Bay Islands Oct/Nov??

[Justin.H]

Hello all!,

So I'm planning on heading to the Bay Islands in mid October for 4 weeks or so to get my PADI rescue diver and just log a bunch of dives as I'm slowly working towards an eventual divemaster (hopefully.) Now this is really the only time this year I'll be able to make this trip and I'm aware the weather won't be ideal considering it's the rainy season. How badly will this affect the visibility? Rain on land doesn't concern me as much as poor visibility so I'm just looking for some reassurance that I won't get to Utila and be blind for every dive. Also, any recommendations on shops or accommodation around this time for a mid 20's guy travelling solo would be appreciated. I've found some information online regarding pricing but nothing particularly consistent. The majority of my diving experience up to this point has been Southeast Asia so I'm expecting to pay more than over there but hopefully not by much.

Thanks!

 

[DogDiver]

Have fun and enjoy yourself

 

[scrane]

I've been to West End Roatan for the last two Octobers and plan to go again this year. Although it seems to rain once every day or two for a few hours the conditions in the water were fine. Not a lot of divers around that time of year.
Check out Hotel Chillies for cheap prices and friendly service. Native Sons Divers is a fine little operation also.
Hotel Chillies, from budget to luxury.

 

[KeithG]

rainy season normally greatly reduces viz, but does not destroy it. instead of 100 feet you may have 50 feet or a little less. it can avry greatly by day and site.

cloud cover removes a lot of the light, so this reduces the distance you can see at the surface and it gets darker at shallower depths. a good dive light helps to combat this. especially if looking under ledges and into cracks.

rain causes runoff which fills the water with particulates. there is generally a day or two delay after a hard rain before the runoff gets fully spread around. no solution for this.

 

[Doc]

.... in mid October for 4 weeks or so to get my PADI rescue diver and just log a bunch of dives .....weather won't be ideal considering it's the rainy season.....How badly will this affect the visibility? .....some reassurance that I won't get to Utila and be blind for every dive.

I read what you wrote.

You're asking about doing Rescue Diver.

Rescue Diver is the same whoever does it. Do the first aid and CPR back home, read the manual at home, standard advice for any diving cert. Use this opportunity to look over operations for your next possible step, DM. Then- come back to SB when you're ready to discuss that process and we'll do our best to enlighten you- but remember that the people on the internet are either shilling for the shop that they are doing their DiveMaster Internship at, or they are holders of DM paper sitting home in Ohio with the wife and kids. (Thus, you'll get "smoke blown up", "versus smoke blown at")

You're asking about Utila and visibility during rainy season.

Visibility is less an issue on Utila than on the West End of Roatan. Visibility is affected by what? It is affected by siltation from rainwater run-off from land.

Nothing more to it.

Utila is unique in the Bay Islands due to it's shape and position in the wind and current. It simply isn't a heavily cultivated (tilled) soil environment, not a whole lot of condos and tourism as you'll see on the West End.

On Utila, after rains, yes- you will see siltation and run off in very localized areas, but due to the free exchange of ocean water, this is swept away fairly quickly.

A much greater concern and over riding thought: One should not go to the Bay Islands for visibility. You should focus instead on the types of critters endemic to these specific environs. Herein lies the crux-of-the-biscuit... visibility isn't as much diminished by fresh water rain run-off from land, it has the greater effect of causing creature behavior changes... cold fresh water? They withdraw, hunker down and hide out of sight.

Pure facts: Average Weather For Roatán, Honduras - WeatherSpark

You can look at weather "reports" on webpages from real estate agents, but I mean really.

October in the Bay Islands doesn't suck totally, but it sucks pretty much. Better than November.

Soooooo.... You say "Mid October" for "Four weeks or so".... that puts you squarely in Novemeber, inarguably the single worst month to be in the Bay Islands.

So there's that.

 

[laurenceh]

utila waters can get a bit of a brown appearance after weeks of heavy rain as the mangrove lagoons fill up and empty into the sea but thats mostly just on the south shore, northside isn't too affected. viz is still decent 50-65 feet and probably better on the northside. bring a raincoat for the dive boat and for running around town at night. i loved the first few rainy seasons i spent on utila, got a bit monotonous after 4-5 when i ran out of books to read. enjoy!

 

[Subway Watersports]

Hello all!,

So I'm planning on heading to the Bay Islands in mid October for 4 weeks or so to get my PADI rescue diver and just log a bunch of dives as I'm slowly working towards an eventual divemaster (hopefully.) Now this is really the only time this year I'll be able to make this trip and I'm aware the weather won't be ideal considering it's the rainy season. How badly will this affect the visibility? Rain on land doesn't concern me as much as poor visibility so I'm just looking for some reassurance that I won't get to Utila and be blind for every dive. Also, any recommendations on shops or accommodation around this time for a mid 20's guy travelling solo would be appreciated. I've found some information online regarding pricing but nothing particularly consistent. The majority of my diving experience up to this point has been Southeast Asia so I'm expecting to pay more than over there but hopefully not by much.

Thanks!

Hi Justin! If you're looking for cheap accommodation and some courses at the same time, we offer housing in our Divemaster internship house for a very low rate. You would be staying with other dive students your own age and they tend to have a lot of fun together and bond during their stays. We also offer really reasonable course prices at a 5-Star Instructor Development dive shop and Roatan's only dive shop to offer diving on all four sides of the island. This means that even if the rain and wind stir things up on one side of the island, we can move to another side to dive in better conditions! If you're interested, send me an e-mail to internship@roatandiveacademy.com and we can chat some more. And, if you have four weeks we can also discuss getting some of your Divemaster training done at the same time and getting you further along in your dive studies. I look forward to hearing from you!