Shore diving

[openhelix]

I've done a lot of reading about the various accomodations and dive ops on Roatan. If I was going for JUST diving I'd probably choose CocoView. However, although the girlfriend dives she's not quite into it as much as me. For 5 days I'd probably like to do 15-20 dives and she'd like <10.

So, onto my point. A nice compromise might be shore diving. From an accomodations perspective we really like the Island Pearl and Barefoot Cay, but neither of their sites mention anything about shore diving while some other resorts (I don't remember which, help me out here) offer unlimited shore diving for guests. Just pick up a tank and go...

While the boat diving is great I hear the shallows are equally amazing... I'm hoping some more educated voices can jump in to help. Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

Cocoview and Fantasy Island on the south side offer shore diving. Good snorkeling also. They have a reef and a wreck just offshore. Lot's of macro to be seen in that area. Both are self-contained AI's - it's at least a few miles to the nearest town - French Harbor as I recall. Or about 10mi. back to Coxen Hole.

Barefoot Cay backs on a commercial boat channel. The shore side of the Cay has their diveop and something else - can't remember what. To get to the cay you go across on a small ferry - it's maybe 100' away. The resort, pool and restaurant are on the cay. We walked around a little and afaik, there's only a shallow sandy beach on the ocean side of the cay. Maybe why they don't advertise shorediving. Looked really shallow too.

There's nothing around Barefoot Cay for a couple of miles also, except a few local bars/stores etc. I think Coxen Hole is the nearest town but I'm not sure. It's not much unless you live there. There's shops around the cruise port but "downtown" is pretty much a locals area.

The other side of the island is the West End and West Bay. West Bay has nice beaches and some larger resorts and the West End is where most everybody hangs out. It's a mix of hostels, hotels, condos and diveops. Afaik there's three shore dives in that area but they're all going to be a long swim out. To give you an idea, the Utila Aggressor moors on one. So it's all mostly boat diving on the West End.

AKR is about 10mins east of the West End. I've heard they have a shoredive there on the ocean side of the Key. We only did the dolphin dive so no idea what it's like.

 

[Doc]

There is another South side shore dive at Reef House Resort. The South side shore diving is unique because the reef wall breaks very close to shore, versus being out quite a ways as it is on the North side.

The differences in underwater geography on Roatan: YouTube - Roatan Bio-Geography Micro Environments, Scuba Diving with Doc Radawski

AKR, as mentioned by diversteve above, has stopped referencing that they have a shore dive as most visitors disagreed. Bay Islands Beach Resort, also on the North side, lays claim to "Spooky Channel" which is indeed a channel that works its way seaward over a considerable distance. It's a good night dive, but is a bit of a hump from the resort.

On Roatan, for your needs, I would look to avenues other than shore diving. There are many nice day dive ops along the West End that would better suit your needs and be much more economical. AI resorts make sense if you want more than two dives a day, but if you want to keep her happy- look hard at the West End.

 

[robint]

I've done a lot of reading about the various accomodations and dive ops on Roatan. If I was going for JUST diving I'd probably choose CocoView. However, although the girlfriend dives she's not quite into it as much as me. For 5 days I'd probably like to do 15-20 dives and she'd like <10.

So, onto my point. A nice compromise might be shore diving. From an accomodations perspective we really like the Island Pearl and Barefoot Cay, but neither of their sites mention anything about shore diving while some other resorts (I don't remember which, help me out here) offer unlimited shore diving for guests. Just pick up a tank and go...

While the boat diving is great I hear the shallows are equally amazing... I'm hoping some more educated voices can jump in to help. Thanks!

I would still go to CCV for a couple of reasons. The walls that they dive, on the southside, are spectacular! You and GF both will love doing places like Calvin's Crack and Mary's Place. Very very cool dives. See Ronscuba's video of these dives here:
Roatan Scuba Part 5 Swimthroughs on Vimeo

Another reason: you can both go out on the AM boat and do the first dive together, then you get dropped off on wall with the group and she takes the boat back to the dock. She can relax in a hammock, and you can do a leasurely dive and come back in to join her for lunch..... then repeat in afternoon. She gets in 2 boat dives with you, you get all 4 dives... then you both can shore dive at night if you want or relax after dinner and watch the nightly entertainment.! OR you can both skip the AM or PM dives and shore dive or take one of the land excursions (they have a signup board next to office for daily trips on island like the zip lines or town tour, shopping, etc.) It is a nice, small, secluded resort with a real tropical island feel.

robin