I read your original thread as referenced.
I believe
Tridanca and
Large Diver gave you cogent responses.
Cobalt Coast Cayman or Coco View Roatan?
Otherwise, and unfortunately, you got a number of "I haven't been to that specific resort" type answers, including a whole lot of exhortations for other choices.
Your other thread opened up some interesting side questions, I'll address a couple.
Driving: If you feel comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road, feel free to drive on Cayman. I myself have no issues driving even right handed stick, so my only concern is the character of the roads and drivers- of which Cayman passes my stink test. Roatan does not. Roatan is left hand drive, but everything else presented is pure jabberwocky. Crappy roads; crappy rental vehicles; no lights; no guard rails; $300 dogs wandering all over; no real enforcement, adherence to, or understanding of driving laws; no Emergency Response; no Trauma Center; byzantine legal system that is designed to ensnare comparatively filthy rich North Americans.
There are many many glowing reports of renting scooters or cars and having reported great excursions on Roatan. It's all a matter of "the odds". Chances are, you will have a positive experience. If anything should happen, if you wind up in that very unlucky minority of those who get caught up in a property or personal injury issue, you will regret your "exploring adventure" fantasy forever. Roatan Honduras by the nature of it's legal system is designed to suck you dry. Roll the dice, but also see Roatan's easy and cheap option of hiring an English speaking driver for the day.
That's the real answer.
Bugs/Insects/Mosquitos: It was mentioned that Cayman has a mosquito eradication program. This comes from tax money and an operational government (something Roatan does not have). Cayman implements this program with obvious but somewhat costly methodology of standing water abatement through zoning enforcement, combined with chemical applications. This chemistry is washed downhill to the reef with run-off, but they have contained their mosquito problem effectively.
When this discussion then centers on Roatan, it must be remembered that you asked specifically about Coco View. What Is there is not what you will find anywhere else. I am not going to again after many times re-explain the micro geography of Roatan, but I'll describe CCV's unique location on the island. CCV lies on a private cay off the South side of Roatan. Prevailing breezes are ESE, they can be depended upon to run from 4-8 mph most times of the year. This alone makes flying insects disappear. The local vegetation is deeply pruned back. There is no standing water, no rotting vegetation, troughs, ponds, rain barrels, and the ground is 20" hard sand over iron shore that quickly drains off.
The main problem in Roatan is the Sand Fleas (no see-ums, sand flies, etc). These insects are found all over Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean, but I do believe the Bay Islands has the very best Sand Flies. There is much written about this, so no need to digress here. Suffice to say, the serendipity of CCV's location also affects the behavior and range of Sand Flies. CCV is absolutely unique in terms of it's geography, bugs there are reduced, no doubt in my mind.
But- you did ask about diving....
This is called
SCUBA Board and as you mentioned, you had done some research on
TWITadvisor
My experience with
TA, at least in terms of
SCUBA...it's really not all that useful, other than from the perspective of the cruise-ship diver, or that vacationer who also does some diving.
There are many people on SB that do weeklong vacations and are quite happy with logging ten dives. I can not speak to them. It is an industry belief that "vacation divers" do a current average of 5 dives during a week, but this number is skewed by the self-defining status of "I was on a dive vacation".
On Roatan, up until very recent years, almost every visitor was there on a "dive vacation". The great majority of visitors went and still lodge in the West End where local anecdotal evidence puts the raw number of dives per week in then neighborhood of 7 per visitor.
Coco View offers an easy 27 dives in a week. At this point, walking on land is problematic for me, but I can still get my 4x a day plus that night dive. Some may decry the shore dive as redundant, but if but not for my gimpiness, I would skip the boat dives and just do shore dives- it's that entertaining. It's just easier for me to do the boat dives, still getting 32+ hours/week underwater with a very shallow dive profile using plain old air.
I have not been to Cobalt Coast.
I have been to the Caymans (multiple week trips, land based) three times, 1972, 1982, 1992 (every ten years by coincidence), and several liveaboards. I watched the underwater scene degrade precipitously each decade. In 1992, even after diving the remote, exotic and fabled "no one dives here" places, I recognized that success had killed her. Believe it or not, in 1972 the caves in front of Georgetown were vibrant and alive.
At the time, I was hooked-up with various high maintenance girl friends that looked remarkable in Fathom wetsuits (of which two were Fathom models), and they did some photo shoot diving, but after the morning dives, go shopping, then at 3pm it was salon time, get glossy and go to Chef Tells Grand Old House. I had a revolving account at Bernie Pessman's Jewelry shop.
Cayman was just perfect.
In 1984 I started diving Roatan with my first wife who had a good sense of adventure and didn't
require "ancillary services". She enjoyed the DC3 arrival and the dirt roads, generators and stuff. Now Roatan has "developed somewhat"....and although the degradation of the fringing reef structure is now in full curve, the locale is not yet quite to the point of Cayman. It will be, soon enough. People write TA reports bitching about not being able to get Diet Pepsi, just Diet Coke. Yes, life in Roatan is third-world, Banana Republic type primitive and very rough. Maybe pick a different vacation?
Most divers out there universally simply do not have the skill sets to appreciate what Roatan's South Side has yet remaining to offer. If you have good close-up observational skills, perfected buoyancy, if you enjoy night diving, CCV's Roatan South side is perfect. It is shallow, vertical walls, facing into Southern Sunlight, and intact 140 wreck for a shore dive in 55fsw. It is little critter heaven.
Unfortunately, the majority of divers (those still diving after certification but before they drop out at dive #35) are still in search of Lobsters, Parrot Fish, Whale Sharks and Sharky-Sharks. They are in a hurry, physically and emotionally, Go-Pro in hand. They will likely think CCV sucks, probably even more than West End guest house options- at least at those you can go to 10 different bars.
So, CCV is prime for noob beginners, it is a swimming pool perfect for Certification and ease of dive conditions and perfect boats that are almost ADA Compliant. Advanced divers who have those honed observation skills, they love the place. It is micro/macro heaven.
Here, have a look: CoCoView Explained In Pictures by doc adelman
