My assumption was that wind and wave would be minimized based on it's location on the island, but obviously having never been there, I don't really know.
A good question (maybe unintended?) with no one particular easy answer.
1) The Southern side of Roatan is indeed the Windward side. This means, when weather is "normal", there is usually a fair breeze presented from the ESE. This has one big benefit advantage- less bugs than other West/North. Expect a constant .3 - .6M running wave structure. When theses Windward size breezes pipe-up to the 15+mph range, RHR shore entry suffers because of the shallow sloping nature of the near-in reef structure. This generates waves and surf, this is the true use and definition of the word "
ground swell", an oft used and misunderstood term.
One other viable shore dive, although not well known, is the access of of the front of Media Luna Resort, but it can suffer from the same shallow sloping reef- creating occasional groundswell. (You will see this groundswell in a much limited quantity at CCV as local offshore the walls are close-in, dead
vertical and start very shallow)
Even if these wind/wave conditions present at RHR, a good night dive can still be made within the confines of the concrete breakwalls fronting RHR. It might not look like much, but lots of critters lurking around there when the outside wall areas are rough. Lemons? Make lemonade.
In furtherance of the shore dive discussion on Roatan, there really isn't much else to select from. Any others mentioned have a number of "if/but" permutations that push them firmly into the "theoretical shore dive" category. These include Spooky Channel, AKR and Barefoot. Fantasy has a nice shore dive, but the resort is deep in an ongoing downslide.
2) When storm weather hits, that comes from the North and wipes out diving on the North and West. This becomes a consideration October until March when tropical storms and "Northers" are common.
3) Most divers visiting Roatan do not come to actually log 3 a day
plus a night dive each night , 22-27 a week? It is unusual. Most SB divers come and do 2 or 3 a day maximum, on TA Forums the numbers seem to run 5-7 per week in total. If you want that quantity, by default, you're headed to RHR or CCV for that 22-30 in a week. In that regard, a shore dive access is usually a requirement, and again- CCV and RHR are simple stand outs above all other options, so to that extent, you are limited in your options.
The bulk of diving visitors, by far, come to West End for the day-dive ops, so general awareness of the South and in particular the tiny RHR is very limited by comparison. You will find on SB quite a preponderance of South side divers, bringing reportage up to a par with West End ops, unlike Trip Advisor (which believes that Dragons lie East of the Cruise Ship Circus). There is, still, a distinct gap in awareness and breadth of visitor experience.
For such a small island, it sure is a big place.
