Roatan Dive Resort for beginners?

[CODMAN]

At FIBR its all buffet, not too spectacular but not bad at all.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with that. And obviously, this is a question of personal taste, but I didn't find the food very good at all... I'm demanding when it comes to food (I love good food!), and would have given this buffet a 3 out of 10. It's pretty much one of the only things I didn't like about the place!

Sorry, just trying to help give an accurate picture of the place! If good food is important in your life, FIBR will be disapointing in this aspect...

Cheers!

 

[CajunDiva]

Funny how people can perceive things so differently! We are big fans of Fantasy Island. The people there are really special and we feel as if we're going home for a visit each trip!

We are leaving in 10 days for our 3rd visit there. Not once have we ever felt that the quality of the food was not good. I think if you travel to Roatan with gourmet expectations you will be sorely disappointed. But the food at Fantasy Island is consistently good and much better than I expected it to be. While you may not enjoy every item, there are many choices at each meal...something to please anyone. The best part is the homemade ice cream in so many different awesome flavors!

 

[imalakediver]

Hey Banana,

tell us where you ended up and how you liked it.

We just got back from Fantasy Island yesterday, so we were there the same week. I think any of the resorts with access to shore diving, in addition to boat diving would have met your needs. We did our first dive at the FIBR gazebo to make sure we were properly weighted before going out on the boats and were glad we did. All of our equipment is new since the last time we were in salt water, and we left our cold water 6 mil wet suits at home. The channel between CoCoView and FIBR is a great first dive, but boring after that (compared to the boat dives, not our mid-west mudholes) unless you want to night dive it too.

The lagoon at FIBR is fantastic for anyone doing their OWD course confined water dives. Instructors here in the mid-west would give their last 500 lbs of air for a training pool or lake like that. It's only a short walk from there to the gazebo to do the open water dives for the course. My daughter did her Advanced OWD while there and started the underwater navigation in the lagoon, followed by the wreck dive and the rest of the navigation skills in the channel on the same tank of air (FIBR fills tanks to 3000 lbs). Two completely different dive sites suitable for training and skills or equipment assessment within walking distance of each other.

 

[Doc]

the food at Fantasy Island .... The best part is the homemade ice cream in so many different awesome flavors!

Now that alone could make me swim across the channel. Yummy.

The channel between CoCoView and FIBR is a great first dive, but boring after that...

Oh man, I would beg to differ. Of many, many hundreds of dives I have logged in Roatan, almost 1/2 of them would be right in that Channel, the Prince Albert Wreck, The DC-3 Wreck and CCV's Front Yard. There are quite a few interesting critters.

It is quite common to see Sotted Eagles, Squid, Octopus, huge Morays, large fish of all types. There have been sightings of Atlantic Mantas, Sharks, a huge fish ball that stayed for a year, and on what amounts to a shore dive from CCV, I saw a baby Whale Shark. The night shore dive is simply the best I have ever seen from any resort in the Caribbean. You can tick through all the pages of the Paul Humann fish and creature books if you spend enough time trying. It's all right there, a shore dive away from either resort.

Other than that, yes- it's pretty boring Never, ever discount this as a dive spot!

The delights of the South Side: http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=3139

 

[imalakediver]

At FIBR its all buffet, not too spectacular but not bad at all. ....................... Oh, and the guy that manages the dive shop is great ... his name is ... ? starts with an R. Initially he seemed a bit strict, but then you realized he really just wants to make sure we all dive safely.

We just got back from FIBR. Had a great time. I agree on the food, not gourmet, but overall pretty good. A good variety and all you can eat. Some type of fish, beef, pork and pasta were available at each meal. Also had lobster, shrimp, or lamb at one or more meals. Lots of fruit and juice too. I have to try a little bit of everything at a buffet. Some I like, some I don't, but we certainly didn't go hungry.

Robert runs the dive shop. We also had him as our dive master for the week, because one DM was out sick when we arrived. Really nice guy. I don't think I ever saw him kick his feet under water, just drifts along slowly with his hands together, pointing to something of interest every once in a while. If I was the last diver off the boat and he was behind me without his gear on yet, somehow he still managed to get to the bottom before me a couple times.

 

[imalakediver]

Other than that, yes- it's pretty boring Never, ever discount this as a dive spot!

I would agree that you could only dive in the channel between FIBR & CoCoView and still be perfectly happy. There is a lot there to see. You can dive nearly any site repeatedly and always find something new (even our local mudhole of a lake). On that first dive from the FIBR gazebo, I saw an octopus, barracuda, and ray. But I found the wall diving from the boats a lot more colorful in comparison.

We chose Roatan because of the availability of shore diving and not wanting to be tied to the boat schedule so we could enjoy the other activites on the island and still dive. As it turned out, we were able to usually make the two morning boat dives, and still take in an afternoon activity (horseback riding, canopy tours, dolphin swim, shopping) and then snorkling in the evening. I would have been shore diving in the evening, but we had a non-diver with us who had never even snorkeled before, so I spent a lot of time floating with her, watching fish in the channel from the surface, vs underwater. She's already flipping through the vacation magazines planning her next trip to the ocean.

The FIBR lagoon, which seems pretty devoid of anything living during the day, comes alive at night with crab, shrimp, lobster, and seahorses. If you don't find a seahorse in the open water, try snorkling the lagoon at night. It's worth it just for the contrast between day and night.

 

[CajunDiva]

I think Robert is Fantasy Island's greatest treasure! There doesn't seem to be anything he won't do to make his guests happy. When we were there in December we "invited" him to come and dive Calvin's Crack with us...just for fun. He didn't want to refuse our invitation, so a grand time was had by all!

 

[philmayer]

I love CoCoView, so I'm very biased. I don't like having a ton of people around, and CCV is a small resort. They only have ~72 people when all the rooms and houses are full.

The diving is very easy, both from the boats and the beach. Shore diving involves a MUCH shorter walk with your gear than any other resort on the island. When I went to CCV for the first time, I had a total of 9 dives under my belt -- and 4 of them were my checkout dives! I was comfortable diving there immediately. All of the DMs are excellent. Each boat has a DM and captain, and the DMs lead every boat dive. They will do an exceptional job of looking after you if you tell them you're new divers and a bit nervous.

There is tons of food, but it's not 5 star cuisine. Every night there will be a fish option and another -- chicken, steak, lasagna, etc. All of the fish they serve is very fresh and local.

The staff is INCREDIBLE. They go well out of their way to make you feel at home.

The people you will meet will be great as well. This isn't a swany resort where everybody puts on a coat and tie for dinner and brags about how wealthy they are or how much better they are than you. The people you meet are DIVERS. You will meet PhDs, doctors, lawyers, truck drivers, construction workers, nurses, the whole gamut of professions. They come to CCV for the diving and the comeraderie.

The beach houses are great. Don't worry about that! They all have AC, most have porches on the beach, some are screened in.

One day while you are there, they will have an all day trip to the West End. GO! You will see TONS of turtles!

I was there two weeks ago and there were 30 squid between the 15 ft marker bouy and the Prince Albert EVERY DAY at lunchtime. They're very docile and will let you get right up into the swarm.

I cannot recommend CoCoView enough!

 

[jkling17]

The beach houses are great. Don't worry about that! They all have AC, most have porches on the beach, some are screened in.

Not quite correct - some of the houses do not have AC at all. The one's that do have AC - only have it in the BRs. The playa miguel site clarifies which do and do not. House 5 definitely has no AC for instance - but 4 does - Docs (closest to the resort).

In any case - Coco rocks! I'll be back for trip #6 in 7 weeks - can't wait!

 

[charlesml3]

Ahhh... the beauty of diving in Roatan:

My personal recommendations:

Beginner divers : Cocoview

Intermediate divers : Cocoview

Advanced divers : Cocoview

Yep. Probably the ONLY resort that really does a great job of catering to all experience levels. You're all treated as though you're responsible, trained, and certified divers. Like someone else said "just as it should be."

-Charles