Roatan dive op reccomendations

[nuts4corals]

Hello All,
Going to be on a cruise in late October early November 2024.

I will have single shore days at Roatan, Honduras either coxen hole or mahogany bay.

since I am going to be on a cruise I most likely won't bring my own gear. So I will need to rent gear from a dive op.

Also have a question about dive knives and equipment on cruise ships... specifically Norwegian if anyone has any expierience with them?. Do they allow you to bring equipment (less tank) on board, specifically dive knife? Some preliminary resuch said that they do not allow knives on board and they will confiscate it. When I fly, it hasn't been an issue as long as it's in the check in never brought it on a cruise ship b4.

Thanks in advance for any and all reccomendations on diving in Roatan.

 

[Hugh2004a]

I use Moana Divers in West End when I’m there. moanadiversroatan.com . My last 30 or so dives there have been with them. I don’t know if they do cruise ship pickups, but I have been out on their boats with divers from the ships. They have all the rental gear. Great folks!

 

[nuts4corals]

Awesome thank you for this. I will reach out to them for details. Much appreciated!!!

 

[GreggS]

A whole lot will depend on which port where they actually dock. The Coxen Hole dock is only about 15 minutes from West End whereas mahogany bay is east of French Harbor and will take 30-45 minutes depending on traffic in town and road construction between Coxen Hole and West End. Getting to West End from the dock in Coxen Hole does not require going thru the road construction and in fact, would take longer going that way even if the construction is finished. Plus, the ride from the docks in Coxen Hole is quite scenic along the southern shoreline thru Flowers Bay.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a bad dive op in West End. In fact, you can't throw a rock in West End without hitting a dive op. I've dived with Coconut Tree Divers and had some very good dives with them. I don't know if they pick up at the docks but they do have all the rental gear you would need.

I'm not familiar with any dive ops close to Mahogany Bay but I think they're are some. CoCo View is not far from those docks but I don't know if they accommodate cruise divers or not. You would need to check on that.

 

[nuts4corals]

Thanks @GreggS I will check exactly where they dock as that info has not been set yet but the cruise company. Hopefully I will be in close proximity to the good diving location on the island. Thanks

 

[GreggS]

Thanks @GreggS I will check exactly where they dock as that info has not been set yet but the cruise company. Hopefully I will be in close proximity to the good diving location on the island. Thanks

Yeah, the problem is that the cruise line may not know which port they will dock at until just before arrival. It makes it difficult to plan ahead. Have you checked for excursions with the cruise line? If they have dive excursions available, that may be your best bet as they would be responsible for making the arraignments for getting you to and from the dive op. the only thing is, it would be the dive op they set it up with.

 

[nuts4corals]

Yeah, the problem is that the cruise line may not know which port they will dock at until just before arrival. It makes it difficult to plan ahead. Have you checked for excursions with the cruise line? If they have dive excursions available, that may be your best bet as they would be responsible for making the arraignments for getting you to and from the dive op. the only thing is, it would be the dive op they set it up with.

Actually they do... they have one two tank dive for $169 with rental equipment. I have no idea if that is a fair price for that in Roatan or what dive op they are using. For me it's more about being able to go to the best dive location with good dive master...

 

[GreggS]

Honestly, I don't know what rental equipment goes for in Roatan since we always take our own, but considering that the excursion pricing does include transportation to and from the dock, it probably isn't too bad for the package. You may be able to do it for less money booking yourself, though. Dives in West End are generally $35.00 each (at least they were last year) and I would think that full rental gear would cost somewhere north of $50.00 for the day. But if you book dives yourself separately from the cruise line you'd have to either make arraignments with the dive op for transportation or make them yourself. Taxis are rather inexpensive, maybe $10.00 from the CH dock to West End and then the same for the return.

I've been past the docks in Coxen Hole when a cruise ship was disembarking. It looked like a cluster***k. The dock is right on the western end of town on a narrow 2 lane road and it is very crowded with vehicles and pedestrians While that is the most advantageous dock for going to West End, I'm not sure how easy getting a taxi would be if you had to get one yourself.

I don't envy your decision. Good luck sorting it out and I hope you enjoy the diving in Roatan as much as I have.

 

[nuts4corals]

Sound like really sound and expierienced advice. I may just go with the cruise ships shore diving because what you just said about cruise ship disembarcation makes complete sense. It's def. like that on alot of ports.

I am still considering bringing my own equipment which I dive in almost exclusively and know well. Still bumed about NCL rules with dive knives.

Anyway, is Roatan healthy reef? Saw some threads on here where people were saying alot of the hard corals are bleaching or show signs of lateral line disease. I sure hope not, we were battling that over on Cozumel. It's so sad how extensive the issues have gotten there. It's disheartening to hear this issue spread this far south on the meso-american reef.

 

[nuts4corals]

Oh I was alog contemplating if I could squeeze in 2(2 tank dives) so morning and afternoon. It would may be tough getting to the West end to squeeze a morning two tank in as I would bet the cruise ships two tank dive is in the afternoon. From my own experience, morning dives are almost always better seeing more on the reef.