Photos from Marys place CCV

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cdiver2

Contributor
Messages
3,783
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Location
Safety Harbor (West central) GB xpat
# of dives
500 - 999
Marys place CoCo View Roatan only dived a couple of times a week to preserve it. A narrow crevice starting at sixty five feet you enter one at a time at about 30 second intervals and follow the crevice. When you see the exit 1st photo (still at sixty five feet) you make a sharp left and enter a overhead swim through descending to the exit at eighty feet +, second photo. A nice dive worth going to the lecture that you have to do before being allowed to do this dive.
 
Addict:
Was there a lecture? What did it entail for you?

A talk on the history of Marys place (it was closed to divers for a few years) buoyancy control and then something like a dive brief IE the DM sends you through one at a time when the last one go's he go's around the outside to the exit. Thats about it.
 
Addict:
Was there a lecture? What did it entail for you?

By agreement, all resorts that dive Mary's Place are required to provide a lecture on the dive site, buoyancy and showing the video.

They are also required to make Mary's Place at least a second dive, the first being a buoyancy check out dive. Of course, Mary's Place is, by local ecological ordinance, a moored dive, with appointed times assigned to any resort who wishes to participate in the program.

It is quite a common site from the CoCoView Boat, pulling up for their appointed time, to find many a different resort tied up, including a live-aboard on at least one occasion (that I have witnessed).

We have also seen dive operators doing drop off dives for cruise ship guests. Three "felonies" at once. Such groups have descended into the fissure from above landing atop CCV divers. I have seen it.

Not pretty.

A better dive in my estimation, by a long way, is Calvin's Crack. Mary's Place is well worth doing, however.
 
RoatanMan:
By agreement, all resorts that dive Mary's Place are required to provide a lecture on the dive site, buoyancy and showing the video.

They are also required to make Mary's Place at least a second dive, the first being a buoyancy check out dive. Of course, Mary's Place is, by local ecological ordinance, a moored dive, with appointed times assigned to any resort who wishes to participate in the program.

It is quite a common site from the CoCoView Boat, pulling up for their appointed time, to find many a different resort tied up, including a live-aboard on at least one occasion (that I have witnessed).

We have also seen dive operators doing drop off dives for cruise ship guests. Three "felonies" at once. Such groups have descended into the fissure from above landing atop CCV divers. I have seen it.

Not pretty.

A better dive in my estimation, by a long way, is Calvin's Crack. Mary's Place is well worth doing, however.

did not see any other boats on any of the dive sites we did but then maybe Nov is the low season, not more than eight divers on our boat.
I liked Marys better than Calvin's the only draw back was we were told no stopping in Marys just swim straight through.
I did find another fissure close to Marys that was very narrow and I had to go down feet first moving forward and back wards to avoid overhangs a great dive but more difficult than Marys and Calvin's.
 
Hey Roatan Man!

I gotta agree with you. Calvin's Crack is far better than Mary's place (although I do like Mary's Place). I really like the little hole in the top of the reef that begins the CC dive.
 
cdiver2:
I did find another fissure close to Marys that was very narrow and I had to go down feet first moving forward and back wards to avoid overhangs a great dive but more difficult than Marys and Calvin's.

Drats... thought it was my private hidey hole :)
 
cdiver2:
I wont talk if you don't, I just hope nobody with bad trim fined it, it is pristine.

As to stopping in May's Place... I've been there way too many times, so "Herself" and I generally don't do the dive- why put the impact on the place? When we are coralled into going, either because we have a group or there is need for addl DM's, the CoCoView DM's use us as traffic cops. We lead the pack into the chasm as the DM "starts" the divers, one by one.

I hover at 80fsw and direct folks to the hard left turn. Surprising how many would miss it. CCV spaces divers waaaaay out from each other. "Herself" hovers at the overhead part, either nudging divers down that over-inhale, or guiding them up and over if they look a bit wide eyed.

After the parade of 17 or so divers, I am fairly loaded with Nitrogen, so I ascend as safely fast as I can, then play around in one of several "hidden" holes that lie to the NNE of the starting point of Mary's Place. One such site is known and named as "Lita's Hole".

I like the other divesite, Calvins Crack, for several reasons. Nobody goes there except CCV and sometimes FIBR; you can dawdle, photograph and fiddle as much as you like; plus the two resident Frogfish.

Mary's Place is an elegant fissure that was one of the first major dive sites on Roatan- it is close to town and the major dive ops. It not only was 'overdived', but it fell victim to nearby siltation and run-off. By mutual agreement, it was closed to commercial dive traffic for many years. I made occasional survey dives with Doc Radawski over the years, and I really didn't anecdotaly note any major regrowth.

I think that demand by divers is what reopened it. Too bad that Roatan doesn't have you buy a conservation bc tag like Bonaire. Knowing Roatan, probably not much would make it through to the effort... past the filter of local and national government agencies.

Truth be known, there are several other dive sites around Roatan, to the far NE tip, that are substantialy more interesting and obviously unspoiled by off shore sedimentation of land deveopment. Unfortunately (?) the live aboards don't visit those sites and there is no viable land based dive op in their vicinity.

Time will tell.
 
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