Squashie
Contributor
Well as they say; "All good things must come to an end", and it is certainly true with respect to my feelings about our recent vacation to Roatan. We (a group of 10 with 6 divers) stayed at the Reef House Resort in Oak Ridge from June 11 through June 18 and had an absolutely wonderful time. Larry and Carol the owners of the resort made us feel like part of the family and treated us as guests in their home...a true novelty in the pre-packaged vacation land in which we live.
The past seven days in Roatan was truely an eye opening experience, which reminded me slightly of Cozumel approximately 15 years ago, before the inundation of cruise ships and sun birds. The lush tropical forests, the pristine reefs, the abundant fish life both along the walls and in the shallows harkens back to a time before the influence of man and the scarring of the environment. We enjoyed a full 5 days of diving, snorkeling and swimming in and around the eastern end of the island...far away from the more tourist areas near the west end. It was so calm and peaceful that the only day we even saw another dive boat was on Thursday when we did the obligatory dives at Mary's Place and the wreck off of Co Co View wall...the rest of the time the ocean was our private playground.
The dive operation was first class with the DM David (Dah-veed) and boat captain Choco tending to our every need, including setting up our equipment before the dives, storing the equipment between dives and supplying any small item we may have forgotten, or had malfunction during the week. All of the dives, especially the ones further east along the island were spectacular with vibrant reefs, very healthy corals and a plethora of wild life...from juvenile drum fish to long nose seahorses to very large grouper, nurse sharks and barracuda. We saw green back turtles, blennies, pipefish, octopi, sting rays, scorpion fish and some of the LARGEST puffer fish I've ever seen.
The accomodations at the resort were simply great for what we were looking for...no phone in the room, never turned on the TV and rarely ran the A/C unit...spent most of the time at the outdoor patio/bar area just enjoying the view. The food was excellent...lobster, steak, king crab, mutton-pepper chicken and some of the best fried chicken ever...especially when served on a picnic on your own private island...pidgeon key.
On Friday, our hosts arranged for us to visit the more touristy side of the island and we did all of the usuals...shopping, jungle canopy tour and the butterfly/bird sanctuary visist. This was a wonderful way to spend your pre-flight out day and really showed off some of the island's history and color. The bugs were basically a non-issue, except for the trip to Pidgeon Key where apparently the noseeums have a tactical base of operations, where I personnaly picked up about 20 separate bites. At the resort I did not require the massive quantities of "deet" as hinted in many other reviews of Roatan, but others in the group must have been more sensitive or delicious to the little varmits as they required a more liberal dose of bug-begone.
All in all, I would rate the resort as a definate 5 star, especially if peace, quiet and diving is what you are after. The food was excellent, the atmosphere wonderful and the hosts warm and inviting. We will definately be going back as soon as time and money allow.
I should have the digital pictures sorted and cleaned up in the next few days if not a week...pm me if you would like to see more.
Squashie
The past seven days in Roatan was truely an eye opening experience, which reminded me slightly of Cozumel approximately 15 years ago, before the inundation of cruise ships and sun birds. The lush tropical forests, the pristine reefs, the abundant fish life both along the walls and in the shallows harkens back to a time before the influence of man and the scarring of the environment. We enjoyed a full 5 days of diving, snorkeling and swimming in and around the eastern end of the island...far away from the more tourist areas near the west end. It was so calm and peaceful that the only day we even saw another dive boat was on Thursday when we did the obligatory dives at Mary's Place and the wreck off of Co Co View wall...the rest of the time the ocean was our private playground.
The dive operation was first class with the DM David (Dah-veed) and boat captain Choco tending to our every need, including setting up our equipment before the dives, storing the equipment between dives and supplying any small item we may have forgotten, or had malfunction during the week. All of the dives, especially the ones further east along the island were spectacular with vibrant reefs, very healthy corals and a plethora of wild life...from juvenile drum fish to long nose seahorses to very large grouper, nurse sharks and barracuda. We saw green back turtles, blennies, pipefish, octopi, sting rays, scorpion fish and some of the LARGEST puffer fish I've ever seen.
The accomodations at the resort were simply great for what we were looking for...no phone in the room, never turned on the TV and rarely ran the A/C unit...spent most of the time at the outdoor patio/bar area just enjoying the view. The food was excellent...lobster, steak, king crab, mutton-pepper chicken and some of the best fried chicken ever...especially when served on a picnic on your own private island...pidgeon key.
On Friday, our hosts arranged for us to visit the more touristy side of the island and we did all of the usuals...shopping, jungle canopy tour and the butterfly/bird sanctuary visist. This was a wonderful way to spend your pre-flight out day and really showed off some of the island's history and color. The bugs were basically a non-issue, except for the trip to Pidgeon Key where apparently the noseeums have a tactical base of operations, where I personnaly picked up about 20 separate bites. At the resort I did not require the massive quantities of "deet" as hinted in many other reviews of Roatan, but others in the group must have been more sensitive or delicious to the little varmits as they required a more liberal dose of bug-begone.
All in all, I would rate the resort as a definate 5 star, especially if peace, quiet and diving is what you are after. The food was excellent, the atmosphere wonderful and the hosts warm and inviting. We will definately be going back as soon as time and money allow.
I should have the digital pictures sorted and cleaned up in the next few days if not a week...pm me if you would like to see more.
Squashie
