Steve_Dives
Contributor
Intro
At the beginning of the year I sought some travel advice on a trip to Roatan in October. I've just returned and thought I'd better post some comments on the trip to give back to SB. Overall it was a nice trip; glad I went, and I'm likely to return to Roatan.
Background
This was my first trip to a dive resort, so my experience in resorts is a limited. I have been to the Florida Keys, Tobermory, and Florida springs in addition to quarry diving/camping. I have traveled to South America, but this was my first visit to Central America.
I joined a group trip organized by my LDS for a week (Oct. 13-20, 2007) at Fantasy Island Beach Resort http://www.fantasyislandresort.com/ on Roatan.
General - Weather, water, bugs, misc. dive stuff
We had rain on the arrival day, but that was it - although we could see thunderstorms way out in the distance (October starts the rainy season). Temperatures ranged from upper 70's to upper 80's. Water was 83-85F all the way to about 95 feet (I didn't go deeper). The first couple days the seas were rough enough to give about 5% of the divers cause to feed the fish (i.e. vomit). We had current most on most of our dives so we made a bunch of drift dives (this is supposed to be unusual). Vis was really good (80+ feet) most days, but we had one day with vis around 30 feet (sadly, the day I made my 100th dive). We had plenty of critters on the dives, a great place to go diving. No large animals (turtles, sharks, rays, etc.), but we did have some large grouper and snapper, and they are large and animals. I only had a few insect bites, any I didn't use any repellent. I was only outside long enough to transit from room to dive boat and back, but there were throngs of the biting things inside. Maybe I just react to the bites less than I do here, maybe we caught the low ebb of some strange cycle, but insects were not a huge complaint. You have your choice of air or EAN32. I took air most of the week and EAN32 the last 6 dives (last 2 days). On the pay-as-you-go plan, I was spending $8 per tank. I set my computer conservatively, and I did not get any limitations breathing air beyond a slightly longer safety stop. Long safety stops were not a problem due the shallow water on top of the walls and the availability of a buoy line. We did have a couple hot recoveries (the boat engine running and driving in circles to pick divers out of the current) and many hot drops. You will want a dive computer - the first boat dive will read for 90 feet and 45 minutes or more. You will be off your tables in no time!
Resort
Transfer from the airport to the resort was slow, they seemed to be using one shuttle to move people (they seem to have 3, plus they used a two little microbus thing during the week for little day trips). It's a 15-20 minute trip each way, so it takes a long time to move 100+ people in batches of about 24. They did use a second shuttle to haul bags.
Check-in and check-out were smooth.
Meals were good, but a few people did get intestinal discomfort with one case severe enough to sideline any activity for the day (antibiotics got him out of the room the next day and diving by the afternoon). I don't think anyone was limiting their diet to manage their exposure to foreign microbes, so we share some of the blame.
Something apparently happened to the bridge (Fantasy Island is on a small island adjacent to the island of Roatan, you cross the bridge to reach the resort), so vehicle traffic was not allowed to cross. No idea what, and I walked it several times (didn't seem like anything fell through it or ran into it). If you're arriving soon, you'll probably have to walk the 10 minutes or so from the bridge to the lobby. Certainly not the end of the world, but if you're waking up early missing meals, yada yada yada, you might get a little frustrated.
Music is played at the pool from about 7:30AM until sometime late at night. Not too bad, but I think they only have about 3 CDs and repeat them all day, every day. (There's a little sarcasm there, but I'm not piling it on tooooo thick. We heard the same Bob Marley CD at least 3 times a day - and we were sleeping or diving for about 12 hours a day.)
The resort only has one computer available for you to check email or do whatever with, so expect to wait around the lobby until it's free. Not a huge issue, but if you have to stay in touch, you might want to make other plans. If you only need an occasional email to stay in touch, you'll be fine if you can tolerate a short wait.
The rooms had some repair issues (wood flooring pulling apart, walls patched but not sanded or painted, sticking doors, minor plumbing, etc.). The staff are the strong point since they are friendly, smile, and bi-lingual (at least those you'd generally have cause to interact with). Service was attentive at every meal.
The A/C in our room and many others worked fine (crank ours up all the way and wed freeze the pipes
), but at least one room in our group had repeated A/C outages. With the lows in the upper 70s, that can be uncomfortable.
They have a nice little gift shop on the premises. They sell beer, soft drinks, water, and some juice and tea options. They also have snacks, OTC medicines, sun protection/tanning products, and souvenirs.
They arranged several trips around the island with a number of options Friday afternoon (with flights scheduled Saturday morning, it was a way to spend the surface interval and bleed off some nitrogen). We took a shopping tour for $15 per person; a taxi to West End was $20 when we asked in Spanish, or $30 if we asked in English. We rode to West End and back, stopping at Coxen Hole along the way. Neat trip.
The diving operation
The dive boats don't start moving until 9-9:30, and they return to dock after every dive. My preference would be to start the boat diving earlier (sunrise is 5:30) since the boat dives will probably start off deeper than what you'd get from shore - and reversing profiles isn't good.
Returning to dock isn't a huge deal because the boat ride is about 10-15 minutes most of the time, and it does get you close to an hour surface interval between dives (which I like). The dive operation seems adaptable, so they might agree to stay out if you have room for spare tanks (we were packing about 100 divers onto 5 boats).
Some of us would ask for a drop after the second or third dive, meaning we jump from the boat (with a fresh tank) as it returns to port and dive the wreck or reef and swim to shore. They pick up the tanks, so you only have to walk your gear back.
If you want to take advantage of unlimited shore diving (and it is worth diving from shore) you can get a dive in early (before breakfast), right after lunch & before the afternoon boat, and a night dive or even two. Please adhere to good diving practice & dive conservatively, I'm merely pointing out the potential times you can dive if you do not want to miss a boat dive or meal.
There are fresh showers at the dock, one-seater restrooms, two rinse tanks (again, 100 divers, two tanks), a rinse tank for cameras (the boats also have a camera bucket), and gear lockers. The gear lockers number around 80, but accommodated two divers nicely. They are unlocked and open to the world (we had nothing stolen, but leaving gear where anyone can touch it might make some people nervous - I saw people carrying regs back to the room often, but I left mine in the locker unless I was downloading the airhose integrated computer). The gear locker is open so you can dive from shore any time you schedule tanks (yes, if you shore dive, you need to be on a list so they can leave the tank at the entry point - they are making life easy for you).
The boats don't bungee the tanks in place, and with the rough seas we had the first couple days, we came close to dumping tanks and gear onto the deck. Our boat had no life jackets, but one boat had two; I didn't check the rest. Who cares about the life jackets (you're spitting distance to shore and wearing fins and floatation), the boats did have radio, oxygen, drinking water, and fresh fruit. All the Fantasy Island boats are painted the same, so while physically different, they have similar appearance. This (and the current) contributed to our boat picking up seven divers from another Fantasy Island boat at an adjacent site.
At the beginning of the year I sought some travel advice on a trip to Roatan in October. I've just returned and thought I'd better post some comments on the trip to give back to SB. Overall it was a nice trip; glad I went, and I'm likely to return to Roatan.
Background
This was my first trip to a dive resort, so my experience in resorts is a limited. I have been to the Florida Keys, Tobermory, and Florida springs in addition to quarry diving/camping. I have traveled to South America, but this was my first visit to Central America.
I joined a group trip organized by my LDS for a week (Oct. 13-20, 2007) at Fantasy Island Beach Resort http://www.fantasyislandresort.com/ on Roatan.
General - Weather, water, bugs, misc. dive stuff
We had rain on the arrival day, but that was it - although we could see thunderstorms way out in the distance (October starts the rainy season). Temperatures ranged from upper 70's to upper 80's. Water was 83-85F all the way to about 95 feet (I didn't go deeper). The first couple days the seas were rough enough to give about 5% of the divers cause to feed the fish (i.e. vomit). We had current most on most of our dives so we made a bunch of drift dives (this is supposed to be unusual). Vis was really good (80+ feet) most days, but we had one day with vis around 30 feet (sadly, the day I made my 100th dive). We had plenty of critters on the dives, a great place to go diving. No large animals (turtles, sharks, rays, etc.), but we did have some large grouper and snapper, and they are large and animals. I only had a few insect bites, any I didn't use any repellent. I was only outside long enough to transit from room to dive boat and back, but there were throngs of the biting things inside. Maybe I just react to the bites less than I do here, maybe we caught the low ebb of some strange cycle, but insects were not a huge complaint. You have your choice of air or EAN32. I took air most of the week and EAN32 the last 6 dives (last 2 days). On the pay-as-you-go plan, I was spending $8 per tank. I set my computer conservatively, and I did not get any limitations breathing air beyond a slightly longer safety stop. Long safety stops were not a problem due the shallow water on top of the walls and the availability of a buoy line. We did have a couple hot recoveries (the boat engine running and driving in circles to pick divers out of the current) and many hot drops. You will want a dive computer - the first boat dive will read for 90 feet and 45 minutes or more. You will be off your tables in no time!
Resort
Transfer from the airport to the resort was slow, they seemed to be using one shuttle to move people (they seem to have 3, plus they used a two little microbus thing during the week for little day trips). It's a 15-20 minute trip each way, so it takes a long time to move 100+ people in batches of about 24. They did use a second shuttle to haul bags.
Check-in and check-out were smooth.
Meals were good, but a few people did get intestinal discomfort with one case severe enough to sideline any activity for the day (antibiotics got him out of the room the next day and diving by the afternoon). I don't think anyone was limiting their diet to manage their exposure to foreign microbes, so we share some of the blame.
Something apparently happened to the bridge (Fantasy Island is on a small island adjacent to the island of Roatan, you cross the bridge to reach the resort), so vehicle traffic was not allowed to cross. No idea what, and I walked it several times (didn't seem like anything fell through it or ran into it). If you're arriving soon, you'll probably have to walk the 10 minutes or so from the bridge to the lobby. Certainly not the end of the world, but if you're waking up early missing meals, yada yada yada, you might get a little frustrated.
Music is played at the pool from about 7:30AM until sometime late at night. Not too bad, but I think they only have about 3 CDs and repeat them all day, every day. (There's a little sarcasm there, but I'm not piling it on tooooo thick. We heard the same Bob Marley CD at least 3 times a day - and we were sleeping or diving for about 12 hours a day.)
The resort only has one computer available for you to check email or do whatever with, so expect to wait around the lobby until it's free. Not a huge issue, but if you have to stay in touch, you might want to make other plans. If you only need an occasional email to stay in touch, you'll be fine if you can tolerate a short wait.
The rooms had some repair issues (wood flooring pulling apart, walls patched but not sanded or painted, sticking doors, minor plumbing, etc.). The staff are the strong point since they are friendly, smile, and bi-lingual (at least those you'd generally have cause to interact with). Service was attentive at every meal.
The A/C in our room and many others worked fine (crank ours up all the way and wed freeze the pipes
), but at least one room in our group had repeated A/C outages. With the lows in the upper 70s, that can be uncomfortable.They have a nice little gift shop on the premises. They sell beer, soft drinks, water, and some juice and tea options. They also have snacks, OTC medicines, sun protection/tanning products, and souvenirs.
They arranged several trips around the island with a number of options Friday afternoon (with flights scheduled Saturday morning, it was a way to spend the surface interval and bleed off some nitrogen). We took a shopping tour for $15 per person; a taxi to West End was $20 when we asked in Spanish, or $30 if we asked in English. We rode to West End and back, stopping at Coxen Hole along the way. Neat trip.
The diving operation
The dive boats don't start moving until 9-9:30, and they return to dock after every dive. My preference would be to start the boat diving earlier (sunrise is 5:30) since the boat dives will probably start off deeper than what you'd get from shore - and reversing profiles isn't good.
Returning to dock isn't a huge deal because the boat ride is about 10-15 minutes most of the time, and it does get you close to an hour surface interval between dives (which I like). The dive operation seems adaptable, so they might agree to stay out if you have room for spare tanks (we were packing about 100 divers onto 5 boats).
Some of us would ask for a drop after the second or third dive, meaning we jump from the boat (with a fresh tank) as it returns to port and dive the wreck or reef and swim to shore. They pick up the tanks, so you only have to walk your gear back.
If you want to take advantage of unlimited shore diving (and it is worth diving from shore) you can get a dive in early (before breakfast), right after lunch & before the afternoon boat, and a night dive or even two. Please adhere to good diving practice & dive conservatively, I'm merely pointing out the potential times you can dive if you do not want to miss a boat dive or meal.
There are fresh showers at the dock, one-seater restrooms, two rinse tanks (again, 100 divers, two tanks), a rinse tank for cameras (the boats also have a camera bucket), and gear lockers. The gear lockers number around 80, but accommodated two divers nicely. They are unlocked and open to the world (we had nothing stolen, but leaving gear where anyone can touch it might make some people nervous - I saw people carrying regs back to the room often, but I left mine in the locker unless I was downloading the airhose integrated computer). The gear locker is open so you can dive from shore any time you schedule tanks (yes, if you shore dive, you need to be on a list so they can leave the tank at the entry point - they are making life easy for you).
The boats don't bungee the tanks in place, and with the rough seas we had the first couple days, we came close to dumping tanks and gear onto the deck. Our boat had no life jackets, but one boat had two; I didn't check the rest. Who cares about the life jackets (you're spitting distance to shore and wearing fins and floatation), the boats did have radio, oxygen, drinking water, and fresh fruit. All the Fantasy Island boats are painted the same, so while physically different, they have similar appearance. This (and the current) contributed to our boat picking up seven divers from another Fantasy Island boat at an adjacent site.
Had a great time!
