Roatan Advice Needed

[tiburon72157]

nice vid shurford...cuda was quite the poser eh? what happened to all the sharks?

 

[sasscuba]

Only stayed and recommend Reef House Resort...good food and great staff. Diving was very good.

P.S. Watch out for the biting bugs......

 

[mlaytner]

Anyone have experience with Roatan diving in December? What are conditions like, especially on the West End.

Am looking at various places. The Paya Bay Beach Resort looks beautiful. Anyone been there? Heard of it?
Their dive operation is dive-roatan. Anyone with experiences with this group.

Thanks, Mel

 

[Doc]

Anyone have experience with Roatan diving in December? What are conditions like, especially on the West End.

Asked and answered. Beware the Northers.

Am looking at various places. The Paya Bay Beach Resort looks beautiful. Anyone been there? Heard of it?
Their dive operation is dive-roatan. Anyone with experiences with this group.

Paya Bay Resort occupies the single most beautiful piece of real estate in Roatan. On a map, it is on the North Side, about 3/4's the way East, kind of above the South Side's Oak Ridge. On maps, it occupies a geographical promontory known as Alligator Nose. It has the nicest beach on the island. The buildings are quite nice, there are a lot of steps, and it is located way past where "Jesus lost his shoes". It's a ride to get there, just past Spyglass Hill, just short of where the road goes to dirt towards Diamond Rock.

Because of rather spotty marketing and management, the place has been bobbling along for maybe 10+ years, never doing more than keeping afloat yet tidy and inviting. Understand that this, combined with ownership has cause the dive opertors who have chosen to take the assignment, to be transitory and therefore a bit spotty in terms of year to the next visit reliability and quality.

The North side location has its distinct drawbacks in terms of potential weather related shut downs, but their immediate proximity to the channel that was cut thru the mangroves to the South side dive sites is a real plus if: a) the current dive op has the wherewithall (appropriate boat) to take you on that easy jaunt and b) the motivation to do this. It is, however, unlike most Nort and West resorts, located high atop a rocky promontory, so you often do get the nice prevailing breezes enjoyed by South side resorts. Due to the relative altitude, dryness and breeziness, Sand Flies (No See Ums) are somewhat reduced.

I haven't looked at their website recently, but although they have mentioned a dive op/dive school, they specify no agency and show no boats. Either way, the property and dive op are seperate entities.

The above should not be construed as a "this is bad" kind of thing. There is no one place for everybody. This looks like a lovely idyllic property that also has some diving. It is not a dive resort by any stretch. It is other things, some quite lovely.

 

[CODMAN]

Sorry bout that Tiburon...:shakehead

Luego!

 

[mlaytner]

Roatanman -- Thanks for the detailed response. A lot to consider.
Mel

 

[leadweight]

It can rain a lot in December. One trip to CoCo View it took three trips to the airport to get off the island. The whole darn thing was fogged in and for safety a 2 mile vis was required. They did not have a strobe system.

Go anyway, I can't wait to get back there.

 

[skynscuba]

IoLR $995 single, $795 dbl

Actually, IOLR is showing a special at $596 per person, double occupancy, AI, for July 8th until end of August. ($795, with second person half off).

 

[mlaytner]

Leadweight -- Thanks for that insight. Sure isn't something the resorts put on their websights. Appreciate the insight.
Mel

 

[Doc]

Leadweight -- Thanks for that insight. Sure isn't something the resorts put on their websights. Appreciate the insight.
Mel

Nor would they have to, I was there for that go-round, as well. CCV handled it with great success. They fed us every morning, dragged us and our luggage to the rain soaked airport. Then by noon, we were headed back to the resort for lunch and another overnight. We never touched our luggage once and it was transported on a tarp covered truck. The extra accomodation nights were comped by CCV. No charge.

Those service points I just detailed above? That type of service didn't come from the other two Roatan big AI resorts. The other two made guests scrap for their own water soaked uncovered luggage, and one of them tried to charge guests for each of the additional three nights at the single night rate of $285 per person. (Compared to the $575 they had just paid for 7 nights).

Nope, :shakehead there's a lot of stuff that doesn't appear on websites.