Roatan in Jan? Or where else?

[wildbill9]

Roatan in Jan what is the average water temp? Good visability? Basically is it a.good time to go? We aim for three dive trips per year and like to try diferent places. We have been to Belieze (great) Cozemel (did not like drift diving since we are photo buffs) Little Cayman (our favorite).leaving for Bonaire in 18 days so can not comment yet) Jamaica (diving sucks but great party place) Dom Republic (reefs very beat up). So is Roatan a good choice or what would you suggest? I want a new place but we also do not want to be disappointed. Thanks Bill

 

[divin'dog]

It's the tail end of the rainy season there... I was there in Jan. Not fun that yr.

 

[dmoore19]

Been there on New Year's day. It was a great trip. No problems with the weather on that trip. We had a hurricane on a trip in August.

Water temps are going to be 80+/-, I would have to look at my paper logs for that one but a 3ml suit was plenty for me.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Depends when in January and then still no guarantee. That said, I've generally had good luck in january once got past the first couple of days.

 

[LiquidDivingAdventure]

If I had to choose between Little Cayman (your favorite and mine) and Roatan, I'm afraid I'd be booking Little Cayman. I have had enough sand flies and no-see-ums on trips to the Bay Islands to last me a long time. If I were looking for a new destination, there are some spots in the Eastern Caribbean to consider.... Tobago, T&C, Dominica. And Grand Cayman (Cobalt Coast) and Cayman Brac (Brac Reef Resort) are worth a look.

 

[anenomefishman]

Roatan in Jan what is the average water temp? Good visability? Basically is it a.good time to go? We aim for three dive trips per year and like to try diferent places. We have been to Belieze (great) Cozemel (did not like drift diving since we are photo buffs) Little Cayman (our favorite).leaving for Bonaire in 18 days so can not comment yet) Jamaica (diving sucks but great party place) Dom Republic (reefs very beat up). So is Roatan a good choice or what would you suggest? I want a new place but we also do not want to be disappointed. Thanks Bill

we went to Roatan in Nov. diving was good. weather OK. many sandflies/noceuums on roatan. other than that, good diving.

 

[KeithG]

Roatan in Jan what is the average water temp? Good visability? Basically is it a.good time to go? We aim for three dive trips per year and like to try diferent places. We have been to Belieze (great) Cozemel (did not like drift diving since we are photo buffs) Little Cayman (our favorite).leaving for Bonaire in 18 days so can not comment yet) Jamaica (diving sucks but great party place) Dom Republic (reefs very beat up). So is Roatan a good choice or what would you suggest? I want a new place but we also do not want to be disappointed. Thanks Bill

we have stopped trying to micro-manage the weather on our dive trips. We do avoid the "hurricane season" (Sep-Nov?) but have no hesitation about which Caribbean destination we go to to get away from the snow (other than T&C can be a little cold at xmas). We have seen freak rains (3x annual average in 1 week) that left expected 100 viz in the 30 foot range. We have seen cold fronts that caused the liveaboard boutique to sell out of warm fluffy sweat gear and most of the divers were forced to wear the supplied housecoats to keep warm at supper. BUT: We have mostly had average to above average temps and viz that are way better than anything around home. Sometimes you lose, but mostly you win.

Roatan has very good diving. It has been a while since our last visit, but Cocoview, Anthony's Key & Fantasy Island all offered similar dive sites (with different levels of service & ambiance). Cocoview remains on our list of revisit places as it offered the most "freedom". Lots of macro photo ops on Roatan and the odd chance for a Whale Shark as well. Roatan is a diving destination, as opposed to a destination that also has some diving.

WARNING: If you do it right, and like the experience, you will be spoiled by Bonaire's diving freedom and then will be disappointed with other places. We have settled into a rut of Bonaire, T&C Explorer, Belize Dancer.

 

[ScubaBing]

I'm just back from Roatan in March. I was very disappointed in the reef as I had heard great things.

We stayed in West Bay, in Infinity Bay (a VRBO condo) and that was nice. However, the increased harassment of tourists by the military/police (the week before tourists were fined in West End for not having photo i.d. on them) seems like a situation that is getting worse, not better.

We also found the "security" leaving the airport to be ridiculous. They went through people's credit cards & individual bills before letting them on the plane. It simply felt like harassment.

A wonderful reef with "guaranteed" great weather is in Curacao - that would be my choice!

 

[Kharon]

WARNING: If you do it right, and like the experience, you will be spoiled by Bonaire's diving freedom and then will be disappointed with other places.

Definitely +1