compelled to, but I would not base my selection of resort on nitrox availability.

 

[Dannybot]

That is so incorrect. New divers have enough to deal with without getting into additional topics like nitrox. Perhaps you should send a letter to PADI detailing your ideas for revising their instructional methods. By the way, most OW courses given in areas like Roatan do the confined water in a shallow area off the dock.

The second and fourth dive at Coco View is a drop off that is for most a short and shallow dive. Half of the first and third dive is very shallow. Night dives tend to be shallow as well. I have done it on air, never even came close to running out of no stop time, let alone having to consider taking a day off. That is the reality of 5 dives a day on Roatan.

Anyone wanting to push it deeper, be my guest, but its been often discussed that marine life is in the shallow water around Roatan.

When the profiles get deeper and more square, I use Nitrox and most of those boats are doing only 4 dives per day, but that's not Roatan and I thought this was a Roatan thread.

For Roatan, buy nitrox if you feel compelled to, but I would not base my selection of resort on nitrox availability.

Agreed, I did not choose FIBR for the free nitrox Onor the free booze, since I don't tkae part), simply it seems to best bang for the buck considering that I will fly out of Houston.

 

[Dannybot]

In the great room at dusk the mosquitos got pretty bad when we were there last January. There a couple of wrecks where you should wear gloves, but they do not allow gloves when diving on the reefs.

Anyone used nitrox when there? Do you need your own oxygen analyzer? or do they have a house one you can use?

I'll be going in May.

Thanks.

Thanks for all the input, I never had any intention of jacking this thread to make an argument for the value or necessity of nitrox, I just saw that JD had been there recently and thought I could gleen a little useful information.

 

[John_B]

Well its Monday afternoon and I've just wrapped up the fourth dive of the day and my ninth since Saturday night (effin' Delta, wattabunchascrewups!). For those of you not familiar with CCV, at that rate I'm considered a bit of a slacker...

Max depths for my dives so far are: 55', 74', 62', 64', 70', 70', 51', 61' , 65'. I'm really glad to be diving nitrox ($125 is indeed the weekly rate) and everyone on my boat is also diving nitrox with the exception of two divers that aren't doing both of the dropoffs. That many wall dives a day, I can already see the benefits. And I'm just getting warmed up!

RoatanMan, I gotta tell you I think Newman's Wall is a better shallow dive than a wall dive, if that's possible. I've been checking out some of those nooks and crannies you mentioned, great stuff!

Gotta run for now, getting ready for some grub and then I'll get a night shore dive in, out on the Prince Albert...

More later!

John_B (Coco Nut in the making)