Roatan, what not to take?

[Doc]

I did finally make it to Belize last year. Everybody tells me that Roatan is just as good, just different.

On FIBR's South side of Roatan, you will find a shallow top, vertical wall reef structure and critters that are fairly similar. Most of what you find in the shallows of Belize, you will also find in the area immediately surrounding FIBR. Get the Paul Humann Fish/Creature ID book, that's what you'll find... if you are a careful observer.

...the Fantasy Island boats will not go over to the Odyssey. That is a wreck I really want to dive on, but is it worth making alternate arrangements? My thing is wreck diving, but perhaps I am going to be in the wrong place. I'm going to try to hit as many as I can anyway.

Within a shore dive of FIBR is a placed "wreck" (as the Odyssey was placed, not really a wreck), as well as two chunks of a DC3 aircraft. What more could you want lying in 65~35fsw? A short boat ride from FIBR is another placed wreck, the Mr Bud, which you will also be taken to dive in it's 65' depth.

The Odyssey is a big ship and is very deep at approx 110'. You may leave FIBR and charter with any one of many dive ops that will take you there from the West End. E-mail them for specific dates if you really want to go and do this.

What about sharks? Do I stand a chance of seeing any other then nurse sharks while doing the normal FIBR boat dives?

Unlikely. Maybe 50 or more will see you on any given occasion, but they will be scared away. If seeing a Shark is still high on your list, charter for a half day dive with the Shark dive.

As you are salivating over the big well known, easy to see fish, follow your DM intently. If he isn't finding you a Sea Horse on every dive, he's maybe not all that motivated. Switch. You should be shown at least two different Pipefish, as well as Neck Crabs, Cryptic Crabs and Garden Eels. There is much more to life than Sharks, Moray Eels, Eagle Rays, and huge Barracuda (all of which I have seen on that FIBR shore dive, anyway). The cool stuff is the small stuff, the big, easily seen critters will come in due time.

Go to Roatan's South side for what makes it unique. See the shallow sunlit vertical walls for the nursery haven that it is.

If you want wrecks, consider Truk, the Red Sea or Scapa Flow. If you want Sharks,m other than those common and ho-hum Nurse Sharks, try Glapagos, Bahamas, South Africa.

I believe you have the dive process pictured correctly, but there are a few FIBR fans who are regulars here and will give you expert advice.

They just posted a "sale" of $749/wk at FIBR.

 

[emttim]

The tanks stand ready for you to take, analyze and label with your name and data at any time.

About the only time they run short of tanks is early in any given week if several people decide to expedite their clerical/testing tasks and begin hoarding six tanks at one time. It is suggested to obtain and analyze two tanks at the beginning of each half day of diving. Store them in your gear locker and the boat guys will load them aboard.

Ahhh ok, yeah that's a really good set up then, right on. I'll try to remember to grab two tanks to put in my gear locker for the boat trip each day, thanks for the tip!

As to our hypothetical above, you absolutely do have the correct answer. Without figuring the dive as a multi-level, my "typical CCV dives" can not be put on a table or a wheel. Obviously, we rely heavily on our computers, especially in the model above.

The 24 hour deal? Sure, it's there, but you have to read the fine print. "Herself" would work her tables after every dive, doing four a day, and logging it right next to her computer data. I asked her why she was doing that after "day three", where she had literally "run off the map".

On Day Three, by her tables, she had violated some fine print: ....(if you blow a deco stop)... "Upon surfacing, the diver must remain out of the water for at least 24 hours....

She looked pretty good, although tired, and her computer said she was okay as well. With knowledge of the tables and their meaning firmly in mind, she now stores them in the basement. The computer gets new batteries each and every 6 months.

Ahh, well see that explains it if she blew a deco stop. As you said though, that shouldn't even be a problem and you've only done it once to go check out a really rare critter out of what sounds like a hundred dives. I mainly still use tables and the wheel to maintain proficiency in both since I realize the value of them as well as the computer. I also don't like to rely on the computer 100%, because if it fails or dies for whatever reason, well that's a really expensive problem to have on a computer if at a resort or liveaboard.

I guess I shouldn't worry about it anyway though because I always dive with two computers for that reason; console and wrist.

I was diving in Bikini Atoll many years ago with a fairly well known scion of women's diving. She did one dive and for fun, buried her computer in the sand under a famous wreck. The computer violated her and was flashing angrily. She "fixed it" by removing the batteries and having it reset to zero. I kid you not. Better than hanging it over the side on a string for a few hours... no, not really.

I can only shake my head and say nothing. Ugh...well, at least that's a more creative way of attempting suicide than drinking a bunch of bleach. Maybe we should give her kudos for being original.

To go back to your suggested resolution, I dive the profiles I sketched in blue and hit high in the Yellow Pixels by dive #4 at about 4:30 p.m. Only once in many hundreds of "4th dives" at CCV have I ever gone into deco.

It was all over this critter who lives under a ledge at 70fsw on Newman's Wall, just aft of the Prince Albert.

This Yellow Tailed Jawfish is such a big deal (apparently) that it lured me into deco. I served my allotted time at indicated depths, but as I was chilling at 15fsw and waiting the clock, I was running low on air. I didn't want to do the dog paddle into the resort, so I tagged up with another old timer from CCV and breathed off of her tank as we spent another 15 minutes dawdling in.

Pretty looking fish, can't say I blame you. yeah it sounds like it's easy to stay in the yellow with air so screw it, air works for me. I'll just write in "CPU" in my logs for the PG, and if my comp fails, well...I'll use the other one.

The point of it? You will soon see that the South Side Roatan profiles are best kept shallow- that's where the really cool stuff is. So, when you start running the tables for 70' @ 1hr BT, you can get mathematically dead pretty quickly. On a less inflammatory note, your computer will likely analyze your dives and show you that you are well within safe limits, air or geezer gas (thanks for getting the veiled reference!).

I am not so sure I would blame PADI per se, but they did react fairly quickly to a growing demand for use of voodoo gas. Requiring actual dives, I couldn't figure, but... If we were only so quick to abandon the well intentioned wheel, offer Ikelite housingsfor the eRDP , and figure out how to "teach computers", well, I will die a happy guy.

Divers as a group are entranced by technology, and "invisible technology" in the form of EAN with yellow and green logos - that's pretty snappy. It gives instructors something else to teach, it lets you get another card, and in some very specialized cases, it allows you more expansive profiles. That, and the stories about how nitrox makes you frisky and not need the Viagra. Bingo. Gotta have it.

I don't know the exact numbers of divers using EAN at CoCoView, but it is very high. Of course, you'll see divers at other operations demanding it for their two a day dive schedule. Go figure.

The main problem I see with nitrox being considered as "voodoo" or "geezer" gas has to do with perspective. I don't see how nitrox can make you "frisky"...to be perfectly frank, I'm as dead ass tired on nitrox as I am on air after a day of diving. I don't feel anymore alert or awake. It tastes the same too. Wanting nitrox for two dives a day is just that, a want, not a need, heh.

I guess I'll just not be part of the cool kid crowd by sticking to air, too bad. That's ok though, I'd rather consider nitrox a tool and use it as appropriately rather than become a tool and use it indiscriminately.

Then again, Shell Oil is putting Nitrogen in their gasoline blends.

Shell Launches New NITROX Enriched Gasolines

FIIK

Don't worry about this- you're going to love it.

You'll have to let me know how that works out, I only get Chevron. thanks for all the info though, I can't wait to go there!

 

[LWB]

I don't need to see sharks, it would just be nice to see an occasional reef shark or hammerhead. Although I don't know their process for the shark dives, my perception is that most of them are done kneeling on the sea bottom while the dive master whips the sharks into a feeding frenzy. That isn't exactly seeing sharks in a natural setting. As I said, I would prefer to see them just cruising by doing what sharks do naturally. But hey, while I'm dreaming, it would be nice to see a Whale Shark and the infamous gulf Orcas while I'm there too.

Although I enjoy wreck diving or if you prefer, artificial reef diving, that isn't the only thing I am there for. The huge coral mounds in Belize, that more or less created one trench after another were very cool. I realize I'm not going to see that in Roatan, but if that is all I was after I would be going back to Belize. However, I will consider this trip to Roatan incomplete if I don't dive on the Odyssey. That being said, any advice you guys have on how to get from FIBR to the best dive outfit that goes to the Odyssey, would be appreciated.

As for the sale, we did take advantage of that. That was one lesson learned from Belize. An all inclusive is the way to go. We spent a small fortune on food and drinks and I prefer not to go that route again.

 

[LWB]

Probably too late to be asking this, my flight leaves in 7 1/2 hours, but I was wondering a few things:

1) Does the Roatan airport have a good "Duty Free" shop...i.e. more than alcohol. Belize City had great duty free shops!

2) Is there anything to do within walking distance of FIBR? Shops, bars, whatever?

3) Can you rent scooters or golf carts at or near FIBR and how far is it to the West End?

4) Any dive shop recs for diving the Odyssey?

Thanks

 

[Bay Island Diver]

No Crappy Duty Free on your way in, probably worth buying on your way out.

 

[jawfish]

Just make sure you bring your scuba gear, everything else is optional.... oh, except bug spray. OK and a great big smile cause you are going to LOVE Roatan. I dove with Fantasy Island. Had a great time. The resort is nice and the diving in Roatan is awesome!

Enjoy!

 

[LWB]

No Crappy Duty Free on your way in, probably worth buying on your way out.

Yeah, that's why I'm asking...the ones in Belize City were pretty nice. One even had nice jewelry including Tag Heuer watches. Just wondering if I need to save some money for the way home .

 

[BeenThereDoveThat]

You bring me a Tag? I might like that!

Rolex would be better.

 

[mickus]

I was at FIBR last June for my first visit to Roatan. We did get the recommended program for malaria, and too the Cipro with us that was suggested. The room wan nice, after the first night in the "eye Dr.'s room", ( he checks vision, then sells drug store readers outside the room).Perhaps more appealing to the mainland locals, who come to the island for beach time. Most the staff was friendly on the heavily packed (20+) boats, with a captain and one DM. They do have an analyzer for all to use. Bugs were not a problem, just don't use the cushions on the beach chairs. Overall a pleasant visit, but on a future visit would pursue a different resort.

 

[mickus]

Hope it's not too late, but the duty free at Roatan will sell you liquor and other goodies after you have checked your bags, but you are not allowed to take liquids on the plane. seems odd that they will sell you product you are not allowed to board with>