ScubaDoobaDo
Guest
Our two week vacation to Roatan & Utila
This was my dream trip The reality began when we stepped off the plane in Roatan, while waiting in line to go thru customs we saw the CoCo View sign accompanied by a huge smile and wave. We were whisked off to the bus and taken to the dock to be transported over to the resort. There were several of us and the whole process was sooo smooth. Our names were called and they gave us our room numbers/letters and sent on our way with instructions regarding our orientation later in the day. I had a good idea what our little bungalow looked like but there is nothing like the real thing no phone (whew), no TV (yippee), just the lapping water under the bungalow. I knew I had arrived in heaven.
I was a little hesitant about the drop off diving, as weve always had a dive master..never diving on our own. But believe me, we got the hang of it real quick. You are dropped off on Newmans Wall after the morning dive and on CoCo View Wall after the afternoon dive or on either dive they will drop you off at the ship. Its really easy to navigate as on Newmans wall you just keep the wall to your left and at CCV Wall keep it on the right until you get to the shipwreck. We only got sidetracked once on Newmans Wall and ended up at the FI dock..oops. Just following the bottles up to the resort was interesting and you never knew what you might see; we saw balloonfish, eagle rays, and a lot of other little fish. Prince Albert (the ship out front) seemed different every time (which was many times) I visited it, some days the vis would really suck so you would have to look at the little things that lived on and around it, when it was clear you could enjoy the whole of it and it was awesome. Calvins Crack and Marys Place were awesome as were the rest of the sites. My firsts in Roatan were: wild dolphins and seahorses.
We were on the blue boat with Jesse (a great DM) and Ruben (a real sweetie!). It was wonderful to spend time with the same people all week and I really enjoyed getting to know each and every one.
The food was awesome, there was always a good variety for the non-fish (can you believe it..) lovers. There was always fresh iced tea, lemonade and water available by the kitchen or you could get your favorite refreshment at the bar. The only problem I would say we did have with the food is that there was too much and I think I gained back the 5 lbs I lost before the trip within the first two days that we were there bummer.
So the best thing about CCV was humm . All of the new friends we met . The diving .. Our bungalow .. Jesse, Ruben, Michelle and the rest of the staff who were all sooo awesome . Everything about the week at CCV was awesome!
On to Utila
We left CCV a little early to catch our flight on Atlantic Air to Utila, we thought we had a LOT of time but when we got there they said we had 15 minutes and they meant it. So we arrived in Utila about 2 hours early and no one was ready for us. At least there was someone there to pick us up as the new airport in Utila is little more than a paved runway with a lean-to with a bench as the check-in area. It was already unbearably hot when we arrived but we were still on a natural high from Roatan so nothing mattered When we arrived at the Utila Lodge they were surprised to see us but we were greeted warmly and shown our room soon after. I had taken the advise from a post on the ScubaBoard and asked for Room E and was very happy with that decision. We had a double and a twin bed in the room and unfortunately it did have a TV in it which of course we had to watch once in a while. No phone though and there was no internet access for my laptop (only at the office - they did have a computer at the bar so we could look at our e-mail), which was probably good to.
At dinner we found out that the rest of the resort was taken by a dive club from New York, what we didnt find out til later was that because we had booked well before them that we had a room that they thought was theirs. So needless to say we did not feel the love that we felt at CCV. We are (I think) very friendly people but it took us several days of sitting in the middle of them to start feeling accepted by this group. There were still several of them by the time we left that never lightened up . But there were several that we ended up hanging out with and really had a great time with (mainly the couple that lost their room cuz of us go figure). I tried to get a free week from Kisty and Jim because of the extra work that was created by that fiasco but havent heard from them yet hehe.
We were unable to get out and dive on Saturday (the day we arrived), well, we could have but we would have been with 23 student divers NOT. So our dive portion of this trip started Sunday, the infamous Captain Willie leading the way our DM Nikko (eye candy) along with his buddy Jay (more eye candy) were great, we loved the dive sites in Utila and the vis was a little better here there was a storm just before we arrived in Roatan so vis was not as good as usual. After our experiences at CCV and after the first dive with A LOT of people following the DM closely, we decided to strike out on our own, Nikko would give us a basic direction and timeline and we would be the first off the boat and on our own throughout the dive. The best part of the whole trip was the whale sharks! We (Willie) found some mid week but another boat butted in ahead of us (actually thought they were going to t-bone our boat) and we think may have hit the whale shark. After a few choice Utilian words from Willie we left because Willie said that they wont hang around after the boat came so close, we noticed that the other boat left right after us too.. maybe that captain knew he blew it eh? Youve got to love the language over there, we tried so hard to make out the words that Willie used, Im fairly sure that there were no swear words but they were potent anyway. Willie pulled through for us and we found the whale sharks on the very last day of looking . Willie dropped us into them 4 times and it was awesome! The first time I slipped into the water I forgot to take a picture right away because I was awestruck that I was what seemed like a few feet away from this giant creature. I did end up getting a shot of him as he was swimming away. There were several of us in the water and it felt like time had stood still. After the first time all hell broke loose and everyone was swimming as soon as they hit the water because we knew that they wouldnt hang around and play with us. But the first time .
The second drop in I totally forgot to put on my mask and snorkel and almost killed myself. I know I was close that time too but it took me a few seconds to get my *&%&*^ together and stop choking! The third and forth time I mostly saw bubbles because everyone was chasing as they hit the water. All I kept thinking was how awesome it would be to be the only one in the water with these gentle giants. My firsts in Utila were whale sharks duh and a beautiful Quillfin Blenny.
What a wonderful trip we had . We had a total of 41 dives in the two weeks we were in Roatan/Utila. That 50th dive came and went fast! My feet hurt like hell; I have new areas that a pedicure may not cure the first time. I have a great tan! I have soooo many great memories and sooo many e-mail addresses to our new friends from both islands! I took sooo many underwater photos http://community.webshots.com/user/klfraser11
The Roatan & Utila photos are after my photography class with Tim Blanton from CCV. He was awesome (a little cranky, but awesome) and I would highly recommend his class to anyone who wants color in their photos he he (my Belize photos are sooo bad now)
This was my dream trip The reality began when we stepped off the plane in Roatan, while waiting in line to go thru customs we saw the CoCo View sign accompanied by a huge smile and wave. We were whisked off to the bus and taken to the dock to be transported over to the resort. There were several of us and the whole process was sooo smooth. Our names were called and they gave us our room numbers/letters and sent on our way with instructions regarding our orientation later in the day. I had a good idea what our little bungalow looked like but there is nothing like the real thing no phone (whew), no TV (yippee), just the lapping water under the bungalow. I knew I had arrived in heaven.
I was a little hesitant about the drop off diving, as weve always had a dive master..never diving on our own. But believe me, we got the hang of it real quick. You are dropped off on Newmans Wall after the morning dive and on CoCo View Wall after the afternoon dive or on either dive they will drop you off at the ship. Its really easy to navigate as on Newmans wall you just keep the wall to your left and at CCV Wall keep it on the right until you get to the shipwreck. We only got sidetracked once on Newmans Wall and ended up at the FI dock..oops. Just following the bottles up to the resort was interesting and you never knew what you might see; we saw balloonfish, eagle rays, and a lot of other little fish. Prince Albert (the ship out front) seemed different every time (which was many times) I visited it, some days the vis would really suck so you would have to look at the little things that lived on and around it, when it was clear you could enjoy the whole of it and it was awesome. Calvins Crack and Marys Place were awesome as were the rest of the sites. My firsts in Roatan were: wild dolphins and seahorses.
We were on the blue boat with Jesse (a great DM) and Ruben (a real sweetie!). It was wonderful to spend time with the same people all week and I really enjoyed getting to know each and every one.
The food was awesome, there was always a good variety for the non-fish (can you believe it..) lovers. There was always fresh iced tea, lemonade and water available by the kitchen or you could get your favorite refreshment at the bar. The only problem I would say we did have with the food is that there was too much and I think I gained back the 5 lbs I lost before the trip within the first two days that we were there bummer.
So the best thing about CCV was humm . All of the new friends we met . The diving .. Our bungalow .. Jesse, Ruben, Michelle and the rest of the staff who were all sooo awesome . Everything about the week at CCV was awesome!
On to Utila
We left CCV a little early to catch our flight on Atlantic Air to Utila, we thought we had a LOT of time but when we got there they said we had 15 minutes and they meant it. So we arrived in Utila about 2 hours early and no one was ready for us. At least there was someone there to pick us up as the new airport in Utila is little more than a paved runway with a lean-to with a bench as the check-in area. It was already unbearably hot when we arrived but we were still on a natural high from Roatan so nothing mattered When we arrived at the Utila Lodge they were surprised to see us but we were greeted warmly and shown our room soon after. I had taken the advise from a post on the ScubaBoard and asked for Room E and was very happy with that decision. We had a double and a twin bed in the room and unfortunately it did have a TV in it which of course we had to watch once in a while. No phone though and there was no internet access for my laptop (only at the office - they did have a computer at the bar so we could look at our e-mail), which was probably good to.
At dinner we found out that the rest of the resort was taken by a dive club from New York, what we didnt find out til later was that because we had booked well before them that we had a room that they thought was theirs. So needless to say we did not feel the love that we felt at CCV. We are (I think) very friendly people but it took us several days of sitting in the middle of them to start feeling accepted by this group. There were still several of them by the time we left that never lightened up . But there were several that we ended up hanging out with and really had a great time with (mainly the couple that lost their room cuz of us go figure). I tried to get a free week from Kisty and Jim because of the extra work that was created by that fiasco but havent heard from them yet hehe.
We were unable to get out and dive on Saturday (the day we arrived), well, we could have but we would have been with 23 student divers NOT. So our dive portion of this trip started Sunday, the infamous Captain Willie leading the way our DM Nikko (eye candy) along with his buddy Jay (more eye candy) were great, we loved the dive sites in Utila and the vis was a little better here there was a storm just before we arrived in Roatan so vis was not as good as usual. After our experiences at CCV and after the first dive with A LOT of people following the DM closely, we decided to strike out on our own, Nikko would give us a basic direction and timeline and we would be the first off the boat and on our own throughout the dive. The best part of the whole trip was the whale sharks! We (Willie) found some mid week but another boat butted in ahead of us (actually thought they were going to t-bone our boat) and we think may have hit the whale shark. After a few choice Utilian words from Willie we left because Willie said that they wont hang around after the boat came so close, we noticed that the other boat left right after us too.. maybe that captain knew he blew it eh? Youve got to love the language over there, we tried so hard to make out the words that Willie used, Im fairly sure that there were no swear words but they were potent anyway. Willie pulled through for us and we found the whale sharks on the very last day of looking . Willie dropped us into them 4 times and it was awesome! The first time I slipped into the water I forgot to take a picture right away because I was awestruck that I was what seemed like a few feet away from this giant creature. I did end up getting a shot of him as he was swimming away. There were several of us in the water and it felt like time had stood still. After the first time all hell broke loose and everyone was swimming as soon as they hit the water because we knew that they wouldnt hang around and play with us. But the first time .
The second drop in I totally forgot to put on my mask and snorkel and almost killed myself. I know I was close that time too but it took me a few seconds to get my *&%&*^ together and stop choking! The third and forth time I mostly saw bubbles because everyone was chasing as they hit the water. All I kept thinking was how awesome it would be to be the only one in the water with these gentle giants. My firsts in Utila were whale sharks duh and a beautiful Quillfin Blenny.
What a wonderful trip we had . We had a total of 41 dives in the two weeks we were in Roatan/Utila. That 50th dive came and went fast! My feet hurt like hell; I have new areas that a pedicure may not cure the first time. I have a great tan! I have soooo many great memories and sooo many e-mail addresses to our new friends from both islands! I took sooo many underwater photos http://community.webshots.com/user/klfraser11
The Roatan & Utila photos are after my photography class with Tim Blanton from CCV. He was awesome (a little cranky, but awesome) and I would highly recommend his class to anyone who wants color in their photos he he (my Belize photos are sooo bad now)
