While I regret that this may cause an outburst of angry responses, I wish to challenge the words of praise some have offered for the way in which CCV and the Evans family, most notably Terry, handled the recent health concerns at CCV.
In his September communication through Dee proclaiming an end to the problem, Terry Evans wrote that CoCoView owners did acknowledge their problem and tried for months to take care of it themselves. Several times they thought they had it under control, but a few weeks later there would be another occurrence.
But look back to Terrys 6/30/03 posting at scubadiving.com and there seems to be absolutely no acknowledgement of a problem. In fact, he specifically said that there is no indication of any illness whatsoever. This declaration was buttressed by carefully worded statements that left the impression that there was no real problem. For example, Terry writes I've had reports of illness from virtually every resort at some time or another and have over the years had fewer complaints from CCV guests than other properties we handle in the Bay Islands. Excuse me, Terry is the son of the owner does he think people that obviously see his relationship to the owners are going to be more candid with him regarding their GI misadventures? And even if it is indeed a true statement, it explicitly ignores the fact that there apparently was a problem at CCV at exactly the same time that Terry wrote that there was no problem.
While Dee appropriately notes that Terry is the son of Bill & Evelyn, Terry, in his 6/30/03 infomercial for CCV, conveniently omitted that little fact as he staunchly defended CCV (just like he conveniently avoided any acknowledgement that there was a problem). When someone on scubadiving.com called Terry on his error of omission (Might Terry Evans have any relationship to Bill and Evelyn Evans, the owners of CocoView who reportedly have been trying to sell the property? And would that have been a reasonable thing to disclose?), Terry conveniently avoided a clear answer in his posted response.
Terry attempted to gloss over the entire matter. In his 6/30/03 posting, he suggested that the only reason I have time to write this is because I am on vacation at CoCo View resort as we speak. The resort is full, all boats are going out full every day, everyone I have talked to is having a great time and there is no indication of any illness whatsoever. Fast forward to his September statement through Dee that he spent four weeks over the summer working in Roatan to identify the cause of the problem and to solve it. Through the scubadiving.com posting, Terry assures fleeing customers that all is well, but now that, in his opinion, the problem is solved, he was down there working hard to solve the problem.
Perhaps the problem at CCV has, in fact, now been solved, but I would not accept it just because Terry has said it. His latest words do little to give confidence that the problem is truly solved, in that they expressly contradict what he so strongly wrote when he was trying to mislead readers back in June. Why should we trust him now?
The value of this board is greatly reduced if businesses directly or indirectly use it as a tool to send messages or spin. We all have our favorite facilities and I, for one, include CCV in my list. But favorite or not, none of us should allow our friendships with owners to be transformed into an unchallenged communication channel. If the owners or family of CCV want to send a message to us, let them do so directly with the understanding that they assume a responsibility to reply when one or more board participants may wish to ask follow-up questions. Terrys 6/30/03 venture on to scubadiving.com was little more than an infomercial that, when challenged, prompted Terry to obfuscate even more.