Roatan 11/9-16/2013 Whether or not....

Are weather reports really accurate?

I am off to Roatan for the Sea Horse Festival, what should I bring to wear?

I was going to be wet, anyway.

I'm thinking my duck suit. Qvack!

I'll try to keep a log of the reality, but in the mean time,
here's the weather report from Weather Underground...

Saturday

Saturday Night

Sunday

Sunday Night

Monday

Monday Night

Tuesday

Tuesday Night

Wednesday

Wednesday Night

Thursday

Thursday Night

Friday

Friday Night

Saturday

Saturday Night

Have a great time buddy...spot LOTS of seahorses! Will be looking forward to the reports and living vicariously through you I hope everybody appreciates the magnifying glasses as much as we do

We're there the following week. Please post a report. I have not been there at this time of year, but I knew what I was getting into when I booked the trip.

That's why we do the South side. Rainy maybe~ but still diveable.

When the SB Invasion hits Roatan in April, even the West North should be a delight. That is my favorite month, along with May.

Time to pack.



BTW- The new big thing... bring marbles (the glass ones you played with as a kid). Lynn from Majken Broby Children's Home has put out the word. There is a basket at Dockside Dive Center for anything you bring.

i'm on utila and i have three 16,000 gallon cisterns and they filled up in 8 hours yesterday. its late this year but has come with a monsoon like bang, it has barely stopped raining in 36 hrs and is supposed to keep going until sunday, then slow down a bit?

Saturday eve at sunset 5:15, am told it stopped raining this morning, seas appear flat and dead calm, broken overcast.

9:30 pm, starting to drizzle with some distant lightning.

we were there at approximately the same time 2 years ago
notice the weather reports say "chance", now i am not weather person but when is hot and humid there is also a chance of thunderstorms
during our stay there were some short lived heavy showers but nothing to call home about
did not see a single seahorse though lol but the diving was great

maybe you are one of the lucky ones that doesn't get eaten alive by the sand flies like me, i itched for 6 months, but to be on the safe side put sunscreen on, seems to help, or coconut oil
since that trip i think i developed a sensitivity/allergy to the suckers because every bite i get now gets really nasty looking, perhaps the salt water doesn't help with the healing either

The weather report is probably right Doc, sorry....rainy season started with a bang about a week and a half ago. It's rained every single night and at at least some point in the day every day (but lots of sun as well). We've had some crazy seas - some days tons of chop and poor viz, and the very next day eerily flat with great viz. You're probably in for a mixed bag - it's just that time of year (as you know!) Personally I'd be more concerned about if CocoView has working generators since the power has been going out daily and overnight as well all week. Have a blast and hope you see lots of seahorses!!

Cheers from the north side,
Reekah

Day Two: Sunday 10 am.

Weather report as above seems faulty.
Bright Sunshine today, scattered clouds. Seas flat calm with a very light SE breeze.

At 3pm, a five minute downpour. Great viz and good critters on Iron Shore dive site!


At 7pm, it rained as hard as it can for about 30 minutes. At 8:15, the parade of shore night divers has begun.

reekah:

....Personally I'd be more concerned about if CocoView has working generators since the power has been going out daily and overnight as well all

Click to expand...

CCV had been on generator power since 1982. As RECO (the islands electric company) became more reliable, using RECO became more attractive. Along about 2010, CCV decided to switch full time to RECO, keeping the two main generators just for back up source. I don't know how much power they make, but they are each the size of a 1980's Chevy station wagon. Just one if them can power the entire resort, compressors, kitchen, everything.

So yes, RECO blinked out at least twice in the last 24 hours, but the CCV generators kicked in after 2 minutes and the black-out party atmosphere quickly subsided. It is 100% self sufficient.

As for weather? Let's see what tomorrow brings.

---------- Post added November 11th, 2013 at 01:02 PM ----------

Monday dawned sparkling clear. Again the seas are dead flat calm.

Good dives with 65' viz, lots of critters. I gave everyone here at the Sea Horse Festival a magnifying glass... Their world perspective has increased by getting small.... And going very very slowly.

Monday pm update:

Although I hear that this is normal for this time of year, I was amazed that high tide was running about 8" higher than I had ever before noted. It's approx a 1/2 Moon, but the locals attribute it to some seasonal phenomena that they have seen annually on a regular schedule. Never a wasted day when you learn something.

We did a nice afternoon dive, saw some Seahorses and even better, three pipefish. Water was cloudier with 45' viz. Saw several Squidlets in formation, a 5' free swimming green Moray, it was worth the effort.

Did the afternoon "drop off dive" and since seas were dead flat, used this unique opportunity to dive on top of CoCo View wall. This area has spectacularly healthy soft and hard corals. Dozens of 24" Brain corals, splendid Elk Horn corals, everything is so healthy because of the normally crashing waves and exchange of water. It's tough to coax fellow divers to do this, but those who did were amazed by this exceptionally shallow dive. There is a large contingent of snorkelers here and they are really excited by the CCV shore dive and all this dramatic growth.

Before dinner, I had a visit with the owners of Zepelin divers (Wayne and Ellie)- they motored over from their moored liveaboard sailboat. Yesterday, we dive at a site where they were also tied off, so when I saw the guy leading the group I signaled and asked him if he was Wayne. Yes? I'm Doc, I spelled out. So I got to meet frequent SB poster who I had become internet buddies with... Unplanned and underwater. Serendipity. They have a nice niche product that I would highly recommend for a low key, relaxing dive vacation, with access to many points along the Soutgern shore of Roatan.

At 8:30, six of us did a night shore dive. The majority were very new to night diving, so many only saw the moray in 3' of water, but there were two huge Groupers on the Prince Albert Wreck ( 2.5' and 3.25'), a few skittish octos, a Lobster the size of my thigh, plus the water column was full of Larval Lobsters.

Found in the Corkscrew Anemone some 1/4" long crustaceans (along with the other three symbiotic shrimp and and Crab. We have a passable image which I'll post when back home. They were little red buggers, maybe the juvenile of the resident red snapping Pistol shrimp? Dunno, taxonomy is not my strong suit.

The viz on the night dive was pretty marginal, but since you're only looking 2 to 5' away with your flashlight it doesn't really become more than a psychological issue. Some of the newer divers found the viz disconcerting, but with the water temps at 82 degrees, nobody got cold. 1/2 of us were in bathing suits, the rest wore 2mil suits and were fine.

back to the on-topic portion....

At 9:45 as we ended our 1:15 b.t. Night dive, we stood at the dive platform and for five minutes, the skies opened up and rained as hard as it can.

A nice fresh water rinse. As I write this, I am outside on the bar deck and have stars overhead.

Tomorrow we head 1hr East and will dive Cakvin's Crack, truly my favorite dive on Roatan.