Review: CoCo View, Roatan

[H2Andy]

just got back from a week in CoCo View. it is not your average dive destination,
but it sure is worth it. my wife (a non-diver) and I loved it.

here's a quick recap of my impressions:

Dive Operations

Awesome. The dive masters are excellent, the boats are great, the facilities
are just about perfect. there are gear areas next to the dock, with rinse tubs
(and camera rinse tubs), as well as tanks ready to be grabbed for shore diving.
definetely A++

Diving Conditions

The boat diving is good (two trips each day, at 8:30 and
2:00 pm), with sheer drop-offs and quite some structure,
particulalry on the walls.

The coral in popular dive spots like Mary's Place and Calvin's Crack is
clearly stressed and, in many places, beyond repair. But most of the
dive sites I went to looked very good, with lots of life.

There's a great deal of small critters to see, and quite a lot of small
to medium fish. there are few large fish. I personally identified 72 fish species;
there were lots more, but i couldn't i.d them properly.

Lots of crustaceans and invertebrates and all that sort of stuff as well.

Shore diving is limited to the wreck of the Prince Albert, CoCoView Wall,
and Newman's Wall. both these walls are not pristine dives, but they are
alright. lots of damage, particularly in the shallower portions.
The Prince Albert is an interesting wreck, and there were three sea horses
in residence while i was there.

Overall, I'd give the diving a B


Accomodations

This is not a four-star place. maybe not even a three-star place. it's clean,
however, and the staff are super-friendly (no... they are ultra-friendly... no...
super ultra friendly... you get the idea). the electricity has an interesting habit
of going off at least twice a day, for a minute or two. we were always afraid
it would not come back... but it always did. annoyingly, we had to reset our
alarm clock after each such power blink.

no air in the dining room. very good food, with good variety (steak, shrimp,
small lobster tails, etc.). $1.50 beer ($.75 during happy hour). need i say more?

the accomodations get a B-


Overall, the place runs like clockwork, the dive staff and other staff are
excellent, gear management and dive infrastructure is excellent, the
accomodations are ok, but nothing to write home about, the food is pretty
good, and the booze is cheap.

Some pics below:

1. Green Moray

2. Queen Angelfish

3. Snapper (maybe a cubera snapper?) with shark sucker

4. Hermit Crab

5. Barred Hamlet

[Diver Dennis]

Thanks for the great pictures and report Andy. Sounds like you had a great time.

[SteveFass]

Glad to you had a good time - some great pictures too. The colors look pretty bright on the second and fourth - did you bump it up much in photoshop (not complaining, just asking)? Surprised the conditions only get a "B" !! Had you heard of better conditions elsewhere on Roatan?

[Tobagoman]

just got back from a week in CoCo View. it is not your average dive destination,

Diving Conditions

The boat diving is good (two trips each day, at 8:30 and
2:00 pm), with sheer drop-offs and quite some structure,
particulalry on the walls.


Shore diving is limited to the wreck of the Prince Albert, CoCoView Wall,
and Newman's Wall. both these walls are not pristine dives, but they are
alright. lots of damage, particularly in the shallower portions.
The Prince Albert is an interesting wreck, and there were three sea horses
in residence while i was there.

Overall, I'd give the diving a B

Thanks for the trip report Andy. I'm heading there in October. What were the water conditions like, e.g. temps, visibility, currents? Thanks again for an honest report!

[RoatanMan]

just got back from a week in CoCo View. it is not your average dive destination,
but it sure is worth it. my wife (a non-diver) and I loved it.

I am amazed that your non-diving bride survived a week at what most of us lovingly call "dive camp". CCV's unspoken course seems "why gild the lily?"

There aint much to do on Roatan, and certainly not at CCV, other than dive.

Luckily, as you say, that the diving was easy and plentiful. The part you left out is that the shore dive, the one that included the placed upright 140' Prince Albert Wreck, the busted up DC3 (both in 35-65fsw) and the walls... all of it lies 3 minutes snorkel from the rooms.

This makes my favorite offering of CCV a given: A night dive every night- beginning right at the steps to my room.

Good to hear you enjoyed it, but add some of the pix of the really cool small stuff. I know you had to have shot it. Put some of these on the CCV Message Board at http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/ccv

(B.T.W.- How well do I know CCV? Betch'a a Monkel Lala drink that your pic of the Hermit Crab was found under the Prince Albert wreck!)

[cardzard]

Hi Andy
Glad you had a great time. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Like you we were impress by the sturcture of the walls also. Glad you both returned home safe. See you at the next conch event you attend and we can swap more stories.

[H2Andy]

Good to hear you enjoyed it, but add some of the pix of the really cool small stuff.

yup, sure tried (tried is the key word). i have a very basic set-up, without any
macro or micro or whatever it is ability. it's a Canon SD-110, so if i get too close
the small stuff comes out blurry... so... not many of the neat stuff came out
well.

(B.T.W.- How well do I know CCV? Betch'a a Monkel Lala drink that your pic of the Hermit Crab was found under the Prince Albert wreck!)

give that man a Monkey Lala!

[H2Andy]

Like you we were impress by the sturcture of the walls also. Glad you both returned home safe.

definetely those walls were impressive. you were dead on with your descriptions
and suggestions

[H2Andy]

I'm heading there in October. What were the water conditions like, e.g. temps, visibility, currents?

visibility was very good in the boat dives. i would say pretty much unlimited vis.

it can go to crap pretty fast on the shore dives from CocoView. the wreck of the Prince Albert can have a lot of particulates in the water, but vis is still 25-30 feet, minimum? especially if there are lots of divers in the wreck.

the water was nice and comfy, maybe low 80's the whole time. i was comfortable
on a skin and the bottom of a 3 mil farmer john.

no currents to speak of the whole time i was there. the waves were maybe 2-3
feet at the most, and 0-1 foot as a rule.

[dlndavid]

Hey welcome back Andy, glad you had a good trip and some good dives.