robin, thanks for the heads up.. I just noticed that on their site just ABOVE the section about cruise ship divers... their problem is they want new divers (new to CCV) to be inspected... good thing I'm getting this universal unexpiring PADI license..
Roatan dive advice for first timer
- Thread starter Thorin_II
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castaways01
Guest
- Messages
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- Roatan - www.castaways-cove.com
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- I just don't log dives
Thorin, Los Rocas is a small, laid back, less expensive West Bay dive resort owned by an Italian man, Pakal, whom I've known for years. Its a great way to get away from the crowded cruiseship scene that you will encounter at AKR. Last year I had a visitor from Florida and with seas 4-6 on the south shore, I opted to take him to Los Rocas. Most often, seas are not an issue at West Bay. We did two dives with them right off West Bay beach. You don't have the deep walls there (like the south shore), but there's a lot of sea life on the shallow reefs. If you have some non-divers in the group, they can snorkel or enjoy the beach while you are diving. The price they quoted you is very good with round trip transportation. They have an excellent beach bar/restaurant and are right next to Bite on the Beach. Also, in Belize, if you've never done the cave tubing, its a hoot. Lots of fun.
castaway.. thanks for the post. you're exactly right.. I'm trying to avoid AKR as much as possible.
Los Rocas and coconut tree are the two places that I'm considering most.. Los Rocas was the first place that I saw that meshed with my itinerary, and they provided great email response within hours! They tailor their outings to the cruise **** itinerary AND provide transport.. and the price is excellent. Not to mention their site is funky, clean, and still professional.
Coconut tree dives at 1 and 2:30 which meshes really nicely as well, plus they have two nice small boats and will accommodate our snorkeler too. I'm sure Las rocas would too.. I'm just keeping options open.
What is unfortunate is that it seems neither of these operators (or many others for that matter) will go to the south shore (mary's place anyone?!?). I just checked back to my email from Pasquale at Las Rocas and he said that they don't offer WRECK dives (aka PA) to cruise divers, but I'll have to clarify if the south shore is out of the question entirely.
Los Rocas and coconut tree are the two places that I'm considering most.. Los Rocas was the first place that I saw that meshed with my itinerary, and they provided great email response within hours! They tailor their outings to the cruise **** itinerary AND provide transport.. and the price is excellent. Not to mention their site is funky, clean, and still professional.
Coconut tree dives at 1 and 2:30 which meshes really nicely as well, plus they have two nice small boats and will accommodate our snorkeler too. I'm sure Las rocas would too.. I'm just keeping options open.
What is unfortunate is that it seems neither of these operators (or many others for that matter) will go to the south shore (mary's place anyone?!?). I just checked back to my email from Pasquale at Las Rocas and he said that they don't offer WRECK dives (aka PA) to cruise divers, but I'll have to clarify if the south shore is out of the question entirely.
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That's the license to get, for sure.
But don't worry about the "inspection". The divemistresses are really cute and they are very gentle.
Unless you prefer a big husky divemaster who's kinda' rough?
No reputable operator who has signed on to the Mary's Place usage agreement will take any new diver there, nor any diver on their first dive with their operation. Due to the depth of this dive, that would preclude it from being considered a "second dive" of the day.
They only call it Fantasy Island because of the Mayor and his sidekick:
Anybody else getting the little joke here?
The diving is kind of marginal, might want to chuck it and just go fishing....
Snappahead
Guest
Chris,
Being an engineer, you've probably already thoroughly checked out the Coconut Tree website
Just in case you didn't, they have a section devoted to dive sites around Roatan as well as difficulty level and a description of the site when you click on the link:
Roatan Dive Sites - Coconut Tree Divers - PADI 5-Star IDC Dive Resort on Roatan, Honduras - scuba diving courses, divemaster internships, instructor development, tec diving, and more!
Being an engineer, you've probably already thoroughly checked out the Coconut Tree website
Just in case you didn't, they have a section devoted to dive sites around Roatan as well as difficulty level and a description of the site when you click on the link:Roatan Dive Sites - Coconut Tree Divers - PADI 5-Star IDC Dive Resort on Roatan, Honduras - scuba diving courses, divemaster internships, instructor development, tec diving, and more!
New to this site and there is lots of data for me to read thru but thought I would throw out what I am looking for.
I have a group heading to Roatan for a week of relaxation and diving, we have a priviate house and cars to get where we need to go. Looking for advice on Dive Operators and Great "must" dives (either on roatan or nearby islands), also any tips would be much apprieciated.
All divers have years of experieince and can handle advanced dives but most are recreational divers. Thanks in advance
I have a group heading to Roatan for a week of relaxation and diving, we have a priviate house and cars to get where we need to go. Looking for advice on Dive Operators and Great "must" dives (either on roatan or nearby islands), also any tips would be much apprieciated.
All divers have years of experieince and can handle advanced dives but most are recreational divers. Thanks in advance
Snappahead
Guest
If you'll be staying in the West End, check out Coconut Tree Divers
robint
Contributor
georoc01
Contributor
My first trip to Roatan was on a cruise ship. I did the ship's excursion, which took us to Anthony's Key. While we had quite a few divers, they kept the DM/diver ratio at 7 to 1. The dives were great for the newly certified diver.
They also did the SI at AKR so I got to walk around the place. I liked it so much that last year we went back for a week, and did both the Dolphin Dive & Shark Dive.
The shark dive is fairly deep for the recently certified diver. Given that you are sitting on the bottom, unless your air consumption is fairly good for a new diver, I wouldn't recommend it.
Dolphin Dive is more shallow, but again if the dolphins aren't cooperating, you may miss the show if your air consumption rate is high. I know we have people miss most of the time with the dolphins as they had to leave the bottom early.
They also did the SI at AKR so I got to walk around the place. I liked it so much that last year we went back for a week, and did both the Dolphin Dive & Shark Dive.
The shark dive is fairly deep for the recently certified diver. Given that you are sitting on the bottom, unless your air consumption is fairly good for a new diver, I wouldn't recommend it.
Dolphin Dive is more shallow, but again if the dolphins aren't cooperating, you may miss the show if your air consumption rate is high. I know we have people miss most of the time with the dolphins as they had to leave the bottom early.
saltybubbles
Registered
We have just returned recently from Roatan and went to the Shark dive. There were enough of us going to warrent keeping us all in the dive boat from Cocoview, for which I was thankful after seeing the boat we would have gone out in.
We were well informed about the current and grabbing the line thrown off the boat. I can see how this would be daunting to a brand new diver.
We had to hold tight to the line going down and equalize and all this with watching the first few of the big ol' sharks circleing just beneath us.
Going up was a challange with purging, hanging tight to the rope and feeling like we were flying with the current pulling us out straight. The ladder on our boat was a good one and even with that, was hard to manage in the current and 5 foot swells.
It was a blast, I am glad I went and I would go again.
We were well informed about the current and grabbing the line thrown off the boat. I can see how this would be daunting to a brand new diver.
We had to hold tight to the line going down and equalize and all this with watching the first few of the big ol' sharks circleing just beneath us.
Going up was a challange with purging, hanging tight to the rope and feeling like we were flying with the current pulling us out straight. The ladder on our boat was a good one and even with that, was hard to manage in the current and 5 foot swells.
It was a blast, I am glad I went and I would go again.
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