Roatan

[Doc]

The only hesitation I have are the comments about the color of the reef, lack of bigger fish and water clarity. ...We do love the macro life as well. We want dive and dive in a beautiful part of the island.

Color? I am seeing plenty all over Roatan, but.... there is some (temporary) bleaching, it comes and goes. Lack of bigger fish? Largely true, you'll see some clusters of bigger stuff within the RMP zone, but that attraction depends on where you are in your diving career. Roatan is not known for clarity. In 35 years of diving the area, I never saw that bright splashy Coral that we used to see elsewhere in the Caribbean, more subdued, but then again, Im not seeing that bright stuff so much elsewhere anymore.

You were vague- If you are hearing that those descriptors are different or vary by island zone, really, not so much. Roatan is what it is.

West/West North: Deeper profiles, steep, stepped & sloping reefs, less florid hard coral growth (darker shadows), larger critters, storm & weather dependent, greater diversity in reef shapes.

South: Fewer dive op choices, Sunlit and very florid soft/hard coral growth, shallow vertical walls & profiles, nursery for micro/macro. Not much actual "need" for nitrox.

CCV specifically: The best shore dive (and thus, night dive) on Roatan. The easiest and simplest boats with center moon wells for ease of recovery, huge cam tanks, perfect wet deck 24/7 locker rooms.

I am not into the vacation scene... don't need bars, shops full of crap and people everywhere.

Oh, so you've seen the West End, then?

 

[SteveWoj]

Get a place in Sandy Bay do some days on the North side, and some on the south.

Thanks for the idea. Would you say that the North and South have dramatically different aspects to their reefs?

 

[arew+4]

I don't know for sure I was there in the late 90s and my wife and I started at Anthony's and did the lame tourist stay on the reservation thing. We are going back in June to with our 3 recently certified teenagers. Rented a house in Sandy Bay and will likely dive with Octopus dive school most days and take a taxi to the South side a couple of days. To mix it up a bit. Have to dig up the paper logs and see what all sights we dove back then, but I seem to recall Anthony's went round the bend a time or two.

 

[SteveWoj]

West/West North: Deeper profiles, steeper, less florid hard coral growth (darker shadows), larger critters, storm & weather dependent, greater diversity in reef shapes.

South: Fewer dive op choices, Sunlit and very florid soft/hard coral growth, shallow vertical walls & profiles, nursery for micro/macro. Not much actual "need" for nitrox.

CCV specifically: The best shore dive (and thus, night dive) on Roatan. The easiest and simplest boats with center moon wells for ease of recovery, huge cam tanks, perfect wet deck 24/7 locker rooms.



Oh, so you've seen the West End, then?

This might be be best layout of information so far. I like the profile differences. I think this has me understanding Roatan much more then I did a few hours ago.

 

[SteveWoj]

Rented a house in Sandy Bay and will likely dive with Octopus dive school most days and take a taxi to the South side a couple of days. .

That sounds like a great plan. Might steal some aspects of that.

 

[SteveWoj]

Thanks for all the help and feedback. We have decided to spend a week at CCV and very excited about it.

We will be in the West Bay for the week prior though and looking for a good dive op that we can get some diving in with. Any suggestions?

 

[Doc]

Coconut Tree scores well very consistently here on SB.

With your divided stay, you will be among the very few who will have the breadth of experience on Roatan to be able to post a comparative trip report. Be sure to do that.

Enjoy ... .... ...._[:]@

 

[flyboy08]

We really wanted to hit Roatan again this past holiday, but we couldn't nail down airfare lower than 900 RT from NYC! So we fell back upon old faithful, Cozumel.....I'd like to try Roatan this coming December....I'll search for airfare sooner rather than later.....AKR has our name on it

Do enjoy your stay....it's a fun island.

 

[SteveWoj]

Coconut Tree scores well very consistently here on SB.

With your divided stay, you will be among the very few who will have the breadth of experience on Roatan to be able to post a comparative trip report. Be sure to do that.

Enjoy ... .... ...._[:]@

Count on it. We are stoked!

 

[diversteve]

Although Coconut Tree is in the West End and not West Bay (2-3 mile difference) they have a 2nd affiliated resort there they pickup from where you could likely meet the boat. We stopped there at least once during the week for divers.

I'm not familiar with West Bay shops but have seen good reviews of West Bay Divers.