Has anyone booked a trip through www.roatan.com?

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ron_dodge

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If so, what was your experience like?

They seem to have some affordable packages for accommodations plus diving, especially to Roatan and Utila (go figure)

Anything particularly good or bad about there service? Any "gotchas" to be aware of?

Thanks in advance.
 
I used them for my first Roatan trip in 2007, no problems. I did not use them the second trip as I was told by CCV office that the commission paid by resorts to Roatan.com for booking is too high so they no longer use them. I would guess that is true for all the resorts listed on their website. CCV now prefers everyone to book directly with them. Not sure how other resorts are handling it. Some resorts would rather you book through a retail site to save the hassles.

robin
 
I used them for my first Roatan trip in 2007, no problems. I did not use them the second trip as I was told by CCV office that the commission paid by resorts to Roatan.com for booking is too high so they no longer use them. I would guess that is true for all the resorts listed on their website. CCV now prefers everyone to book directly with them. Not sure how other resorts are handling it. Some resorts would rather you book through a retail site to save the hassles.

robin

Thanks Robin, I appreciate your insight. We haven't made a trip to Roatan yet. In your opinion is CCV the place to go in Roatan? I want to be sure we go somewhere that falls in the Roatan Marine Park. So I've been looking at Anthonys Key Resort and Turquoise Bay. I wasn't sure about CCV but it seems to be the favorite of most here on Scuba Board.

Also, on an unrelated note, your trip reports are awesome. Your Bonaire reports really helped me out on first trip to Bonaire last year.

-ron
 
Not putting words into Robin's mouth but I think that he would agree that if the purpose of the trip is to dive (and dive somemore ) then Coco View is an excellent choice. If you want two dives a day and then other activities it might not be the best choice.
 
I want to be sure we go somewhere that falls in the Roatan Marine Park.
If that's your goal, then it's one of the West Bay/West End resorts. Since the official Marine Park boundaries are from the west point of West Bay to somewhere in Sandy Bay or just past there. So of the resorts named in this post - only AKR is inside it. Turquoise Bay is (I believe) too far east - I'm not certain of the eastern border. Although they must be fairly close to it.

Obviously CCV isn't since it's on the south side. I wouldn't let that be a determinining factor though - we didn't see much difference anywhere we dove, east, west or south. It's not like there's fishing trawlers hovering on the edge of the reserve..LOL. If anything, south is better for shallow reef structure than anywhere on the north side. I believe - but not sure - that the light blue designates the Reserve:

sbwemp-208x300.jpg

The Sandy Bay-West End Marine Reserve (SBWEMR) dates back to 1988 when the local community of Sandy Bay united and proposed the creation of a managed marine reserve to protect the shoreline and marine habitats in the waters adjacent to its shore. In April of 1989, the Sandy Bay Marine Reserve (SBMR) was officially designated, encompassing an area of about 6 km between Lawson’s Rock and Gibson Bight.

In September 1993, the communities of West End and West Bay agreed to extend the SBMR from Gibson Bight all the way around to the western tip of the island, to an area known as Key Hole on the south side. Currently, the Reserve encompasses 13 km of coastline and its boundaries extend from the high watermark down to 60 m in depth.

In the mid 90’s the Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA), was requested assistance with the maintenance of the Reserve and a management agreement was signed with the Government of Honduras to manage the Reserve. Later in 2005, the local diving communities of Sandy Bay, West End and West Bay joined the cause and created the Sandy Bay-West End Marine Park association (SBWEMP).

Let's break down the fantasy that is Cocoview also. Likely perpetuated here on SB by people who've never left the resort (Doc being the exception..lol)

At Cocoview you do 4 boat dives per day. 2 are at dive sites, the other two are drop-off dives at the wall/reef just off Cocoview and you swim into their dock from there. There's also the night dives and shore dives at the same site you did the drop-off dives. IDK what their night boat dive schedule is.

We dove with Coconut Tree in the West End. Every day they do 3 dives - 9, 11 (sometimes you stay on the boat) and 1PM. If there's demand (4 or more) they do a 2nd afternoon dive. We did it three times during the week IIRC. Every single dive was at a different dive site - we dove from the farthest west point of West Bay (Texas) to east of Spooky Channel - plus Spooky Channel itself. To do some south side diving we shuttled over to Barefoot Cay and dove Mary's Place and the Prince Albert at Cocoview. Later in the week we dove the Dolphin dive at AKR plus the Shark dive south of the airport. And were still back in time to do one afternoon dive. They do 1-2 scheduled night dives per week but any of the dozen other dive operators within 1/4 mile also do so just about any night someone is night diving.

Admittedly if you want to repeat shore dives at Cocoview - that's definitely the place for that. They have the wall and the wreck there. AKR has a meh shore dive off the Key and Reef House has a shallow reef in front of the property. Any other shore dives are off private property or long swims out - shorediving.com lists them. If you remove the ones off the resorts - 2-3 of the 11 listed are possible. It's basically impossible to find rental tanks outside of the resorts also.

If you want to see some of Roatan besides Cocoview while staying there - that could get expensive - and time consuming. Driving isn't the best idea and cabs across the island are reasonable but not cheap. On the flipside AKR is 5mins. by cab from the West End and West Bay (the nicest beach) is only 2 miles farther. Roatan is also long but not wide so crossing over to the airport, French Harbour or Coxen Hole is quick. So is Cocoview to AKR if you want to dolphin dive.
 
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Thanks ron_dodge for your comments. Yes, I would put CCV at the TOP of my list for MY type of dive trip. It is rustic and safe, cozy and 24/7 diving. The Dive OP is the best we have used ANYWHERE in the world, bar none.

BUT if you want to party, or hang out in some quaint little beach club, it is not what you are looking for. CCV is a DIVER resort and nothing more. We have seen non-divers there, who laid in sun or traveled into town during the daytime and they all seemed to enjoy themselves BUT I would not say that is normal. Most people at CCV are serious dive dive dive-aholics. There are ZERO children (a plus for us) and nothing to do but dive or hang out in clubhouse and talk about diving.

check out my videos and trip report from my trip there last year. It should give you a good idea if it is for you.

robin
 
If so, what was your experience like (with Roatan Charter at www.roatan.com)? Anything particularly good or bad about there service? Any "gotchas" to be aware of?

I've been using them for many years. Professional and they know their various properties, they're not just sending you into the unknown. When the airlines changes schedules (and this happens), RC contacts you immediately with your options. They know the inner-country airline connections and can mesh everything together if you want something other than a non-stop from a US Gateway. Their situation with CCV changed because CCV wanted to get into vertical marketing, this made the money that such tour operators survived on simply evaporate.

Obviously CCV isn't since it's on the south side. I wouldn't let that be a determinining factor though - we didn't see much difference anywhere we dove, east, west or south.

I agree, the RMP environ is not a big deal in terms of 'what you will see'. I will however point out that the diving in these various zones is very much-so different. As in the next quoted line....

...If anything, south is better for shallow reef structure than anywhere on the north side.
Let's break down the fantasy that is Cocoview also.
Likely perpetuated here on SB by people who've never left the resort
(Doc being the exception..lol)

And yet, after traveling to Roatan since the early 80's, CCV is where I always book my week. (although as diversteve pointed out, I have been diving all around the island, many times)

CCV? It's a fantasy for some, for others, it's reality.

Comparatively it's pricey (unless you want up to 27 or more dives/week), it's isolated from the party scene of West End (but you can leave your camera sitting in the dining room), and it's booked solid pretty much.

Go figure.

Thanks ron_dodge for your comments. Yes, I would put CCV at the TOP of my list for MY type of dive trip. It is rustic and safe, cozy and 24/7 diving. The Dive OP is the best we have used ANYWHERE in the world, bar none.

BUT if you want to party, or hang out in some quaint little beach club, it is not what you are looking for. CCV is a DIVER resort and nothing more. We have seen non-divers there, who laid in sun or traveled into town during the daytime and they all seemed to enjoy themselves BUT I would not say that is normal. Most people at CCV are serious dive dive dive-aholics. There are ZERO children (a plus for us) and nothing to do but dive or hang out in clubhouse and talk about diving.

And that then is the fantasy referenced above.

Of your list, Ron Dodge, for dive-dive-dive types, yes- CCV is the place to be. AKR comes in a close (but not quite) #2. TBR is not really on that list by this criteria. RHR, if the weather is cooperating, ranks a bit further down as the #3 dive-centric operation.

CCV attracts a different kind of crowd, as
RobinT alluded. They do offer one night boat dive a week, but rarely does it generate much interest., The spectacular, close-in, night shore-dive is free, and usually on any given night, 25% of the resort guests are out there doing it.

That is CCV's "night life".
 

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