Roatan Vacation Help!

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ctiffin

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Hey Scuba-ers!

The BF and I are looking to go on a scuba vacation for 2 weeks in December. Based on our available dates (December 22nd - January 6th), we are choosing between:

Parrot Tree Beach Resort
Henry Morgan Resort
Media Luna Resort & Spa
Fantasy Island Beach Resort

Any help on dive operators, weather, location, excursions would be AMAZING!
Thanks so much.

Christina.
 
You might want to do some poking around through prior posts, these resorts are discussed to an extent.

The excursions that you mention, from any of these resorts it will involve a cab ride. Various of Roatan's non-dive attractions are spread between West End and East towards the middle of the length of the island. HMR is far West, the other three are midway East along the island. For this distinction, that these three are on the South side is irrelevant, the island is only maybe 5 miles wide.

You ask a whole lot with your very short question. What are you really looking for out of your trip? How much diving? These AI Resorts offer some diving, they are not really "dive resorts", MLR makes 99.9% of their money off of "day-spa" cruise ship passengers. (The exception might be FIBR, see next paragraph) Of the four, Media Luna is set on the most beautiful piece of land, by far.

Three of these South side operations have no in-house dive op (my current understanding), they use contractors when they have clients. The contractors have to come a fair distance, so your diving might have to flex around that, depending on whether the resort can fill the boat for that day. The other one, FIBR (which was the most dive oriented of the four) has been closed for an extended period of time and if it has reopened, no one here has said boo, same for Trip Advisor.

Of the four, FIBR has the best dive access to this interesting niche zone (see below), the only real shore dive access. You can shore dive a 140' intact ship in 35', or see who is living in the remnants of a DC3 Aircraft. In the past, but unknown today- they had some nicer of the better boats. A year ago, while it was still in operation, if a serious SCUBA diver wanted a dive vacation, I would have sent him there out of that list, no matter how bad the rest of the place was~ and it was bad. Again- they may be re-born. Go find out and let us know. Anyone?

The most cogent thing I might throw in- understand the oft-discussed weather patterns at this time of year (Nov>Feb). You may do better in terms of dive weather if you were to pick from the resorts that were South side. The leaves Henry Morgan out. The other three are within a few miles of each other along the Southern shore. On the map, if you looked around "First Bight", that is the general area.

Henry Morgan will give you much better access to "West End" where you will find many diversions such as bars, interesting restaurants and some theoretical shopping. I believe they have an in-house dive op, or at least a contract provider that is very local and quite regular. I am blissfully ignorant of Cruise Ship seasons, but you would do better to avoid the West End during those days.

The other three, again on the South side, offer diving in a specific zone of Roatan that I see as unique in the Caribbean. The diving here is very shallow and it rewards those with good buoyancy and observational skills. Otherwise, divers walk away bemoaning that they have seen nothing. In brutal honesty, this area is not for beginners, there just are not masses of recognizable large critters. Yes, a few Baracuda or Parrots- but the gold here is the micro and macro. There is gold aplenty. The walls are vertical, they start in 5 to 20', and break straight down to 90'. They are positioned to be in the Sun track all day long- there are no dark barren zones. There is also not a whole lot of underwater architecture- not much great drama of shapes- the notable exceptions are Doc's Dive, and of course the highly vaunted Mary's Place. The other unusual dive that could be provided by one of these three is Calvin's Crack- but it depends on the weather and the boats they are renting.

Stick with your DM. If he isn't showing you a SeaHorse on every other dive, you got a lemon. Look with him for the very cool small stuff. Experienced divers come to this specific zone in search of micro and macro and take some amazing images- the stuff you regularly see in the dive magazines.
 
I have been to Coco View which is right across from the channel from Fantasy Island. Coco View is not for everyone. It is a bit basic. It is centered on diving and more diving. You get 2 boat dives per day and 2 drop off dives. Plus you can add in as many shore dives a stamina allows. The dive masters are really good at Coco View.

i have heard good things about Anthoney's Key Resort. It looks more high end.
 
Okay - change in venues? What about Mayan Princess Beach & Dive Resort?
 
I have been to Coco View which is right across from the channel from Fantasy Island. Coco View is not for everyone. It is a bit basic. It is centered on diving and more diving. You get 2 boat dives per day and 2 drop off dives. Plus you can add in as many shore dives a stamina allows. The dive masters are really good at Coco View.

i have heard good things about Anthoney's Key Resort. It looks more high end.

I know that certain specific resort choices are made available in very attractive packages to Canadians or with Canadian charter flights like Sunwing. Coco View has a product that they don't have to discount, so you won't see them offered at that price level. The choices given here by the OP are Henry Morgan branded types I believe.

AKR is another real-deal Dive Resort. Pricier, yes, but they do two-for-one pricing and offer deals.

Okay - change in venues? What about Mayan Princess Beach & Dive Resort?

Not really a dive resort, either, no matter the name. Again... what exactly do you require in terms of dive operation availability?

:search::sblogo:
 
Mayan Princess has Mayan Divers on site and they go out twice a day (double tank in the morning and single tank in the afternoon), they also do night dives (once a week I think?) and offer the local shark dive. That may not make MP a "dive resort" but it's close, esp if you go with one of those pre-packaged deals that include diving. Alternatively you can dive with TGI diving, which is at the Henry Morgan just across the corner (short walk along the beach). Shore diving is a no-go though.
 
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One other consideration is that in December there's a likelihood of the north side dives being blown out for several days at a time due to storms. Some friends were there after Thanksgiving and the waves were breaking over the West End Beach (not West Bay) and onto the road. Needless to say panga operators weren't going out that week. Some West Bay resorts use panga's since there's few docks.

The larger dive operators on the north side (Anthony's Key, West End, Coconut Tree, there's others) have the resources to move their boats south and shuttle you over. The panga operators just shut down afaik.

What about Barefoot Cay/Divers? South side, just off some of the better diving. Mary's Place is 5mins. offshore and they took us to Cocoview's front yard to dive the Prince Albert for a 2nd dive. It's more upscale with all the amenities. Only downside is it's off a working harbor.

Another to consider might be Luna Beach Resort. It's north side about 1/2 way between West Bay and the West End. For any sort of nightlife and most of the better restaurants - that's the West End. West Bay Beach is also the cruise ship beach. Although you can tell when the ships are in at the West End also - even though the cruise ports are on the south side.
 
Mayan Divers also shuttle you over to the south side for their diving if conditions on the north side aren't good. FYI
 
If the OP goes to the Regional Forums section, Central America Forums, Bay Islands sub-forum she (he?) will find many threads that answer pretty much all her questions so far, along with discussions of most of the resorts & dive ops on Roatan. There is so much variety in terms of the diving, resorts, & dive operators on Roatan that it would be impossible to cover everything asked about in one post. Like Doc said, it would be helpful if the questions were narrowed down a bit.
 
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