Yes, another CocoView vs AKR resort thread.

I’m not asking anyone to tell me which one is better, because that is really subjective. What I would appreciate is input on the points I’ve listed below to make sure I have my data correct, which will help me try and determine which one to dive with.

Please correct or comment on any point below

Weather
CCV is on the south side and is thus better protected from a Norte` blowing through. Not sure how the weather is in January of each year in Roatan. I know from trips to Cozumel and Belize that Norte` are not uncommon during that January and over the last six years I’ve lost at least one day of diving in 5 of the 6 years. So this has me thinking CCV would have a lower possibility of cancelled dives.

Number of Dives
CCV has the 4 boat dives vs. AKR 3 boat dives daily. 2 of the CCV dives are the drop and return to shore yourself variety. CCV has 24/7 shore diving, AKR is time boxed to shop hours (roughly 10pm each night). AKR has two scheduled night dives each week.
CCV seems to operate on a Sat-Sat schedule as their preferred approach, is the same true of AKR?

Other Amenities outside of Diving
Seems like AKR has more options. Not a big consideration for me, so I’m not tracking this category closely.

Single Diver
Probably my biggest area of concern and why I’ve done liveaboards the last two January trips. Seems like any of the boat dives from either resort are pretty easy to buddy up with a DM or other diver. Any feedback from people about the ease of getting buddies at either location. While CCV might offer unlimited shore diving, if the resort is not “friendly” to a single diver trying to find a buddy, then it isn’t really a benefit. Do people do shore dive solo at either location?

Food
Very subjective category – but from what I’ve read it seems like AKR has slightly better food and the option of getting into town for a night if you wanted (without a large cab fare). I’m not much of a foodie, so this isn’t a material category for me, but food does matter as I don’t want it to be inedible at either place

Room
I’m comparing base rooms at each. Both seem pretty similar – neither has a TV/DVD in room. Does anyone know if Wi-Fi extends to the rooms at either location? How are the common areas at each location? Do people mingle or do most people stay in their rooms?

thanks for any input

When weather is bad on the north side of island (AKR side), they take their boats to the southside (CCV). Fact.

CCV is NOT for families, no kids, nothing else to do but dive. Divers are assigned to a boat the first day, and everyone on that boat becomes friends, eat meals together, dive together, all week. Like a little family for the week.

CCV has incredible walk right in diving 24/7. No Scuba Police, no buddy required. Solo is just fine anytime. EAsy peasy too.

that boat in the photo is from another resort, coming to dive CCV front yard, because the diving is that good.

Weather

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- considering that Roatan is just south of Belize, that's a fair assumption. Some friends were at Fantasy Island a few years ago in Dec. They dove that morning then drove over to the West End to look around. The waves were breaking onto the main road. That's probably 4-5 above the beach.

Actually the north side operators take their boats around to the south if needed but probably not to Cocoview - it's too far east. More likely they dock near Flowers Bay, Coxen Hole or French Harbor since they come around from the west. Also it's only certain ones - Coconut Tree, West End, Native Sons, Splash Inn - others. The panga operators just shut down.

is the same true of AKR?

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I think it's true of just about any AI resort there. The flights seem to drive that. We always see the Ccoview people, the AKR people and the West Bay resorts with their signs - after waiting in line Sat. afternoon with 3-4 other flights worth of pax.

Single Diver

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You know both have a single supplement...

The shore dive at AKR is not great from what I've read - we dove with the dolphins near there so I'm a little familiar with the area. It seems like it would be too shallow for a pretty long way. It's on the far side of the key so from the cheapest Hillside rooms, a decent walk. The lockers are on the dive boat dock shore side, then you'd take the Key boat taxi (AKR's) over. Everything except the Cabanas, pool and pool bar is on the shore side. The dolphins are kept off Bailey's Key nearby. Cocoview's shore dive appears to be a lot better. It's not likely but if you get bent, the chamber is at AKR. You'd come over from CCV also as it's the only one.

Food

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We ate one meal at AKR - didn't stay there just waiting for a friend at the clinic. It was good food, what you expect at an AI resort. Not memorable enough to remember what it was 4 yrs. later. If you tire of it, the advantage to AKR is that there are about 20 restaurants in all price ranges 5 minutes away by cab in the West End. Paid $6 once to do that. Sundowners beach bar (diver's bar) is there - (on Facebook). We had a good $20 meal at Argentinean Grille across the street and 4 of us ate for $22 at Rotisserie Chicken about a block away - food left over. Here's some options in that area. I've read somewhere that it's $45 one-way from Cocoview - they set up trips during the week if asked.

Room

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"Standard" rooms at AKR don't have A/C. Probably less needed in Jan - I wouldn't have been comfortable without it in April. Roatan is really humid. The night we were at AKR there was a decent crowd in the bar around 9PM. It's a pretty nice bar. One less obvious distinction is there's a lot of stairs up to it and the restaurant.

Have you looked at Reef House Resort also? Full AI and it might be cheaper. There's a shore dive there. More isolated than Cocoview though - farther east.

If you decide to risk the North side you might consider staying in the West End. It's more reasonable and most people you meet in the bars/restaurants are divers. If you're looking for nightlife at all, it's all there - there must be a dozen decent bars/beach bars etc. in about a 1 mile area.

And accommodations are more reasonable than the AI resorts. a decent 1br apt. with kitchen runs about $50 at Posada Arco Iris. Per room not PP. Your balcony is one of many in a row along the building so you can't help but talk to some of your neighbors. A lot of people meet at Sundowners across the street also. If you really want to keep costs down Chillies next door is a hostel. Next to that is Coconut Tree Divers - they have a shop, restaurant, store and cabins on both sides of the main road into town there. My friends stayed there - someone is always around Coconut Tree's deck when they were open. Beers on the honor system - late afternoons you sat with anybody with room at their table. Met several new people that way.

For food choices, Woody's Market and Coconut Tree both are small stores. The CTD store has a lot of staples, snacks and alcohol. Woody's is like a big 7-11 with produce and meat. Fresh produce, fish, etc. can be purchased off the local trucks daily also - they park about 50 yds. away. It's nice looking stuff - I bought fruit.

If you buy a dive pkg. several operators do 10/$300. Some like Coconut Tree do 4 dives per day on demand. The other difference is that the 3/day standard with most shops are all at different sites. Sometimes they come back to the dock between dives also. How many times can you really repeat off Cocoview b4 it gets old. We'd do two dives, local lunch then back out on their 1PM boat. They night dive 1-2 nt's/wk but so do others so probably the only day you couldn't find a night dive would be Sat. night. Those dives are $40 extra.

---------- Post added April 28th, 2014 at 01:24 PM ----------

In about a week, 100 SB members will be back from the Invasion at AKR so they can probably answer all your questions...

I have been diving from both, eaten at both, seen the rooms at both, but I have always stayed at Coco View.

You've gotten a lot of good info above, maybe I can offer further distinctions.

At CCV I get 27 dives in a week. I do this on air, not EAN. The South side diving is fairly shallow in comparison. The South side is a lot of macro found in very colorful reefs that start in 5 feet and drop vertically to a 90' sand shelf. Northside is deeper and because it is in the island's shadow, it is darker. From AKR you are more likely to see some more of the larger Caribbean endemics- this is because of the Conservation Zone.

Shore diving? CCV is a shining star in the Caribbean. I really have never seen anything better, hard to think of anything else in the world. AKR does mention their shore dive in internet advertising, but if and when the wind and wave are not shutting it down, it's a hassle to get your gear, limited hour access, not a pleasant entry, and not much to see. Very few people do this dive at AKR. They did however establish some placed "wreckish" items in their lagoon. I have always enjoyed the AKR Lagoon, but I will tell you that it is not for the squeamish or easily frightened- it is a classic harborage muck dive, lunar and spooky. The shore dive at CCV is rather aquarium-like and it's shallow environs include in intact 140' intact placed wreck in 65-35fsw and the remnants of a DC3 aircraft. CCV does offer boat dive #2 and #4 as resort drop-off dives which, having done thousands of them, I find the highlight of the day. The other CCV boat dives are moored, the schedule gives you a lot of time off to sleep or sleep.

I think the food is arguably identical between AKR and CCV. In that AKR serves food by waitstaff, it gains style points for many. AKR has 68 (?) steps up/down to get to the restaurant, CCV has 2 or a handicapped ramp.

AKR is rather accessible to locals who are "just passing through" traversing the resort property to get to their neighborhood to the ENE. CCV is on it's own private Cay- no one there exept long term staff and guests. In that I have never slept at AKR, I can only comment on CCV. CCV hands out room keys, but very few people lock their doors. We regularly leave cameras and computers in the dining area. We leave our cameras and computers in the boat dock dunk tanks. Never a worry.

Weather? That's a really involved answer. I would absolutely recommend avoiding the North/West during "Norther" seasons, when cold arctic blasts push into the Central US, down Texas the worst of them. That causes bad weather from Cozumel, Belize and the Bay Islands. So I look at this as Jan>March. The tropics storm/hurricane season? Same answer, different reason. Any storm that gets that far West into the Caribbean basin is usually on a track that takes it North of the Bay Islands on to Belize, Coz, Tx, or looping clockwise to Louisiana. The diving on the North/West gets shut down.

This also explains why the underwater geography of the North is so deep, rough and sparsely populated with soft and some hard corals. The North/West reef is quite far offshore.

As mentioned above, some operations will move their dive ops to the South side to avoid those days. Be aware: You want the one that puts you on a bus and takes you to meet the boat on the South side- you DO NOT want to ride around the far West end. It's the Vomit Comet of Roatan.

The South is indeed the windward side. The shallow reef is in constant Sunlight. This means florid growth. You can expect a standard 1-2' rolling sea, compared to the North/West that is often dead-flat calm. The South side is also known as the "storm lee", that is- the protected side of the island from storms. The harborages are on the South side, and any property that is sold-off to North Americans is located... on the North side. There are reasons for that.

A/C as answered previously in re AKR... At CCV they are all A/C, but with the breeze, this can largely be un necessary. The prevailing South side breeze and lack of rotting vegetation produces fewer sand flies and I have seen very very few mosquitoes in my 35 years visiting over on the South.

The boats at CCV are as equally suited for the conditions there as the boats at AKR are made for their conditions. In terms of the physical dive operation, (the buildings, access, dunk tanks, drying areas, that kind of stuff) I give CCV and A and consider it a model for any plan resort. I give AKR a solid B. As a matter of scale, I give FIBR a C- and I give RHR a B- (but they improve they end result by physical terrestrial effort of their dive crew). Again, I am referencing the physical plant, not the dive staff.

Which resort has more to do or entertain? Neither. But AKR is a quick cab ride to the West End. Night life at CCV is in the water, shore diving. I would take a non-diving spouse to AKR, if I were to take a non-diver to CCV I would get them a mask and snorkel and also a Discover SCUBA course. I hope they enjoy sunbathing and reading, otherwise. CCV does bring in artists every day, hair braiders, that kind of thing. "She" could just get in a cab from AKR and be shopping on the West End in minutes, but then again, there really isn't that much to shop for there- a lot of Guatemalan imports.

Buddy teams are created at CCV when requested, sometimes you get the DM. There is no prohibition against anything, you are reminded that you have a C Card (irrelevant as to whether it is AOW or XYZ), you are reminded that you are an adult and responsible for your actions. Solo diving is not looked askance at, or much less noticed. At the end of every boat dive brief, the DM asks if "anyone going below 130'?" All you have to do is say, "yes", and you will not be bothered. Otherwise, he will come after you and you will have to discuss this one indiscretion with the Manager. Otherwise- do what you do. Night dives tend to go out in groups, it's simple to ask to join and follow along.

AKR is a nice place, I have sent many people there after hearing their needs. It was one of the original Roatan Dive Resorts, but has since changed it's main focus to doing day dives for Cruise Ships and Dolphin encounters (which you can access from any other resort as well). This is their money source. They do run discounts to fill their rooms, witness the SCUBA Board Invasion. CCV is booked solidly and simply doesn't discount, they don't have to... it is still the same characteristic Dive Resort that as prevalent in the 1970's, with updates. AKR has a slightly dressier panache, which appeals to non-diving companions who might want to wear something other than a dive t-shirt to dinner.

Thanks for all the information. I emailed CCV last night and got this response, which foots with everyone's comments "...Single divers are very common at CCV. Typically, the divemaster acts as a dive buddy during the boat dives. Solo shore diving is permitted. We enforce a strict sign out policy when accessing the shore diving."


CCV has availability, American Airlines has award seat inventory. I think I have my decision.

Again, thanks for the detailed responses.

Tom

Another thumbs up for Reef House Resort. I've been to both CCV and RHR and while CCV had a little better rooms, RHR won in every other category......especially in the food and diving category. Great food and superior diving to what you get at CCV.

BDSC:

Another thumbs up for Reef House Resort..

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well. I'll have to research that option.

Looks like RHR is a non refundable deposit while CCV is refundable up to 120 days before departure. But it is a fair amount cheaper.

Nice review Doc...I learned a couple new things.

Illini_Fan:

well. I'll have to research that option.

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Pictures of CCV and RHR

CCV: CoCoView Explained In Pictures Photos by Doc_Adelman | Photobucket

RHR: Reef House Resort Roatan Photos by Doc_Adelman | Photobucket

BDSC:

What did you think about shore diving Reef House Resort vs. CocoView?

Richard.