morecowbells
Contributor
I put this trip report into 'compartments' in order to make it easier to read and skip over the parts that you are not interested in reading
. We spent Jan 22- Jan 29 in Roatan. It was our first visit to the island. Other dive destinations have been Cozumel, Saba, Grand Cayman and Curacao. My impression is that Roatan shares the most similarities with Cozumel. The main differences being that Cozumel seemed to generally have a larger quantity and variety of marine life, but Roatan had a more abundant supply of grouper, snapper, and turtles. The corals appeared vibrant, healthy and mature. There were many large barrel sponges and brain coral which were more abundant and larger than any other destination. My favorite dive sites are a tie between Spooky Channel and Green Outhouse. Spooky Channel is different from anything else that I have dived in the Caribbean. Dramatic canyon with swim through, vast marine life and short boat ride from dive op. I have not read much about Green Outhouse. Perhaps it was here that I saw the greatest variety of marine life without having to go beyond 70 feet. I saw numerous grouper, snapper, free swimming Moray Eel, and at one point looked up to see three turtles above me-two hawksbill and one green.
Lodging at The Blue Bahia
We stayed at Blue Bahia. I found the condo on VRBO. The condo was exactly as described-perhaps nicer. It was such a relief to travel the Caribbean and sleep in a really comfortable King bed. Hot water was abundant. A/C in each room worked well and consistently. The resort is located down the street from the main road. Absolutely no noise from traffic. Amazingly, I did not hear any roosters or dogs barking at night. Condo had satellite t.v. which was grainy but I had no problems getting with reception. Pool and grounds groomed several time a day and well maintained. Pool was chilly, but I usually just like to sit around them any ways. There are no palapas or canopy's but since the complex is built around the pool, there was always some shade to be found. The beach is not the best. Lost of sea grass, sandy beach area occasionally used as road by cars. Many people we talked with enjoyed the snorkeling off the pier. I kept vowing that I would snorkel after my dives. But to be honest, once I settled down with my mojito, my cold and damp wetsuit did not tempt me enough. I figured the location of the Blue Bahia put us in close proximity to many of the dive sites. I am so prone to sea sickness and wanted a place where long boat rides would not be an issue. The prospect of shorter boat rides trumped staying in a location with the nicer-more pristine beaches.
Kent was a wonderful host. Timely in e mail correspondence and preparation of our arrival. Pick up at airport was timely and friendly. Kent always made a point of talking with all his guests. He provided a great deal of helpful information about restaurants on the island, cab fares etc. He is a laid back guy who also knows how to run a tight ship. West End is a 5 minute cab ride. The supermarket is about 15 minutes way.
Food!
We ate most of our meals at The Blue Bahia Bar and Grill. Meals were consistently excellent. All items were fresh, homemade and large portioned. Servers ranged from excellent to just so-so. Breakfast was included in stay. Not your usual coffee and stale muffins, these were hearty breakfasts with French toast, chorizo, eggs, bacon, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice etc. Slightly different day to day. Besides eating at The Blue Bahia Bar and Grill, we also at at Bella Napoli (amazing selection of pizzas), Tong's Thai Cuisine, Rotisserie Chicken and Eagle Ray's Bar and Restaurant. We had some wonderful meals and ate lot's of salads and fruits as well. No issues with 'bad food'.
Our Diving Experience with Octopus Dive School
I really wanted to stick with the convenience of a dive shop affiliated with the resort. When researching this dive op there was not much information out there on Tripadvisor and Scubaboard. The owner Nuria was prompt and professional in corresponding with me so I decided to give them a try. They were an excellent choice! The staff was welcoming, professional, safe and great at finding critters. Tanks were consistently filled to 3000 psi. Most dives were about an hour. If a diver ran low on air they were provided a safety sausage while the rest of us could continue our dives. Max number of divers were 7, although most of the time it was much less. One day it was only my husband and I. Antonio the captain was perhaps one of the nicest, most skilled captain's that I have ever encountered when diving. I don't want to beat a dead horse with my sea sickness issue, but it was a major plus having surface intervals on land-usually back at the dive op.
My First Shark Dive...
Octopus Dive School made all the arrangements with and provided the transportation to Roatan Shark Dive. We received a thorough briefing on land inside dive shop. Rules, respect, expectations were all discussed before boarding boat. The boat itself resembles an large, homely bathtub. No canopy, sides of boat high and deep. My guess is the boat is designed as such to handle the rougher open waters. The ride took about 15 minutes from Coxen Hole. The day was clear and the waters smooth(amen!) with minimal current. Being all of 5'3'' it was a total b!tch trying to inch up my backside while deliberately over-weighted to get to the high edge of the boat and backroll off. In retrospect, I probably need to get more comfortable with applying my BCD in the water. That may have been easier. Descending to dive site was exactly as outlined on briefing. Follow tow line down to 70 feet. As I was descending I noticed some of the sharks already swimming around the bottom. I was getting so excited! We all took our positions with our backs against the wall. Immediately I was awe struck and snapping pictures. After a few minutes we could either swim around or just hang out by the wall. I did a little of both. I didn't realize that I would actually be swimming with the sharks! After several minutes were signaled to take our places by the wall and the feeding began. We were a safe distance away from the rubber container with the fish. I have never seen such a frenzy. I know sharks were powerful creatures but this just reiterated that finding. The sharks were reef sharks-no bulls or tigers(thank goodness!).Unfortunately, I did not encounter any grouper on this dive. Apparentely this is unusual. It was over after just a couple of minutes and groups were assigned to ascend. Everything was well organized and supervised.
About Them Bugs...
I applied 20% Picaridin(Made by Bayer, ordered on Amazon) and squirted some lemon and eucalyptus oil on my ankles. I did not suffer from a single sand flea or mosquito bite. Granted, I did not spend much time on the beach. The area around the Blue Bahia pool and restaurant were made of wood. It was a short walk on the beach from the dive op over to the pier. All of our dining was outdoors. Our table at Rotisserie Chicken was on the sand/dirt. I did have a problem with ants but no other bites. My skin reacts badly to DEET-especially in higher concentrations. On other vacations I had a lot of success with Picaridin in the battle against mosquitoes. I bumped it up to the 20% concentration due to all the discussions I have read in reference to sand fleas. It is not sticky or oily. The company claims it is odorless. I disagree with that. While it is no where as pungent as DEET, it does have a (I know, sounds crazy) wet dog smell when using the higher concentrations.
Overall impressions....
I did not have any issues with safety, theft etc. The people we encountered were friendly and helpful. At the risk of sounding like an ugly tourist, there definitely was a language barrier. Many people struggled or were unable to speak English. I wish I was better prepared and studied some basic Spanish skills. Fortunately, with writing and gestures(not the bad kind!) we were able to get around without any issues. Nobody tried to rip us off or sell us a time share. I regret not doing a canopy/zip line tour. Time and energy after diving ran short.
Last but not least...
Prior to our vacation I was in contact with Clinica Esperanza. I offered to bring down some supplies. We brought down some dressing supplies, antibiotic ointment and batteries. It is amazing how well these things tuck into fins, mask, corners of suitcase etc. It was a piece of cake delivering these items. I would encourage anybody to do this. It is so easy to just see the resort part of the island. After walking around and talking to people who lived on the island, the poverty is a sad reality. Despite these hardships, I was amazed at how happy and friendly the children were.
. We spent Jan 22- Jan 29 in Roatan. It was our first visit to the island. Other dive destinations have been Cozumel, Saba, Grand Cayman and Curacao. My impression is that Roatan shares the most similarities with Cozumel. The main differences being that Cozumel seemed to generally have a larger quantity and variety of marine life, but Roatan had a more abundant supply of grouper, snapper, and turtles. The corals appeared vibrant, healthy and mature. There were many large barrel sponges and brain coral which were more abundant and larger than any other destination. My favorite dive sites are a tie between Spooky Channel and Green Outhouse. Spooky Channel is different from anything else that I have dived in the Caribbean. Dramatic canyon with swim through, vast marine life and short boat ride from dive op. I have not read much about Green Outhouse. Perhaps it was here that I saw the greatest variety of marine life without having to go beyond 70 feet. I saw numerous grouper, snapper, free swimming Moray Eel, and at one point looked up to see three turtles above me-two hawksbill and one green. Lodging at The Blue Bahia
We stayed at Blue Bahia. I found the condo on VRBO. The condo was exactly as described-perhaps nicer. It was such a relief to travel the Caribbean and sleep in a really comfortable King bed. Hot water was abundant. A/C in each room worked well and consistently. The resort is located down the street from the main road. Absolutely no noise from traffic. Amazingly, I did not hear any roosters or dogs barking at night. Condo had satellite t.v. which was grainy but I had no problems getting with reception. Pool and grounds groomed several time a day and well maintained. Pool was chilly, but I usually just like to sit around them any ways. There are no palapas or canopy's but since the complex is built around the pool, there was always some shade to be found. The beach is not the best. Lost of sea grass, sandy beach area occasionally used as road by cars. Many people we talked with enjoyed the snorkeling off the pier. I kept vowing that I would snorkel after my dives. But to be honest, once I settled down with my mojito, my cold and damp wetsuit did not tempt me enough. I figured the location of the Blue Bahia put us in close proximity to many of the dive sites. I am so prone to sea sickness and wanted a place where long boat rides would not be an issue. The prospect of shorter boat rides trumped staying in a location with the nicer-more pristine beaches.
Kent was a wonderful host. Timely in e mail correspondence and preparation of our arrival. Pick up at airport was timely and friendly. Kent always made a point of talking with all his guests. He provided a great deal of helpful information about restaurants on the island, cab fares etc. He is a laid back guy who also knows how to run a tight ship. West End is a 5 minute cab ride. The supermarket is about 15 minutes way.
Food!
We ate most of our meals at The Blue Bahia Bar and Grill. Meals were consistently excellent. All items were fresh, homemade and large portioned. Servers ranged from excellent to just so-so. Breakfast was included in stay. Not your usual coffee and stale muffins, these were hearty breakfasts with French toast, chorizo, eggs, bacon, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice etc. Slightly different day to day. Besides eating at The Blue Bahia Bar and Grill, we also at at Bella Napoli (amazing selection of pizzas), Tong's Thai Cuisine, Rotisserie Chicken and Eagle Ray's Bar and Restaurant. We had some wonderful meals and ate lot's of salads and fruits as well. No issues with 'bad food'.
Our Diving Experience with Octopus Dive School
I really wanted to stick with the convenience of a dive shop affiliated with the resort. When researching this dive op there was not much information out there on Tripadvisor and Scubaboard. The owner Nuria was prompt and professional in corresponding with me so I decided to give them a try. They were an excellent choice! The staff was welcoming, professional, safe and great at finding critters. Tanks were consistently filled to 3000 psi. Most dives were about an hour. If a diver ran low on air they were provided a safety sausage while the rest of us could continue our dives. Max number of divers were 7, although most of the time it was much less. One day it was only my husband and I. Antonio the captain was perhaps one of the nicest, most skilled captain's that I have ever encountered when diving. I don't want to beat a dead horse with my sea sickness issue, but it was a major plus having surface intervals on land-usually back at the dive op.
My First Shark Dive...
Octopus Dive School made all the arrangements with and provided the transportation to Roatan Shark Dive. We received a thorough briefing on land inside dive shop. Rules, respect, expectations were all discussed before boarding boat. The boat itself resembles an large, homely bathtub. No canopy, sides of boat high and deep. My guess is the boat is designed as such to handle the rougher open waters. The ride took about 15 minutes from Coxen Hole. The day was clear and the waters smooth(amen!) with minimal current. Being all of 5'3'' it was a total b!tch trying to inch up my backside while deliberately over-weighted to get to the high edge of the boat and backroll off. In retrospect, I probably need to get more comfortable with applying my BCD in the water. That may have been easier. Descending to dive site was exactly as outlined on briefing. Follow tow line down to 70 feet. As I was descending I noticed some of the sharks already swimming around the bottom. I was getting so excited! We all took our positions with our backs against the wall. Immediately I was awe struck and snapping pictures. After a few minutes we could either swim around or just hang out by the wall. I did a little of both. I didn't realize that I would actually be swimming with the sharks! After several minutes were signaled to take our places by the wall and the feeding began. We were a safe distance away from the rubber container with the fish. I have never seen such a frenzy. I know sharks were powerful creatures but this just reiterated that finding. The sharks were reef sharks-no bulls or tigers(thank goodness!).Unfortunately, I did not encounter any grouper on this dive. Apparentely this is unusual. It was over after just a couple of minutes and groups were assigned to ascend. Everything was well organized and supervised.
About Them Bugs...
I applied 20% Picaridin(Made by Bayer, ordered on Amazon) and squirted some lemon and eucalyptus oil on my ankles. I did not suffer from a single sand flea or mosquito bite. Granted, I did not spend much time on the beach. The area around the Blue Bahia pool and restaurant were made of wood. It was a short walk on the beach from the dive op over to the pier. All of our dining was outdoors. Our table at Rotisserie Chicken was on the sand/dirt. I did have a problem with ants but no other bites. My skin reacts badly to DEET-especially in higher concentrations. On other vacations I had a lot of success with Picaridin in the battle against mosquitoes. I bumped it up to the 20% concentration due to all the discussions I have read in reference to sand fleas. It is not sticky or oily. The company claims it is odorless. I disagree with that. While it is no where as pungent as DEET, it does have a (I know, sounds crazy) wet dog smell when using the higher concentrations.
Overall impressions....
I did not have any issues with safety, theft etc. The people we encountered were friendly and helpful. At the risk of sounding like an ugly tourist, there definitely was a language barrier. Many people struggled or were unable to speak English. I wish I was better prepared and studied some basic Spanish skills. Fortunately, with writing and gestures(not the bad kind!) we were able to get around without any issues. Nobody tried to rip us off or sell us a time share. I regret not doing a canopy/zip line tour. Time and energy after diving ran short.
Last but not least...
Prior to our vacation I was in contact with Clinica Esperanza. I offered to bring down some supplies. We brought down some dressing supplies, antibiotic ointment and batteries. It is amazing how well these things tuck into fins, mask, corners of suitcase etc. It was a piece of cake delivering these items. I would encourage anybody to do this. It is so easy to just see the resort part of the island. After walking around and talking to people who lived on the island, the poverty is a sad reality. Despite these hardships, I was amazed at how happy and friendly the children were.
