Roatan problem ... please advise

[buceadora]

Hello, I'm new to the forum, so hello everyone.This seems like a very good source of information. Ok I'll get to my "problem". I'm a pretty new diver, and only been to Utila, Caye Caulker, & most recently Roatan. I'm planning a dive trip in May-June, but after going to Roatan, I can't get excited about going anywhere else. Due to my geographical location & time constraints, I'm kind of limited to the Caribbean/ Central America region. I've researched Bonaire, Turk's & Caicos, Cozumel, Akumal, Dominican Republic, but none of them seem to compare to Roatan. I'd like to go somewhere I haven't been, so I was hoping someone here could recommend something comparable. Specifically, I'm looking for...

obviously, great diving with tons of fish, cool topography, & coral!
relaxed, uncrowded, diving, in Roatan there were only 2 or 3 of us on the boat
calm water, short boat ride (boyfriend gets seasick)
not very touristy or crowded
basic accomodations - i'm happy with a hammock on the beach
it's always great when I get to practice my Spanish with the locals too

So if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love suggestions. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[ronbeau]

Hello, I'm new to the forum, so hello everyone.This seems like a very good source of information. OK I'll get to my "problem". I'm a pretty new diver, and only been to Utila, Caye Caulker, & most recently Roatan. I'm planning a dive trip in May-June, but after going to Roatan, I can't get excited about going anywhere else. Due to my geographical location & time constraints, I'm kind of limited to the Caribbean/ Central America region. I've researched Bonaire, Turk's & Caicos, Cozumel, Akumal, Dominican Republic, but none of them seem to compare to Roatan. I'd like to go somewhere I haven't been, so I was hoping someone here could recommend something comparable. Specifically, I'm looking for...

obviously, great diving with tons of fish, cool topography, & coral!
relaxed, uncrowded, diving, in Roatan there were only 2 or 3 of us on the boat
calm water, short boat ride (boyfriend gets seasick)
not very touristy or crowded
basic accommodations - I'm happy with a hammock on the beach
it's always great when I get to practice my Spanish with the locals too

So if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love suggestions. Thanks in advance for any advice!

I would suggest Curacao but if you think Bonaire is too crowded you would also think that Curacao is too crowded.

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
If I understand your question you are looking for a place other than Roatan with good diving and small crowds. I can't imagine why you have overlooked Bonaire other than it is a PITA to get to. Very easy diving, no boat rides if you don't want to and if you do want to boat dive, the boat rides are shorter and as or more calm than Roatan. If you choose to shore dive, it's fairly common to have the site to yourself. I would rate the fish life very similar. The one big difference in Bonaire over Coz or Roatan is the lack of a dive nanny. I don't want nor need a DM guiding me around or determining when my dive is up. Most of my dives are at least 75 minutes with some going as long as 90. I am free to spend as much or as little time looking at what ever I find interesting.
Bonaire has good food (and you can drink the water), great people and about as non touristy as you can get.
It's not uncommon to get hung up on your first location and we all have our favorites. Some love Cozumel, others Roatan and still others someplace else. I dove Coz, Fla Keys, Curacao and Roatan last year and had dove Bonaire at least once a year for the previous 6 yrs. I am heading back to Bonaire this year, maybe twice. It just suits me better that the other places.

 

[PaulChristenson]

Hello, I'm new to the forum, so hello everyone.This seems like a very good source of information. Ok I'll get to my "problem". I'm a pretty new diver, and only been to Utila, Caye Caulker, & most recently Roatan. I'm planning a dive trip in May-June, but after going to Roatan, I can't get excited about going anywhere else. Due to my geographical location & time constraints, I'm kind of limited to the Caribbean/ Central America region. I've researched Bonaire, Turk's & Caicos, Cozumel, Akumal, Dominican Republic, but none of them seem to compare to Roatan. I'd like to go somewhere I haven't been, so I was hoping someone here could recommend something comparable. Specifically, I'm looking for...

obviously, great diving with tons of fish, cool topography, & coral!
relaxed, uncrowded, diving, in Roatan there were only 2 or 3 of us on the boat
calm water, short boat ride (boyfriend gets seasick)
not very touristy or crowded
basic accomodations - i'm happy with a hammock on the beach
it's always great when I get to practice my Spanish with the locals too

So if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love suggestions. Thanks in advance for any advice!

You want Belize...

Lots of dive sites are right of the Caye...very short boats rides...and if you stay inside the reef...the waves are next to nothing...

 

[donacheson]

Hello, I'm new to the forum, so hello everyone.This seems like a very good source of information. Ok I'll get to my "problem". I'm a pretty new diver, and only been to Utila, Caye Caulker, & most recently Roatan. I'm planning a dive trip in May-June, but after going to Roatan, I can't get excited about going anywhere else. Due to my geographical location & time constraints, I'm kind of limited to the Caribbean/ Central America region. I've researched Bonaire, Turk's & Caicos, Cozumel, Akumal, Dominican Republic, but none of them seem to compare to Roatan. I'd like to go somewhere I haven't been, so I was hoping someone here could recommend something comparable. Specifically, I'm looking for...

obviously, great diving with tons of fish, cool topography, & coral!
relaxed, uncrowded, diving, in Roatan there were only 2 or 3 of us on the boat
calm water, short boat ride (boyfriend gets seasick)
not very touristy or crowded
basic accomodations - i'm happy with a hammock on the beach
it's always great when I get to practice my Spanish with the locals too

So if anyone knows what I'm talking about, I'd love suggestions. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Little Cayman

 

[steeliejim]

Belize is another thought. If you go to Turneffe Atoll, the trips to many great dive dives sites are short, and the resorts are small and laid back. The only downside is you would want to fly out from Belize City on a charter rather than take a boat if your boyfriend has seasick problems. The boat ride is 1 1/2 hours out and can be rough.

I have a question for you, though. Where did you stay in Roatan? I've heard such mixed stories about the various resorts so have been hesitant in going. Thanks,

Jim

 

[buceadora]

Hey, thanks everyone for some really good suggestions. I looked into Bonaire & Curacao, and I think I'll be planning a trip to both islands next year. My travel dates for this upcoming May are a bit specific, and I couldn't find reasonable airfare on my travel dates to Bonaire or Curacao for this trip. I have been to Belize, and I stayed on Caye Caulker. I didn't have a great diving experience there, but I was very inexperienced, and it was just after hurricane Wilma, so I don't think the diving was at it's best. I've looked at the resorts on Turneffe, but they're a bit out of my price range at least until I'm out of school. But I will definitely give Belize another chance some day. But I definitely have a good list now, so thanks!

For this upcoming trip, I'll be going back to Roatan, not for lack of a better place to go, but I'm using flight vouchers to travel, so I'm limited with my choice of airlines, and Roatan works out to be the cheapest overall.

Steeliejim, to answer your question, I stayed in a small 1 room apartment on the least crowded part of West Bay Beach. It was very tiny, but had a coffeemaker & microwave, but no backup generator for the rolling power outages which seemed to occur frequently. But it was cheap, and on the beach. I was very happy with West Bay beach because the beaches were nice, and there is good snorkeling a short swim out. There aren't many choices for eating out, and there's only one food store store in the areas, with very limited selection, and the hours of operation are on island time. I didn't go to any of the well known resorts, but everyone I met on the plane or in the arport was staying at Cocoview, which seem to have almost a cult-like following. They had great things to say about CCV. I did dive outside of Anthony's Key, which was good. They have a dolphin show, but we actually encountered a school of about 50 dolphins one day while diving, so it seemed silly to pay to swim with them after that. Anyway, if you have any more questions, I can try to help, but I don't know much else about the resorts.

Anyway, thanks again for all the great suggestions, I'll definitely be visiting this board a lot in the future!

 

[H2Andy]

belize, little cayman, tobago

 

[hopefulist]

Ah...I miss Blackadder.