mikemill
Contributor
Multiple post report so I can get all the images and text in
I spent last week basking in the glorious diving on Roatan. I went with my brother and this was the first diving vacation for the both of us. We spent the week at CoCo View Resort (Map) in the over water cabiana #11.
The resort itself is very much centered around diving. Everything non-diving related had a very simple feel to it. They aren't trying to be a fancy resort and it shows. But it is clean, comfortable, and friendly. We were kinda surprised about the amount of older people there. I only know of three people younger then I was that was there. It didn't present any problems but wasn't what we had expected.
The basic diving routine is that you go out in the morning at 8:30. You do one dive with the DM showing the group around. Once everyone is back on the boat you have a surface interval around 45 mins to an hour and then you do a drop-off dive on Newman's wall. In the afternoon you do the same thing leaving at 2pm and dropping off on CoCo View Wall. Newman's runs mostly North/South and CoCo View runs mostly East/West and both lead you to the Prince Albert Wreck which has an anchor line with floating things attached to it that leads you back through the wall and to the resort.
We quickly found out that you can request modifications to the drop site. For example we had one group that liked to be dropped further away then the normal drop point. So a couple times we had them drop us right on top of the wreck and a few times had them drop us closer so we could really take our time looking around the walls.
The DM dives were more of a tour then a DM controlled dive. Before we'd leave the dock he'd brief us on the dive plan which included a representational map. We were free to deviate from the plan. One dive my brother was starting to get low so we moved towards the boat while the group continued on. Mark (the DM) was good about pointing out cool creatures (seahorses, eels, etc) that might be missed without rapping on his tank every minute.
The groups did get a little annoying at times but as the week progressed we spread out more and it became less of an issue.
There was a lot of macro life as well as larger life. I was surprised by how much less red I found compared to Monterey/Carmel area.
Note: I was really bad about writing down the name of the sites we went to.
May 9
The day began at the ungodly hour of 3:15am. We got to the airport a little after 4am for a 6am flight. Surprisingly by the time we had gotten through checking-in and security we arrive at the gate right as they started boarding. Seems like they are boarding much sooner then I remember.
From Sacramento we went to Houston where we got some kick arse Fijta Tacos. My brother forgot his sunglasses so he picked some up there. So after those two things it was time to reboard. Fortuantly we were able to get our seats changed to an asile and window in the exit row (with no one between us). That was really nice.
Once we got to Roatan and went through passport control we got to learn how bloody effiecient the resorts are. Each resort had their own luggage tag that they send you and each resort is a different color. They had groups pulling off the luggage that had the resort tags and were staging them together. All we had to do was talk to the rep from the resort to claim our bag and they took care of getting it to the resort.
Words of warning: The taxis are aggressive there so just say no you are good and find your friend ride to the resort. You aren't going to save any time by taking a taxi.
Once we got to the resort and got told where our room was we proceeded to unpack and put our gear in one of the lockers.
Since it was our first time there we had to wait and not go diving with some of the people we meet on the ride over.
Lots of little crabs in and around the walkways.
View from our deck.
Format for dive information: Dive Time / Max Depth / Average Depth
Sunday, May 10
In the morning we got the tour of the dive operation including the systems for air and nitrox tanks, the system for night diving (basically a check out/in system), and the rinse tanks, showers, and dry racks. Immediately following that we geared up and walked out to the platform for shore diving where we meetup with a DM (who turned out to be our boat's DM) for a checkout dive. The dive was just to make sure that our weighting was good, a quick mask flood/clear, reg recovery, and then a tour so we'd know how to get in and out of the area. Because it was a dive I figured I should pay some attention to I left my camera in the room. And of course I saw the only stingray I saw the entire trip.
Orientation Dive: 36 / 69 / 38
Afternoon DM Dive
Dive time: 42 mins
Max depth: 65 ft
Average depth: 32 ft
CoCo View Wall Drop Off
Dive time: 39 mins
Max depth: 57 ft
Average depth: 36 ft
We then meet up to do a night dive which was actually my brother's first. So after a briefing on signals and plan at the platform we went out to the wreck.
Prince Albert Night Dive
Dive time: 39 mins
Max depth: 62 ft
Average depth: 38 ft
I spent last week basking in the glorious diving on Roatan. I went with my brother and this was the first diving vacation for the both of us. We spent the week at CoCo View Resort (Map) in the over water cabiana #11.
The resort itself is very much centered around diving. Everything non-diving related had a very simple feel to it. They aren't trying to be a fancy resort and it shows. But it is clean, comfortable, and friendly. We were kinda surprised about the amount of older people there. I only know of three people younger then I was that was there. It didn't present any problems but wasn't what we had expected.
The basic diving routine is that you go out in the morning at 8:30. You do one dive with the DM showing the group around. Once everyone is back on the boat you have a surface interval around 45 mins to an hour and then you do a drop-off dive on Newman's wall. In the afternoon you do the same thing leaving at 2pm and dropping off on CoCo View Wall. Newman's runs mostly North/South and CoCo View runs mostly East/West and both lead you to the Prince Albert Wreck which has an anchor line with floating things attached to it that leads you back through the wall and to the resort.
We quickly found out that you can request modifications to the drop site. For example we had one group that liked to be dropped further away then the normal drop point. So a couple times we had them drop us right on top of the wreck and a few times had them drop us closer so we could really take our time looking around the walls.
The DM dives were more of a tour then a DM controlled dive. Before we'd leave the dock he'd brief us on the dive plan which included a representational map. We were free to deviate from the plan. One dive my brother was starting to get low so we moved towards the boat while the group continued on. Mark (the DM) was good about pointing out cool creatures (seahorses, eels, etc) that might be missed without rapping on his tank every minute.
The groups did get a little annoying at times but as the week progressed we spread out more and it became less of an issue.
There was a lot of macro life as well as larger life. I was surprised by how much less red I found compared to Monterey/Carmel area.
Note: I was really bad about writing down the name of the sites we went to.
May 9
The day began at the ungodly hour of 3:15am. We got to the airport a little after 4am for a 6am flight. Surprisingly by the time we had gotten through checking-in and security we arrive at the gate right as they started boarding. Seems like they are boarding much sooner then I remember.
From Sacramento we went to Houston where we got some kick arse Fijta Tacos. My brother forgot his sunglasses so he picked some up there. So after those two things it was time to reboard. Fortuantly we were able to get our seats changed to an asile and window in the exit row (with no one between us). That was really nice.
Once we got to Roatan and went through passport control we got to learn how bloody effiecient the resorts are. Each resort had their own luggage tag that they send you and each resort is a different color. They had groups pulling off the luggage that had the resort tags and were staging them together. All we had to do was talk to the rep from the resort to claim our bag and they took care of getting it to the resort.
Words of warning: The taxis are aggressive there so just say no you are good and find your friend ride to the resort. You aren't going to save any time by taking a taxi.
Once we got to the resort and got told where our room was we proceeded to unpack and put our gear in one of the lockers.
Since it was our first time there we had to wait and not go diving with some of the people we meet on the ride over.
Lots of little crabs in and around the walkways.
View from our deck.
Format for dive information: Dive Time / Max Depth / Average Depth
Sunday, May 10
In the morning we got the tour of the dive operation including the systems for air and nitrox tanks, the system for night diving (basically a check out/in system), and the rinse tanks, showers, and dry racks. Immediately following that we geared up and walked out to the platform for shore diving where we meetup with a DM (who turned out to be our boat's DM) for a checkout dive. The dive was just to make sure that our weighting was good, a quick mask flood/clear, reg recovery, and then a tour so we'd know how to get in and out of the area. Because it was a dive I figured I should pay some attention to I left my camera in the room. And of course I saw the only stingray I saw the entire trip.
Orientation Dive: 36 / 69 / 38
Afternoon DM Dive
Dive time: 42 mins
Max depth: 65 ft
Average depth: 32 ft
CoCo View Wall Drop Off
Dive time: 39 mins
Max depth: 57 ft
Average depth: 36 ft
We then meet up to do a night dive which was actually my brother's first. So after a briefing on signals and plan at the platform we went out to the wreck.
Prince Albert Night Dive
Dive time: 39 mins
Max depth: 62 ft
Average depth: 38 ft
