Just came back last night from a week at CoCo View Resort, Roatan, Honduras. It was our first trip to Roatan, but we've dived all over the Caribbean, including Cozumel, Bonaire, Belize and the Cayman Islands
It was a long trip getting there. We went from San Francisco to Houston on time. We flew from Houston to Roatan, and didn't get there that day. We arrived at the Roatan airport only find the weather didn't allow us to land. We circled around for a while then were diverted to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. We landed and set on the tarmac for about 3 hours, hoping the weather would clear at the Roatan airport. It didn't and we finally deplaned and got our bags, then went thru Customs and Immigration only to stand in line at the United Airlines counter for a long while. We finally got a voucher for taxis both ways, and voucher for the Hilton Princess, and vouchers for dinner and breakfast. They told us to stay inside the hotel and they had armed guards patrolling the grounds. We heard gunshots about 11:00 pm.
We went back to the airport about 8:30 the next morning - the flight was schedule to leave about 11:00 am. The weather didn't clear at the Roatan airport until about 5:30 pm in the afternoon. We ate the boarding gates out of all eats and drinks by that time. The flight crew on the United flight was excellent, but the ground crew at the San Pedro Sula airport left a lot to be desired - no communication at all for most of the day. A short flight into the Roatan airport and we were there about 6:30 pm. Not a good start to the trip - we lost a whole day of diving.
The resort was comfortable - we had one of the over-water bungalows. The food was ample - all buffets; good but not great. The dive operation was superb and the boats were terrific! The boat captain followed us well on all the drift dives and the Dive Master led us to see a lot of creatures. One Dive Master for 16 divers at times, but he handled it well.
It rained every day - we got to see 20 minutes of sun one day. We went with a group of divers that had been there many times in January, and they said the weather was unusual. Because of the all the runoff, the visibility was negatively affected. The shore dive off CoCo View is reputed to be excellent, but we only tried it once - the visibility ranged from 6 inches to 5 feet that one day, and we aborted the dive after 15 minutes on the wreck.
The coral was in great shape and we saw lots of small fish. Only one nurse shark. Lots of free-swimming morays, lots of lobsters, lots of turtles, lots of seahorses. Some nudibranchs. No big fish to speak of - one or two mid-sized groupers.
It was a long trip getting there. We went from San Francisco to Houston on time. We flew from Houston to Roatan, and didn't get there that day. We arrived at the Roatan airport only find the weather didn't allow us to land. We circled around for a while then were diverted to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. We landed and set on the tarmac for about 3 hours, hoping the weather would clear at the Roatan airport. It didn't and we finally deplaned and got our bags, then went thru Customs and Immigration only to stand in line at the United Airlines counter for a long while. We finally got a voucher for taxis both ways, and voucher for the Hilton Princess, and vouchers for dinner and breakfast. They told us to stay inside the hotel and they had armed guards patrolling the grounds. We heard gunshots about 11:00 pm.
We went back to the airport about 8:30 the next morning - the flight was schedule to leave about 11:00 am. The weather didn't clear at the Roatan airport until about 5:30 pm in the afternoon. We ate the boarding gates out of all eats and drinks by that time. The flight crew on the United flight was excellent, but the ground crew at the San Pedro Sula airport left a lot to be desired - no communication at all for most of the day. A short flight into the Roatan airport and we were there about 6:30 pm. Not a good start to the trip - we lost a whole day of diving.
The resort was comfortable - we had one of the over-water bungalows. The food was ample - all buffets; good but not great. The dive operation was superb and the boats were terrific! The boat captain followed us well on all the drift dives and the Dive Master led us to see a lot of creatures. One Dive Master for 16 divers at times, but he handled it well.
It rained every day - we got to see 20 minutes of sun one day. We went with a group of divers that had been there many times in January, and they said the weather was unusual. Because of the all the runoff, the visibility was negatively affected. The shore dive off CoCo View is reputed to be excellent, but we only tried it once - the visibility ranged from 6 inches to 5 feet that one day, and we aborted the dive after 15 minutes on the wreck.
The coral was in great shape and we saw lots of small fish. Only one nurse shark. Lots of free-swimming morays, lots of lobsters, lots of turtles, lots of seahorses. Some nudibranchs. No big fish to speak of - one or two mid-sized groupers.
