BayIslandDiver (Will) & I tinkered with the math a number of months ago on a different thread. I compared
an average of three different day-dive ops versus the
mid priced AI, the one I know best, CoCoView.
The way it came out,
in pure dollars and cents, was anything more than 2.2 dives per day and you were better of financially at the AI. I absolutely understand,
this doesn't take into account the ambiance factor. But~ I am talking about a dive trip, not a vacation with some diving.
At FIBR and CoCoView, there is another hard to subjectively analyze and attribute in accounting form: the 24/7 shore dive, read:
Night Dive. Three other places on Roatan claim such a dives, as well.
..............................
You're heading that way, yes. Adult conversation is sometime prone to giving newish posters the stink eye. That wasn't much of a bash, get over it. Hop on over to
rec.scuba and go a few rounds over there.
Roatan is a very odd place. People that are going to the island for the same week always say, "I'll see you there!" With very few exceptions, that will never happen. Roatan is a place where you can be 1/2 mile away and be in a totally different environment. CoCoView is a
dive resort like no other on Roatan, few others in the world. (see
Atlantis Puerto Galera - Atlantis Dive Resorts - Philippines (Dumaguete and Puerto Galera))
The seven blind men describe the elephant. Remember that one? I use it all the time to describe Roatan. Diving on one side is vastly different from the other, the weather is 180° different, West End is nothing like the rest of the place. It is a small island of a thousand differences.
Having stayed at one place and dove with them and giving a ringing praise is pleasant, but unless you have and possibly demonstrate a basis for comparison, it rings hollow. Fill out your SB profile, some folks actually look at it to establish credibility of opinion.
This doesn't mean you have to be studied on all the options on Roatan, but if you could compare the operation to one or more others that you have sampled while diving, so much the better.
Here's
what I know about AI versus Ala Carte...
I travel to many places that use what many call the European model of a dive day. So here we are at an AI resort. They run one 1 tank boat dive at 0900, 1200 and 1500 hrs. Between the dives, they return so that a large majority of the divers can get off and go sunbathing or take lunch. rarely does anyone do all three on any given day.
We do.
Here's how it worked in Tobago: Between each dive, we would drink huge amounts of fluid and eat snack bars. My wife did her log and laid out in the sun. I fussed with bits of dive gear. No time for lunch, not at any typical leisurely island pace- not if you wanted to make all three dives. At the end of the day, we were pretty tuckered out, all of this on-and-off stuff. We would drive into town for a quick bite and meet up with our guy who would take us out for a night dive at 2000 hrs. Then sleep, go to breakfast early enough to make the 0900 boat dive. Repeat.
Or the Philippines: 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800. Still at an AI, and they knew we were Americans and wanted to dive. They switched from their "made to order" food offerings, which were simply superb and elegant, and placed a small buffet (of good stuff!) just for us 4 a day nutbags.
In the Maldives on a Euro Liveaboard: They were used to providing 2 a day and 1 night dive on any given week. Surprise! They did the best they could to keep us diving. I was there on what they thought was a travel agents "familiarization" trip, but in fact it was seven Nitrogen junkies from the dive industry press.
These patterns are caused by a number of factors, first and foremost- the way diving evolved. People just didn't want more than 2 in a day because that's all they could stand (think dive tables). then they wanted variety- so the operators added a third boat, allowing them to sleep late, or maybe have lunch instead.
It is also an issue of boat capacity (number of boats on hand, too) and number of reserve tanks available. Not everyone can put
14 people on (one of their several) boats (over-designed for a theoretical max of 32) and place 56 full tanks on board for an all day trip. Some can.
It all goes back to what one wants, and it's okay to only want two a day, maybe three, somedays only one or maybe not at all. BUT- you have to claim that out loud.
I can speak best to the stinky wetsuited crowd, the ones that quite literally will come to eat in their dive skins and nobody bats an eye.
I want food promptly, I want as much diving as the environment will allow, I want a night dive every night. I want nothing to do with beach tiki bars, dance scene party music, waiting for service at cute island restaurants. I want good dive gear storage areas, a gear service operation is handy, airport transfers that are aces, a super secure environment, management staff that handles everything. On Roatan, at least, I get that at CoCoview. If I wanted the after-hours stuff, you bet I would be at West End in a guest house, no doubt.
But I also understand that some folks want a party at night, versus just nightlife (on the reef).
I know from experience,
you simply can't have both. Anyone that says different isn't operating on any clock I know of.
It's several different options that will suit different people! Know what's out there and choose what you prefer! It's all good! No right... No wrong... Just what's right for you... or Wrong for you...
