Short Report:
The good: The place was nice, and remote. Diving was OK, they really didn't venture out anymore then 1-2 miles in either direction from the resort and after the 4th day, it was all about the same. If the weather is bad they do not really have any back up option and will cancel your dive. The owners are nice, the staff is pleasant.
The bad: The week we chose to stay at the resort- we were the only guests with the exception of some drop ins. What that means is the kitchen didn't always have what was on the menu, they wanted to know what you wanted for dinner at lunch, they shut things down early. The second day there we found two pairs of earrings missing on the nightstand, amazingly the were "found in the sheets" the following day (by the staff). The dive shop was chaninging management and really didn't want to consider doing some different sites, they combined work dives with our chartered dives. And overall I was not impressed with the operation. Being remote wouldn't have been an issue if there had been more folks around, there are NO activities short of diving and sitting on the beach, and the 'no-seeums' will get you, if there isn't any wind.
Now if you are on the other end of the Island, I do not believe you will have these issues, we rented a car on day and visited the Entrance to Cocoview, Fantasy Island, and stopped by Anthony's they all looked like great active places. I will not be going to Payabay, nor would I recommend anyone that I know to go there. we did an 8 day trip with 7 days of diving, 1 rending a car, after 4 days we stopped carrying the cameras, because nothing changed. The biggest "fish" we saw was a turtle and barracuda, the reef life was nice, but I like fish.
