CoCo View Resort Roatan, Honduras March 10-17, 2001
I really dont know where to start this; it was such a great trip! Our non-stop flight out of Houston went off without a hitch and we arrived at CCV about 5pm Saturday afternoon. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces greeting us with Welcome Home. And we truly did feel at home.
This year we had one of the bungalows over the water in front of the resort. Being lulled to sleep and awakened to the sound of waves breaking over the reef was a symphony not to be missed. The bungalows are duplexes with each room having a separate porch complete with table, chairs and a magical hammock. I say magical because with no effort on your part, you are gently swayed to and fro with the oceans internal rhythms. By the time we checked in and found out which bungalow we had, our luggage had been delivered and we set up our dive gear in our gear area at the dock. Marla and Augie arrived from the mainland about an hour later, sans most of their luggage. Not a good thing on Marlas birthday! But Ill let her tell you all about it.
The parrots at CCV always make the week away from my own a little easier. First, we have Fred, a Yellow Naped Amazon. His cage is just outside the main building on your way to the dock. If you're a woman, he'll sing Jesus Loves Me, laugh and whistle at you. If you're a man, all you'll get is glaring looks and growls. I think Fred is a girl! Jose, another Yellow Nape, is the popcorn freak in the main clubhouse. When Nada, the bartender, starts popping corn every afternoon around 4pm, Jose starts yelling 'Popcorn' and 'Hey' over and over. He won't get on your hand but he'll gently take popcorn and cookies out of your hand. Then we have the colorful Green Wing Macaw, Charlene. She went by the name of Charlie for several years until she started laying eggs! Charlene can and will amputate a finger if she gets the chance but she like you to visit and talk to her. She's slowly learning how to talk. Aaron is the newest to the flock. A White Front Pionus, he'll never talk very well but he's friendly. Down the way a bit at the Hitchin' Post is WooHoo, another Yellow Nape got his name honestly. His owner is one of the staff at CCV and whenever he takes WooHoo out on the fishing boat, he yells Woo Hoo at the top of his lungs! So if you're a bird person, you'll fit right in. Don't forget to pack a few birdy treats!
Saturday was just one night past the full moon; the seas were flat so Beast and I just had to do a night dive on the Prince Albert! Since we had been there before we didnt have to do the orientation dive. We waited until 10pm when the moon was higher to start our dive. Dang, I wish I had a picture to put right here! We entered the water at the beachs edge and walked the 30 yds out to the staging platform. At high tide the water is chest deep (on me) and the perfect place to don your fins, rinse your mask and submerge. From this platform, there is a large chain that leads you across the sand flats to the edge of the beginning of the reef, about another 30 yds. The water in the channel is only 3ft deep and at this first part of the reef is the perfect 15ft safety stop area. The bottom gets steadily deeper and just a few yards farther is the training area in the sand, 25ft deep. In the sand in the area youll find a wonderful community of Garden Eels, their thin little bodies telescoping out of the sand, necks bent like soda straws.
Continuing along the chain you suddenly see the bulk of the hull of the Prince Albert, bow to the right, stern to the left. As I scanned my light over the hull of the ship, the first thing I saw was a small Caribbean Octopus hunting along the side. His home was a small hole in the hull, which looked like it may have been a foothold. His whole little body would have fit in both hands and our presence didnt deter him at all in his search for food. I spent the first 20 minutes of that dive watching him closely. At one point he reached out one inquisitive tentacle and touched my mask. Man, I just love those magical creatures! I didnt take my camera with me on this dive so, of course, I saw lots of neat stuff. The vis on the Prince Albert is usually a lot less than on the walls. It rests in the sand at the beginning of the lagoon and the tide going in and out keeps the vis down a bit.
On my last fresh water dive in February, my dive watch decided to freeze up. I returned it to Citizen and they got it back to me just in time for the trip. On this first dive, I looked down to check my depth and I was at 14.2 m .aarrggg they sent it back in metric! Before the trip was over I got pretty good at mentally converting depths and temps back into imperial. Did ya know that 4.6 5m makes the perfect safety stop? =;^) When I contacted Citizen yesterday, I discovered they had replaced my watch with a new one instead of a new case as expected. I just need to return it for a switch back to imperial.
Prince Albert night dive
Max depth: 52 ft
Avg. depth: 31 ft
Bottom time: 63 min
Gas: 21%
Vis: 30ft
Water temp: 80
With 18 dives, theres no way I can describe them without a lot of exclamations being repeated! As I mentioned earlier, Beast and I did mostly shore dives this week. Sunday, Monday and Friday were our only days to dive off the boat. One of our favorites of the trip was a venture down Neumanns Wall. We wanted to get quite a ways down the wall pretty quick then take our time coming back. After we cleared the Prince Albert, we took a 30-degree left turn and steadily made our way down the wall towards Menajorea, one of the prettiest and fishiest reefs. At 35ft the sunlight was streaking through the water, dappling the many colors of coral and plants. It was really hard not to stop and enjoy the sights!
When we hit our pre-determined turn around point, we both had a mental list of things to stop and take a closer look at on the way back! Peeking out from under a ledge, there was a creamy gold sponge at 40ft that was shaped like a huge French Horn, the lips of the bell gently flared out to catch the sun. The deep center of it was home to Brittle Stars and an Arrow Crab. I just love the schools of Creole Wrasse we see here but on this day there must have been hundreds in the school. We had to stop and watch in amazement as they streamed by, their pectoral fins moving in perfect synchronization and in military style formation. Their bright blue bodies with splashes of gold and yellow, made you wonder just how many blues there actually are in the world!
Im afraid Beast and I are going to have the same pictures when we get them back. We took turns finding things then each of us would get our shot at it! Theres no way to explain the vertical walls. And vertical isnt even a good description because they are anything but straight up and down! The are ledges and cut backs, swim through holes and overhangs, each with its own Gorgonian fan, soft black coral tree, or one of the many colors and shapes of sponges each competing with the next for unique shape. Most of the time the bottom is just a faint light spot when you look down and when you look ahead of you along the wall, you see the shadowy bumps and bulges of the shape of the wall ahead of you, teasing you with treasures yet to be discovered.
A fan the size of a recliner hangs over the opening to a ledge. As you dip under and behind it, you see that the ledge spreads out and houses a whole other world under there. Huge clinging crabs with their arms folded across their chest are the bouncers at the entrance to this club. The brightly colored Fairy Basslets, garbed in their gold and magenta, tease you into coming closer only to dart behind a piece of plate coral. Four Spot Butterfly fish, Indigo Hamlets, and Blue Tangs are just a few of the characters waiting in line to get past Mr. Crab.
The best thing about this and all the other shore dives we did was we were totally alone. Just the two of us slowly moving along. Without a crowd of other divers casting shadows and making bubble noises, the fish are less afraid and let their curiosity get the best of them. Even the usually very shy Queen Angels came out in twos and threes to play along, keeping just ahead of us.
As with the end of every dive, we checked on the seahorses in the sand at the stern of the boat, tried once again to get photos of the Garden Eels, and said hello to the resident Peacock Flounder in the sand at Safety Stop Point (Beasts name for it). Following the chain back to the platform, there are several Banded Jawfish that you get to know very well. Their burrows are only inches from the chain and seem to delight in nipping at your fingers when you dislodge any of the rubble around the entrance to their home.
I was really glad I took my lycra skin! For about a day and a half a cloud of jellyfish accompanied us. There were at least 4 different varieties .Sea Walnuts, Winged Comb Jellies, Spot-Winged Comb Jellies, Small Venus Girdles as well as brown Thimble Jellies. Thankfully, they were gone as quickly as they appeared!
Our dives varied between 48 min and 86 minutes, most being right at an hour. Depths varied but we spent a lot of time in the 40-50ft range. I my deepest dive all week was only 86ft and that was on Marys Place. Nitrox was either 32% or 33%; temps were a steady 79-80 degrees. The vis in the channel and around the Prince Albert varied between 30 to 60 ft and the vis on the walls was 80ft+.
The four of us, Beast and I, Marla and Augie, had quite a week. We celebrated Marlas birthday the day she arrived on March 10. Beast and I celebrated our 28th anniversary on the day we left, March 17. And in between, Beast and I both did our 300th dives. I could go on and on about the friendliness on the staff, their dedication to divers, the beauty of the grounds and the efficient layout of CoCo View Resort. But its just one of those things youll have to experience for yourself to truly understand why we are drawn back there year after year.
Until next year...
I really dont know where to start this; it was such a great trip! Our non-stop flight out of Houston went off without a hitch and we arrived at CCV about 5pm Saturday afternoon. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces greeting us with Welcome Home. And we truly did feel at home.
This year we had one of the bungalows over the water in front of the resort. Being lulled to sleep and awakened to the sound of waves breaking over the reef was a symphony not to be missed. The bungalows are duplexes with each room having a separate porch complete with table, chairs and a magical hammock. I say magical because with no effort on your part, you are gently swayed to and fro with the oceans internal rhythms. By the time we checked in and found out which bungalow we had, our luggage had been delivered and we set up our dive gear in our gear area at the dock. Marla and Augie arrived from the mainland about an hour later, sans most of their luggage. Not a good thing on Marlas birthday! But Ill let her tell you all about it.
The parrots at CCV always make the week away from my own a little easier. First, we have Fred, a Yellow Naped Amazon. His cage is just outside the main building on your way to the dock. If you're a woman, he'll sing Jesus Loves Me, laugh and whistle at you. If you're a man, all you'll get is glaring looks and growls. I think Fred is a girl! Jose, another Yellow Nape, is the popcorn freak in the main clubhouse. When Nada, the bartender, starts popping corn every afternoon around 4pm, Jose starts yelling 'Popcorn' and 'Hey' over and over. He won't get on your hand but he'll gently take popcorn and cookies out of your hand. Then we have the colorful Green Wing Macaw, Charlene. She went by the name of Charlie for several years until she started laying eggs! Charlene can and will amputate a finger if she gets the chance but she like you to visit and talk to her. She's slowly learning how to talk. Aaron is the newest to the flock. A White Front Pionus, he'll never talk very well but he's friendly. Down the way a bit at the Hitchin' Post is WooHoo, another Yellow Nape got his name honestly. His owner is one of the staff at CCV and whenever he takes WooHoo out on the fishing boat, he yells Woo Hoo at the top of his lungs! So if you're a bird person, you'll fit right in. Don't forget to pack a few birdy treats!
Saturday was just one night past the full moon; the seas were flat so Beast and I just had to do a night dive on the Prince Albert! Since we had been there before we didnt have to do the orientation dive. We waited until 10pm when the moon was higher to start our dive. Dang, I wish I had a picture to put right here! We entered the water at the beachs edge and walked the 30 yds out to the staging platform. At high tide the water is chest deep (on me) and the perfect place to don your fins, rinse your mask and submerge. From this platform, there is a large chain that leads you across the sand flats to the edge of the beginning of the reef, about another 30 yds. The water in the channel is only 3ft deep and at this first part of the reef is the perfect 15ft safety stop area. The bottom gets steadily deeper and just a few yards farther is the training area in the sand, 25ft deep. In the sand in the area youll find a wonderful community of Garden Eels, their thin little bodies telescoping out of the sand, necks bent like soda straws.
Continuing along the chain you suddenly see the bulk of the hull of the Prince Albert, bow to the right, stern to the left. As I scanned my light over the hull of the ship, the first thing I saw was a small Caribbean Octopus hunting along the side. His home was a small hole in the hull, which looked like it may have been a foothold. His whole little body would have fit in both hands and our presence didnt deter him at all in his search for food. I spent the first 20 minutes of that dive watching him closely. At one point he reached out one inquisitive tentacle and touched my mask. Man, I just love those magical creatures! I didnt take my camera with me on this dive so, of course, I saw lots of neat stuff. The vis on the Prince Albert is usually a lot less than on the walls. It rests in the sand at the beginning of the lagoon and the tide going in and out keeps the vis down a bit.
On my last fresh water dive in February, my dive watch decided to freeze up. I returned it to Citizen and they got it back to me just in time for the trip. On this first dive, I looked down to check my depth and I was at 14.2 m .aarrggg they sent it back in metric! Before the trip was over I got pretty good at mentally converting depths and temps back into imperial. Did ya know that 4.6 5m makes the perfect safety stop? =;^) When I contacted Citizen yesterday, I discovered they had replaced my watch with a new one instead of a new case as expected. I just need to return it for a switch back to imperial.
Prince Albert night dive
Max depth: 52 ft
Avg. depth: 31 ft
Bottom time: 63 min
Gas: 21%
Vis: 30ft
Water temp: 80
With 18 dives, theres no way I can describe them without a lot of exclamations being repeated! As I mentioned earlier, Beast and I did mostly shore dives this week. Sunday, Monday and Friday were our only days to dive off the boat. One of our favorites of the trip was a venture down Neumanns Wall. We wanted to get quite a ways down the wall pretty quick then take our time coming back. After we cleared the Prince Albert, we took a 30-degree left turn and steadily made our way down the wall towards Menajorea, one of the prettiest and fishiest reefs. At 35ft the sunlight was streaking through the water, dappling the many colors of coral and plants. It was really hard not to stop and enjoy the sights!
When we hit our pre-determined turn around point, we both had a mental list of things to stop and take a closer look at on the way back! Peeking out from under a ledge, there was a creamy gold sponge at 40ft that was shaped like a huge French Horn, the lips of the bell gently flared out to catch the sun. The deep center of it was home to Brittle Stars and an Arrow Crab. I just love the schools of Creole Wrasse we see here but on this day there must have been hundreds in the school. We had to stop and watch in amazement as they streamed by, their pectoral fins moving in perfect synchronization and in military style formation. Their bright blue bodies with splashes of gold and yellow, made you wonder just how many blues there actually are in the world!
Im afraid Beast and I are going to have the same pictures when we get them back. We took turns finding things then each of us would get our shot at it! Theres no way to explain the vertical walls. And vertical isnt even a good description because they are anything but straight up and down! The are ledges and cut backs, swim through holes and overhangs, each with its own Gorgonian fan, soft black coral tree, or one of the many colors and shapes of sponges each competing with the next for unique shape. Most of the time the bottom is just a faint light spot when you look down and when you look ahead of you along the wall, you see the shadowy bumps and bulges of the shape of the wall ahead of you, teasing you with treasures yet to be discovered.
A fan the size of a recliner hangs over the opening to a ledge. As you dip under and behind it, you see that the ledge spreads out and houses a whole other world under there. Huge clinging crabs with their arms folded across their chest are the bouncers at the entrance to this club. The brightly colored Fairy Basslets, garbed in their gold and magenta, tease you into coming closer only to dart behind a piece of plate coral. Four Spot Butterfly fish, Indigo Hamlets, and Blue Tangs are just a few of the characters waiting in line to get past Mr. Crab.
The best thing about this and all the other shore dives we did was we were totally alone. Just the two of us slowly moving along. Without a crowd of other divers casting shadows and making bubble noises, the fish are less afraid and let their curiosity get the best of them. Even the usually very shy Queen Angels came out in twos and threes to play along, keeping just ahead of us.
As with the end of every dive, we checked on the seahorses in the sand at the stern of the boat, tried once again to get photos of the Garden Eels, and said hello to the resident Peacock Flounder in the sand at Safety Stop Point (Beasts name for it). Following the chain back to the platform, there are several Banded Jawfish that you get to know very well. Their burrows are only inches from the chain and seem to delight in nipping at your fingers when you dislodge any of the rubble around the entrance to their home.
I was really glad I took my lycra skin! For about a day and a half a cloud of jellyfish accompanied us. There were at least 4 different varieties .Sea Walnuts, Winged Comb Jellies, Spot-Winged Comb Jellies, Small Venus Girdles as well as brown Thimble Jellies. Thankfully, they were gone as quickly as they appeared!
Our dives varied between 48 min and 86 minutes, most being right at an hour. Depths varied but we spent a lot of time in the 40-50ft range. I my deepest dive all week was only 86ft and that was on Marys Place. Nitrox was either 32% or 33%; temps were a steady 79-80 degrees. The vis in the channel and around the Prince Albert varied between 30 to 60 ft and the vis on the walls was 80ft+.
The four of us, Beast and I, Marla and Augie, had quite a week. We celebrated Marlas birthday the day she arrived on March 10. Beast and I celebrated our 28th anniversary on the day we left, March 17. And in between, Beast and I both did our 300th dives. I could go on and on about the friendliness on the staff, their dedication to divers, the beauty of the grounds and the efficient layout of CoCo View Resort. But its just one of those things youll have to experience for yourself to truly understand why we are drawn back there year after year.
Until next year...
