Hello all, this is CajunDiva's "scubason". I can only echo what Diva's said about the improvements on the resort....this was my first of what will be many trips, but I did see the resort in its final days of the old management. Improvements are happening all over the place, from the bulldozer building the beach back up where it had washed out from a hurricane, to the gazebo's soft dive platform being rebuilt - it is very sturdy now. There are probably no less than 20 pet projects going on like that around the resort as I type this - I came back from a dive one morning to find the door to my room had been restained!
The biggest difference was certainly the food - wow! We went from flavorless rice and tough beef(?) to tender conch fritters, tender pork, enchiladas, lobster soups, shrimp/avocado salad, and banana pie desserts(highly recommend). For buffet style food, I'd say it went from about a 4/10 to an 8/10 virtually overnight. Special thanks to Fantasy Island for expanding my waistline last week. The presentation is also much better, with tasteful decorations made from fruit rinds, etc.
The staff was impeccable and I immediately felt like family. Not once did I pass a staff member of the cleaning, kitchen, dock, or dive crew without getting a smile and an "Hola". One member in particular was behind the scenes the entire time we were there, putting out fire after fire and making sure that everyone was happy - when the liquor was stolen from the bar for the outgoing management's party (leaving none for the guests), he commandeered a bottle of quality whiskey for us.
I dove with Darren the DM and Pedro the Captain, and to say they are world class professionals is an understatement. Along with being the nicest guy I've ever met, Darren is the master of finding seahorses, turtles, morays, lionfish, and even the elusive toadfish and stonefish. Pedro is not a man of many words; a skilled Captain that deftly maneuvered the Little Kashi to pick us up on many one-way drift dives with no mooring buoy to tie up to. Even with multiple divers coming out of the water at the same time, boarding the boat was quick and safe, with very few "surface traffic jams". The fresh pineapple, papaya, watermelon, and dry towels onboard were an excellent way to finish a dive. It's my understanding that the other Captains and DMs are equally as professional.
The boats are old but have good bones(the newly-commissioned Mallorca being an exception). Not once was I worried about their reliability, though they are admittedly in need of maintenance. I love the open-air feel of the boats, and the grab handles hanging from the ceiling would have been great for rough seas if we'd had any.
The diving was great and we were blessed with overall good weather. The worst viz we had was probably 30 feet, and the best being 80+. Unlike when I'd dove in Key Largo, even when the viz is not so great, the horizontal may be bad, but the vertical seemed much better - no detritus blocking your view as the low viz is usually due to rain runoff. I saw many things I'd never seen before this week; seahorses, toadfish and yellowfin grouper (8+ in view at one time). The fish life is healthy and I observed more than one species mating. I highly recommend the shark dive! Will post video of that once I get it online. I could go on and on about the diving, perhaps for a separate post later, with clips of the 30GB of HD video I took last week.
This begs of course, the burning question - would I go back? Absolutely. As soon as we touched down on the resort, I felt like a member of the FI family. The great spirits of the staff at the resort have been enhanced by the morale boost brought by the new management. As an aside, most of the couples we dove with were repeat guests to Roatan and FI, with 14+ trips if that tells you anything. I hope to be one of those privileged few in the years to come.
I said they gave us that meal because of the crap we had to endure the previous weekend...that doesn't mean "it's back" on a weekly basis!
