Trip report from Fantasy Island

[John_B]

Does your box give you the average depth that would go along with the max? That would be a great bit of info, as well.

Average depth wouldn't look anything like those numbers. I would say considerably more than half of the bottom times for those dives were spent in the 30'-40' range, occasionally even as shallow as 20' -- except those times where I dawdled down the wall for some reason; Mary's Place, Calvin's and Valley of the Kings come to mind.

(I haven't been able to get the JTrak software to successfully "talk" to my Uwatec Tec 2g computer because the USB IrDA device I already have doesn't seem to be supported by JTrak on OS X, Uwatec wants me to buy their $99 version instead. I keep meaning to buy different IrDA hardware or fire up one of my old Windows PCs and try SmarTrak but haven't been gotten around to it.) I'll see what I can do this weekend...

 

[harleygrandma58]

We are planning a trip there over Thanksgiving. Half will be divers, a few snorkelers and a couple just sun worshippers. Kind of worried about the resort, the big guinea pigs. Is the pool nice? Seen some pics, looks big, people say very small. Swim up bar? Is it there? We have some new divers but think they will be fine. My husband is a master scuba diver and I don't dive but I love to snorkel.

 

[robint]

Doc and John - regarding the nitrox: we always dive nitrox if we have it available, it is a safety factor, the less nitrogen you absorb each day the better, plus it makes for more energy at the end of the day.
I know it isn't necessary in most cases, but I would rather do the nitrox even though I always spend the last part of my dives shallow to offgas even before I start my safety stop. At CCV, when we did all our dives on nitrox, as well as in Bonaire and several liveaboards when we did the same, I never had to end a dive early because of deco time, and we got in 4 dives per day average, some times 5, and our dives are usually looooooong.
I love geezer gas and will continue to use it whenever possible!

robin

 

[CODMAN]

Hi there, I was there in 2006 when the new pool just opened. It was quite nice then (don't know about now though...), but it was quite small. I don't know, I'd say maybe place to comfortably fit 20 people? maybe someone else who has been there recently can give a better estimate. Yes there was a smim up bar. Snorkelling is easy. There is the beach area, with very little to see... or just a short swim out around the dive gazebo, you have access to the whole Roatan reef system with very shallow and lush reefs! Tons of fun if you are a decent snorkeler. The Beach is also decent. Just remember to bring bug repellent for the sand fleas...

In my oppinion, the diving there is ideal for newbies. No current, warm and quite shallow diving. Just make sure they know what they are doing since the DMs there don't baby sit the divers. They are more like guides than actual DMs. If they know how to dive safely, and follow the guide, they'll be fine.

Have fun!

We are planning a trip there over Thanksgiving. Half will be divers, a few snorkelers and a couple just sun worshippers. Kind of worried about the resort, the big guinea pigs. Is the pool nice? Seen some pics, looks big, people say very small. Swim up bar? Is it there? We have some new divers but think they will be fine. My husband is a master scuba diver and I don't dive but I love to snorkel.

 

[BigHarryDiver]

Thanks for the report. I'm off to FIBR in a couple weeks so it's nice to have an update. Excellent that you saw seahorses - my favorite thing to see there...
Did you do any night dives on the Prince Albert?

Hi - just curious how your FIBR trip went? A group from the Wilmington DE are heading there 4-18 for a week on the island.

Thanks,
Harry