Thoughts on Coco View Resort, Roatan

[Catito]

Primo time to dive is March - September

Thanks. Going to Bonaire. The reviews of the diving are poor to bad for Coco view.

 

[Catito]

Dealing with the airport terminal - both arriving and departing - is agony.

Thanks. Ditching the idea in part based on all the information provided. I appreciate you sharing your experience. Sealed it.

 

[Kharon]

The RTB airport is annoying.

If CCV is managing your pickup and departure, you’ll have no understanding of how CCV will shape that experience to your benefit, and CCV exclusively.

The days when CCV employees defacto ran the airport program and process are gone, but CCV adapted by concentrating on your baggage handling. You point at it and walk away (or the baggage guys see those “pink tags” and make it happen)

Upon exit, your bags will be removed from your room and you’ll next see them lined up at the airport check-in counter. You might have to move them 15 feet. In 40 some trips, i have NEVER carried my bags.

I stand by my post. Getting through the airport to the waiting area was hell. Same for leaving. CCV did nothing. Getting my bags? BFD - big deal. They didn't even show up for transport to CCV till almost an hour after we got to the waiting area.

It's well known that you are a fan boy for CCV. I spent 2 weeks there based quite a bit on your shilling. It did not make the cut on many levels.

 

[Dan G]

I very much enjoyed my week at Coco View. I would return, as well. I cannot blame the resort for how poorly the RTB airport is run. It's very small for the number of people they are trying to move through and they seem to love their bureaucracy. Not Coco View's fault. I think my experience is somewhere between Doc's and Kharon's when it come to baggage handling by CCV. I appreciated how many logistics go into everything and how CCV works to minimize the impact of a small airport. I'll deal with Central American island airports for a few hours if I need to. Just part of traveling.

Bleaching on the reefs is not their fault, either. The viz wasn't good enough in many places to drop an additional 30'. The end of November is the end of rainy season and there was a decent amount of particle debris floating in the water. Still had a great time. The viz ranged from typical S. Florida viz to not quite as good as Cozumel viz. I think a different time of year would yield different results.

We did see a nice school of dolphins, which was quite amazing. Man those things can swim.

My biggest complaint is that my three hermit crabs didn't perform well in the race.

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Looking for recent information related to Coco View. Specifically:

State of the reefs

Reefs beyond the resort are in most good shape. Is it Indonesia quality, no. Is it adequate to find interesting critters, absolutely. There is plenty of bleaching but also areas of corals that are more or less pristine. It's a good mix.

State of the “no see ‘ems”

Varies with the time of year and damp. CCV does a good job raking the grounds to keep the bugz to a minimum, but you will get tagged no matter what you do. I do not believe there is a 'magic bullet' repellent that works for everyone. If you have been successful with a repellent elsewhere, bring it, and also try the local repellent brew the 1st aid station nurse (Andrea) makes; people have had good feedback. A good practice is to dry out your wetsuit on the racks beyond the lockers, but put it back in your locker after dusk. else the sand fleas lay their eggs on the wet suits in the night. Keep a small bottle of repellent in your locker, always rinse yourself off after a dive at the locker showers, dry off, and apply repellent. That little mantra kept me mostly bite free for a week!

Fish: abundance and variety

Like anywhere, the abundance will vary on conditions and luck. There have ALWAYS been things to keep my interest for the dive. You won't see a lot of megafauna, but you will get a variety of critters. Highly recommend night diving the Front Yard; there's a big cubera snapper that hangs around and uses your flash light beam to find snacks.

Food at the resort
Best time of year to dive

Thanks

Food is quality and plentiful. It's not a 4-star gourmet canteen; more of an upscale summer camp buffet. There's lots of options.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thanks. Going to Bonaire. The reviews of the diving are poor to bad for Coco view.

There's nowhere to run. My group decided on Roatan this time instead of our usual Bonaire because we were put off by all the kerfuffle over Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Bonaire. But as it turns out, and as I noted in my trip report, Roatan did not appear to be in better shape than Bonaire.

edit: Regarding the airport (RTB), my group thankfully experienced no hitches whatsoever. From others' comments, it sounds like the airport experience can be inconsistent.

 

[Doc]

Yes. Thank you. The reports are very mixed.

I’d skip it then. Take a look at Fantasy Island. So mixed their reports are not. They have a pool… and a pond.

 

[drrich2]

Going to Bonaire.

I really enjoyed CocoView Resort in Roatan, and I love Bonaire. It's an apples to oranges comparison, and some would like one better than the other.

CocoView offers a good deal more varied underwater topography. Bonaire's mainstream west coast sites end to feature a swim out to a reef wall drop off (? 30 feet deep or so?), a sloping wall maybe 45 degrees plus or minus, coral quality from fair to good and at some sites (e.g.: Karpata to the north and some far southern sites) lush gorgonian growth in the shallows. Lots of small stuff, some medium to medium-large (e.g.: green morays, cubera snapper, barracuda, tarpon, some sea turtles but tend to be small in my experience, occasionally southern stingray or eagle ray), not likely to see much big stuff.

Reviews of Roatan diving I read years ago basically amounted to varied topography, lush reef, overfished so not much big stuff, and that's what I experienced - though I was blessed to see a goliath grouper, yellowfin grouper, some black grouper and I think at least a couple of tiger grouper, some eagle rays and...well, some big stuff, but those lush reefs weren't as populated with medium things like blue-striped grunts or school masters as I might've expected otherwise.

Bonaire offers multi-site shore diving freedom, but much of it entry/exit with surge obscuring your view of irregular iron shore and at some souther sites a significant step down ridge (e.g.: I fell going in at Angel City and got rolled back and forth in the surge). Gearing up and swapping tanks on a truck tailgate and dealing with those entry/exits and the fall risk is the price you pay. You could focus on boat diving, but while good there are better places. Shore diving is often more work.

I'd put it this way...Bonaire offers a lot more shore diving if that's your focus, CCV offers better boat diving (in my opinion, and not factoring in Bonaire's east coast), CCV's shore diving entry/exist is nicer and safer, the offsite reefs more varied and often lusher, and the ease and variety of the included food plan at CCV is really nice. On Bonaire would could try windsurfing and kite boarding; on Roatan you can take excursions to interact with sloths and monkeys and do other things.

Which is better depends on you. From my multiple Bonaire trips you might argue I prefer Bonaire, but I'm an eccentric loner who likes to go do what I wanna do. Compared to a typical shore diving Bonaire trip, I'd say the overall logistics of a CCV stay are easier (e.g.: food package, no need to drive around), excursion offerings make side entertainment easier to arrange, the diving overall is easier and more varied (not considering Bonaire's east coast).

P.S.: I don't have any strong memories of Roatan's airport so it must not've been too bad. Roatan is not unique in having reports of bad airport reports - I believe the Caymans get some flack for that, too.

 

[Catito]

I very much enjoyed my week at Coco View. I would return, as well. I cannot blame the resort for how poorly the RTB airport is run. It's very small for the number of people they are trying to move through and they seem to love their bureaucracy. Not Coco View's fault. I think my experience is somewhere between Doc's and Kharon's when it come to baggage handling by CCV. I appreciated how many logistics go into everything and how CCV works to minimize the impact of a small airport. I'll deal with Central American island airports for a few hours if I need to. Just part of traveling.

Bleaching on the reefs is not their fault, either. The viz wasn't good enough in many places to drop an additional 30'. The end of November is the end of rainy season and there was a decent amount of particle debris floating in the water. Still had a great time. The viz ranged from typical S. Florida viz to not quite as good as Cozumel viz. I think a different time of year would yield different results.

We did see a nice school of dolphins, which was quite amazing. Man those things can swim.

My biggest complaint is that my three hermit crabs didn't perform well in the race.

For me, the lack of fish (reports and video) and fried food options—turned me off. I saw a few videos. The reef system looks pretty dead.

 

[Catito]

There's nowhere to run. My group decided on Roatan this time instead of our usual Bonaire because we were put off by all the kerfuffle over Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Bonaire. But as it turns out, and as I noted in my trip report, Roatan did not appear to be in better shape than Bonaire.

edit: Regarding the airport (RTB), my group thankfully experienced no hitches whatsoever. From others' comments, it sounds like the airport experience can be inconsistent.

Allegedly, Bonaire coral is bouncing back. I am hopeful.