Turquoise Bay Resort Roatan - shore diving

[gr8jab]

Hi all,

Considering a family trip to Turquoise Bay. Is there any shore diving or good snorkeling from the resort?

Edit: same question about Mayan Princess, if you know...

Thanks!

 

[diversteve]

No to both on the shore diving - except there obviously is an ocean in front of both for snorkeling.

is there any shore diving right there at the...

There's snorkeling at MP since they're on West Bay Beach but it is a beach so not the best either. Somewhere near there is a snorkel that some people also shallow dive - it's towards the west end of the beach from what I've read.

For snorkeling, see what you think of Luna Beach resort. They have a snorkel described on their website. And a pool.I believe you still have to walk to the West End for dinner though. Or the water taxi picks up there but ends when it gets dark.With a family, look at the "treehouses" - 2-4 br houses just up the hill from the main resort.

Anthony's Key has a shallow dive, snorkel off the Key, snorkel with the dolphins (paid) and the paid dolphin dive. There's about 2 shallow dives, one off the key and one in the channel, there's a small wreck there they use for classes. AKR is about 10mns. from anything though.

There's also snorkeling in Half Moon Bay around the east point. I rented a house nearby and there's a dive from Seagraoe resort nearby - you enter off their dock and drift around the point and get out at HMBR or continue into the West End beach.

We saw snorkelers daily off HMB resort and it also looked like there also would be good snorkeling off the condos on the west point of the bay as well. About a dozen dive shops there also plus lots of food options.

I have heard that you can access a named dive site off Sueno Del Mar's beach but it would be a decent surface swim out. The shop we dove with offered to tow us out there once and drop us off to swim back in. There's several sites - some call the area the West End Wall.

 

[Kevin Floyd]

I just stayed at Turquoise Bay. No to the shore diving but I’m pretty sure they did have snorkeling

 

[Doc]

TBR has "snorkeling" in that you can get in the water with a snorkel.

I eschew referring to Trip Advisor (as prior link) for any information regarding actual SCUBA but in that case the manager of the resort gave a good reply. In short, he said, "nope".

This question has been beaten to death on SB, but a look at Google Earth and simply noting the actual distance of the reef structure from the shore is a final and indisputable truth. Look at the shore to reef distance between Central South Shore places like Coco View, Fantasy, Media Luna, or Reef House. It is mere feet. Look at any other shore, North or West... count in hundreds of yards.

A picture, even one from space, is worth a thousand flipper flips.

 

[Stndglas]

Doc, I am considering eithe AKR or Turquoise Bay for our first visit to Roatan in late Sept. Pros, Cons? Thanks

 

[Doc]

How much diving in a daily count do you want? Number of night dives?

 

[scubadada]

My wife and I had a nice, relaxing week at Turquoise Bay in August 2017. No shore diving, turtle grass on a very shallow bottom quite a way out, saw no snorkeling. We had a nice ocean view room, food was good. Subway Watersports was a good, reliable operator. Diving was average/OK Caribbean, nothing spectacular. We cruised through AKR on one of our dive days, does not look like my kind of place
Turquoise Bay Resort/Subway Watersports August 2017

 

[Stndglas]

How much diving in a daily count do you want? Number of night dives?

Planning on the 3 dives per day and 2 night dives that they list.As included...judt wondering about the pros and cons of each.

 

[Doc]

Sounds like TBR is quite adequate. No need to pay for more diving at AKR than you’ll use,

AKR is quite the dive resort, but always do all the math before glomming on to a purported BOGO offer.

TBRs contracted Subway dive op is Aces. Say hi to DM Osman on my behalf,

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

TBR was nice and we had some non-divers snorkel on the beach. I never did because the dive operator was so damn good I'd rather be diving. Visibility was less than other Caribbean reefs but lionfish were everywhere and we had fun harvesting them to be cooked by the staff later. Most boat rides were 20 minutes or less but the private island trip was a coupe of hours. It was worth it because those dive sites were much better.. Nice newer boats with heads and lots of room to gear up. They did lots of nurse shark feeding dives by dragging a piece of PVC pipe stuffed with fish chunks to keep the sharks following you. Remoras were friendly, especially if you has lighter colored hair. We got a either 2 for 1, or buy one and buddy was 50% off then caught a good deal on airfare so we were happy with the cost.

I'm sure I wrote a full review when we got back and posted it here.

We would go back. Drinks were good, food was great and never got old, service was very good, and Subway is still one of the top 3 dive ops we have ever dove with. Our DM's were Minor and Enoch (they had to be good because I don't remember names often). If the price worked out to be a good deal, we would not hesitate to go back.

Safe Travels,
Jay