Roatan

[scubatraveler]

I am going to Roatan next year and want to find out the most beautiful dive sites.Can you suggest any? Scubatraveler

 

[Trixxie]

I loved staying at CoCo View - with 2 different boat dives daily + 2 drop off's at Either Newman's wall, CoCo View wall or the Prince Albert + all the shore diving you want to do.. It was FABULOUS. Would go back there in a minute!

 

[ScubaTim]

If you go to CoCo View there are some great sites depending on what you like. My favorite for personal reasons is John's Spot, but it is a cool dive site anyhow, I also enjoy Pirates Point, Doing Mary's Place any way other than how it is supposed to be done, well actually not much of a fan of Mary's Place, Ask them to take you to Rusty's wall, crack or whatever it is called that day instead of Mary's! Depends on what you want. Let them know what you are looking for and they will try to find a site that matches. The shore dives can be great especially at night! Or pre sun up, time it so you are finishing your dive as the sun rise divers are just getting in, you will have it all to yourself.

 

[diversteve]

If you're staying/diving the West End three we really liked were Spooky Channel, El Aquario and Texas.

 

[Aspendiver]

El Aguila is a nice wreck dive, Hole in the Wall a good deep dive.

 

[Doc]

Are you diving from a cruise ship?

If not- where are you staying? This is key to answering your question.

The diving that surrounds the islands is good in many ways, but you use the word "beautiful". Beauty may come in two forms for divers- the underwater terrain or architecture, also it might pertain to the underwater creatures.

The North side has the best architecture, hands down. The swim throughs, the tunnels, etc- this is caused by eons of heavy duty storm action. Many are attracted to the South side's "Mary's Place", but that's really a long boat ride for West Enders and North Siders. This area has similar and many beautiful sights much closer at hand. The North side has bigger wrecks, note that they are deeper and have substantially less growth as that side and depth gets less Sunlight. (95~120') There are dozens of dive ops that have sprung up on the West End zone, not so many will take you South unless it is to Mary's Place, but you can switch dive ops with ease and tailor your trips.

The South Side wins 1st Place for beautiful critters http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=3139 (the pictures depict common sights) Great for the more advanced divers with perfected buoyancy and observational skills, but others might have a better time again on the North/West side with the larger, more commonly observed and identified critters. For the comfortable divers who have seen enough Groupers and Lobsters, the South side might be the trick. The wrecks are very shallow (30~65') and are covered with growth. Very few operations will take you to Calvins Crack, which is way East on the South side. Many believe it to be the most interesting architecture on the South side, and because of the Southern exposure to Sunlight, maybe best on the island as well.

Cruise ship visitors have limited access and choices, no matter who they charter with.

 

[robint]

Are you diving from a cruise ship?

If not- where are you staying? This is key to answering your question.

The diving that surrounds the islands is good in many ways, but you use the word "beautiful". Beauty may come in two forms for divers- the underwater terrain or architecture, also it might pertain to the underwater creatures.

The North side has the best architecture, hands down. The swim throughs, the tunnels, etc- this is caused by eons of heavy duty storm action. Many are attracted to the South side's "Mary's Place", but that's really a long boat ride for West Enders and North Siders. This area has similar and many beautiful sights much closer at hand. The North side has bigger wrecks, note that they are deeper and have substantially less growth as that side and depth gets less Sunlight. (95~120') There are dozens of dive ops that have sprung up on the West End zone, not so many will take you South unless it is to Mary's Place, but you can switch dive ops with ease and tailor your trips.

The South Side wins 1st Place for beautiful critters http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=3139 (the pictures depict common sights) Great for the more advanced divers with perfected buoyancy and observational skills, but others might have a better time again on the North/West side with the larger, more commonly observed and identified critters. For the comfortable divers who have seen enough Groupers and Lobsters, the South side might be the trick. The wrecks are very shallow (30~65') and are covered with growth. Very few operations will take you to Calvins Crack, which is way East on the South side. Many believe it to be the most interesting architecture on the South side, and because of the Southern exposure to Sunlight, maybe best on the island as well.

Cruise ship visitors have limited access and choices, no matter who they charter with.

I am confused by what you are saying here -
Are you saying that resorts on north side will dive only on north side, and resorts on south side of Roatan only dive on the south side??

 

[Bay Island Diver]

That is generally the case. When weather stops diving on one side they all go to the other. But if weather is not a factor most dive ops will dive the sites within a 20 minute boat ride.

If you want to go further afield you will pay roughly twice the price for specialty trips which take you to more distant sites or even Utila.

The alternative is to drive yourself to an operator already on the side you want to dive on and book in with them.

The thing is Fuel is getting expensive and boats love fuel.

Bottom line, if you want to stay on one side of the island but dive on the other its going to cost you. If you want to see the same amount out of both sides, book a two week trip, stay one week on each side, with the cost of flights nowadays two week trips are making more and more sense.

HTH

Will

 

[climmer7]

You might try:

VILLA at DUNBAR ROCK: Guanaja, Bay Islands, Honduras.

or-

DIVING | Anthony's Key Resort

our dive club is going to the latter in December.

 

[halocline]

The north side of the island, accessible from West Bay, West End, and Sandy Bay shops, has by far the larger number of dive sites and a great variety of sites. The most famous are Spooky Channel, El Aguila, Hole in the Wall, but there are many others that are quite stunning on the right day with the right DM. Personally I'm not familiar with the sites on the south side, but my understanding is that there are fewer sites that are for the most part less dramatic. Of course, it is true that some of the most interesting and beautiful things to see in Roatan are the small critters.

If you want the dramatic walls and swimthroughs, I believe you'd be happier on the north side. There are some all inclusive type resorts, some very nice higher end accomodations in West Bay, and lots of less expensive simpler places to stay in the West end.