Scott M
Contributor
I really do not know where to start. I want to start by saying; I am a very easy going person who has to work with problems and issues all day every day so when I go on vacation I really try to be as tolerant a person as I can. I just want to relax and dive.
I have waited a few days to post anything to be sure and put the proper perspective on what I have to report. I actually thought about not writing at all but some of this stuff is important and the best I can do is put the facts out there. There was 6 of us on this trip, 5 including myself all flying there together and one was meeting us there.
I will start with the flights. We live in a rural area so it is imperative that we get early flight in order to make any kind of connection to anywhere and since Roatan has only a few flights in and out it makes it that much more important that we fly early. As our day started, arriving at the airport at 4:30am to find our flight as the only delayed flight of the day. It was delayed due to crew which is just unacceptable. As politely as I could I explained our predicament to one of the agents. She brushed it aside and we missed any and all early flights out. After 3 hours talking to the agent who was a very nice young lady. It was her second day on the job and we had five separate reservation numbers she had to deal with so this was no easy job and the Senior attendant would not assist her. After this period of time a supervisor finally rolled into work and basically gave us ten minutes of her time, after which she told us there was no way we were getting to Roatan and to take a credit for the flights. Seeing as we had no choice we did this and headed for our cars. Our trip was over and we had a friend who was going to be in Roatan alone. We all decided to call the resort (FI) and see if there was anything we could do about that portion of the trip. While waiting to hear from the agent we called the airlines again, after 2 hours 59 minutes and 43 seconds on a cell phone we were finally booked first class the next day but only to San Pedro Sula. We were informed (badly) that there would be tons of flights out of there to Roatan. When we arrived we found out soon enough that this was not the case at all. We were told there where some flights available out of LaCeibo(SP) and if not we could take the ferry so we loaded up a taxi with 6 guys and all of our gear for the 2 1/2 hour trek across the country side. We arrived at the airport to find out the flights where all full so we loaded back up to head for the ferry. While in the airport we heard the ferry was closed but the agent said it was not, about half way there I had the taxi driver call information to get the number and call to be sure it was open. Well it was closed so back to the airport we went. By this time it was almost 4pm which means there was but one more flight for the day and they only had 2 available seats. We waited to be sure everyone showed up with the slight chance there where some no shows. Everyone showed up, however we happened to have gotten a sympathetic agent who made some arrangements. Which means they refunded some of the locals 1/2 their ticket if their kids sat on there laps. We finally arrived. A day late but there.
As has been reported by someone else in another thread it rained most of the week. This is really no big deal as the resort is set up well to accommodate this and there is no where you have to walk that is not under cover. We did see some sun towards the end of the week which was nice.
The resort. It is nice and well laid out. We had the new rooms way out on the far end. I can not say much about the cleanliness as one of our group got bed bugs bites all over and the day before we were scheduled to leave I started to see a bunch of little bites all over my ankles and feet which I attributed to no-see-ums. As the days have gone by these bites have taken over my entire body to a point I sought medical attention. Turns out I got scabies while there, I am not real happy about this to say the least.
The food, it was good (Rating B-C)and I am a picky eater but always found something to eat. I will note 2 days before we left 5 of the 6 in our party came down with dysentery, 2 of them had stomach cramps and where throwing up for a day. We spoke to a few other people that all had the same thing. I have no idea what caused it. I was the lucky one that did not get it but I got scabies so go figure.
The dive boats. Way too many people. We were a group of 6 experienced divers so we tried our hardest to just stay away from the group and be considerate but it was not to be. No matter where we went or what we did it was inevitable someone was running into us, kicking our masks off or pushing us out of the way while trying to take a picture. This was by far the rudest bunch of divers I have ever had the pleasure of diving off the same boat with. We found it easiest to just hang 30' or so off the reef and watch everyone else dive. There was a 12 year old diving but thats another long long thread all in it's own. The boats ran good, we had no break downs. Our DM (Darin) was excellent and I can not recommend him enough. Great diver.
The shop. Nice shop, well run and very thorough. I do have one thing to note. I started carrying a CO monitor ever since Dandydon started talking about them but I want to state I have done little to no work with it since I got it other than to test a few areas around the house and work where it has always read 0. When we arrived I tested the general air in the room and outside. It read 54. I attributed this to being so humid out and being in a tropical environment. I brought it to the boat the first day and tested my tanks. The where reading 554, the monitor was going crazy. They had no odor or taste so I attributed this to lack of knowing how to use the meter and maybe it was out of calibration. On the third or fourth day I started to develop head aches after the second dive. I wrote this off to maybe having a few drinks the night before or being tired. Most of the days I arrived a little before we headed out but on the last day there, our non-diving day I came early to get bring my log up to date. When I got there several of the boats where idling at the dock. These boats are fairly old so they smoke a lot. I took a walk around the side of the shop to where the air intake was for the compressor, there was a very heavy diesel smoke odor in the air. I want to be perfectly clear, I am not saying there is anything wrong with the air in any way, I am just stating what I saw and tested. I did test my monitor when I got back home and reads 0 again for whatever thats worth.
The diving, It was nice diving, the reefs have some nice color. There is not a lot of big sea life but a lot of small stuff. I saw my first of many Octopus's which was a real treat. There are some formations I really liked. The viz is 50' to 60'.
For me, I would not return, YMMV. I know others love the place and thats great but for my money it is just not worth the time and effort for the reward.
Best Regards
I have waited a few days to post anything to be sure and put the proper perspective on what I have to report. I actually thought about not writing at all but some of this stuff is important and the best I can do is put the facts out there. There was 6 of us on this trip, 5 including myself all flying there together and one was meeting us there.
I will start with the flights. We live in a rural area so it is imperative that we get early flight in order to make any kind of connection to anywhere and since Roatan has only a few flights in and out it makes it that much more important that we fly early. As our day started, arriving at the airport at 4:30am to find our flight as the only delayed flight of the day. It was delayed due to crew which is just unacceptable. As politely as I could I explained our predicament to one of the agents. She brushed it aside and we missed any and all early flights out. After 3 hours talking to the agent who was a very nice young lady. It was her second day on the job and we had five separate reservation numbers she had to deal with so this was no easy job and the Senior attendant would not assist her. After this period of time a supervisor finally rolled into work and basically gave us ten minutes of her time, after which she told us there was no way we were getting to Roatan and to take a credit for the flights. Seeing as we had no choice we did this and headed for our cars. Our trip was over and we had a friend who was going to be in Roatan alone. We all decided to call the resort (FI) and see if there was anything we could do about that portion of the trip. While waiting to hear from the agent we called the airlines again, after 2 hours 59 minutes and 43 seconds on a cell phone we were finally booked first class the next day but only to San Pedro Sula. We were informed (badly) that there would be tons of flights out of there to Roatan. When we arrived we found out soon enough that this was not the case at all. We were told there where some flights available out of LaCeibo(SP) and if not we could take the ferry so we loaded up a taxi with 6 guys and all of our gear for the 2 1/2 hour trek across the country side. We arrived at the airport to find out the flights where all full so we loaded back up to head for the ferry. While in the airport we heard the ferry was closed but the agent said it was not, about half way there I had the taxi driver call information to get the number and call to be sure it was open. Well it was closed so back to the airport we went. By this time it was almost 4pm which means there was but one more flight for the day and they only had 2 available seats. We waited to be sure everyone showed up with the slight chance there where some no shows. Everyone showed up, however we happened to have gotten a sympathetic agent who made some arrangements. Which means they refunded some of the locals 1/2 their ticket if their kids sat on there laps. We finally arrived. A day late but there.
As has been reported by someone else in another thread it rained most of the week. This is really no big deal as the resort is set up well to accommodate this and there is no where you have to walk that is not under cover. We did see some sun towards the end of the week which was nice.
The resort. It is nice and well laid out. We had the new rooms way out on the far end. I can not say much about the cleanliness as one of our group got bed bugs bites all over and the day before we were scheduled to leave I started to see a bunch of little bites all over my ankles and feet which I attributed to no-see-ums. As the days have gone by these bites have taken over my entire body to a point I sought medical attention. Turns out I got scabies while there, I am not real happy about this to say the least.
The food, it was good (Rating B-C)and I am a picky eater but always found something to eat. I will note 2 days before we left 5 of the 6 in our party came down with dysentery, 2 of them had stomach cramps and where throwing up for a day. We spoke to a few other people that all had the same thing. I have no idea what caused it. I was the lucky one that did not get it but I got scabies so go figure.
The dive boats. Way too many people. We were a group of 6 experienced divers so we tried our hardest to just stay away from the group and be considerate but it was not to be. No matter where we went or what we did it was inevitable someone was running into us, kicking our masks off or pushing us out of the way while trying to take a picture. This was by far the rudest bunch of divers I have ever had the pleasure of diving off the same boat with. We found it easiest to just hang 30' or so off the reef and watch everyone else dive. There was a 12 year old diving but thats another long long thread all in it's own. The boats ran good, we had no break downs. Our DM (Darin) was excellent and I can not recommend him enough. Great diver.
The shop. Nice shop, well run and very thorough. I do have one thing to note. I started carrying a CO monitor ever since Dandydon started talking about them but I want to state I have done little to no work with it since I got it other than to test a few areas around the house and work where it has always read 0. When we arrived I tested the general air in the room and outside. It read 54. I attributed this to being so humid out and being in a tropical environment. I brought it to the boat the first day and tested my tanks. The where reading 554, the monitor was going crazy. They had no odor or taste so I attributed this to lack of knowing how to use the meter and maybe it was out of calibration. On the third or fourth day I started to develop head aches after the second dive. I wrote this off to maybe having a few drinks the night before or being tired. Most of the days I arrived a little before we headed out but on the last day there, our non-diving day I came early to get bring my log up to date. When I got there several of the boats where idling at the dock. These boats are fairly old so they smoke a lot. I took a walk around the side of the shop to where the air intake was for the compressor, there was a very heavy diesel smoke odor in the air. I want to be perfectly clear, I am not saying there is anything wrong with the air in any way, I am just stating what I saw and tested. I did test my monitor when I got back home and reads 0 again for whatever thats worth.
The diving, It was nice diving, the reefs have some nice color. There is not a lot of big sea life but a lot of small stuff. I saw my first of many Octopus's which was a real treat. There are some formations I really liked. The viz is 50' to 60'.
For me, I would not return, YMMV. I know others love the place and thats great but for my money it is just not worth the time and effort for the reward.
Best Regards
