SURVIVOR RAOATAN: OutDive, OutDrink, OutSleep...CoCo View Day 2

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Doc

Was RoatanMan
Scuba Instructor
Messages
10,954
Reaction score
4,120
Location
Chicago & O'Hare heading thru TSA 5x per year
# of dives
None - Not Certified
Dateline CoCo View, Day 2 - Monday May 17


We are here and well in Roatan. As usual, CCV's reps had us out of the airport and at the resort lickety split, TACA even showed up with all of our bags! Off to a great start.

We dined on Spaghetti and Meat Sauce and baked Shrimp platters and finished off with a Tres Leche Cake. Yum.

As we unpacked it began to rain as hard as it can rain- for about an hour. Then it stopped and hasnt rained since! :D

The Sunday morning orienation dive was quite beautiful as we had 60-80' viz even in the shallows of 3' in front of the resort (and someone was asking about the differences as compared to FIBR- that's a big one). The viz over the PA Wreck was spectacular at about 120'. We saw a 4' Cuda that has taken up residence as wll as the standard Garden Eels. After many divers finished their Front Yard Orienation Dive, we lingered and were joined by Spotted Eagle Rays and as we got shallower, some Squid.

In the afternoon, we packed off to Parrot Tree and saw the standard array of Roatanian SeaHorses. Several were spotted as well as some Nudibranchs.

The night dive, altho inviting from the access of CCV, was limited due to the half price Happy Hour which included not only mixed drinks but halved the price of beers to 75 cents as well. It might also have had something to do with dinner as it included Beef Burgunoin and Baked Fish with a CoCoNut Cream pie topper. We oozed back to the rooms or bar and called it a night.

Monday dawned clear as a bell, so off we went in search of Johns Spot (just E of Mary's Place).

Firs grab breakfast- French toast, sausages, bacon, toasted muffins and bagels, fruit cereal, omelets, pancakes or waffles. Waffles! We must have waffles!

Many Moray Eel sightings, as well as the resident large adult Spotted Drum. On the "drop off" dive from Newmans wall, we spotted Eagle Rays again and the largest juvenile French Angel I have ever seen.

Lunch was some killer Split Pea soup, and chicken or cheese wrapped thingies, with a tortilla wrapper. Lots of salad fixins plus rice and beans, too.

Afternoon dive was Gold Chain- once again, more than a few Morays plus "Herself" taught our group Squid interaction techniques #101. She coaxed a jet of 9 Squidlets to her out-stretched hand and many of the divers had similar good results with her methods. They are victims of their own curiosity- they will come and play voluntarily with your outstretched fingers if given the right coaxing.

The drop off dive was eventful for many as they found Mantis Shrimp in holes (be VERY afraid) and Jawfish, Box Crabs, and Sailfin Blennies.

I am sure that I've missed a lot of stuff, but since I'm going to be here thru the 29th- I'll keep trying to remember the cool stuff.

The place is full, but the boats do not feel crowded, our Chicago group is joined here by Captain Randy of Texas (sans Dee) and functional Divers from Utah.

I have a night dive planned tonight with the infamous "Scutt" of CoCo View. He knows the Front Yard Shore Dive pretty well.

First... dinner.
 
Thanks Doc! You make me jeolous. I hate it that life gets in the way of my dive trips so often. Glad the rain didn't hurt the viz!
 
Next best thing to being there!
 
Wow, I have heard CCV is great. Now you are making me feel like I have to go there.
 
I have to wait til next April to experience it :D..... I will have to live it through the board until then. I am working on booking the CCV/Utila Lodge trip.. hoping to dive with whale sharks...
 
Dateline: CoCoView, Day 4, May 19, 2004

Sorry for the delay, but I am simply not computer friendly.

We have gone thru the first half of this week in a blur of diving. Not hard when you’re cracking out 5 a day including
a Night Dive, too. Most everyone went to the pre-dinner dive briefing for the fableb Mary’s Place, and we all look
forward to that well known Roatan dive site, but first, there are many other dive sites to do on a daily basis.

The 0900 boat took us to Calvin’s Crack yesterday, and we did it “Up and Back”. Our group of 4 followed the other
10 divers on the boat- first down the Crack- by entering a hole in 25fsw, then slowly descending thru the chasm until
the exit at 90fsw. The main body of divers circled outside and slowly climbed the wall to the West and North, but we
went into “Santa’s Chimney” which is very narrow and a blind channel, but for the chimney. We arranged an
‘inbound and outbound’ traffic pattern, and negotiated it without incident. Don’t go in here unplanned and unguided.
Then we went back East to Calvin’s Crack and entered it at 90fsw, slowly ascending to the start at the North end. A
few divers took the alternate exit- quite a challenging squeeze.

We have done Doc’s Retreat, John’s Spot, the new Mr. Bud Wreck, Insidious Reef, 40 Foot Point, Valley of the
Kings, Carib Point, Managerie and others that blur into the Nitrogen laced cocktail that is CoCo View. At each dive
site, there is a new terrain and texture, and although the South side is arguably the best side to dive, the “All Day
Trip” that takes you away from 0800-1500 hrs is well worth the day away from the noon time hammock snooze.

The food? No complaints (buuuurp) so far! Yesterday at noon we had a killer ham and pea soup, tortillas wrapped
around cheese or chicken. Tiday for lunch we had Chilli, salad bar, brownies. Dinner last night was out on Hawksbill
Key, an island off of the main island that is CCV. Barbecue was yummy, chicken and ribs aplenty, along with that
odd rice and hard boiled egg salad that is quite good.

Off to a night dive! We saw a whole lot, just in front of CCV... the “front yard”, that is. Octopus, Lobster, three
kinds of Eels, Sharp Tailed Eel, Puffers, Baby Scorpionfish, Octopus, Squid and Medusa Worms. We fed the huge
18” Basket Star, and stopped to attract food for the Corals and Crabs as well. A quick visit to the rare Orange Ball
Corellamorphs and we all got a kick out of the intense bioluminesence as well.

In the daytime, the same area can be relied upon to show Spotted Eagle Rays, the occasional Sting Ray, Garden Eels,
Flounders, Secretary Blennies, Jawfish, Scorpionfish, Puffers, Gold Chain Eels, Squid, and my favorite- the Sailfin
Blennies.

These little critters are found in 3fsw right in front of the CCV lodge on the chain. You find one, then another, then
place them within inches of each other. They will begin the dominance displays for territory fairly quickly. They will
posture and pose, exhibiting their extended ‘sailfins’, showing who’s boss. We are always sure to seperate them after
our observation.

Between boat dives, the DM’s have a new trick, besides calling every fruit “watermellon”, they douse the Pineapple
slices liberaly with CoCoNut Milk. Yummy. This goes good with the standard “Atomic Fireballs” that we always
bring down.

Breakfast was the standard Omelets, French Toast, Pancakes, Waffles, Cereal, fruit, etc spread, and no-one
complains about Bacon CCV Style. Most assuredly not Maggie, the elderly Yellow Lab resort dog... who has a new
assistant, “Pancho” who arrived from the US on Monday. He is here with “Chris” the new deisel mechanic, and
Pancho has not stopped running Maggie ragged since day one. Pancho has already taken divers out to the dive
platform. It’s only a matter of time!

Today we saw a couple of large free swimming Green Morays and crowds of Yellow Tail Snapper, Seargent Majors,
big (I mean BIG) Groupers and persistent Chubs (the ones that bite at your ears!).

All in all, no one is looking forward to the “eviction notice”... the departure paperwork placed on your beds
tomorrow Thursday, in preparation for the Saturday return North back to so called ‘civilization’.

Me? I’m here for two weeks... I’ll be waving good bye to my friends on Saturday... awaiting ‘new friends’ arrival on
Saturday Night.
 
I'm green with envy! I searched and searched for those Orange Ball Corellamorphs and never did find them. I need a better photo of the Basket Star, would ya have Randy take one for me?? :D

I can't wait to hear about Pancho. Hope Killers nose isn't out of joint!

Thanks for the update!
 
I'm really starting to get the pre-trip twitches :ditsy:
I'll see ya Saturday night RoatanMan!
This is pretty neat, a scouting report!
But, now the next 2 days are just gonna crawl by.....
 
just think about how s l o w l y 325 days will feel for me... I am going to have to stay off the board for a while so my excitement level can go down a few notches.

By the way RoatanMan, do they have a card reader and cd burner so we can empty our photo card and start over? If not will you put in the request for me....
 

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