Dive Op Recommendations - West Bay

[Sneeg]

We will be staying in West Bay from September 29th to October 6th and are looking for recommendations for good dive ops. There are four of us and we all have over 50 dives. Our main priorities are safety, small groups, good rental equipment, and hopefully being able to dive our tank.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[flyboy08]

Try the search button....been asked numerous times before.

 

[CajunDiva]

My recommendation:

Las Rocas Resort & Dive Center – Roatan – Roatan premier dive resort located in West Bay Beach

 

[Sneeg]

Try the search button....been asked numerous times before.

Hi flyboy08, looks like I could use your help on using the search button. Before I posted, I tried searching for West Bay but that brings up every post with either the word West or Bay in it. I then searched just Bay which brought up 10 pages as far as June 2017. I went through all 10 pages looking for posts that were relevant and below are my results:

"I'm not familiar with West Bay shops but have seen good reviews of West Bay Divers."

"We enjoyed Bananarama Dive & Beach Resort, Roatan on Beautiful West Bay beach. Nice easy diving with short boat rides."

"My last trip we stayed and did our diving with Las Rocas (Las Rocas Resort & Dive Center – Roatan – Roatan premier dive resort located in West Bay Beach) ... I never dove with them but I understand West Bay Divers to be good."

I was hoping to get a little more information than just this. My husband and I did our Discover Scuba with Banarama last year and while they were wonderful, we prefer a max of 6 people vs 8 to a group.

West Bay has excellent reviews on Trip Advisor but I was hoping someone on scubaboard might have personal experience.

I have found tons of info on West End but would prefer to not have to take a taxi hauling all my gear everytime I want to dive. (I have found you cannot rely on taking a water taxi to be at a diveshop by 7:30am.)

Please let me know how to search so I can find the 'numerous times before'.

 

[Sneeg]

My recommendation:

Las Rocas Resort & Dive Center – Roatan – Roatan premier dive resort located in West Bay Beach

Hi CajunDiva,

I see their website says up to 9 divers per Dive Instructor. Do they send everyone out in one group or do they have a second dive master so they can break the group in two? Were their regulators and BCD's in good shape?

Thanks!

 

[CajunDiva]

Yes, they say maximum of 9 divers per boat. We were there at the end of September last year and we never had more than 4 divers in three days of diving. I know they have more than one divemaster on staff, but not sure of the policy on quantities of divers per divemaster. They are great to work with and are very responsive to e-mails, so I'm sure they'd be glad to answer any questions you might have.

I have a relationship with the owners of the dive shop at Las Rocas. They have another operation at Media Luna Resort on the east end of the island and I book trips for them. I know them to be good people who run a safe operation. Their divemasters were really good at leading dives, spotting interesting things to look at and assisting divers. We only stayed with them once and did three days of diving. Sorry, but we did not rent any gear so I can't comment on that.

The thing we liked so much about Las Rocas is the location. It's at "the end" of West Bay beach. While the beach, restaurants and bars are nearby and easily accessible, you're not right in the middle of them so there is no thru traffic in front of the resort. Peaceful...beautiful...friendly.

 

[lthomas132]

Hi CajunDiva,

I see their website says up to 9 divers per Dive Instructor. Do they send everyone out in one group or do they have a second dive master so they can break the group in two? Were their regulators and BCD's in good shape?

Thanks!

I second Las Rocas. Much quieter that the beach area. We never had more that 4 paid divers on the boat either, not a large cattle boat. We used our own equipment also but what I saw of their equipment in the small shop appeared fairly new.

 

[Doc]

@Sneeg
What specifically do you want/need/expect a DM (or Dive Guide) to perform?

This is a critical point in the equation.

 

[Sneeg]

@Sneeg
What specifically do you want/need/expect a DM (or Dive Guide) to perform?

This is a critical point in the equation.

Hi Doc,

We are not expecting the DM to do anything out of the ordinary (i.e. just give a good dive briefing and occasionally check that everyone is doing okay). We have found that we enjoy diving in a smaller group. Recently in Cozumel we had a couple of dives where we were continually being kicked, fins were hitting sand making visibility bad, coral was being damaged, and the worst of all, two divers using pointers as ski poles to drag themselves across the bottom.

I would rather pay a little more to go with a smaller group so I can relax and enjoy my dive.

 

[Sneeg]

Hello again Doc,

I was reading another thread and saw your comment: 'In that category of Caribbean Dive destinations that are "even just fairly easy" to make the trip, Roatan is still in my top 3.'

What are the other two destinations in your top 3? We love Roatan but the flights are expensive and we always have to overnight on the way there and back because of flight connection times.

We would love to have more spots to check out.

Thanks!