Thinking of Roatan for newish divers

[nldunn]

Fixed that for you.

I lived in SouthEastern Connecticut from 1977 to 2015, then moved to Coastal Southern Georgia. You couldn't pay me enough to move back.

The land is beautiful, and I do miss the change of seasons. I miss riding the mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire - but I find no joy in winter, and the politics and fiscal management here are more to my liking.

Having discovered scuba diving only fairly recently - being within driving distance of Florida turns out to be a huge plus.

LOL!! Yes, but we do have some beautiful seasons up here!

 

[nldunn]

I have visited Roatan several times, most recently in April. I have also stayed on both sides of the island, it makes a difference because generally the dive ops do most of their dives on their side, weather permitting. There are also ‘special’ dives that they will cross over for.
On the vertical wall dives I have never run into the down currents that I occasionally experienced in Coz.
Texas dive area usually had current, but it not a wall and not so strong that you couldn’t swim against it. They do drift dives, but that really just means that it’s a one way dive and the boat is going to follow the bubbles.
Most dive depths were between 75’ and 30’, with Mary’s Place, El Aguila wreck, and Odessa wreck, being +/- 100’.
Visibility was usually good, although the winds were odd this last trip so it was t as good. Still beats the St. Lawrence.

Can you share what side of the island has the easier diving? Thank you!

 

[CathyE]

@nldunn
None, of the diving in Roatan (that I have done) was hard. It is kind of ‘fall off the boat and blow bubbles.
The south side with West End and West Bay, has a more shallow, sloping topography. Generally. There are deeper reefs/walls as well. El Aguila wreck is on this side and about 130’ at its deepest point.
The walls on the north side tend to be more vertical and can go quite deep, but they usually have a nice flat area on top that allows for shallower dives too. The sunlight hits different, so there are differences in the corals and fish.
So more and apples and oranges situation than a beginner/advanced one.

 

[nldunn]

@nldunn
None, of the diving in Roatan (that I have done) was hard. It is kind of ‘fall off the boat and blow bubbles.
The south side with West End and West Bay, has a more shallow, sloping topography. Generally. There are deeper reefs/walls as well. El Aguila wreck is on this side and about 130’ at its deepest point.
The walls on the north side tend to be more vertical and can go quite deep, but they usually have a nice flat area on top that allows for shallower dives too. The sunlight hits different, so there are differences in the corals and fish.
So more and apples and oranges situation than a beginner/advanced one.

Thank you so much!! Appreciate you sharing your experience.

 

[therookie]

Hi @nldunn

I am a "new-ish" diver too - a little under 50 dives at the moment. All of my diving has been around Roatan, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I cannot imagine what could be easier diving than the sites around any of the Bay Islands.

"Drift" diving there is accurately described above - you roll (or giant stride but all my experience is backroll since they have all been off of small boats) off the boat and the captains can easily follow your bubbles. DM shoots their SMB at the start of the surface interval and with only one exception (new-ish captain) the boat arrived within a minute or two.

Wall dives - the majority of my dives have been wall dives, and I have never experienced a downcurrent (or an upwelling). The currents around Roatan are nothing like what I read about at Cozumel or SE Asia, and if there was any current at a wall it always ran parallel with it. Barely noticeable most of the time, unless I wasn't finning and saw that I was moving a little anyway...

Depth - all kinds of interesting stuff to see in the 30-60 foot range, which are my personal preferred depths. On a trip one year a very skilled and accomplished couple stayed above us at around 40 feet (we were in the 60-70 foot range) for all the dives we did with them. They said they preferred the shallower depths because the light was better so the colors stood out more. Following year I decided they were right. Most shops have the flexibility to accomodate whatever you want to do as long as they know in advance (like even the day before) so they can plan accordingly.

Even though we have always stayed in West Bay, my dives are split about 60/40 between west (sometimes called the north) side and east (sometimes called the south) side respectively - the reason being that when we are usually there it is rainy season and the west side can get blown out by "northers" so our shop has alternative arrangements to dive on the east side when that happens. Personally I prefer the west side sites because I have found more marine life there (self-confessed warm water pretty fish diver here) but the coral is possibly in better shape on the east side. It's all really easy, and very beautiful, diving though. If you go in March the winds are typically trade winds coming from the east and the west side is very sheltered from those winds which makes the (usually very short) boat rides very pleasant.

Keep in mind that I'm totally biased because for me it's close to home, but Roatan is easy, beautiful, and relatively inexpensive diving - fully recommended for new-ish divers.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @nldunn

My wife and I went to Roatan in August. Weather and sea conditions allowed us to dive on the north side the entire time.

My average max depth was 71 feet while my mean average depth was only 41 feet. This includes a dive on El Aguila to a max depth of 100 feet and an avg depth of 53 feet. I found El Aguila quite mediocre. On the other hand, the reef next to the wreck, perhaps called the Front Porch, was outstanding.

I tend to dive a little deeper than my wife, her average maximum depth was 59 feet and she only went to 74 feet on El Aguila.

It is certainly possible to do these dives at moderate depth.

 

[therookie]

Hi @nldunn

My wife and I went to Roatan in August. Weather and sea conditions allowed us to dive on the north side the entire time.

My average max depth was 71 feet while my mean average depth was only 41 feet. This includes a dive on El Aguila to a max depth of 100 feet and an avg depth of 53 feet. I found El Aguila quite mediocre. On the other hand, the reef next to the wreck, perhaps called the Front Porch, was outstanding.

I tend to dive a little deeper than my wife, her average maximum depth was 59 feet and she only went to 74 feet on El Aguila.

It is certainly possible to do these dives at moderate depth.

Fully and I mean fully agree with that assessment of El Aguila and its surrounding reef!

 

[CathyE]

@nldunn
I had north and south sides backwards, I am directionally challenged. :-( West Bay and West End are on the north side and Mary’s Place is on the south.

 

[nldunn]

Hi @nldunn

I am a "new-ish" diver too - a little under 50 dives at the moment. All of my diving has been around Roatan, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I cannot imagine what could be easier diving than the sites around any of the Bay Islands.

"Drift" diving there is accurately described above - you roll (or giant stride but all my experience is backroll since they have all been off of small boats) off the boat and the captains can easily follow your bubbles. DM shoots their SMB at the start of the surface interval and with only one exception (new-ish captain) the boat arrived within a minute or two.

Wall dives - the majority of my dives have been wall dives, and I have never experienced a downcurrent (or an upwelling). The currents around Roatan are nothing like what I read about at Cozumel or SE Asia, and if there was any current at a wall it always ran parallel with it. Barely noticeable most of the time, unless I wasn't finning and saw that I was moving a little anyway...

Depth - all kinds of interesting stuff to see in the 30-60 foot range, which are my personal preferred depths. On a trip one year a very skilled and accomplished couple stayed above us at around 40 feet (we were in the 60-70 foot range) for all the dives we did with them. They said they preferred the shallower depths because the light was better so the colors stood out more. Following year I decided they were right. Most shops have the flexibility to accomodate whatever you want to do as long as they know in advance (like even the day before) so they can plan accordingly.

Even though we have always stayed in West Bay, my dives are split about 60/40 between west (sometimes called the north) side and east (sometimes called the south) side respectively - the reason being that when we are usually there it is rainy season and the west side can get blown out by "northers" so our shop has alternative arrangements to dive on the east side when that happens. Personally I prefer the west side sites because I have found more marine life there (self-confessed warm water pretty fish diver here) but the coral is possibly in better shape on the east side. It's all really easy, and very beautiful, diving though. If you go in March the winds are typically trade winds coming from the east and the west side is very sheltered from those winds which makes the (usually very short) boat rides very pleasant.

Keep in mind that I'm totally biased because for me it's close to home, but Roatan is easy, beautiful, and relatively inexpensive diving - fully recommended for new-ish divers.

Thank you!! You sound very similar to us with more dives, but I like to stay 30 to 60 feet also - I had a 60 feet phobia but got over it!! Roatan sounds perfect! I am going to look at it seriously for next year!
Appreciate you sharing all your information.

 

[nldunn]

Hi @nldunn

My wife and I went to Roatan in August. Weather and sea conditions allowed us to dive on the north side the entire time.

My average max depth was 71 feet while my mean average depth was only 41 feet. This includes a dive on El Aguila to a max depth of 100 feet and an avg depth of 53 feet. I found El Aguila quite mediocre. On the other hand, the reef next to the wreck, perhaps called the Front Porch, was outstanding.

I tend to dive a little deeper than my wife, her average maximum depth was 59 feet and she only went to 74 feet on El Aguila.

It is certainly possible to do these dives at moderate depth.

Thank you!! Great information and cementing my decision to go there next year.