Is it just me? Or is Roatan really that underwhelming?

[PhatD1ver]

We got back from out cruise to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel this last week... the operator in Roatan was real good, but the actual diving wasn't anything that I'd go back for... I mean it was 'all right' as my wife put it, and I really enjoyed Canyon Reef, but I mean I'll have a hard time convincing the wife to ever go back... I think personally, given the reputation Roatan has for good diving, it was just an off day...

Belize, no diving, that was family day, I endured the journey to Lamanai by car/boat and back... lunch was the real treat... dang they make a good habanero salsa!!!

Now, the one high note is i don't have to beg my wife to go back to Cozumel... even with it starting out a little choppy in the morning, we had two great dives, so good my wife came up from the second dive and said "we need to come back and stay a week!"... we dove Palancar Caves and a dive site our operator "Diving with Alison" called her "secret place" which rocked... saw a couple big, big lobsters under a ledge, a sea turtle with his own angelfish carousel (four big angels going around him in a tight circle while he ate) a few nurse sharks and a big old barracuda... visability was as advertised... I love diving in the Philippines, but I've only seen water that clear off Saipan... it was kind of surreal..

Anyway, let me know if I need to fight to give Roatan a second chance... the operator there (Scuba Roatan) was good too, I'd definitely use them again if I were to go back...

 

[Lorenzoid]

Compared with what? If you are comparing the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific, then you are surely in for disappointment. Neither Roatan nor anywhere else in the Caribbean has the diversity and abundance of marine life--the beautiful coral, etc.--that the Indo-Pacific region does.

Compared with other Caribbean destinations, however, Roatan stacks up very nicely. I prefer Cozumel over Roatan, but Roatan is definitely in the top handful of Caribbean dive destinations.

 

[gr8jab]

We too dove in Roatan (and other locations) while on a cruise. I also found it underwhelming. I have not been to Roatan otherwise, so I cannot say if that is typical.

I can, however, share my belief that one-stop cruise ship dives are often limited by weather, time, geography, and cautiousness.

Time and Geography - the dive shop must have enough time to complete paperwork, gear-up customers, travel to a dive site, and return to the ship. Often, the good dive sites are not close enough to accommodate this schedule.

Cautiousness - Depending on the dive operator (especially the official 'ship excursion') they have ZERO idea how skilled the divers might be. They have to choose a shallow-ish location where most could feel comfortable, even if inexperienced.

Weather - maybe currents or forecasts didn't allow for visiting the best sites. Such things can be random, and with only one day at that island, you get what you get.

In Cozumel and Grand Cayman there is good diving close enough to the cruise ship to minimize these factors. Also, I think 'Dive with Allision' is a well known operation which is better than many at picking good locations for 1-day excursions, or you were not limited by newbies on your boat that day.

When staying at a 'dive resort', I've noticed that the dives become more advanced as the week progresses. Sometimes I've seen boats switch-up divers after a couple of days. It think the DMs watch the divers, and adjust accordingly. By the end of the week things are optimized and more flexible.

My guess is that Roatan has exceptional diving, and we were not able to easily access it from the cruise that day. Check out customer photos from Anthony's Key or Coco View. There appears to be some amazing stuff.

Side Note: I did find Key Largo reefs underwhelming, but I had just been to Cozumel. Loved the wrecks, and would do a keys 'wreck trek' for sure.

 

[drrich2]

Surprised you didn't have a better time with the Lamanai excursion in Belize; I did it on a cruise ship stop, and loved it (climbed atop Mask and Tall Temples, and saw Jaguar Temple; walked in the rainforest, saw crocodiles on the boat trip&#8230.

What else are you comparing Roatan to? Where else have you been? What do you want to see on your dives?

Are you people who like lots of 'big stuff' or do you like finding little creatures? Are you mostly about lush looking reef (e.g.: corals & gorgonians), or are you more about the animals (grouper, barracuda, sharks, lobster, eels, etc…? And yes, I know corals and gorgonians are technically animals)?

Roatan is on my bucket list for 'someday,' so I pay attention to postings about it. I'm told the north & south diving is significantly different, substantial shore diving limited to a minority of locations (e.g.: CocoView, Reef House Resort, Fantasy Island whatever), and the impression I've gotten from other posts was of lush reefs, without a lot of 'big stuff' (assuming you don't do shark or dolphin encounter dives).

Like you, I'll be interested to see what others have to say, and whether any of my impressions are wrong. I've hit a number of places by cruise ship, and often that's a very small 'sample' to judge a destination by.

Richard.

 

[Bill Parker]

You can't judge a place based on one day of diving.

 

[victorzamora]

I think the cruise experience ruins Roatan. The diving on Roatan is great, but where they take the cruise ship divers is (imho) some of the worst on the island. Most cruise ship divers I've dove with are WRETCHED divers, so I can't blame them. The only time I've enjoyed diving off a cruise ship was when we went well off the beaten path and found someone that didn't know we were on a cruise ship.

Who'd you dive with, and do you remember the site?

Also, if you're in China per your profile....I don't know if I could say that anything "over here" is worth the flight for you. It might be much better to stay in the pacific.

 

[Rainer]

Wife and I have done two diving trips in Honduras. Had a blast both times. Some video:


Utila
[video=vimeo;85104732]https://vimeo.com/85104732[/video]

Roatan
[video=vimeo;19818216]https://vimeo.com/19818216[/video]

 

[Bratface]

Roatan has exceptional diving. I suspect much of your disappointment comes from diving as a cruise ship passenger vs staying a while. Usually due to limited time to dive and get back to the ship, divers are taken to the easy to get to and easy to dive sites.

 

[mmmbelows]

Out of the three Roatan has the greatest possibility of being underwelming so I don't think your comments are that far off.

Out of the three Cozumel has the ability to give you a decent selection of dives and experiences with the least amount of effort to experience them. Belize and Roatan can blow away those decent Cozumel dives with enough effort put in by the dive tourist to get to the locations in Belize and Roatan that offer up that locations best dives. Diving off a cruise ship just won't get you to those top dive locations in Belize and Roatan, so you're left with mediocre to eh... dives.

I would not advise anyone to judge the diving in any location in the world based on diving it via a cruise ship, you just are never going to get what you can get when you go there specifically to dive, its just impossible. Cruise ship diving is dumbed down diving to the lowest common denominator diver on the trip, they take you to dive sites that nobody can hurt themselves on and can't mess the environment up too badly because it's already been beaten up to near death. I stopped cruise ship diving years ago, it's just a waste of your money, with the rare exception it's 38 minute bottoms times on the closest, easiest reef, diving with horrible divers on a crappy boat with a dive operator set up to process divers like a conveyor belt at a factory.

 

[diving4ever]

Threads like these always remind me of my mom. I'd complain of being bored and she'd say (totally deadpan), "people aren't bored, they're boring."
When I (or others) complain about Roatan, or Cozumel, or Hawaii diving--I imagine my mom saying, "you aren't underwhelmed, you are underwhelming".

--of course I'm on my second bottle of TGIF '06 Bosche Cab...so this may not make sense to you all.