My cousin and I decided that Roatan was our next dive vacation destination. Having read really good reviews about the dive op, comfortable beds, and decent food (breakfast and lunch), we pulled the trigger and made our reservation at Seagrape Plantation Resort. We booked tickets direct from Miami to Roatan with AA and scheduled our vacation time off.
Departure
I got lucky one day, 2 months prior to departure, I log into AA's website and see an offer to upgrade to business class for $99 which includes 2 checked bags. Your first checked bag usually costs $35 and your second is $45. I will have two bags, so that'll cost me $80. I deemed the extra $20 was worth it and upgraded my ticket. I was the first person to select a business class seat. Our flight scheduled only changed by 10-15 minutes from our initial booking. Check-in was smooth, the flight delayed 1 hour, our bags arrived undamaged, and I was offered drinks and snacks throughout the 2.5 hour flight. We didn't mind the delay since we were using a lounge to wait for our flight. The delay meant we would be in the lounge when lunch was brought out, so it worked out for us. Plus, they brought out liquor for lunch too.
Arrival
The landing felt a little intense. It felt like we braked harder, but it's anecdotal. The plane did a 180 degree turn and taxied to the parking spot at a high speed. When they parked, they said they had to let the engines cool for a few minutes. My cousin works in aircraft maintenance in the Air Force, and he confirmed it's a real thing, likely because they taxied so fast. Exiting the plane, boy was it HOT and this is coming from Florida. You have to exit via a stair truck and walk to the terminal. Because we were an hour late, we arrived right behind a United Airlines flight from Texas and this meant we had to wait in a long line to clear customs and immigration. Our bags were ready for us to pick up by the time we were processed. We were asked to prove the bags were ours and then we found our driver waiting for us. We waited for another couple to clear entry and then we were on our way.
To the Resort
Our driver was a chatty fellow! He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked. He was telling us about the history of Roatan, the current state, all the different sorts of people, etc etc etc. He spoke pretty good english. He said he was born in Roatan and could hardly speak spanish, that he was taught english in school. He showed us pics of grandkids and you get the point. At the end he said he does island tours, that we could speak to the resort staff to set it up. My cousin told me he wasn't interested, that the guy talked too much. lol
Resort Check-In
Check-in was quick and our bags were delivered to our room for us. We did the bungalows. It was a queen and twin bed configuration. No TV and had a bathroom. The bed felt stiff, but we slept well on it. We were fine without a TV and entertained ourselves by playing cards poolside while drinking and eating local snacks late into the nights.
The Food
The food wasn't anything to write home about, but it wasn't bad by any means. Several people had dietary restrictions and the restaurant bent over backwards to make something for them. Every day a different type of juice was made, and water and coffee were available. The juice was really good. After eating breakfast, they always confirmed what would be served for lunch. Each lunch came with a dessert. When you arrived to eat, they would start making your meal and bring it to you. They did not serve dinner. We actually preferred this because we wanted a reason to leave the resort.
The Dive Op
This is where things somewhat go downhill. We were told to show up at the dive area around 8am and had no other instructions. So we ate breakfast and walked over to check in. We signed waivers and they asked how much weight we needed and gave us weights. That was it, they didn't tell us anything else. We had to ask, where do we put gear? Where should we go? What about analyzing tanks? They hand me a clipboard for analyzing tanks. It has like 10 blank fields to fill out for every tank. WTH? I ask why I have to fill all this out for one tank and the guy says to me, "because it's Nitrox, you can die." I said to him, look, I care about 2 things, what's the percentage and making sure it's full. He tells me to fil out 4 spots, serial number (has me write the entire SN# from the tank), air pressure, the mix, and my signature. I guess I didn't need to write out my name nor fill out the other fields. We analyze 2 tanks even though we are doing 3 dives on the day. We leave to grab our gear from our room and return. The "you can die" guy asks us to assemble our gear the first time because he wants to evaluate our competency. I told him that was fine and know that I'm evaluating him too. I was already annoyed and should've set up my BPW upside down or something, but I didn't.
It's just my cousin and I on the boat. It's a small boat and has thick exhaust fumes coming from the back. We drive maybe 30 seconds and moor on a buoy. That was fast... Mr "you can die" says we're going to do an easy site for the first dive. That's fine, let's go.
For dive 3, we show up and all our gear is hooked up on the boat. Mr "you can die" was sitting on the bench. I asked him if we were going to analyze the tanks. His response, "Oh, you want to analyze them?" As if he was surprised... Uhhh, didn't you say it was nitrox and I could die. Of course I want to analyze the tanks. In my mind, I was calling him names. Turns out, he's the dive op instructor. On this dive, was another 2 people. One was a dive guide and the other was a diver. We dove as 2 groups and we followed the "you can die" instructor. All 3 dives were within a minute of the dock.
Each boat trip is 1 tank. They leave at 8:30a, 10:30a, and 2p. There's a board where you can write names, but no one told us we had to use it, and once again, I had to ask, which we did on day 2 (Monday). After each dive, I wrote the dive site name in the box.
Day 2 there were 3 new arrivals, the guy we saw yesterday, and another diver who had been there for a week. The instructor wasn't on the boat and was replaced by the dive guide we saw yesterday on dive 3. The dive guide, Kevin, was the highlight of the dive op. He was great. I'm not a big follow the guide guy, but I wasn't familiar with the dive sites. He expertly navigated on us on every dive. Throughout the week, we'd tell him things we wanted to do and he's make it happen. Unfortunately, we weren't overly familiar with what to do or where to go.
String of Pearls
We timed our trip so we could see the String of Pearls. It's a night dive. I was surprised that no one in the dive op was bringing it up. It's only once a month. I asked about it on day 2 because day 3 was the day it had to happen. They looked it up and confirmed that yes, we can do the night dive, but we need 4 divers. They put the burden of getting the divers on us. They communicated to their crew that this dive might happen, so they were ready. On the day of, I talked 2 other divers into joining us. They were both nervous and afterwards said they'd never forget that dive. I could do an entire post on this dive, it was a new experience.
Departure
I got lucky one day, 2 months prior to departure, I log into AA's website and see an offer to upgrade to business class for $99 which includes 2 checked bags. Your first checked bag usually costs $35 and your second is $45. I will have two bags, so that'll cost me $80. I deemed the extra $20 was worth it and upgraded my ticket. I was the first person to select a business class seat. Our flight scheduled only changed by 10-15 minutes from our initial booking. Check-in was smooth, the flight delayed 1 hour, our bags arrived undamaged, and I was offered drinks and snacks throughout the 2.5 hour flight. We didn't mind the delay since we were using a lounge to wait for our flight. The delay meant we would be in the lounge when lunch was brought out, so it worked out for us. Plus, they brought out liquor for lunch too.
Arrival
The landing felt a little intense. It felt like we braked harder, but it's anecdotal. The plane did a 180 degree turn and taxied to the parking spot at a high speed. When they parked, they said they had to let the engines cool for a few minutes. My cousin works in aircraft maintenance in the Air Force, and he confirmed it's a real thing, likely because they taxied so fast. Exiting the plane, boy was it HOT and this is coming from Florida. You have to exit via a stair truck and walk to the terminal. Because we were an hour late, we arrived right behind a United Airlines flight from Texas and this meant we had to wait in a long line to clear customs and immigration. Our bags were ready for us to pick up by the time we were processed. We were asked to prove the bags were ours and then we found our driver waiting for us. We waited for another couple to clear entry and then we were on our way.
To the Resort
Our driver was a chatty fellow! He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked. He was telling us about the history of Roatan, the current state, all the different sorts of people, etc etc etc. He spoke pretty good english. He said he was born in Roatan and could hardly speak spanish, that he was taught english in school. He showed us pics of grandkids and you get the point. At the end he said he does island tours, that we could speak to the resort staff to set it up. My cousin told me he wasn't interested, that the guy talked too much. lol
Resort Check-In
Check-in was quick and our bags were delivered to our room for us. We did the bungalows. It was a queen and twin bed configuration. No TV and had a bathroom. The bed felt stiff, but we slept well on it. We were fine without a TV and entertained ourselves by playing cards poolside while drinking and eating local snacks late into the nights.
The Food
The food wasn't anything to write home about, but it wasn't bad by any means. Several people had dietary restrictions and the restaurant bent over backwards to make something for them. Every day a different type of juice was made, and water and coffee were available. The juice was really good. After eating breakfast, they always confirmed what would be served for lunch. Each lunch came with a dessert. When you arrived to eat, they would start making your meal and bring it to you. They did not serve dinner. We actually preferred this because we wanted a reason to leave the resort.
The Dive Op
This is where things somewhat go downhill. We were told to show up at the dive area around 8am and had no other instructions. So we ate breakfast and walked over to check in. We signed waivers and they asked how much weight we needed and gave us weights. That was it, they didn't tell us anything else. We had to ask, where do we put gear? Where should we go? What about analyzing tanks? They hand me a clipboard for analyzing tanks. It has like 10 blank fields to fill out for every tank. WTH? I ask why I have to fill all this out for one tank and the guy says to me, "because it's Nitrox, you can die." I said to him, look, I care about 2 things, what's the percentage and making sure it's full. He tells me to fil out 4 spots, serial number (has me write the entire SN# from the tank), air pressure, the mix, and my signature. I guess I didn't need to write out my name nor fill out the other fields. We analyze 2 tanks even though we are doing 3 dives on the day. We leave to grab our gear from our room and return. The "you can die" guy asks us to assemble our gear the first time because he wants to evaluate our competency. I told him that was fine and know that I'm evaluating him too. I was already annoyed and should've set up my BPW upside down or something, but I didn't.
It's just my cousin and I on the boat. It's a small boat and has thick exhaust fumes coming from the back. We drive maybe 30 seconds and moor on a buoy. That was fast... Mr "you can die" says we're going to do an easy site for the first dive. That's fine, let's go.For dive 3, we show up and all our gear is hooked up on the boat. Mr "you can die" was sitting on the bench. I asked him if we were going to analyze the tanks. His response, "Oh, you want to analyze them?" As if he was surprised... Uhhh, didn't you say it was nitrox and I could die. Of course I want to analyze the tanks. In my mind, I was calling him names. Turns out, he's the dive op instructor. On this dive, was another 2 people. One was a dive guide and the other was a diver. We dove as 2 groups and we followed the "you can die" instructor. All 3 dives were within a minute of the dock.
Each boat trip is 1 tank. They leave at 8:30a, 10:30a, and 2p. There's a board where you can write names, but no one told us we had to use it, and once again, I had to ask, which we did on day 2 (Monday). After each dive, I wrote the dive site name in the box.
Day 2 there were 3 new arrivals, the guy we saw yesterday, and another diver who had been there for a week. The instructor wasn't on the boat and was replaced by the dive guide we saw yesterday on dive 3. The dive guide, Kevin, was the highlight of the dive op. He was great. I'm not a big follow the guide guy, but I wasn't familiar with the dive sites. He expertly navigated on us on every dive. Throughout the week, we'd tell him things we wanted to do and he's make it happen. Unfortunately, we weren't overly familiar with what to do or where to go.
String of Pearls
We timed our trip so we could see the String of Pearls. It's a night dive. I was surprised that no one in the dive op was bringing it up. It's only once a month. I asked about it on day 2 because day 3 was the day it had to happen. They looked it up and confirmed that yes, we can do the night dive, but we need 4 divers. They put the burden of getting the divers on us. They communicated to their crew that this dive might happen, so they were ready. On the day of, I talked 2 other divers into joining us. They were both nervous and afterwards said they'd never forget that dive. I could do an entire post on this dive, it was a new experience.
