What's the What's - What in Roatan

[MusicManBlue]

I'm headed to RTB for two weeks starting on 5/24.

Have a little cabana on the north end, and wondering what the best option for diving for my brother and I might be.

Seems like at least Anthony's Key Resort was unwilling to guarantee me any spots on their boats as they are reserved "for guests".
Does anyone have a recommendation on a dive operator that is close to there that would offer competitive rates? (e.g. $25/dive)
Also, seems like the service component is worth considering as someone suggested certain operators really pack their boats.

Does anyone have a good resource on where to shore dive? Is this something people do in Roatan? I saw that CoCo had some shore diving, but again apparently reserved for guests only.

Lastly, is there a better shop to rent gear from/get nitrox, but not dive with? Figured maybe someone knew the shop that was running the good rates on that stuff - I'm bringing all my gear except weights/tanks, but my bro will need a BC and some other stuff.

Any definite can't-miss dives or surface activities?

 

[dlofting]

Where exactly are you staying? Do you have a car? There are lots of good dive shops in West End and West Bay as well as on the south side of the island, but recommendations will depend a lot on where your cabana is.

 

[diver 85]

When we owned in Sandy Bay(for 14 years) we used to use BIBR, 5 bucks a tank(boat dive that is)!!!!---but they went under several years back..........Good luck, we've been away from there since '08 when we sold--so I'm of no help these days....

 

[diversteve]

Define "North End? Are you closer to AKR or Turquoise Bay. Because there's a Subway Watersports at Turquoise Bay. Or about 2 dozen shops in the West End. My recommendations for dive ops in the West End are Coconut Tree Divers, Reef Gliders or Native Sons. There are also a lot of other excellent operators - I only know those three. Most operators in the West End are around 10 dives/$300. + $5 for your bro's rentals.

There's very few shore dives on Roatan period. Almost all are off private property. Here's the list but most are no longer publicly accessible. And Sandy Bay is a healthy surface swim out to the reef. You might be able to get in at #'s 8 or 9 - especially if you rent tanks from Seagrape (#8). #9 is accessible from Half Moon Bay Beach also - about 50yds. off the right edge of the beach. Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Honduras, Roatan, Caribbean

Your bigger problem with shore diving will be finding someone to let you remove tanks from their property. Maybe Sueno Del Mar still does.

AKR isn't really set up for drop-in divers. Except for the paid dolphin dive - seven of us did that one morning. But we called ahead and reserved it a few days before. As it turned out, we were the only people doing it that morning. Must've been around this week also.

 

[MusicManBlue]

We are gonna be 5 minutes from AKR at Sunnyside, Sandy Bay.
We do have a car, so the sky's the limit there!

Great stuff so far... thanks diversteve!!

 

[diversteve]

You mean the B&B? or one of several houses in the compound? Then you have dock access to Spooky Channel (#6). That was a great dive. We saw more big pelagics at the far end than anywhere else.

Go dive the south one day also. My suggestion is Barefoot Divers. They're five minutes off Mary's Place if you're both AOW. Or have a lot of dives. They have nice rental gear also - all late model ScubaPro.

 

[kerrycorcoran]

We just returned from Roatan (w/ the Scubaboard Invasion crew). Had a blast. We stayed at AKR so the diving was taken care.

Before we decided to go with the crew we were looknig at (staying and) diving with Splash Inn. Prices seemed reasonable and there is a wealth of information [about the resort/dive shop] on the forum.

Good luck and let us know where you decide to stay.

 

[Doc]

If you're interested in the CCV shore dive with their intact shallow 140' wreck of the Prince Albert, you can likely do a walk-in at Fantasy Island, just across the same channel. Their shore dive is a bit more of a murky transverse to access the Wreck, but that would likely be a day-dive possibility.

If you do this, hire an FI DM guide to show you the way and u/w landmarks. Won't cost much and your first dive there will be enhanced dramatically.

i don't know of any place that will allow you to take tanks off premises our out of their supervision, as a more direct answer to your yearning for shore dive access.

 

[dlofting]

West End Divers in West End are a good outfit. We dove with them in May 2013.....if you do more than 10 dives with them equipment rental is free.

 

[KellyAsh]

MusicMan, I'll be happy to take you shore diving while you're here. All I do is shore dive Roatan and have some pretty cool dive sites accessible by shore.

I have exclusive permission to shore dive Mary's Place and I can take you to the El Aguila wreck also being that those are two of the more popular dive sites here. I live on Gibson Bight, which is about a mile West of AKR and a 5 min cab ride away, so we can shore dive Gibson Bight Channel all the way up to AKR by shore.

I can take you just about anywhere else you might want to dive or if you wanted to do any specialty courses while you're here I can take care of you on most of those also. I also have a boat available for hire if you wanted to go somewhere we needed a boat for. If you guys wanted to go on a lionfish hunt and spot lionfish for me, you can keep the lionfish.

I charge $20 per dive plus taxi/busito expenses. I provide the tanks and fills and have one extra Medium BCD, regulator, weights, and a mask/snorkel that is included in the price but you'll need to provide your own booties and fins since I don't have extras.