To shore dive at Cocoview you have to stay there. There's
no kitchens there either - or at Fantasy Island across the channel. Rooms at CCV don't even have microwaves afaik. Even if they did, the nearest market is probably in French Harbor several miles away. Did you price Cocoview? It's about $1500/wk for the full AI. A cheaper option is Fantasy Island across the channel. Recently refurbished. Less expensive also is Reef House Resort - the third AI nearby. Has a shore dive also.
Most people fly in, have Ccoview (or FIBR) pick them up, stay there, dive there, eat there and fly home. Most diving at Cocoview is 2 boat dives followed by a drop in the channel on the return to dive back to the resort. I'm not sure there's a discount if you
don't boat dive. It's one area where shore diving is possible day or night due to the wall and wreck. Just going on what I've read as we only dove it from a boat.
Understand that the reason the AI resorts (just about all of them) on Roatan provide everything is that there isn't much
near any of them. CCV and FIBR are on their own islands. Many visitors don't drive on Roatan either - traffic law liabilities and poor road conditions make that generally a bad idea. Lots of stray dogs also.
Of the sites listed on the Shorediving link only Sandy Bay and Half Moon Bay are publicly accessible. Both are on the north side so the West End (or Sandy Bay) would be a good place to stay. You'd need a car to go between them - or a cheap cab ride. It's also really difficult to find tanks nearby - I've read Sueno Del Mar rents for offsite use. It's all boat diving from resorts/dive operators so setup for that.
If you did want to try to make that work there's Woody's or the Coconut Tree store in the West End for staples. Think small 7-11 although Woody's had some produce/meat. A better option is to buy cheap prepared food at any number of places. Every morning locals sell produce, fish etc. out of the back of pickup trucks in "town" also. There's also a smaller market along the road to Sandy Bay. Full size markets are in Coxen Hole or French Harbor on the south side.
Roatan is NOT the place to go for shore diving unless you'll be happy all week diving off one of the AI resorts. If so I suggest FIBR as it's cheaper than Cocoview. And recently (last month) refurbished.
Grand Cayman and
affordable are usually not mentioned in the same sentence.
It's either the 1st or 2nd
most expensive dive destination in the Caribbean. I doubt you'll find much in accommodations less than $100/nt. About the only place I can think of with kitchens is either Comfort Suites or Sunshine Suites. Neither is waterfront so slightly cheaper. There's also one cheaper, smaller apt. complex just north of Georgetown - I assume they have kitchen facilities. It's on vrbo.com. They advertise as being about the cheapest place to stay there - around $89/nt. IIRC.
Food is prohibitively expensive unless you take all your meals at Subway and Burger King. An
average dinner regularly cost us $30-40. Food in the markets is very high also. Probably more expensive than Bonaire - the CI$ is fixed at .80 to the US$ so you're 20% down going in.
Shore diving is spread all over the island - requiring a car or there's a island bus (van) that runs all over the island for $2. Get a car at Andy's they're less expensive than the chains. Still about $2-300/wk. Never tried but I suspect you could haul gear on the bus.
Most sites have on-site operators for tanks. Some won't allow external tanks to
cross their property - they own to the waterline and have improved with dive docks/ladders etc. Most have a
no tank removal from the premises policy. On the north side due to the 6-10' ironshore cliffs, that's the only place you're getting in easily also. All the dive resorts/condo complexes in that area have a ladder or a dive dock.
There's really only two reliable places to get tanks for self-diving - Eden Rock downtown or Divers Supply in West Bay. Several of the shore dives are long surface swims out thru boat traffic. Others like Smith's Cove or Cemetery Beach are shallow. Several of the sites listed on shorediving.com no longer exist - turned into condos.
IDK what you're reading but I solo dove on Curacao several times. Once I even asked a staff member to turn on my air. His only comment: "Have a good dive" Of course I didn't solo dive at the 2 operators I mentioned. (Ocean Encounters or Go West) If you rent tanks from Relaxed Guided Dives - on the road mid-island - how will they know what you're doing with them? I suspect Discover Diving isn't a problem either - they're located about a block from the beach. No one is going to ask you to produce a buddy either...lol.
Keep looking...maybe Aruba if Curacao isn't for you. Probably easier to get to from NYC - maybe even a non-stop. Seems like less shore dive sites spread all over the island. I've never been there.
