Fantasy Island, Roatan Update

[Doc]

Heathrow. Mind numbing wait lines. Worst part of getting to their diving.

and, I forgot to mention...
I got to meet Wayne and Ellie from Zeppelin Divers, the guy who started this thread.

We had emailed and set up a meet for Monday evening, but our CCV boat moored at the same dive site where the Zeppelin dive boat was sitting. Underwater, I went to the most likely candidate and signed, asking if he was Wayne. Bingo... We met first underwater!

 

[stevenq99]

Doc I was quoted $3050 for a week with taxes for 3 of us. Seems like a really good deal. My concern is they want a photo copy of the credit card front and back and my id to book. I am very leary of sending that off into who knows where.

The other wierd thing is there is anouther website that looks simular to the one Steve posted but is a little diffrent. I think the one below is the resort and the one Steve posted is some sort of booking agent:
Fantasy Island Resort - Bienvenidos

 

[beluga2]

Could the debris have originated from Coxen Hole and Los Fuertes? If yes, a clean up before rainy season might be a good way to reduce that.

 

[Doc]

It was my first time diving there, so it was my first time seeing all that trash. The only place I've seen that compared was Santo Domingo DR, but you wouldn't dive in that water either. I do dive the Caribbean, 2 to 3 times a year but I've only been diving 2 years. If it's really coming from where they say it is (flooding in the mountains) I understand it's hard to control.

Could the debris have originated from Coxen Hole and Los Fuertes? If yes, a clean up before rainy season might be a good way to reduce that.

Mea culpa, I got it wrong. I translated from Spanish the description of the phenomena. Oof- should'a been more awake during my 8:00 AM Spanish 401 Class!

The are two known places in the Caribbean where vast debris fields are known to be ejected off of the mainland after heavy rains and cast towards offshore islands. The major discharge is found in Trinidad/Tobago due to outflow from the Orinoco River. The second, to a lesser degree, can come off the mainland of Honduras and effect the Bay Islands.

This is a better translation of what I was going on about. The information also went on to say that there are are also two known extant floating debris fields in the Caribbean, but they are not in the Bay Islands at this time. This debris decidedly came from mainland run-off, at least that's what I think it said

Again, my apologies for the error. I'm going to Google Translations next time.

 

[zeppelindiver]

Over the past two years we have seen the debris field happen whenever there are heavy rains on the Honduran mainland shore coupled with S to SW winds, like last week. This time it was intensified by the extremely high tides occurring at the same time. The heavy rains wash all the garbage down the rivers on the mainland and the high tides and winds push it across the Strait of Honduras to the Bay Islands. It is 90% surface trash that has little effect on the dive sites, other than being distasteful for entry & exit, and messing up the shoreline. On the weekend the winds shifted to the east & now everything is gone (other than small amounts that got caught in the mangrove roots), probably headed for Belize. Unfortunate that this happened during the NABS event & CCV's Seahorse Festival, just bad luck with the weather.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

Thanks for that website pricing.

I was told the food was quite good. Anything more to add on that?

The food was pretty good. a little something different everyday. they use small glasses, so we always asked for 2, the staff was great at keeping them refilled also.

What Doc said.... "and got on the United Airlines Flight to Houston.After that, if you don't have GOES Trusted Traveler Endorsement, you're either new at this (excusable) or a complete idiot (not so much)."

Nuthin about Roatan or TSA. Highlights are mine. Should be obvious what he meant...?

I've been using GOES since program inception. Outside of Shannon Airport in Ireland and Canadian airports, I have never seen any Global Entry kiosks anywhere but in the US. (and US territories).

And for the record, I've been to Roatan five times and never encountered any unusually long lines. Yeah, it's a pain in the ass but that's the nature of the travelling beast. I've been help up at Heathrow, De Gaulle and Narita several times in jams. Not a reason not to go back to any.

OOOOOKAY, once again, my complaint was about the airport in HONDURAS, nothing about customs in the US. so I still don't see what the comment about GOES has do with anything I posted! I also, fly all the time, and have never had to wait 2 hours to check in! Like I said this was only Delta lines, people flying other airlines didn't have a problem.

---------- Post added November 19th, 2013 at 05:06 PM ----------

Thanks for that website pricing.

I was told the food was quite good. Anything more to add on that?

Mea culpa, I got it wrong. I translated from Spanish the description of the phenomena. Oof- should'a been more awake during my 8:00 AM Spanish 401 Class!

The are two known places in the Caribbean where vast debris fields are known to be ejected off of the mainland after heavy rains and cast towards offshore islands. The major discharge is found in Trinidad/Tobago due to outflow from the Orinoco River. The second, to a lesser degree, can come off the mainland of Honduras and effect the Bay Islands.

This is a better translation of what I was going on about. The information also went on to say that there are are also two known extant floating debris fields in the Caribbean, but they are not in the Bay Islands at this time. This debris decidedly came from mainland run-off, at least that's what I think it said

Again, my apologies for the error. I'm going to Google Translations next time.

Over the past two years we have seen the debris field happen whenever there are heavy rains on the Honduran mainland shore coupled with S to SW winds, like last week. This time it was intensified by the extremely high tides occurring at the same time. The heavy rains wash all the garbage down the rivers on the mainland and the high tides and winds push it across the Strait of Honduras to the Bay Islands. It is 90% surface trash that has little effect on the dive sites, other than being distasteful for entry & exit, and messing up the shoreline. On the weekend the winds shifted to the east & now everything is gone (other than small amounts that got caught in the mangrove roots), probably headed for Belize. Unfortunate that this happened during the NABS event & CCV's Seahorse Festival, just bad luck with the weather.

I have seen river and streams here after heavy rains, so I understood where it was coming from and how hard it is to contain it. There was some suggestions of setting nets at the mouth of the rivers, I tried to explain what would happen, if they did this, but the ones suggesting it had never seen a beaver dam. sooooo

---------- Post added November 19th, 2013 at 05:37 PM ----------

Doc I was quoted $3050 for a week with taxes for 3 of us. Seems like a really good deal. My concern is they want a photo copy of the credit card front and back and my id to book. I am very leary of sending that off into who knows where.

The other wierd thing is there is anouther website that looks simular to the one Steve posted but is a little diffrent. I think the one below is the resort and the one Steve posted is some sort of booking agent:
Fantasy Island Resort - Bienvenidos

Looked at the web site, there were no phones, TV didn't have cable, no mini bar. The fridge only had a pitcher of water in it that they refilled every day. The water from the faucet isn't drinkable. The pool is also filled with sea water, and didn't see anyone the swim up bar. But none of those things mattered to me, I was there to dive.

 

[beluga2]

Doc, there is no need to apologize. Your time, energy and expertise are much appreciated. Good to know that debris is from mainland run off and one day maybe some solutions will become viable.

 

[DandyDon]

No smarty had breakfast ever day, but after the afternoon dive, would have been nice to have some chips or something while waiting for Dinner which didn't start until 7pm The morning dives were okay, because you got back during lunch.

Well, there are challenges to carrying food around. Sometimes I'd take a roll to the duck hanging around the dive shop, and the monkeys & iguanas like treats - caution: do not tease either of those! Carrying food out of the cafeteria, on boats, to rooms, etc. certainly can invite wildlife big & small, sometimes with problems. I do carry a liter coffee thermos in my backpack as I like coffee before and after dives, but just never cared for food more than 3 times a day, so it strikes me as funny when anyone whine about having to wait for mealtime. I guess some folks have other eating habits than mine.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

Well, there are challenges to carrying food around. Sometimes I'd take a roll to the duck hanging around the dive shop, and the monkeys & iguanas like treats - caution: do not tease either of those! Carrying food out of the cafeteria, on boats, to rooms, etc. certainly can invite wildlife big & small, sometimes with problems. I do carry a liter coffee thermos in my backpack as I like coffee before and after dives, but just never cared for food more than 3 times a day, so it strikes me as funny when anyone whine about having to wait for mealtime. I guess some folks have other eating habits than mine.

Yep Don, in this world of 7 billion people some of us are a little different (LOL). I was letting the poster know this, because we were told you could go to the bar and order something anytime it was open, this was not true. Also they did have covered plates for those that wanted to take food to their rooms. Lunch was served out side everyday, and oddest things I only saw 2 monkeys (none while eating outside), and one iguana, we were told unless you wanted a new friend, don't feed the monkeys. And in the morning they always had fruit on the boat, so no problem, not so much in the afternoon.

Where in my post did you get the idea I was whining about it?

 

[DandyDon]

Yep Don, in this world of 7 billion people some of us are a little different (LOL). I was letting the poster know this, because we were told you could go to the bar and order something anytime it was open, this was not true. Also they did have covered plates for those that wanted to take food to their rooms. Lunch was served out side everyday, and oddest things I only saw 2 monkeys (none while eating outside), and one iguana, we were told unless you wanted a new friend, don't feed the monkeys. And in the morning they always had fruit on the boat, so no problem, not so much in the afternoon.

Where in my post did you get the idea I was whining about it?

It sounds like the monkeys and lizards relocated while the place was closed - not surprising. They'll be back I bet. Last time I was there, the troop hung out in the parking lot trees to ambush the girls carrying food from the kitchen across the lot, then moved close to the beach where they and the iguanas hung out between the main building and the dock waiting for tourists with handouts. Someone lost an argument over some stolen sunglasses he tried to get back, and someone else went home with a band aid on his thumb from trying to get a lizard to beg.